U.S. Soccer had been on the ground in Brazil, scouting club facilities well in advance of this time, and the nearly universal feedback was the Sao Paulo FC training ground was among the, if not the, best in the country. At 12:01 a.m., of the FIFA date, U.S. Soccer made their request, beating several other countries, all in line to jump at the chance to use this wonderful ground.
On off days, when the U.S. team is in Sao Paulo, there are generally press opportunities to meet with selected players and observe the first 15 minutes of each practice. Thursday was such a day, so I made my first visit to Sao Paulo FC, wanting to see for myself the source of these rave reviews.
As one can readily see, the U.S. has in no uncertain terms made this their home ground for the duration of the team's run in Brazil. Such visibility also comes with the attendant security each country receives from the Brazilian army and federal police.
Once one clears the obvious need for a security checkpoint, then turns into the training ground, the first impressions are strong. This is a beautiful training ground.
The field where the team trains has a good-sized grandstand and is a match field for scrimmages and the lower age group developmental teams. There are also two more full-size pitches, one with a nice shooting wall, which as a coach, I really like for interjecting some 'fun' into training.
The other amenities of the club are equally as nice. There is an outside patio, which overlooks the training pitches, and is perfect for the variety of entertaining, sponsor, and media functions, which go with running any successful club.
Once inside, the first thing one sees is the indoor 'recovery' pool, which is also suited for some soccer-related fun. Upstairs is a large press conference room, on a level with anything I ever experienced in the NFL, and an open area, outside the press conference room, for 'roundtable' interview situations.
It is in this open area the selected players for the day; Kyle Beckerman, Fabian Johnson, and Jermaine Jones held court with the media.
Straight from these sessions, the players hit the field to join the rest of the team in warmup running, stretching, juggling, and even sword play.
Once it is time to get down to work, Jurgen Klinsmann pulls the group together to give them their thoughts and topics for the day, then preparation for the next match, in this case, Portugal, begins. Can't really tell you anything about those preparations, as that's when the media is led back to their bus for the ride back to the hotel to file their stories and images.
One gets to stay behind, and that is my colleague, John Todd, who as owner of ISI, the official photo agency of U.S. Soccer, gets a different level of access than the rest of us. It is my privilege and honor for John to have selected me to help with ISI's coverage of this World Cup, and so far, I seem to be holding up OK, in all the ways previously discussed.
Tomorrow morning, Saturday, the Media Program groups leaves very early in the morning for Amazonia, the state where the host city of Manaus resides, and Portugal awaits.
All contents of this blog, written and photographic, are copyrighted 2014, all Rights Reserved, by Perry McIntyre - Atlanta, GA.
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