I don't know what the official temp was in Frisco but my car said 102 on the way home from training. Point being, it's dang hot out. It affects me just standing in it and I'm sure it wears on the players training in it.

I'm starting to think FCD may need an indoor training facility. For me if nothing else, I'm getting old.

Training today involved a couple of tactical tweaks which I'm not going to mention in this space. Much of the session was also about defending both in a block and in a press - their normal tactics - but working on groupthink. Making sure the concepts are happening in unison and with a combined focus.

It made for an interesting session to watch.

News and Notes

Edwin Gyasi is back in training going full speed. So whatever the injury was last weekend it seems to be all in the clear now. See below for Coach Luchi Gonzalez' comments on it.

No guest players today, Coach Gonzalez has enough with his own guys.

Jimmy Maurer is back and training. Fully recovered from his hand/wrist injury it seems.

Kenny Cooper Jr is helping out the coaching staff today. Cooper says he's working on his coaching education by helping out. Coach Gonzalez says Cooper will be around a couple of days a week. That's a treat to hear. Cooper Jr. is a super positive guy and is wonderful to have around the team and club.

One thing we haven't had to talk about in quite a while is hamstrings. Whatever the issue was earlier in the year seems to have cleared up. Probably just guys under and a new coach and a new system. Getting used to the workload.

Speaking of hamstrings. Paxton Pomykal looks to be in fine form today, no sign of the nagging hamstrings tightness (or whatever it was) he was dealing with a couple of weeks ago. None of it ever evolved into being an "injury" really. All precautionary.

Dom Badji and Michael Barrios are all 100% again it seems as well. They are both fully participating in the training.

As is Johnny Nelson, who seems to quickly have gotten back in the full swing of things.

There were some more keeper passing drills that were really interesting today. They involved threading passes through defenses - i.e. stick figures - with emphasis on the pace of passes. Take note keepers, in the modern game you have to be able to play with your feet just as a field player does. Don't neglect them.

Practice Observations

Ryan Hollingshead looks sharp today, focused. His passing is on point. He impressed me playing up the left side.

As did Santigo Mosquera. Mosquera can be a kind of up and down player but today he's on point. Maybe he and Hollingshead were feeding off each other. Whatever the cause the left side looks real good today.

I have to say I'm increasingly impressed with Thomas Roberts, particularly his growing maturity. He gets fouled a lot in training and keeps his composure. He is so clean on the ball and turns sharply. So he sometimes just gets flattened or grabbed by older players that don't want to get beat. It happens in games and it happens in training. He's looking really sharp today. If he can put together a complete performance in MLS action - eliminate those one or two let-offs - I think he would really be challenging some people for a start.

Ricardo Pepi is looking a little crisper today compared to last week. Probably the ups and down of being a 16-year-old-rookie pro.

Since my news and notes was a little shorter today, you get a longer Luchi interview.

Catching up with Luchi Gonzalez

You've used Jesus Ferreira as a #10, or a free-8, or whatever you want to call it, a fair number of times now. What does he give you that you like when you use him in there?

He's a very smart player positionally in the midfield, to get in pockets, to help us get out and to move the ball from front to back. He's a player that more of his strengths are between lines more than behind the last line.

Underneath kind of?

Yeah. And we feel it's been a natural thing that we've discovered by playing him as the 9, the 10, even some as 7/11... And we feel this last push, this last third of the season, he's going to help us in this midfield. Because he has goals, he has assists, he transitions in press. But his ability to help us bring the ball from back to front is, I think, he's biggest strength.

I saw Edwin Gyasi is back training so what was his injury? Is he ok? Is he back in?

You, tell me. [Chuckles]

I didn't see it, the game was blacked out on my DirecTV.

So it was a weird... look... the guy went down. He's holding his hip flexor. And he said he couldn't continue.

But now he's feeling good - 2, 3 days later - It's a little bit of a... it's something that is not normal. I'm not used to that. But we're going to asses it and see if he can compete to make the roster.

I don't know if he'll make this roster. He has to compete to make this roster. He has to earn that. It's a positive for him to get in the action today but let's see what tomorrow looks like. He's got two days to make this roster and hopefully, he'll bounce back really quickly.

We talked last week about maybe you guys were looking at some players but I saw from your comments yesterday that it didn't happen. Did something fall apart or is it maybe some stuff more for next year now?

Yeah, we certainly were busy. We were really busy. Every day there was a meeting... There was video review of different players in different leagues. And it just came down to these [moves] being more financially feasible for us potentially for 2020.

And us also needing to take care of our own guys. There's some guys that we want to extend contracts to. Quite a few of them. And I know that's the focus of the club to show commitment. To show commitment to a lot of the guys who are fighting right now, that are in the current group.

And that was kind of the idea, the holistic idea, knowing that we want to push with the guys that have been connected, earning what they've been earning to this point.

Are you talking about guys from here [gesture to FCD players on the field] extending? Maybe North Texas adding?

Guys here. [Gestures to FCD field]

The rules are we can sign players form North Texas any moment in the season. That played into it, in terms of depth. Like if we need a 4th center back, or if we need another 8 that can support. So that certainly was a factor in our ideas in the window.

But I think it really came down to feeling that anything we want to add at this point is not for this season. It's potentially for the future, just the next step after this season. We're ready to go as far as we can with the guys we have now.

Although it is Wednesday and the window's not closed! [Laughter]

I've been watching Bryan Reynolds in training, the progress he's making, the playing time he's gotten. He looks pretty sharp. He's not close to taking Reggie's job, I'm sure, but is he close to being able to get a game?

Um-hum, yeah. He's closer than ever before. He's inching with some final details that. uh...

He's going to start. I don't know if it's this season, I don't know if it's next. But he will start an MLS game as long as he continues to do what he's doing.

I watched some of the Homegrown game and Thomas Roberts looked really good, like a whole level above that game. Where's he right now, how's he doing, how's he fit in your thoughts?

Good. Yeah. He did well. I watched that game. I was proud of all of our boys. To compete. I thought all our guys pushed the game and represented our club well. They wanted to win that game. They showed it.

In terms of Thomas, he's doing well. He's getting a good experience with the second team in terms of rhythm, minutes, confidence, leadership... I see him leading that group, which is not easy because he's younger. Still younger than a lot of those players.

He could still be a U19!

Exactly, exactly.

I think that's been really positive for him. Here [gestures to FCD field] he's got a bite. He's fighting. He's played, he's debuted, he's even started games. He's created. He's important, he's important for us.

He hasn't played the last few first-team games. We know that, but we've got a really talented player that's taking his steps. We're making sure he's getting minutes, that's so important that he doesn't go two months, or a month, without playing. He has to play.

That's the same thing we're going through with [Ricardo] Pepi or Edwin [Cerrillo]. So that's important and I think Thomas has a great future in this club and in this league.