FRISCO - The preseason is just four training sessions old, but Wednesday might’ve been the toughest day by far for the FC Dallas players in camp.
After basic dribbling and fundamentals over the first two sessions, Dallas broke out into the beginning of formation work late on Tuesday and to kick off Wednesday’s training, getting first glimpses at a new back line with Reggie Cannon and Anton Nedyalkov on the flanks.
“It’s exciting,” midfielder Victor Ulloa said of getting back into tactics. “I think we are trying to put our concepts back into play and refresh the mind a little bit to know that we are going to play a certain way and show that we have an identity.”
We have soccer happening to close out day two! pic.twitter.com/k6ICIGji4m
— Carter Baum (@CarterBaum) January 23, 2018
With the afternoon off, though, it was time for strength and conditioning coach Fabian Bazan to shine as the team wrapped up the lone session with 45 or so minutes of running and intensive cardio.
“We have Coach Fabian who knows a lot and we have to take advantage of it, knowing that these trainings benefit us a lot,” Maxi Urruti said acknowledging the rigorous day. “This is a long season and the most important thing is to stay solid, maintain the trainings at 100 percent and to stay united which is fundamental.”
“I think it’s real important, its going to establish our fitness for the rest of the year we are typically a team that runs a lot and we are physically very, very strong,” Victor Ulloa said. “We are working really hard, a lot of guys are happy about having the afternoon off but we are back at work tomorrow.”
Heading right back into two-a-days again on Thursday and with a closed scrimmage coming up over the weekend, how players spend their few hours of down time Wednesday afternoon are just as important.
“We’ve been doing difficult trainings twice a day, so recovery is very important for everyone on the team,” Urruti continued. “It’s fundamental that everyone recovers and know that whether it’s on or off the field we have to give everything our all.”
FC Dallas will continue the opening week of preseason with sessions Thursday at 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., as well as Friday at 9 a.m. Stay tuned to FCDallas.com for full coverage of the 2018 preseason.
