Wednesday, June 13, 2023St George's Park — Training Pitch9:00 AM
The possession drill started the same way Tuesday's had — three teams of eight, forty-by-thirty grid, two-touch maximum, press from the middle — but the difference was in the first touch.
The ball came to him from Gallagher at the edge of the grid with Rice closing from six yards, and his touch directed it inside immediately, clean and weighted, before Rice arrived, and Rice's momentum carried him past the space where the ball had been and he had to reset.
The second time Rice pressed him the Press Resistant trait did what it was built to do — when the pressure arrived his body shielded the ball with the instinct of someone who had done it ten thousand times rather than someone remembering a technique, and the pass to Gallagher came out of the shield without needing an extra touch.
