“It has been rough,” said Denissen. “Tying against Minnesota in their home stadium was a good result for us, but the home game in front of the great fans we had was not so good. Losing at home is always tough and it was not a good result. We have to just continue to fight hard and hopefully we can get our first win soon.”
The Scorpions, fresh off of that 2-0 loss to Tampa Bay in their Toyota Field home opener in front of a sellout crowd of 8,177, were able to take extra time to train during their recent bye week. With the team not having a game, they were able to take an extra couple of days to scrimmage, trying to figure out solutions to the problems that they find.
Players and coaches alike are able to take a good look at some of the mistakes that they made in their first two matches before taking the extra time during the bye week to correct those mistakes. Denissen was happy with the work the team put in during the last week.
“Its always good to have a bye week to get the squad into shape,” he said. “We played a lot of intra-squad games, which is a good way to get to know each other, change some things and to find loopholes in your game to fix.”
The Scorpions were able to unwind and recharge their batteries during the bye week as well. Following training on Saturday, the team took a trip to Scorpions owner, Gordon Hartman’s lake house where them and their loved ones enjoyed a relaxing day on the water.
“The day spent at Gordon’s lake house was great for the chemistry of the team and we really got a lot out of it,” said Denissen.
The Scorpions are currently training for their next match on Sunday, which takes them north of the border to take on Canadian side, FC Edmonton. Denissen says the new look Eddies will present a stern challenge to the Scorpions who are trying to pick up their first win of the season.
“Playing on the road is always tough,” he said. “FC Edmonton has a new staff, coach and players. They have changed a lot since last season, so it wont be easy going there. Every game in the NASL is a tough game. We don’t take anything for granted and we have to fight hard until the last minute to get the three points.”
While focusing on winning the match in Edmonton, Denissen continues the charity work that means so much to him in the form of STRAPS Soccer. Along with teammate, Sean Arters, Denissen continues to instruct and play with special needs children and military veterans on Wednesday nights at STAR Soccer Complex.
“STRAPS is going great. Everything is going well and a lot of kids are coming and volunteers are helping out which is awesome,” Denissen said. “Hopefully we can continue to build it up to be a great organization and a great event for kids with disabilities and for veterans who love to play soccer. Sean and I are doing it together this year and we always have a lot of fun with it. Hopefully we can get more people to STAR Soccer Complex on Wednesday nights for it.”
Make sure you catch Denissen and the rest of the Scorpions when they take on FC Edmonton this Sunday at 3:00 pm eastern time. You can follow the match live at twitter.com/SAScorpions or watch it by logging on to Ustream.com/NASL.
