{"id":31267,"date":"2015-02-01T16:50:32","date_gmt":"2015-02-01T21:50:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=31267"},"modified":"2015-02-01T16:50:32","modified_gmt":"2015-02-01T21:50:32","slug":"fenelus-aims-to-sharpen-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=31267","title":{"rendered":"Fenelus Aims to Sharpen Game"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo<\/a>

Photo credit: Cal State Fullerton Athletics<\/p><\/div>\n

Soccer is often called a game of mistakes. The team that makes the fewest typically prevails. The same could also be said about aspiring prospects, at least according to Revolution draft pick Marc Fenelus.<\/p>\n

After joining the club\u2019s preseason camp 10 days ago, the 2015 third-round pick (47th overall) has quickly learned what it\u2019ll take for a trialist like himself to make the cut.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to play with a faster pace,\u201d Fenelus told nesoccertoday.com<\/em> via phone on Saturday. \u201cYou have to get used to the system, and make each play. You cannot make a lot of mistakes; you have to make (fewer) mistakes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cutting down on the missteps is, perhaps, the biggest difference between the college game and top-flight football. The stakes are simply too high \u2013 especially for those trying to earn a pro contract \u2013 to be sloppy. And MLS coaches aren’t known for their patience.<\/p>\n

But don\u2019t be fooled. The 22-year-old midfielder\/forward isn\u2019t approaching camp everyday with caution or concern. By no means. The way the Cal State Fullerton prospect sees it, he couldn\u2019t have come to a better situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really like the (Revolution\u2019s system) because this is how I love to play; get possession and pass the ball,\u201d Fenelus said. \u201cSo I\u2019ve trying to get really close to the guys to know the way that they play, and just keep doing what I\u2019ve already been doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

You\u2019d be hard-pressed to fault him from sticking to what he knows. At Fullerton,\u00a0he scored a team-high seven goals and added two assists last season. The Titan senior was subsequently invited to the 2015 MLS Caribbean Combine, where he caught the eye of the Revolution technical staff.<\/p>\n

\u201cI actually had an interview with them, and they really seemed to like me,\u201d Fenelus said. \u201cSo I was excited when they drafted me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Excited once the news sank in, that is. Initially, the sole member of the 2015 Revolution draft class was in shock when he got the call from coach Jay Heaps advising of his selection.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe told me, \u2018Hey Marc, we just drafted you,\u2019\u201d Fenelus said, \u201cand I mean I was like, \u2018Really?\u2019, and they said, \u2018Yeah, and we want you to come to camp as soon as possible.\u2019 It was really an exciting moment for me, and I just couldn\u2019t wait to be there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once he arrived, Fenelus told the coaching staff he was willing to play anywhere they needed him. Given his speed and dribbling abilities, he\u2019s trained and played as a central attacking midfielder, as well as out on the wing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m pretty comfortable out anywhere,\u201d Fenelus said. \u201cI\u2019ve played in a lot of different formations before, so it doesn\u2019t really matter to me, whether it\u2019s as an attacking mid, as an eight, or anywhere else.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Saturday\u2019s first preseason scrimmage, Fenelus came on at the half, and went 45 minutes in the central midfield. He may not have scribbled his name on the scoresheet or unleashed a killer assist, but Fenelus was pleased with what he was able to accomplish nonetheless.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was really great,\u201d Fenelus said. \u201cI just kept passing the ball, and got a lot of touches on the ball, and made some plays.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Fenelus is hoping that mistakes won\u2019t plague him during the preseason, he\u2019s focused on another important objective that\u2019s just as crucial to making the final cut.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about how you want to fit in the system,\u201d Fenelus said. \u201cYou want to work hard, and you want to learn from the guys who\u2019ve been there before. That\u2019s what I\u2019m trying to do: learn from the guys, and just learn from their experience, and just make sure I\u2019m on the right page with them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Revs draft pick Marc Fenelus knows he’ll have to step his game up to make the cut this winter. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":31269,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[3],"tags":[891,953,49,888,892],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nesoccertoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Fenelus-1.png?fit=600%2C415","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31267"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31267"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31267\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31274,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31267\/revisions\/31274"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/31269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}