The sky was cloudy, the grass was green and the air was chilly today at Sylvan Lake Park. The lines were freshly painted and the new balls were fully inflated.
For the first time this year, the players and coaches made the two-minute walk from the clubhouse to the pitch.
Preseason 2017 is underway.
“Looked a lot like the first day of preseason training. Rough around the edges,” head coach Jason Kreis said. “The guys put in a good shift, though. Everybody worked hard.”
New faces mingled with old ones as the Lions jogged around in their new training kits. After a three-month break, Kreis and City GM Niki Budalic put together a squad that, while still a work in progress, is stronger than ever before. On a team laden with veterans, one face stuck out from the rest – even though it isn’t a new one.
“Went well. Started easy. Building up to it,” Pierre Da Silva said after his first training session as a member of the First Team. It was hardly his first time training with the MLSers, though.
Da Silva was a regular call-up from Orlando City B last year, his creativity and pace too much to waste even on the training grounds. He was signed to a First Team contract last Friday and became the first Academy to OCB to MLS signing in Club history.
As proud as everyone is about that, he’s still the youngest guy on the team, and he knows it. The rookie’s humble demeanor stirred memories of another rookie a few years back – one that’s given the Club countless other moments of pride.
That one spoke just before Da Silva did, two years older and wiser.
“It was a lot of football today, high intensity football,” Cyle Larin said. The now bearded striker somehow simultaneously bulked up and trimmed down after an offseason filled with workouts with head fitness coach Dave McKay.
Larin shattered the rookie scoring record with 17 goals en route to Rookie of the Year honors. He followed it up with 14 goals and 3 assists in 2016, sending the soccer world into a speculative storm over his future in football. Larin has acknowledged the promising predictions but quickly hushed any talk of leaving any time soon.
“I have more team goals than personal ones,” he said today.
When Larin burst onto the scene he was a raw, uber-talented project that quickly turned into the team’s No. 1 target up top. Da Silva, with his U.S. youth national team success and sky-high ceiling, has a chance to do the same. But Kreis is in no hurry.
“Now, it’s about putting the work in to reach that potential,” Kreis said. “That’s not going to be a short-term gain. For us, that’s a long-term project.”
On Day 1, it’s safe to say most things are long-term projects. But in Year 3, one goal is of pressing urgency.
Getting there will just take some time.
