Crystal Palace USA News Release - www.crystalpalaceusa.com

Thursday, February 8, 2007

CHURCHVILLE, MD

Open Auditions Day One

On Day One, 72 hopefuls arrived at Harford Community College in the morning, each hoping to win a spot on Crystal Palace USA’s roster for it’s inaugural season in the United Soccer Leagues Second Division. 

The real winner of the morning session, which lasted about two hours, was the weather. With temperatures hovering around 10 degrees and the wind chill making it feel even colder, the Coaching staff and evaluators put the players through their paces. 

The 72 came from all over the globe with the most distant flying from Japan. Many locals were there as well as players from Europe, Africa and South America. The United Kingdom, home of the parent club was well represented with players from England, Northern Ireland and Scotland. All together, 21 countries were represented at the camp.   
  
The play was good considering both players and coaches had to cope with a strong wind and fields that were encrusted with a thin layer of ice. As often the case with open tryouts, the end came early for many. Approximately half of the candidates had their hopes dashed when their numbers were not selected to participate in the afternoon session. 

The second part of the tryout was conducted at the Arena Club’s indoor facility where the pool of players, now numbering 36, had three hours to show off their skills in small-sided games lasting 15 minutes. Each of these matches received the full attention of the coaching staff and the intensity and skill of the players went up a notch from the morning session.  The main reason for the increased level of play was that the players knew they had passed the first hurdle and were now getting an extended look by the entire staff. An added bonus that improved play was that the participants no longer had to concern themselves with inhospitable conditions.

When the session ended, the group was again pared down with approximately 15 players asked to return for the next day’s session. 

Open Auditions Day Two

After the first day of the open camp, 16 players were invited back for a second day. This session lasted three hours and was mercifully conducted at the Arena Club where the coaching staff gave a good long evaluation of the remaining hopefuls. 

Action was much improved over the previous day as the overall intensity and quality of the candidates increased another notch from the prior day’s afternoon session. At the end of the day, 10 were selected to join the players in the invitational camp to begin on Wednesday.

Those who made the cut were Matt Pilkington, Luke Ibertson, Zeck Thompson, Bryan Harkin, Shintaro Horada, Garth Jucken, Idris Ughivehe, Nigel White, Larry Mack and Dwayne Roseway.  These players all exhibited good skills and could probably make the rosters of several USL Second Division teams. However, the aim of Crystal Palace is to field a team that is competitive with MLS teams come Open Cup time.

Shintaro Horada was one of the players selected. He is from Japan and has played in the J-League. He speaks very little English and came to the open tryout after seeing an announcement on the Crystal Palace USA web site. The airline flight was 16 hours.  This is Shin’s first trip to the United States and when asked why he came his response was “to continue playing soccer.” He is one of the players who made it through the open camp.  It will be interesting to see how he fares when the level of player increases with the final session.