in fo venant de :
ttp://soundercentral.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=354&mode=&order=0&thold=0
Plus de photos:
Sounder Owner/GM Adrian Hanauer's trip to MLS Cup 2006 in Dallas led to a connection that has a group of French players in town for tryouts.
Adrian Hanauer met Paul Durant at the 2006 MLS Cup Final in Dallas, Texas. Their meeting formed a connection that may pay dividends for the 2007 Seattle Sounders. Durant's son Guillaume brought Mikael Kerleau into the story, and it is Kerleau who has accompanied the French players who are in Seattle right now at a special Sounders invitation-only tryout week. Many of them are involved with French side FC Lorient.
On March 7th at Starfire Sports Complex the visiting Frenchmen and other trialists played shortened matches against some early turnout Sounders and upper level youth from Sounders coach Brian Schmetzer's Emerald City FC team. The games revealed that all of the trialists have skills that could help Seattle. Some stood out above the rest, but all showed why they have played professionally in other parts of the country and the world.
Chris Eylander, Roger Levesque, Santa Rivera, Kevin Sakuda, Noah Merl (resting an ankle), Nate Boyden, and Jake Besagno represented the returning Sounders. They had support from former Timber Aaron Heinzen, local youth star Ciaran O'brien, and SPU forward and 2007 Portland Timbers draft pick Colin Rigby.
It was a challenge to get all of the names of the trialists, though the ones we spoke to were friendly and talkative. The player who shone best on the night was defender Sebastian Le Toux. His patience, heading ability, foot skills and marking were all first rate. Also impressing was Cedric Vanoukia, who was often referred to as "that guy who looks like Tony Parker." Bada Lorie took a spill in the second match and his inury looks to be fairly serious, perhaps an Achilles tendon tear. Jose Reitz and Milton Blanco had their moments in the middle, as did Chuck Kim. Simon Deleveau was solid. Forward Ramo Badahoun of Togo (lumped into the French group due to his recent play there and the countries' intertwined histories) was a delight to visit with, but his best asset---his speed---failed to get much of a display on the night. Sergei Raad was full of pep in the middle. Forward Andre Schmid was adequate with the ball, but perhaps lacked pace and possession skills. In the final short match the Sounders fell 1-0 to the trialists.