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February 29, 2008

SSV letter to MLS Board of Governors well received

When the Earthquakes took to the field after a two-year hiatus earlier this month, it was an opportunity for us all to pinch ourselves to make sure that we weren't dreaming. Sure enough, we're not — two years after the team was uprooted and moved to Houston, the Earthquakes are back.

This occasion inspired SSV's past president, Colin McCarthy, to write a letter to MLS Commissioner Don Garber and the members of the league's Board of Governors. It was mailed mid-month and we have been told that it was very well received.

The text is below. If you'd like to see the letter itself, a PDF is available here.

Congratulations to everyone on the return of our team.

Dear Commissioner Garber and MLS Directors:

We at Soccer Silicon Valley write to you on behalf of Earthquakes fans, MLS fans, and soccer fans to thank you for bringing the San Jose Earthquakes back to San Jose.

MLS is to be credited for preserving the team's championship history and name. It is to be lauded for reintroducing the team to San Jose and the Bay Area. Lew Wolff and his partner John Fisher will make excellent additions to the MLS Board of Governors. Under their guidance, it will not be long before the Earthquakes are hoisting their third MLS Cup.

Special recognition should be given to Mr. Garber for his commitment to this market. He had the vision and dedication to continue the fight when others might have given up on the market.

On behalf of all Bay Area soccer players and the members of Soccer Silicon Valley, "Thank you."

Yours in Soccer,

The SSV Board:
Colin McCarthy, past president
Don Gagliardi current president
Jay Hipps, vice president
John Jussen
Mike Turco
Freddy Adames
David Chamberlain
Lori Hibbett
Ned Zuparko

Posted by Jay at 02:42 PM | Comments (2)

Press covers the O'Brien deal

As various media outlets cover San Jose's signing of Ronnie O'Brien, there are some more details emerging. Grahame Jones of the L.A. Times has the scoop, saying that the Quakes paid "$300,000 in allocation money," in addition to their first pick in the 2009 SuperDraft, for the Irishman.

Speaking Ireland, Eleven-a-Side.com, billed as "The Irish Soccer Web Site," got this quote about the cash-and-a-draft-pick deal from Toronto GM Mo Johnston for their story:

“Obviously, it frees up some salary cap space. It gives us an opportunity for next year to go into the draft with a couple of first-round picks.”

Uh, yeah. Obviously.

Fortunately, the Canadian press is providing better analysis of the trade than Johnston is. The Toronto Star breaks down the deal from Toronto's perspective, which entails painting O'Brien as being one bad tackle away from lifelong disability and hoping the Quakes are as bad an expansion team as Toronto was, neither of which seem very likely to us. The Toronto Globe & Mail strikes a similar tone, with Johnston adding that O'Brien's April, 2007 knee injury "was a major factor in the deal." Canadian sports site Goal.com quotes Johnston as saying, "I think we were on the brink of maybe something happening to him. It's a big, big gamble."

Either it's a miracle O'Brien passed his physical or Johnston is doing his best to justify the sale of one of his team's best players — our guess is it's the latter.

Finally, we just wanted to remind everyone that the SSV Annual Meeting is taking place on Saturday from noon to 2:00 at the Britannia Arms Downtown in San Jose. There will be a Q and A with the SSV board as well as plenty of information about the new SSV Community Foundation. We're also auctioning off 14 tickets to a suite at the Oakland McAfee Coliseum for Sunday's match between the Mexico and Australia Olympic teams, with opening bids starting at just $25, less than half their normal price. The match is officially sold out, so bid early and often!

Finally, Quakes goalkeeper Joe Cannon has updated his blog on the Quakes' web site with stories about the team's trip to San Luis Obispo.

Posted by Jay at 08:24 AM | Comments (0)

February 28, 2008

Mercury News confirms O'Brien deal

As we reported here yesterday, Toronto FC right midfielder Ronnie O'Brien is set to become a San Jose Earthquake. Today, Mercury News reporter Elliott Almond has the details.

O'Brien, a right midfielder, joins his second expansion team in two seasons, coming from Toronto FC for an undisclosed sum of money and the Quakes' top draft pick in 2009. He passed a physical in the Bay Area on Wednesday and is expected to practice with the team today at Stanford.

Almond's story goes into many other issues so it's our recommended reading for the day. A close second is the San Francisco Chronicle story that reveals that there was a special visitor to a recent Oakland A's practice: new FC Bayern (AKA Bayern Munich) coach Juergen Klinsmann. Klinsi wasn't there for the baseball, though: He was there to pick Billy Beane's brain.

"I've read about the approach Billy has with this team and the way they've put things together based on different information, so I'm taking the opportunity to see how he does it," (Klinsmann said).

Beane is interested in finding statistical models that can help soccer teams evaluate talent, much the way the A's have used stats to target players to draft and sign. Beane has talked to several Premier League officials, among other soccer bigwigs, about combining resources to find inequities in the market that might be exploited. Because the A's ownership group also controls Major League Soccer's San Jose franchise (an enterprise that will involve Beane somewhat), any findings would benefit the Earthquakes.

Beane downplayed his soccer knowledge, but he said, "There's a metric for every business that corresponds to winning. There's no silver bullet - you're just trying to increase your probabilities" of winning.

The Quakes aren't yet at the point where they're likely to benefit from these sorts of conversations, but we sure like their ambition. Klinsi, remember us if you have a young star whose ready to go out on loan!

UPDATE: Just as we posted this, the press release announcing O'Brien's acquisition arrived. Here it is:

San Jose Earthquakes Acquire Midfielder Ronnie O’Brien

San Jose, Calif. – The San Jose Earthquakes announced today the team has acquired midfielder Ronnie O’Brien from Toronto FC in exchange for a first round draft pick in the 2009 MLS SuperDraft and allocation money.

“Ronnie O’Brien adds a proven offensive threat to our team,” stated John Doyle General Manager of Soccer Operations of the San Jose Earthquakes. “He has a great engine with a mind to go forward. His attacking mentality will keep opposing defenses honest and create a lot of opportunities for us.”

During his six years playing in MLS, O’Brien has played 114 regular season games and seven post season games. He has scored 12 goals and recorded 39 assists. For his efforts, he has participated in the MLS All-Star game four times and been named to the MLS Best XI team twice. O’Brien also has international experience playing for the Ireland U-18, U-19 and U-21 National Teams, winning the European Championship with the U-18 side.

Last season in 2007 O’Brien started 13 games for Toronto FC making his appearance on May 12 against Chicago and taking part in team’s first ever victory. He started the 2007 MLS All-Star that faced Celtic in Colorado playing 80 minutes before being subbed off L.A. Galaxy legend Cobi Jones.

The native of Bray, Ireland made the all-star team three consecutive seasons from 2004-2006, while earning MLS Best XI honors in 2004 and 2005. His best year came in 2005 when he netted six goals and had 12 assists for Dallas. He was the only player in MLS to reach double figures in assists all three of those seasons, finishing second in the league in assists all three years.

He signed with Dallas midway through the 2002 seasons and played 11 games, scoring two goals and recording two assists to help them reach the playoffs that season. His 2003 season was wiped out after breaking his tibia just three games into the season. He returned to play the final three matches of the year. He scored one goal that season.

O’Brien played in Europe from 1999-2002. He spent the 2001-02 season with Dundee United in Scotland, playing in 13 matches and scoring one goal. In 1999 he played for Juventus in preseason games and one InterToto match, entering in the 77th minute of Juventus' 5-1 in over Russian club Rostselmaschl on April. He trained with players like Zinedine Zidane, Alessandro Del Piero and Edgar Davids. He was then loaned to to Lugano in Switzerland for six months, Crotone in Italy's Serie C for six months, and Lecco also in Italy's Serie C.

Posted by Jay at 12:56 PM | Comments (0)

February 27, 2008

O'Brien spotted in San Jose

Toronto FC's Mo Johnston may not be talking about Ronnie O'Brien's move to San Jose, but a visitor to the Earthquakes' offices today saw the midfielder there, meeting with the John Doyle and Frank Yallop. We're guessing he's not out here to enjoy the great weather, so it's safe to say that all signs point to O'Brien becoming the newest Quake.

Forwards, start practicing your headers — there should be a lot of good crosses headed your way.

Posted by Jay at 03:54 PM | Comments (4)

Johnston refuses comment on potential O'Brien trade

This morning, the Earthquakes are still at one Ronnie and counting.

Despite the well-sourced rumors that midfielder Ronnie O'Brien was on his way to San Jose, Toronto FC's director of football Mo Johnston refused to comment on any deal yesterday. The Toronto Sun quotes Johnston as saying, "Ronnie has a signed contract here for this season. There's no other comment on Ronnie." His sentiments were echoed in the National Post.

Stay tuned...

Posted by Jay at 07:49 AM | Comments (0)

February 25, 2008

Quakes to play Timbers in March 28 exhibition

Earthquakes defender Ryan Cochrane has had one homecoming already recently, leaving Houston to return to San Jose, his old stomping grounds as a student athlete at Santa Clara. He'll have a second on March 28 as the Quakes take on his home town side, the Portland Timbers, at the University of Portland's Clive Charles Soccer Complex. The match kicks off at 7:30 p.m.

Tickets go on sale March 3 at the UP box office, local Ticketmaster outlets, and online at ticketmaster.com. A special $6 youth ticket is available for children under 18 years of age. For groups of 15 or more, contact Beth Connell at (503) 943-7245 to take advantage of special discounts on tickets.

The San Jose Earthquakes announced today that the club will face the USL First Division Portland Timbers on Friday, March 28, 2008 at the University of Portland's Clive Charles Soccer Complex. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. PT.

The Earthquakes have faced the Timbers three times in franchise history and lead the overall series 2-

Posted by Jay at 03:44 PM | Comments (0)

February 24, 2008

Quakes tie DC in final Central Coast match

The Quakes and DC United played to a scoreless draw this afternoon in San Luis Obispo. There's a full match report at GoPoly.com.

Posted by Jay at 07:19 PM | Comments (0)

February 23, 2008

Kamara bags a pair in win over Crew

It's always entertaining to see a player go up against his former team — it usually brings out their best or their worst. New Quake Kei Kamara fits into the former category, scoring twice against Columbus in a 2-1 victory, the team's first pre-season win against an MLS side.

We weren't at the game but the local press was all over it. The Santa Maria Times spoke with Kamara and fellow forward Gavin Glinton for their match report, and San Luis Obispo Tribune writer Brian Milne covers the game and also asks if the Central Coast could support a PDL team.

The Tribune story also mentions that Takayuki Suzuki scored for the Quakes against Cal Poly on Wednesday. Suzuki is on trial with the team and he's got a pretty impressive resume. Let's hope his performances are good, too — depth at forward is a good thing.

Posted by Jay at 10:08 AM | Comments (0)

February 22, 2008

Quakes news update

A few observant fans noticed former Quakes midfielder Ronnie Ekelund on the sidelines at the team's recent exhibitions. We've inquired with our sources at the Quakes and, while nothing is official yet, it looks like Ekelund is likely to be an assistant with the team this year.

We think this is a great development. Ekelund always had great skill on the ball, and his stints at some of the best teams in the world (including Barcelona) have no doubt exposed him to some great coaching techniques.

We also asked about player acquisitions but there's no news on that front at present. MLS teams must be have initial rosters set and be in salary cap compliance by March 1, so we expect it to be a busy week.

Posted by Jay at 05:23 PM | Comments (0)

February 21, 2008

Witt omits important facts from stadium analysis

It's no secret to readers of the blog that we haven't been particularly pleased with the slanted coverage of the proposed stadium deal that Mercury News reporter Barry Witt has been providing. It's been months since Witt had anything to say on the subject, but he's back again today with more of his usual half-baked analysis with a story headlined, "San Jose's soccer stadium dilemma."

What's the dilemma, you ask? Here's how Witt balances it out:

Take the worst of all those projections and you have a $1.1 million general fund loss, a $5.4 million gain to the city's redevelopment agency, and a nearly $50 million annual boost to San Jose's economy. That doesn't sound like much of a dilemma to us, but any question of the benefits of the proposal disappear completely with a more thorough analysis.

Consider this. The City of San Jose is currently paying $7 million annually from its general fund for the purchase of the FMC site, a blighted property next to the airport which is slated for development of the soccer stadium as well as hotels, office/R&D, and retail space, all as part of the proposed stadium deal. Lew Wolff has already agreed to purchase the FMC site at fair market value as part of the Airport West proposal. Getting out from under those payments alone more than makes up for any projected general fund loss from the Edenvale rezoning!

So let's do the math ourselves:

Add that up, and you have an annual contribution to the general fund of $5.9 million to $6.9 million, $5.4 million to $6.5 million going to the redevelopment agency, and an annual economic impact averaging about $55 million. Those are all positive numbers.

San Jose faces no dilemma, no matter how much Barry Witt wishes otherwise. Lew Wolff's stadium proposal is a boon to San Jose's citizens and government, not to mention Northern California's soccer fans. Fortunately, no one seems to be buying into Witt's arguments, as demonstrated by the Merc's own online poll on the subject. Current tally of those supporting the stadium proposal: 38 votes yes, 4 no.

Posted by Jay at 09:25 AM | Comments (4)

February 20, 2008

More highlights from Saturday and another new face in camp

While the big daily newspapers are only beginning to bring their soccer coverage up to par, the smaller papers are taking the lead.

Monday's Hollister Freelance features a story by Scott Adams (no, not that one) with a recap of Saturday's match with comments from Quakes' EVP David Alioto.

The Santa Cruz Sentinel focuses on a meeting of former Slugs that took place last Wednesday night when Adam Smarte took the field for the Quakes against Houston's Steven Wondolowski.

When Wondolowski's former UCSC teammate and roommate, Adam Smarte, entered the game... it marked the first time anyone at UCSC can remember two Slugs taking the field opposite each other as professionals.

"It was exciting," Smarte said. "I didn't get in until fairly late in both games. But it was a good atmosphere, a lot of people. It meant a lot to me."

Neither player registered a goal, an assist or a shot on goal [Wondolowski's brother, Chris, assisted on Houston's goal]. But while their names are little more than afterthoughts in a preseason box score for even the most avid fans, the importance of the moment wasn't lost on Smarte.

"You know, we're a D-III school," Smarte said of UCSC. "There's not a lot of exposure. So to see that we're playing at the highest level you can in the U.S., it's pretty cool to look across the field and see my teammate at the same level as I am, doing what we want to do. You can't beat that. It was one of the best feelings that I had."

Finally, there's word that Trinidad & Tobago youngster Hayden Tinto is on trial with the Quakes this week.

Posted by Jay at 09:24 AM | Comments (4)

February 18, 2008

Weekend wrap-up

We've been seeing the words "frigid Kezar Stadium" in the press accounts of Saturday's scoreless draw between the Quakes and Dynamo, and all we can say is that those people are lucky they didn't attend any California Victory matches last May or June. The temperature at those games was about the same as we saw Saturday night, but Quakes fans didn't get to experience the misty fog or bone-chilling winds that Victory fans endured.

Victory fans also endured a sieve-like defense, and it's looking like that is something that Quakes fans will avoid as well. In two matches against the defending champs — who, we will admit, are now missing the departed Joseph Ngwenya and Nate Jaqua — San Jose only allowed one goal, and that came on a scramble in the box after a botched set-piece. That's impressive for a team that's been together all of two weeks.

Where the Quakes' goals will come from remains a bit of a mystery, but Jeff Carlisle has a clue in his story on MLSnet.com:

After the game, general manager John Doyle disclosed that the Quakes are close to signing Argentinean forward Federico Arias. The 28-year-old has played with Rosario Central and Velez Sarsfield in Argentina, and also endured a forgettable five-month stint in 2003 with then-English Premier League side Southampton in which he failed to make a first-team appearance. Arias is expected to sign once he successfully passes a physical.

Thanks to his spell at Southampton, there's a fair bit of info about Arias available online. This BBC story from 2003 tells us that his nickname Arias' nickname is Torpedo, he has "explosive" speed over 20 meters, he can play on either flank, and Saints scout Terry Cooper said, "He has two excellent feet. I watched him three times and could not tell which was his best. He is a great crosser of the ball too. He gets his head up and picks people out."

You can also read about Arias' arrival and departure from Southampton on the team's own site.

According to Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America, the Quakes have a second trialist in camp from Argentina: Marco Marlon. We're having a harder time tracking down info on him so if you've got anything, please pass it along.

There's also a match report in the Mercury News and one in the Chronicle, although writer Tom FitzGerald commits the sin of asking Quakes coach Frank Yallop about David Beckham. (Let it go, Tom — if you play your cards right, you'll get to talk to Becks himself soon enough.)

Jonah Freedman also covers the game in his blog for Sports Illustrated, and also throws in this little nugget about the Earthquakes' plans to host Galaxy matches in the Oakland McAfee Coliseum:

Sources within the Galaxy organization are seething over what they see as an unfair homefield advantage for their Northern California rivals -- at full soccer capacity, McAfee can hold around 45,000 fans.

We think the last people to complain about anything being unfair are the Galaxy brass, but maybe that's just us. (No, we're pretty sure it's not just us, actually.)

Finally, Embele Awipi talks to returning hometown hero Ramiro Corrales in his weekly column for the Salinas Californian. Corrales is also interviewed by Awipi in the Center Line Soccer video you see below. (If you don't see it, try this link to Google Video.) Center Line Soccer's Harvey Rañola also does a great job of capturing some highlights from the match, and there's also a short interview with members of the 1906 Ultras, a Quakes supporters' group.

Posted by Jay at 08:42 AM | Comments (0)

February 15, 2008

Soccer America covers Quakes

The MLS regular season is inching closer and, with games scheduled tomorrow in San Francisco and next weekend in San Luis Obispo, we're starting to get some opportunities to see for ourselves how the team is shaping up.

So is Soccer America's Ridge Mahoney, who takes a look at the Quakes this week in his MLS team preview series. Mahoney talks about this week's signing of Ramiro Corrales with both the player himself and coach Frank Yallop, and also queries the head man on some of the trialists at camp, including former Rapid Fabrice Noel. Yallop also states that he is looking forward to the opportunity to poach some players dropped from other MLS teams on March 1, the deadline for roster and salary cap compliance in MLS. (Normally, the idea of picking up castoffs from other clubs wouldn't be very exciting, but in light of Yallop's past successes with players like Brian Ching, Brian Mullan, and Craig Waibel, we've got our fingers crossed that Yallop can find some more rough diamonds in the mix.)

Mahoney is one of the best MLS writers around and provides some good info in today's story, so it's well worth a read.

Posted by Jay at 09:04 AM | Comments (0)

February 14, 2008

Corrales signing official

As we reported here yesterday, the Quakes have signed Ramiro Corrales from Brann of the Norwegian first division via Houston. The team made it official today and have issued a press release. It should be available at the Quakes' web site soon, but until then, here's an excerpt:

“We brought Ramiro back to the Earthquakes because he is an elite player and very versatile” stated John Doyle, General Manager of Soccer Operations of the San Jose Earthquakes. “I have known Ramiro since he was 17 and I have watched him mature and become a great professional.”

During his 11 years playing professional soccer Corrales played in the MLS and the Norwegian League. He has also represented the US National team on different occasions.

“I am very happy to be back in San Jose and be playing for Frank Yallop again” stated Ramiro Corrales, midfielder for the San Jose Earthquakes. “I want to win more championships with the Earthquakes and I look forward to playing in front of my hometown fans.”

Posted by Jay at 02:39 PM | Comments (0)

Quakes/Dynamo match wrap-up

UPDATE: Jeff Carlisle's match report is available on MLSnet.com.

Despite the over 3,000 people in attendance, last night's game between the Quakes and the Houston Dynamo had the feel of a much more personal event. At the beginning, no one quite knew what to make of the reunion of the extended Quakes family since the players on the opposing team were more familiar than their counterparts on the home team. That changed by the end of the first half, with the new Quakes showing enough spark and potential to rally the fans behind them. Shea Salinas showed why he was selected in the SuperDraft as he demonstrated his quickness and skill on the ball. Kei Kamara showed he could turn on a defender to get off a shot. Nick Garcia showed his speed and veteran savvy in shutting down numerous Dynamo attacks. Granted, there wasn't a lot of great soccer being played, but everyone was happy to see the beautiful game again in San Jose and to see so many familiar faces, both on the field and in the stands.

* * *

The folks at CenterLineSoccer.com have forwarded another video, this time a post-game report from last night's exhibition with the Dynamo. Combined with yesterday's pre-game program, it's pretty impressive output for a web site that doesn't even launch for another six weeks. (Full disclosure: I'm going to be working with them as well.)

Joining Harvey Rañola on camera is Embele Awipi, known to readers of the blog as the star columnist of the Salinas Californian. Together, they interview the Quakes' Gavin Glinton, Dynamo coach Dominic Kinnear, Dynamo and Canada midfielder Dwayne De Rosario, and current Quakes trialist and former California Victory forward Yuri Morales.

You can find the video below. If that doesn't work for whatever reason, you can find it here on Google Video.

One question: Barry Manilow?

* * *

There are a number of media reports about the Quakes today, thanks to last night's exhibition and, as first reported here, the acquisition of Ramiro Corrales.

Mercury News reporter Elliott Almond provides a match report and a story on the return of Corrales. The Houston Chronicle's Bernardo Fallas also has a story on the Corrales deal.

* * *

Finally, former Quake Jamie Clark has been named head coach of Harvard's men's soccer. Clark was with the Quakes in 1999 and 2000, starting 27 matches and appearing in another seven as a sub. He has spent the last two seasons as assistant coach to his father, former Stanford coach Bobby Clark, at Notre Dame. Before his stint at Notre Dame, he worked as an assistant to coach Jeremy Fishbein for four seasons at New Mexico.

Now, on with the show...

Posted by Jay at 06:26 AM | Comments (0)

February 13, 2008

Houston 1, Quakes 0

We'll have more on this tomorrow. In the meantime, here's the press release from the Quakes about the game.

The San Jose Earthquakes officially made their on-field return to the Bay Area on Wednesday night at PAL Stadium in a 1-0 loss to the Houston Dynamo. Ricardo Clark scored the game’s only goal to give the defending MLS Cup Champions the victory over the home team.

The Dynamo struck for their goal just before halftime after a scramble in front of the net. Dwayne De Rosario served a ball in the box for Chris Wondolowski, who knocked the ball across the goalmouth. Clark got free from the defense and drove a shot past Quakes goalkeeper Joe Cannon and into the back of the net.

Down 1-0, the Earthquakes came out and applied some pressure to attempt to get back into the game.

In the 58th minute, rookie Shea Salinas had a great opportunity to tie the game for the Quakes. Ivan Guerrero sent a cross into the box that was headed down by Taylor Graham before being deflected to the top of the box. Salinas ripped a low shot that was smothered by Dynamo goalkeeper Tony Caig.

Matt Taylor nearly evened the score for the Quakes in the 72nd minute on a free kick. Taylor lined up the free kick from the 22 yards out and ripped a low shot to the near post. Caig dove to his right to make the save and keep the Dynamo in front

With 10 minutes left, Yuri Morales cracked a volley that appeared headed for the back of the net, but Caig leapt to tip the ball over the bar. The play started with a free kick from the right wing. The knock down came to Morales and he unloaded a volley that nearly tied the game.

A minute later, the Dynamo’s James Georgeff got free behind the Earthquakes defense and tested Burpo with a low shot to the near post. Burpo stood his ground and then dove to his left to make the save.

The Quakes and Dynamo play a second exhibition game on Saturday, Feb. 16 at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco. The match kicks off at 7 p.m. PT. To purchase tickets, call (408) 556-7700 or log on to sjearthquakes.com.

Quotes:
Earthquakes head coach Frank Yallop, on game: “It was a good start for us. The guys put forth a good effort and we created some good chances to score, especially in the second half.”

Yallop, on team: “We have a solid core right now and we need to keep building. I am happy with where we are at right now and we just need to keep getting better from here.”


Major League Soccer Preseason
Houston Dynamo 1, San Jose Earthquakes 0
San Jose, Calif.; PAL Stadium
Attendance: 3,182

Lineups
HOU – GK Pat Onstad (Tony Caig, 46th), D Patrick Ianni, D Eddie Robinson (Stephen Wondolowski, 64th), D Bobby Boswell (Mike Chabala), M Stuart Holden (Jeremy Barlow, 64th), M Richard Mulrooney (Nick Hatzke, 64th), M Ricardo Clark (Geoff Cameron, 46th), M Dwayne De Rosario (John Michael Hayden, 64th), M Corey Ashe (Johnny Alcaraz, 64th), F Brian Ching (Erik Ustruck, 64th), F Chirs Wondolowski (James Georgeff, 64th).

SJ – GK Joe Cannon (Preston Burpo, 46th), D James Riley (Chris Roner, 64th), D Nick Garcia (Taylor Graham, 46th), D Jason Hernandez (Jay Ayres, 64th), D Chris Pozniak (Greg Curry, 64th) (Robert Sandoval, 75th), M Shea Salinas (Adam Smarte, M Joe Vide (Eric Denton, 46th), M Ned Grabavoy (Fabrice Noel, 64th), M Ivan Guerrero (Tim Bohnenkamp, 64th), F Gavin Glinton (Yuri Morales, 46th), F Kei Kamara (Matt Taylor, 64th).


Scoring Summary
HOU – Clark (Wondolowski, C., De Rosario), 44th.

Cautions/Ejections
HOU - Jeremy Barlow (yellow), 74th.

Statistics
Shots: HOU – 15, SJ – 13
Shots on Goal: HOU – 5, SJ – 5
Saves: HOU – 5, SJ – 4
Fouls: HOU – 14, SJ – 11
Corners: HOU – 4, SJ – 5
Offside: HOU – 5, SJ - 0

Posted by Jay at 10:49 PM | Comments (0)

Quakes acquire Corrales

We've just been informed that the Quakes have acquired Salinas native Ramiro Corrales, who will be making his third stint with the team. Corrales, 30, was in San Jose in '96 and '97 and won two MLS Cups with the Quakes during his second stretch, 2001-2004.

Corrales has been playing in Scandinavia and won the Norwegian championship last year with Brann.

The Quakes paid an undisclosed amount of cash to buy out his contract with Brann and to acquire his rights from the Houston Dynamo.

Corrales is noted for his versatility and can play at left back, left mid, and defensive mid.

Welcome back, Ramiro!

Posted by Jay at 10:20 AM | Comments (0)

Video reports from yesterday's practice

Harvey Rañola of centerlinesoccer.com has sent a link to his fifteen-minute video report from yesterday's practice, which we proudly present here. Included are interviews with John Doyle, Frank Yallop, and Joe Cannon.

Center Line is a web site which will provide in-depth coverage of the Quakes. It is expected to debut in late March.

Posted by Jay at 07:25 AM | Comments (0)

February 12, 2008

A report from today's practice

UPDATE: Look, Mom — there's pictures, too!

Every once in a while, you have to get out there yourself and see what's up. So, rather than supply readers with our usual compendium of Quakes-related stories that have appeared elsewhere, we headed out to the team's practice this morning at PAL Stadium in San Jose to find out the latest.

If we do say so ourselves, we succeeded and then some. Here's a brief rundown of what's happening:

That's it for now. We should have some photos online later today and some video tomorrow, including interviews with Doyle, Coach Frank Yallop, and goalkeeper Joe Cannon.

Posted by Jay at 04:45 PM | Comments (5)

February 11, 2008

Two Salinas stories

It's going to be a fun week for Earthquakes fans. The team takes the field twice this week, in San Jose on Wednesday night and in San Francisco on Saturday night, and we're looking forward to seeing, finally, the names we've read so often come to life on the field. Granted, the new Quakes have had only days to jell while Houston has had years, but with Nate Jaqua and Joseph Ngwenya both departing for Austria recently, the Quakes may actually have more forwards. (The Dynamo also traded Zach Wells, so San Jose may have more goalkeepers, too.)

It's not game day just yet, though, and today we've got two Salinas-related stories.

The first comes from Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America, who says that Earthquakes fans may soon see Salinas native Ramiro Corrales in blue and black:

Several sources confirm former MetroStar and San Jose defender/midfielder Ramiro Corrales is headed back to MLS from Norwegian champion SK Brann. Corrales left MLS as a free agent following the 2004 season. His MLS rights are still held by Houston, which retains players who were under contract to the old San Jose team before it headed east. However, a source confirms that San Jose and Houston have already worked out a deal to switch Corrales' rights to the new Earthquakes.

Our second Salinas story is biographic, not geographic. Embele Awipi's weekly column in the Salinas Californian focuses on Quakes draft pick Shea Salinas, whose knowledge of the California town that bears his name comes from the Internet:

"I do a Google search and Salinas pops up a lot," he said. "I've heard of the Salinas Valley and the wines that come from there, but I've never been."

Salinas also talks about growing up in Texas, digging post holes, and adapting to his new life in MLS. A good read and worthy of a click.

Posted by Jay at 06:05 AM | Comments (0)

February 07, 2008

Quakes release 2008 schedule

It's time to break out your calendar — the 2008 schedule has arrived.

If you'd like to see how well Microsoft Word's "Save as a web page" feature works, you can see the schedule online here.

If you'd prefer to download the original Word document instead, it's right here.

One thing to note: Every game will be broadcast en español on KLOK, 1170 on your AM dial.

Some other observations:

So there you have it. Now you can start scheduling all that other, less important stuff in your life like work, vacations, and so forth.

Posted by Jay at 10:10 AM | Comments (3)

February 06, 2008

New and improved Quakes web site is online

The big news today is that the Earthquakes have a new web site! New features include pages on stadiums, supporters' groups, and a blog entry from Joe Cannon.

Actually, the other big news today is the U.S./Mexico match in Houston. It's live on ESPN2, but according to Melissa at The Offside, the place to be is Mad Dog in the Fog in San Francisco. Hmm... sounds like a good idea, especially since we at the blog were planning on going there, too.

Posted by Jay at 03:36 PM | Comments (1)

SSV member meeting scheduled for March 1

In case we have any readers who aren't signed up to receive e-mail from SSV, we wanted to let everyone know that SSV's annual meeting will take place on Saturday, March 1 from noon to 2:00 p.m. on the patio at the Britannia Arms Downtown in San Jose.

The main item on the agenda is to introduce everyone to the new SSV Community Foundation. Don Gagliardi will be on hand to provide an overview of the foundation's goals, the programs we'd like to pursue, and ways that you can participate in this grand endeavor to allow soccer fans from throughout Northern California to give something back to the Beautiful Game. This is a way every Earthquakes fan can feel "part of the team." The SSV Community Foundation will organically continue the collaboration between the Earthquakes and the fans which SSV has developed over the past few years. With all of your help, Earthquakes fans can be part of what we consider the most exciting relationship between a major professional sports club and its fans in America. And along the way we will do lots of good for the community. Talk about win-win!

We'll also be open for general questions. Please make every effort to be there if you can.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Posted by Jay at 11:25 AM | Comments (0)

February 05, 2008

Quakes news wrap

We've been busy lately with a project that readers of the blog will find quite interesting, so we're going to keep it short and sweet today. Here's the latest:

In other news, former Quake Junior Agogo is Ghana's hero at the African Cup of Nations, San Jose State's Ismael Ibarra was drafted by the California Cougars, and the team of investors pursuing an MLS expansion team for Philadephia have nailed down their stadium financing, which makes them the strongest candidate for 2010.

Posted by Jay at 07:57 AM | Comments (2)