Reporter Phil Collin filed this update for today’s newspaper.

Phil also offered up these bonus quotes

Here’s LD on the quality of this year’s new pickups:

“The benefit of having guys like Chad (Barrett) and Adam (Cristman) and Juan Pablo (Angel) and now Miguel (Lopez) is you have guys who can pull off plays on their own so you don’t have to depend on David (Beckham) making a killer pass or me pulling off a play. We have guys who can score goals on their own and that’s going to help us a lot.”

Here’s Coach Bruce Arena on the role of now player-coach Gregg Berhalter:

“It doesn’t change (him) as a player. The coaching end of it we’re going to wean him into it a little bit.

“He’s very eager, he wants to do everything. I think he wants to build a new stadium as well. He’s doing it all, he’s cleaning the bathrooms, he wants to do everything, he thinks he can do everything.

“We’re going to ask him to primarily be a player but obviously he’s contributing on the field in a coaching capacity as well. We want to position him post-playing career. He’s a guy that wants to coach and he’s getting a taste of it and it’s something that suits him well.”

Lastly, here’s Arena continuing to rationalize David Beckham’s absence in camp and presence in England:

“One thing he needed, he needed a break. He worked real hard just to get back on the field last year coming off the Achilles’ injury and I think he needed some time away from the game. He also needed a slow build-up into the season and I think he’s getting that.”