they're trying to learn a bit of English, but Jaime [Moreno] is having to do a lot of translating to help them communicate. But they are good guys and they all love soccer. That's always the theme in the locker room: as long as we have good relationships, we can work things out on the field."
While the Latin American group has begun taking nightly language lessons on-site at the IMG Academy, the situation further underlines the importance of Moreno's role as captain and senior leader. Also telling is the effort fellow veteran Ben Olsen has made to participate in much of the team's Florida activities, despite being sidelined by lingering effects from offseason ankle surgery. Olsen has since returned to Washington to continue his rehabilitation and hopes to resume jogging and ball work in the coming weeks.
"They're guys that have been there now and understand what the organization is about, how we play, what everything stands for and the importance of tournaments," said Soehn of the duo, who, along with Bryan Namoff, are the only players remaining from United's MLS Cup-winning side of 2004. "It's important to have some of those guys to carry that message from year to year."
United's Bradenton sessions are the first stage of a cross-country preseason journey that will also take the squad to warm-weather training locales in California and Texas. But the players have had little time or energy to take in their surroundings due to a draining regimen focusing on fitness and conditioning.
"Generally speaking with preseason, you always have guys at complete opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to fitness," said Soehn. "So this first camp we've really had to focus on getting everybody fit, so not so much concerned about results as we are making sure we break the barrier as far as getting some of these guys up to where we need to be. ... There's always some very pleasant surprises, and there are always some guys who didn't do a good enough job in the offseason."
Though he's one of the new arrivals with ground to make up in terms of conditioning, designated player signing Gallardo has already made an impression in the early going.
"There's a reason why he's had success everywhere he's gone, in all the different countries and the highest divisions -- he's quality," said his new coach. "Even in the short amount of time that we've had, we've seen a lot of those qualities come out, where he's able to play out of tight spaces and spread the field and release shots. He's very dynamic.
"So I think as we get him fit through this course of six weeks, I think you're going to see someone who is fantastic for the league and obviously fantastic for our organization, because he plays the game the way we try to teach it here. It's attractive and it's about getting forward. He just makes guys around him better."
Conversely, D.C. was hit with the loss of top SuperDraft pick Andrew Jacobson, who signed with French Ligue 1 outfit FC Lorient last week. It's the second season in a row the club has lost a promising draft selection to overseas opportunities -- last year defender Jay Needham elected to sign with USL side Puerto Rico Islanders instead of United.
"It's getting more and more difficult because the rest of the world is figuring out that we have some talent in this country, and unfortunately the talent comes at a bargain," said Soehn of Jacobson's move. "So it's getting more and more competitive and we're disappointed because we drafted him for a reason, because we thought he was talented, and apparently we were right, because he was able to sign in France. So it's disappointing, but that's the nature of the business."
Charles Boehm is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
