By Ridge Mahoney
Senior Editor
Preseason is for experimentation, and what a team looks like and where a player plays in March sometimes has no bearing on what transpires after that. A revolving door of non-roster players and invited trialists — the Galaxy, to name one team, has players on trial this week from China and England — further muddies the proceedings, and teams that head overseas invariably bring in a few local prospects.
Still, such tweaking is worth noting. Here’s a few examples:
JACK OF A FEW TRADES. For the past four seasons, Kansas City midfielder Jack Jewsbury has been popping up in various spots. He’s started about half of his MLS appearances (41 of 81), and after netting four goals in 2005, bagged only one last season, yet contributed three assists and started 19 of 28 games. Jewsbury was taken in the fifth round (No. 43 overall) of the 2003 SuperDraft, which no longer even has a fifth round.
So what does new head coach Curt Onalfo do? Veteran Alex Zotinca, who played holding mid as well as right back, was traded during the offseason and Jewsbury gets a long look at the corner spot. Nick Garcia has played a lot of right back in his MLS career, yet Onalfo likes him in the middle with Jimmy Conrad.
“Jack’s done very well there,” said Onalfo. “He’s a good player. You look at the back line, think about this: [Jose] Burciaga, Garcia, Conrad, Jewsbury. They’re all close to six-foot if not. Add Eddie Johnson to the mix, and Davy Arnaud, we have a pretty big team and set pieces look pretty good, also. Jack is very good on those occasions.”
He wouldn’t be the first attack-minded player converted to outside back in MLS. Chris Albright (Galaxy) and Bobby Rhine (Dallas) are just two examples. Onalfo will test Kansas City’s first selection in this year’s SuperDraft, Michael Harrington (North Carolina), in midfield as well as left back. Harrington was with the U.S. under-23s in Japan but traveled with the Wizards to Argentina.
“Michael Harrington is guy that’s versatile, he can really play anywhere along the back line, but he’s better outside and he can also play as a left midfielder,” says Onalfo. “We’ll be trying him there in the next couple weeks, but he’s done very well.”
Of course, every drafted player who hasn’t been cut at this point of the preseason has done “very well.” But, remember, it’s still March.
RAPID MOVEMENT. Another team out of the country is Colorado, which is spending the next two weeks in Spain, where much of Fernando Clavijo‘s tinkering will be on the left side of midfield.
Last year, injuries prompted Clavijo to use rookie Jacob Peterson at left mid for much of the season. A forward – and top scorer in the country – while at Indiana, he played 28 games, scored four goals and bagged three assists.
“He did well for us there,” says midfielder Kyle Beckerman, who himself registered a career-high total of seven goals and made his U.S. debut in the 3-1 win over Denmark Jan. 20. “We asked a lot of Jacob Peterson last year, and Dan Gargan, and Hunter Freeman, young guys who are doing well and helping us. We needed it last year and we’re going to need it this year.”
Clavijo has used Herculez Gomez, a forward during last two previous seasons with the Galaxy, at left mid and wants to give 20-year-old Costa Rican Yherland MacDonald a long look as well. Clavijo is also integrating defender Ugo Ihemelu, acquired along with Gomez from Los Angeles in the Joe Cannon trade, left back Greg Vanney (from Dallas) and keeper Zach Thornton (ex-Chicago).
“We have a core group of guys who’ve been together, this is the third year under Fernando,” says Beckerman. “We’ve picked up some good guys in the offseason. Now we have to work hard this last month of the preseason so we can get off to a good start.”