Harsh, Ox, Harsh. But, I cannot give a totally adverse opinion.

I am not a real big fan of anyone who played in the midfield last year (with the exception of Lazo).That includes Jesus and Andres. Stats have to mean something. If you go by last year's stats, both are gonzo, but that is not fair. They should get a chance to compete vs. the new players who did not play with last year's players, who are not back for a reason, I have to presume.

You noticed that Hollywood was the only real starter from last year in the CCC. Jesus did not play in the CCC because of an injury in the CofC match. In that game, he came in at half time and went down in a hard collision after a few minutes. And I don't think he was dogging it when he was hurt, as someone reported. I am not prepared to turn him out after a few minutes of play.

Andres started and played the first half vs. Houston. I don't remember anything spectacular, but I don't remember anything spectacular from his replacement either. Remember that Andres is about 21 years old, or some such.

Andres did not play in the Red Bull NY game. I cannot find a report of who played in the D.C. United game. I don't remember Andres playing and I know Jesus did not play.

To cut Jesus or Andres at this point, it would have to be on the basis of what the coaches have seen in practices.

Practices: Coaches see things in practices that we don't have a clue. For example, I stopped by an early practice when I was on Daniel Island on bidness. Like art being in the eye of the beholder, I know a player when I see one.

They were playing about 7 vs 7. I would have cut Alon at the end of that scrimmage. Not only did he not score, he did not make a tackle, and rarely touched the ball. On the other hand, the forward on the other team scored 4 goals and was all over the field on offense and defense. It was not hard to judge the exertion and lack of exertion.

So, Jesus and Andres, and anyone else for that matter, could be gone on what the coaches see during practice time, and we would be none the wiser.

From what I saw at the CCC, I would give a temporary pass to Brunt, Gores (I hope he is back this year), Mateo and Hollywood. Vercollone would be right in there, but I don't remember him showing up in the DCU game. Armstrong did some good work in the few minutes he was in the game. Glinton showed some pace, but he was fouled every time he got the ball with a head of steam. Glinton may turn into the real deal.

Hint: Glinton, McKnight, etc. I think the consensus is that we want to see a forward go out and battle for the ball and not wait for someone to put it on your freakin' foot.

Ugo has to be on the bubble. He is not in shape, but I have to think that Pele in his prime would not get by him. After taking the ball from Pele, Ugo will turn and kick the ball 30M to the opposing defender, or into the stands. If Ugo will focus on kicking the ball no further than 10M to a teammate, he will remain on my team. It is just too hard to get the ball against a good team to give it back without a challenge. And given our finish last year, there are a lot of good teams in front of the Battery.

Ox, while we are guessing, my guess is that we see Lazo in the defensive midfield. I thought Lazo would be on the back line to extend his career. We need him on the field for 90 mintues, but, given the brillant recruits to the back line, Lazo would be in my defensive midfield with a clear directive to move forward on a counter attack. I want to see 6 attackers in the right situation.

When we get ahead: I hate a defensive posture because we always seem to lose, but I would not hestiate to bring in Ugo to spell Lazo because of what I said earlier, i.e. Pele would not get by Ugo. (But, if he gets by, for gosh sakes Ugo, foul him early on and not in the box. You lose games when you foul someone in the box.)

It is strange because I saw the Battery having a strong nucleus after last year. Now, weeks before the first game, the nucleus is pretty much gone, but I see an even stronger nucleus. On the other hand, the other teams don't seem to be standing still, especially Miami.

Ox, my guess is that we have to wait for the first game to find out what we have.

thanks for the reply, and of course, I don't want to be too harsh - I'm just going by what happened with Alon may show a pattern with the other two. They all came in as young and somewhat unproven players, were given last season to improve (and hopefully a productive off season where they played in some other league) and the start of this year to prove themselves, and if they haven't improved then the grace period may be up. I saw the C of C game and Jesus wasn't faking it - he was definitely hurt. I agree that the coaches are the only ones who can make a real educated decision on this b/c they see them every day - we get a few minutes here and there - but I have noticed significant improvements from some of the guys - for example I think Troy looks much better than he did last season. Others not so much, and the fact that Jesus played in the third grouping at the CofC game may mean something. We'll see......

I was tongue in cheek with "harsh." From today's scrimmage your guess may have some added weight. Both Jesus and Perez came in late in the second half when the people they replaced were not exactly setting the place on fire. I don't know what can be read into their insertion well into the second half, but I will bet Jesus and Perez would have liked something different. Very uninspired football. Ian Fuller showed nothing at forward and then went to midfield when Mateo was sent off with a red card. I do hope Mateo is not a head case. He certainly did not help his case of being a team leader today. Just plain stupid.

Interesting factoid I just discovered, the coach of Portmore is none other that ex-Battery player Paul Young. Newcomers probably won't recognize the name but he was the "Paul Conway of Stoney Field". Played for the Jamaican National team, had 40+ caps as I remember. Scored 48 goals in his first 2 seasons with us. In the middle of the 1998 season, the Battery played their first MLS team, the Tampy Bay Mutiny. Paul scored the game's only goal as the Battery harvested its first MLS scalp and Paul was snatched up the following Monday morning by the Mutiny......who just happened to be coached by Tim Hankinson, the Battery's first coach and one of the Battery founders. And now one of Paul's students returns to Charleston. History has some interesting twists, eh?

Wow, great info JG...life's full of those little connections like that

If my memory serve me right, Paul Young was student at George Mason University and its Former Soccer Coach was... You guessed it, Mr. Tim Hankison. It all come around in full circle!

His profile lists Syracuse but maybe he was at GMU also.

Found the lineups for that TB match, check out some of these names:

CHARLESTON BATTERY - Bo Oshoniyi (John Mills 59), David Banks (Guy Norcott 50), Lee Hurst, Bob Rosario (Derrick Brownell 74), Todd Miller, Paul Young (Chad Carithers 62), Marco Ferruzzi (Jamie Posnanski 62), Darren Sawatzky, Paul Conway (Mike Anhaeuser 59), Mike Gailey, Jeremy Gunn (Toni Siikala)

SHOTS: 12 (Gailey 4); FOULS : 13 (Miller 5); SAVES: Oshoniyi 0, Mills 4; CORNER KICKS: 8; OFFSIDE: 2; CAUTIONS: Rosario 70; EJECTIONS: none

Tampa Bay Mutiny - Thomas Ravelli, Ian Eriksson, Mike Duhaney (RT Moore 45), Alan Prampin, Chris Houser (Sam George 63), Mauricio Ramos, Frank Yallop, Guillermo Jara (Evans Wise 83), Brian Loftin (Domminic Kinnear 59), Steve Ralston, Gilmar (Musa Shannon 45)

SHOTS: 13 (Ramos 4); FOULS : 10 (Houser 3); SAVES: Ravelli 5; CORNER KICKS: 7; OFFSIDE: 1; CAUTIONS: none; EJECTIONS: none

Makes me feel old just reading it...

Noted that Atlanta Silverbacks beat Village United 3-0 on April 10.

went to the US Jamaica match and spent a lot of time watching Omar on and off the ball. He did pretty great at the right back position. agressive tackles and clam on the ball. I think he will fit in nicely

mikey