Carlos Diaz, the 20 year old player from Napa, who has played for the Seals for the past two seasons has trained all week with the Blackpool first team (Blackpool plays in the Championship) and even played in a match against Bolton behind closed doors. Carlos came over a few days earlier to prepare for the tryout which was pre-arranged to the start of the camp. News will follow.

Chris Harris, an East Bay player who played for the US National Team, will arrive on Saturday. Chris is still 17 years old. He attended Seals training sessions at USF in December and so impressed us that we spoke with local pro representatives. They are looking forward to seeing Chris who is still a candidate for professional academies. News will follow.

Kevin Gravelot has been a surprise in a couple ways. Kevin is a french player who found us through the internet and requested a tryout. He's quickly picking up the language and can now say "wazzup" We're learning a few French words as well. He paid his way to England from Paris and has perfored very well in the first two camp sessions. He is suprisingly skilled, clever, quick and has very good open field speed. A pro representative was out to watch the Hopwood game just because of our comments on Kevin's first two sessions. However, Kevin didn't perform nearly as effectively on a full field. It was an interesting observation showing that what happens on small fields may not apply to the larger. He'll get another opportunity.

Rawley Masaniai has been a standout in camp sesssions and the game. Rawley was probably the most influential player on the pitch against Hopwood because of his tremendous range and his improving ability to distribute the ball. Rawley has earned a tryout with a professional side and we will update later.

Andy Taylor, a local player from Liverpool who grew up playing with Rooney of Man U, was a pleasant surpise on the large field. Andy wasn't nearly as impressive on the smaller training field but when game time came vs. Hopwood he was consistently strong as a central defender which isn't even his first position. His efforts have earned him an invitation to the Seals team this coming Spring.

Carl Lomax, who hails from Bury, was another standout among the British lads (we're modifying our dictionary on a daily basis). Carl comes from quite the football family with two close relatives playing at the EPL and Championship level. His clean and simple play, his ability to hold the ball and turn on defenders, as well as his finishing have earned him an invitation to play with the Seals for 2008. He's a roofer in real life and we know there's plenty roofing to be done in San Francisco. More to follow on this story as we look to arrange for Carl's move to SF for the 2008 season.

The Seals take a trip to Liverpool to watch Everton - Man City, on Sunday (1/13/08) at 12:00 Noon to be followed by a trip to the Bolton - Blackburn game at the Reebok stadium, and Monday (time tba) which may be followed by a quick departure to London because we have obtained tickets to the Chelsea-Tottenham match, courtesy of Lorrie Fair (thank you Lorrie). Lorrie is Chelsea's representative to the United States program for developoment of their image and brand in our country

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