By DAN KARELL
After spending a week training with the New York Cosmos in a bid to improve his fitness while on vacation in the area, former Portuguese international forward Nuno Gomes looks set to depart back to Portugal.
However, after training on Thursday, Cosmos head coach Giovanni Savarese hinted that there’s a chance Gomes wouldn’t be gone for long, especially after the impression he seems to have left on the players and coaching staff
“He’s a great guy,” Savarese said. “He surprised all of us for being such a good spirit and he’s been working.
“He came here only to train, to be fitter, but we always said that if he can help us, maybe we can analyze him. That’s something that we can do right now, to see if we can do anything building up for the future and keep him here.”
Savarese cautioned however that Gomes, who wasn’t made available for interviews following practice, has some options back home in Portugal, and would likely be leaving the Cosmos either on Thursday or Friday.
Here are some more notes from Cosmos training on Thursday:
GORSKIE SUFFERS INJURY, STATUS UNKNOWN
During the first half of a full field intra-squad scrimmage starting Cosmos defender Hunter Gorskie limped off the field with an injury to his right leg, and stayed on the sidelines the rest of practice.
Savarese didn’t know the extent of the injury following practice but stressed that he didn’t want to speculate until the medical staff went through their tests and received the results. As such, it’s unknown yet whether Gorskie will be available for selection on Sunday when the Cosmos face the Tampa Bay Rowdies.
“I want to make sure before we say anything that we know exactly what (injury) he has,” Savarese said. “Definitely it wasn’t something that looked very good, but we’ll see what happens. Hopefully it’s nothing too serious because he’s an important part of the team.”
Gorskie, in his first season as a professional after four years at Stanford University, has played in each of the Cosmos eight matches so far this season, playing everywhere from centerback, to left back, and last week, right back.
GUENZATTI NEEDS TO BE MORE MATURE
For the second time this season, Sebastian Guenzatti will be unavailable for a Cosmos game due to a red card suspension.
Guenzatti was shown a second yellow card for a late challenge in the 90st minute of the match, reducing the Cosmos to ten players as they held on to defeat the Fort Lauderdale Strikers last Saturday, 2-0.
While Savarese said that he’s not very concerned with two red cards accumulated to Guenzatti in only six matches played, he did admit that maturity on the pitch is one area where the 22-year-old midfielder still needs to grow.
“He’s young,” Savarese said. “There needs to be a little more sense of maturity to not be in that position to get the red card the way he did.”
At the same time, the Cosmos head coach was quick to defend his player, saying that he thought the referee misunderstood the situation that saw the Cosmos reduced to ten men for the second match in a row.
OTHER NEWS AND NOTES:
- Forward Alessandro Noselli continued to train on the side of the field on Thursday as he continues to rehab from a hamstring injury. Savarese hinted that he may be included in more of the team drills in Friday’s training.
- Savarese said he and the coaching staff are very pleased with what Roversio has brought to the Cosmos backline, quickly gelling with Carlos Mendes and forming a partnership that hasn’t allowed a goal in two games.
- Savarese said that he was proud of the performances recently of younger players like Guenzatti and Diomar Diaz, not just for scoring goals but also working hard defensively all over the field.
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What do you think of these notes? Do you see the Cosmos signing Gomes? Worried about Gorskie’s injury? Do you believe that Guenzatti can mature more during the rest of the season?
Share your thoughts below.