Rochester Thunder Release Roster and Ready Themselves for Inaugural Game

Neil Cassidy, head coach for the Rochester Thunder of the Premier Development League (PDL) returned my call on Tuesday within a minute or two of the conclusion of the Manchester United vs Arsenal Champions League game. (Manchester United defeated Arsenal 3-1, sending them into the final.) Knowing that Cassidy is a huge Man U fan, I asked him if he had just finished watching the game. Watching the game was evidently not in the cards this year for a very busy Cassidy as he was working on his computer, preparing team information and following the game on Soccernet’s Gamecast. The English native is finding he needs to wear many hats as the head coach of a newly formed PDL team. As if that isn’t enough, he remains the Director of Coaching for the Rochester Youth Soccer Association.  Throughout all the craziness of starting a team, Cassidy has retained his sense of humor. “There are several Arsenal supporters on the roster (Rochester Thunder) and after the win today I’m looking forward to giving the players a good bit of schtick as an ice breaker tonight,” said Cassidy with a laugh, as he prepared for the team’s first practice on Tuesday evening.

Just days away from their inaugural game on Saturday, at Des Moines as the team play the Menace, and a little more than a week away from the Friday, May 15th home opener against the Colorado Foxes, Cassidy says things are starting to get exciting in Rochester. “We now have a nearly full roster and we have radio ads, billboards around town and the local newspaper here is doing a full front page story on the team in Friday’s edition,” said Cassidy.

Neil Cassidy

Cassidy said with colleges finishing at various times, it makes it difficult to get a full roster of players out for practice at this time of year. College and universities can have up to a 6 week difference in ending dates with some institutions on quarters and others on semesters. “We’ll have 14 of our 21 players here tonight because of that,” said Cassidy. “There’s another 5 that are going to be coming in at various times and will be on trial.”

I asked the new PDL coach what style of play fans might see if they come to watch the team. “The good thing about being in this position versus being a youth coach — with a youth coach you’ve got a bunch of players and you have to pick a system to fit the players,” Said Cassidy. “With this (PDL) team we had a system in mind and we fit the players to the system.”

He quickly admitted the team’s formation. “We’ll be playing a 4-4-2, maybe a 4-5-1 depending on the teams we’re playing and the opposition’s strengths and weaknesses,” stated Cassidy. “If we’re away from home and we’re tied and only have 10 or 15 minutes left we’ll drop someone back into midfield to shore up the midfield. There’s lots of different scenarios like that.  We only have 3 practices before our first game. It’s going to be tough! We’ll probably introduce the guys tonight and then do some possession stuff. We’re going to be playing a possession style of play. It’s not going to be kick it and hold — not that traditional English style,” he said with a laugh. “We’re going to be building from the back and we’re going to be playing soccer like soccer is supposed to be played.”

I asked Cassidy for 3 key players on the team. He hesitated and then remarked with some exasperation, “At the minute it’s tough to say. The reason why is I’ve not seen them all play together yet. Two weeks down the line I’ll have a really good sense of who is going to be important, but on paper they all look great,” said Cassidy. When he was pressed to answer what makes a good player Cassidy concluded, “The ability to gel together as a team is what makes a very good player.”

As the team heads to Des Moines to face the Menace, Cassidy said the job will not be easy as some teams have been established for quite a while and the players already know each other. He said, “I’m hearing that Des Moines is pulling in four Brazilian players. We will see!”

Click here for another article from the Rochester Post Bulletin on Frank Spaeth, business director for the Rochester Thunder