Fire in Florida

Chicago-Fire.com announced the release of 6 more trialists (10 total) and added 8. Let's take a look at the players making their way to Florida for Phase 2 of preseason training:

Trialists from Phase 1 remaining:

Paraskevas Pantazopoulos - 22 year old forward, winner of the open tryout.

Fabian Burbano Castillo - As rumored from Colombian Envigado FC. 19 year old striker/wing midfielder with 3 goals scored in 17 appearances. Also notably received 4 yellow cards.

Mike Videira - 25 year old midfielder from AC St. Louis. Drafted in the second round of the 2008 MLS Superdraft by New England. Made 12 appearances for the Revolution and 8 for St Louis last year.

Martin Rivas - 19 year old midfielder from Argentina. Preselected for tryouts with Boca Juniors, Lanus, Independiente. Previous tryouts with Philadelphia Union and DC United.

Yoximar Granados Mosquera - 18 year old speedy right back from Colombian Postobón (Escuela Carlos Sarmiento Lora). 

Michael Muniz - 21 year old California born center back from Mexican D2 Bravos de Nuevo Laredo. Has played for the Mexico U-20 National squad.

Eric Ustruck - 26 year old defender waived by Houston Dynamo, joined FC Tampa Bay in April. 5 apperances in 2010.

Alec Dufty - 23 year old goalkeeper from AC St. Louis. With the 3 goalkeeper requirement, the recent release of Dykstra (Klopas citing age), and the release of Glaeser, Dufty looks to have a great chance to take one of the 7-8 remaining roster spots.

Draftees from Phase 1 remaining:

Amani Walker - 21 year old forward drafted #9 in supplemental draft from UC Irvine

Jason Herrick - 23 year old forward drafted #45 in superdraft from Maryland (Elmhurst, IL native)

Davis Paul - 22 year old forward drafted #51 in superdraft from Cal

Sam Arthur - 21 year old forward drafted #45 in supplemental draft from South Carolina

New Trialists Joining:

Shane Clark - 23 year old English born midfielder from Boston United but most experience with Lincoln City. He had 68 appearances for Lincoln City in the last three seasons. Lincoln City has had a poor run the last few seasons, struggling to avoid relegation to League 3.

Gabriel Ferrari - 22 year old American striker and product of the MetroStars youth system, captained the U-16 team that won the North American Championship. Skipped college to join Sampdoria but has been loaned out each season. Came on as a substitute against Inter Milan in a 2007 Italian cup match, otherwise no Serie A caps. Most recently from Swiss club Wohlen. 4 caps and 3 goals for the US U-20 team in 07-08.

Jordan Seabrook - 23 year old American forward from Crystal Palace Baltimore. 1 cap for the US U-20 team in 2006. Selected 51st overall in the 2009 SuperDraft by Colorado but ended up in the USL D2 instead. 3 goals in 20 appearances for Crystal Palace in 2009. 6 appearances in 2010. Old Video on his journey to Maryland.

Evan Schwarz - 23 year old right back from USL D1 Dayton Dutch Lions. Formerly played for Chicago Fire Super 20. Experience in Iceland where he worked his way from D3 to D1 but moved back to U.S. after injury. In Dayton he displayed "attacking prowess" from the right back position garnering MLS interest.

Joachim Bendu - no information found

Orr Barouch - Video 1 Video 2 Young Midfielder from Chivas USA Youth roster, part of "Discover Europe" tour.

+2 unnamed trialists

Current Roster

20 Currently Signed + 1 pending International striker

Looks like the Fire are trying to fill 7-8 more roster spots from this group. The emphasis on youth continues.

Dufty is the only GK left on trial and the Fire still have one GK spot to fill so he seems like a lock unless another big signing comes in.

Walker has shown well in camp and seems to be a favorite to make it out of camp. I am also trusting the international striker signing will come through eventually.

That leaves about 5 spots up in the air and I give an advantage to those who made the cut from Phase 1 over the newcomers. Still a lot of names for so few spots.

Interesting that there seems to be some interest in filling the right back position between Schwarz and Mosquera.

The positional makeup of the remaining trialists/draftees: 1GK, 4D (2RB), 5M, 7F, 3?

Current roster makeup: 2GK, 8D, 7-8M, 2-3F. They are obviously looking to add more depth at the top.

I expect the final roster distribution to look something like this: 3GK, 10D, 10M, 5F. If DLC was looking for a similar distribution, he would need to add Dufty, 2 defenders (1RB and 1CB?), 2 midfielders, and 3 strikers. That would mean about half the players remaining at each position would be kept. Any guesses on who makes the cut?