Article Contributed on: 2/20/2007 6:07:26 PM
Hello Fans,
I am writing you from our 5-star hotel in Pachuca, Mexico. We arrived in Mexico City on Friday evening and then enjoyed a 2 hour bus ride from the airport to Pachuca. Once at the hotel we were greeted with a delicious meal and a nice bed, both of which were welcomed with open arms.
Over the weekend we had double sessions, at 10am and 4pm. The morning sessions were with our new fitness coach Hector. The words fitness coach are never good to a players ears because that means lots of running is involved! But things have been good with our new Profe, the altitude here is a little below 8,000 feet, so we are getting fit. Our afternoon sessions have been playing, small sided and 11 v 11. All the guys seem to be enjoying themselves and there is a good spirit surrounding the team. Aside, from training we eat and sleep, with the occasional game of cards thrown in there.
One of the unique things we have done is gone to watch Pachuca play Pumas. The game ended in a 0-0 tie, but to see and hear the fans chanting and singing the entire game was something special. The game itself was pretty entertaining with some good soccer and counter attacks being played.
As a side note, Mike Petke just walked by and he sends his regards to all the fans and hopes to see everyone out there on April 7th! What a nice guy he is!
Today, we had our first game against someone other than ourselves, its always nice to kick someone other than your teammates. Our opponents were a local University team. The Rapids were victorious by a score of 5-1. It was a good first game in which everyone played. We played three 30 min periods with everyone getting in at least 30 mins of work and a few luck players who got to go 60.
The team is feeling good and is excited for our dinner tonight, which takes place at an Argentine steak house. We went to this restaurant last year and to say it was delicious would be an understatement.
We have another double session on Wednesday and then a game on Thursday. I will be back later this week to let you all know how things are coming along!