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January 17, 2008
More about the Garcia deal, plus Cannon and Cochrane return to Buck Shaw
There's still a bit of buzz in the air from this week's acquisition of Nick Garcia from Kansas City, as evidenced by this story on MLSnet.com that details how the deal went down from the Kansas City side. Quakes fans, take note: By all accounts, this was a decision that was not made lightly by KC GM Peter Vermes. Garcia is the Wizards' all-time leader in games played, games started, and minutes, and has played his entire professional career there. (That makes him sound old, doesn't it? He's not — he's only 28.)
For his part, Garcia sounds excited about his new opportunity:
"I haven't had any experience with Frank before. I know I've heard nothing but great things about him from guys who played for him," said Garcia. "He is a total player's coach, and I think he will be a great asset for me and for San Jose to help us get back to San Jose's glory days of MLS Cup."Before the first incarnation of the club moved to Houston previous to the 2006 season, the Quakes won MLS Cup in 2001 and 2003 under Yallop's guidance.
"This is not a typical expansion scenario because you have a team that has been around before, you have coach who has [vast] experience. I see it as a team that is being built with veteran leadership and veteran players who have the experience to start off right of the bat," Garcia said, referring to players like Ryan Cochrane and goalkeeper Joe Cannon.
Speaking of Cochrane and Cannon, the weekly undergraduate newspaper of Santa Clara University checks in with the once and future Quakes, both of whom graduated from that institution. They're happy to be back, as they told writer Nicholas Pinkerton:
"I think coming back to the Bay Area is something special," said Cannon. "I want to uplift the legacy of the Bay Area and get it off on the right foot."
and
"It's exciting for the area," (Cochrane) said. "It's exciting to be one of those guys who gives back to San Jose."
Who knows who else is on the way to San Jose? ESPNsoccernet reports that U.S. midfielder Benny Feilhaber is ready to return and play in MLS, and we think the hero of the Gold Cup might look good in Earthquakes colors. (Come to think of it, we've had pretty good luck in the past with young U.S. internationals returning from bad experiences in Europe.) The Quakes also still have their second round pick in tomorrow's SuperDraft (don't forget the party), and there may be more trades on draft day. In any case, there are a lot of faces to be added to the roster before opening day.
Finally, we have one last item for you. SSV president Don Gagliardi was among the city council members, local big wigs, and other VIPs yesterday at Mayor Chuck Reed's "State of the City" speech. This annual address recaps the previous year and sets the agenda for the year to come, and was broadcast live on KLIV 1590. We'll let Don pick up the story from here:
At the end of a long litany of accomplishments, Mayor Reed said with gusto, to resounding applause, "...And the San Jose Earthquakes are back!"
Remember when San Jose had a mayor who couldn't even be bothered to show up at SSV's first fan rally? We sure do. Looks like those days are long gone!
Posted by Jay at January 17, 2008 08:53 AM