SAN JOSE, Calif. – Four soccer players from the San Jose Earthquakes’ Open Tryout will continue an improbable journey on Monday, Feb. 6, when they receive the chance to train with the club’s first team and earn a spot on the bus for an upcoming preseason trip to Southern California.
Hopefuls David Barnett (San Jose, Calif.), Devon Grousis (Fresno, Calif.), Moe Tagedlin (Rochester, Minn.) and Anthony Wuthrich (Neuchatel, Switzerland) were among 200 participants during the initial phase of the 2012 Open Tryout at the Mustang Soccer Complex in Danville, Calif. on Jan. 22. One week later, the foursome scrimmaged San Jose’s U-18 Youth Development Academy squad along with 15 other finalists, and now they will have the opportunity to join the club’s preseason training camp.
Barnett, Grousis, Tagedlin and Wuthrich will practice with the team at the Earthquakes Training Facility in San Jose on Monday for a single afternoon training session from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. If any of the four impresses the technical staff, they could find themselves on the bus for the Earthquakes’ 10-day trip to San Luis Obispo and Ventura starting on Feb. 9.
Barnett is a 25-year-old midfielder from Costa Mesa, Calif. After relocating from Southern California to the South Bay, he has played the past two seasons for Real San Jose of the National Premier Soccer League. He previously played for the Los Angeles Legends and the Southern California Seahorses of the United Soccer Leagues Premier Development League (PDL) in 2008 and 2009, respectively.
Barnett spent three years at Costa Mesa (Calif.) High School before graduating in 2004 from Bonita High School in La Verne, Calif. He played varsity soccer during all four of his prep seasons. Following a year off, Barnett spent two seasons each at Orange Coast College (2005-07) and NAIA Simpson University (2007-09) in Redding, Calif. He also attended the Quakes’ 2010 Open Tryout.
Grousis is a native of Fresno, Calif., who is currently playing for the Fresno Fuego of the PDL. The defender made 14 appearances for Fresno Pacific University in 2009, having previously attended Fresno City College. He graduated from San Joaquin Memorial High School in 2006.
A 6-foot-4 defender from Rochester, Minn., Tagedlin played three seasons from 2008-10 at Hamline University, an NCAA Division III program in Saint Paul, Minn. Prior to his time at Hamline, he spent 10 months training with a trio of clubs in Greece, including Atromitos FC and Egaleo FC. He was a member of the PDL’s now-defunct Rochester (Minn.) Thunder in 2009.
Wuthrich is from even further away than Tagedlin, in Neuchatel, Switzerland. He came to the Bay Area after hearing of the tryout from his aunt, and is staying with her in Oakland, Calif. The 22-year-old midfielder spent over nine years in the development system of his hometown team, Neuchatel Xamax, prior to leaving the club in 2010. He has since spent time at FC Le Mont in Lausanne, Switzerland, and had trial periods at Galway United FC in Ireland, as well as in England. His younger brother, Sébastien Wuthrich, plays professionally for FC Sion in Sion, Switzerland, and represents Switzerland at the U-21 level.
