Not a great first day at Red Bull training for Angulo

As you may have read by now in my Jose Angulo story from today's Herald News, Angulo trained with the Red Bulls today. Unfortunately, his training session didn't last very long.

After some warm-up drills and running Angulo walked off the field after about 45 minutes with blisters on both feet. The combination of super-hot temperatures on the turf field at Montclair State coupled with Angulo not having played in months resulted in a painful and quiet exit from practice.

I did find out that Angulo will be competing in a showcase tournament in Italy next month. He will be joining an area select team that will be competing in Rome in an event that many top European scouts will attend. It will be his chance to show what he can do and to secure a contract.

Now some of you might have been wondering about the Red Bulls' chances of landing Angulo if he wanted to stay home. Well, the chances aren't good. I spoke with MLS deputy commissioner Ivan Gazidis today and he basically stated that if the league were to sign Angulo he would have to go into a lottery, meaning Angulo wouldn't be assured of going to the Red Bulls. This will change soon, with the new player development initatives that are going to be kicking in next year, but Angulo was never a part of the Red Bull youth system so he wouldn't have been able to sign directly with the Red Bulls even under the new guidelines.

I wouldn't bet on Angulo seriously considering MLS at this point anyway. He has seen former teammates land deals in Europe and many observers, me included, believe he has more talent than any of them. Whether he can translate that talent into a successful pro career is remains to be seen.

As for some other tidbits. Yes, he wants to play for the US national team. He has a green card and has submitted an application for citizenship, which means he can travel out of the country while it is being processed. I talked to Angulo after training and he said he would try to come back on Thursday. I'll be there to let you all know how he does.

Comments

[Tim]

Jose,

I'm glad you want to play for the USA!!!

[Joamiq]

Ives, was Mariano Fernandez at training today?

[Mark]

Ives,

Why wouldn't the Red Bulls be able to use a discovery option on him if he's that talented and if there was interest on his part to play a few years with the team?

Wouldn't that circumvent the need for a lottery?

[Moibus]

Ives, just wanted to thank you for all the good reporting about young Mr. Angulo. I wish him the best of luck.

[N]

Anyone know how tall is Angulo? And how is his playing style? Adu like or Altidore like?

[Sean]

Uhh...how has a player of his caliber not played in months?