Lets talk UCLA Men's Soccer Shall We?

by OldSage on May 24, 2009 1:55 PM PDT

Soccer America ranks the 2009 Recruiting Class as the No. 3 class in the nation.

College Soccer News gives the same class as 4 1/2 star (5 being the highest) rank.

Here's a link to a podcast to last week's interview with Head Coach Jorge Salcedo that discusses the recruiting class, the out of conference schedule, last year's early exit from the NCAA tourney, etc.

Click to hear

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of BruinsNation's (BN) editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of BN's editors.

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Lets!

The high ranking in the recruiting class is not surprise. We are always one of the tops in the country. We really need to stop with the slow starts that we have become acustomed to under Salcedo. You can play great the end of the season, but it still kills us in seeding for the tournament. I don’t know what the problem was last year’s slow start. Maybe rye knows as he was able to see some games.

On another note the USMNT annouced the roster for the upcoming qualifiers. Four Bruins were named to the roster. Carlos Bocanegro, Frankie Hejduk, Benny Feilhaber and Jonathan Bornstein. Carlos and Frankie should be in the starting XI. I think Jonathan should be there too they way he is playing right now for Chivas, but he didn’t even get into the game against T&T. Benny is coming back from injury and hasn’t seeing PT with his club so I can’t see him in the starting XI.

by makenji on May 24, 2009 3:51 PM PDT reply actions

Slow starts and the injury bug

Interesting point on the slow starts in recent years. Seems like each year, the Bruin team’s start has been hampered by a slew of injuries. I would hope this isn’t the result of over-use in the preseason but rather the result of mere bad luck. If from over-use/training, hopefully the staff recognizes the same and tweaks their approach to strike a better/smarter balance between preparing the players, allowing for regeneration and avoiding the injury bug to enable the Bruin team at least the chance to open the season with a healthy roster.

What I find encouraging is that a fair number of the incoming recruits have a track record of winning. The 2009 Bruin roster, with the addition of Raynr and Roman will now have a fair number of players from the Real So Cal team that won three national youth titles. By my count, that would be five (Cummings/Zerrenner/Vasquez) former Real So Cal players from that team.

As for Amobi, he’s in a class by himself. Gale Abogdussomde still appears to be a long-shot but I am hearing if he doesn’t sign a professional contract, he may stay on the east coast (UCONN??) and compete for his school close to his family in Syracuse.

Nice to see our Bruin alums wearing the National badge. Really thrilled to see Benny back in the mix.

by OldSage on May 25, 2009 9:10 AM PDT up reply actions