Baltimore, MD – Sixty players are registered to attend the Crystal Palace USA player combine/tryout which runs from February 22nd to 24th 2008. As expected, the Baltimore area is well represented in the pool of soccer talent that will descend upon UMBC this weekend. Hopefuls from many other parts of the USA will be there too, but players from places as far afield as England, France, Canada, Bolivia, Brazil, Cameroon, Nigeria, Uganda, Malaysia and even Nepal are also making the journey to Baltimore, hoping to make their mark.
“We’re expecting some of the top free agents and amateur soccer talent to join us for our combine,” said Pete Medd, Club President & Co-Manager. “We’re excited about the opportunity and we take this process very seriously. We had massive success from our combine last year”
“Realistically, we’re looking to fill one or two roster spots” explained Jim Cherneski, Crystal Palace USA Sporting Director & Co-Manager. “We lost only two of our last 16 games in 2007 and with the core of those players returning, we feel very confident going into the new season.”
In advance of their inaugural season in 2007, Crystal Palace USA held a similar player combine and ended up signing a total of four players as a result of the weekend tryouts. One of the four – Shintaro Harada – had flown all the way from Japan, dreaming of the chance to play for Crystal Palace. By the end of an impressive 2007 season, Harada was voted onto the USL-2's All-League 2nd Team of the Year. All four of the successful trialists saw action during the 2007 season, while three of them suited up against Crystal Palace’s parent club in the UK at the highly-publicized friendly, played at legendary Selhurst Park in October 2007.
The squad is scheduled to be finalized and begin pre-season preparations by March 1st, 2008. The regular season starts on Friday April 25th, 2008. |
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