Tuesday-Wednesday: Crewe, Newcastle Town, & Port Vale

Yesterday (Tuesday) morning, we trained with Crewe's reserve squad since the 1st team was away traveling to play at MK Dons. Apparently they were down 2-0 with 20 minutes left and came back to tie. field players and keepers warmed up separate form each other, but the keeper coach was traveling so it was just myself and the #3 and 4 keepers. The #4 isn't game fit, he just returned from shoulder surgery two weeks ago. Apparently he was the #1 before he got hurt. Anyway, the field players did a series of long ball and driving drills before we all joined up and played small sided games. Steve and I again showed that we can easily play with these guys, granted they're the reserves and I'm sure some of them are on their way out of the club at the end of the season. Nevertheless, we fit in fine. Afterwards, Ken had to run some errands so he dropped us off in Hanley, which is apparently the "downtown" type area of Stoke-on-Trent. With the great exchange rate, we went into a JJB (sports store) and bought some things for relatively cheap. Also we picked up a snack since we hadn't eaten at Crewe that day. Later on we had dinner at Ken's house before going to train with Newcastle Town. The food in England continues to be much better than it was the last time we were here. Newcastle had another "fun" practice, as I'm sure they will tomorrow since it is so late in the season. That seems to be the common theme with the clubs we're with except for Stoke, being in a relegation battle and all. We played some kind of chipping and juggling game, a small sides game with small goals, did a few shooting drills (which I was less than impressed with myself during) and finished up with some sprints. Everything was split into two teams of "young" and "old" guys. The dividing line was 23. That session was less than fun as well in terms of weather, cold, rain, and wind.

It was more of the same today when we trained with the academy team at Port Vale. The older guys had the day off, I guess they had a game last night too. There were a few of them out on the practice pitch doing some simple things, but only for a little while. The academy kids looked just like the ones at Stoke, maybe were even a bit bigger, but it was surprising the difference in the level of play. Not to talk trash, but the Port Vale kids weren't half as good as the Stoke city kids. Steve dominated the entire time we played in the midfield. He scored most of his team's goals while I had a slightly more difficult time in goal dealing with the freezing rain coming down hard and hard side winds as well. Not the best conditions to try and keep control of the ball. The youth team coach was hilarious, but not in a funny way. It will be a good story to tell the guys at home how he called the play "diabolical", twice, when it was sub-par at the beginning of practice.

di⋅a⋅bol⋅ic

 /ˌdaɪəˈbɒlɪk/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [dahy-uh-bol-ik] Show IPA –adjective

1.	having the qualities of a devil; devilish; fiendish; outrageously wicked: a diabolic plot.

2.	pertaining to or actuated by a devil.

Even still, I think he got the point across that the play was shite. Afterwards, we went in and showered and they gave us a suite overlooking the game pitch with some sandwiches and tea to wait for Kent o pick us up. Something similar about most stadiums we've seen so far: The stadiums and fields are all really nice, but the outsides of them are the ugliest sport venues I've ever seen. They look like...nothing, from the outside, some pieces of tin put together. But once inside, they're super nice and you just know that they're all filled with more history than most American sports franchises could ever hope for.

Tomorrow we train with Newcastle Town in the evening and finish up with Crewe on Friday before coming back on Sunday. Should be a pretty fun last two days, since Newcastle Town will probably just play for an hour on the turf pitch like last time and since they play again on Saturday, I'm sure Crewe will have another light day.

Steve is healthy for the most part, we're both just sore from playing on Crewe's practice pitch, which is surprisingly rock hard, despite the rain that the country has been getting. I continue to tape and play with my finger, which is still fat but all the bruising is gone. I think its broken, but there's nothing you can really do for it but give it rest. I'll do that when we go back to the States and I have to write the rest of my thesis.

Its become a little embarrassing for us to explain the American education/athletic system in the U.S. to the guys here. We're relatively old, being 21 and 22 and its almost a joke to them that we're trying to start playing pro now when they've been established for 3 years at least when they're 22-22. It's become pretty obvious to us why American soccer is so stunted in its growth and why more Americans don't play in Europe. But we'll get to that in some closing remarks at the end of the week.

S&B