Quakes lose Riley in Expansion Draft

The San Jose Earthquakes lost defender James Riley to Seattle in Wednesday’s expansion draft. Now manager Frank Yallop has one more item to add to his offseason shopping list. Read more…

Kirovski returns to L.A., expansion draft lists released

Just a couple quick items today:

- Jovan Kirovski, who appeared in nine games for the Quakes last year while pulling down the third-highest salary on the team ($220,000, according to the MLS Players Union), was traded to the L.A. Galaxy yesterday for  a conditional pick in the 2010 Supplemental Draft. Kirovski, who will be 33 when the season kicks off next year, did not score for San Jose.

- The Quakes have released their list of protected players for tomorrow’s expansion draft, in which Seattle will pick one player from 10 of the league’s 14 teams. There weren’t a lot of surprises on the list, although the rules regarding foreign players — San Jose was required to protect  three of their four senior internationals — means that Ronnie O’Brien will be exposed instead of either Scott Sealy or Francisco Lima, both of whom have suggested that they wish to ply their trade in another league.

San Jose’s protected players are:

Alvarez, Arturo- midfielder
Cannon, Joe - goalkeeper
Cochrane, Ryan - defender
Corrales, Ramiro - midfielder
Garcia, Nick - defender
Hernandez, Jason - defender
Huckerby, Darren - midfielder
Johnson, Ryan    - forward
Lima, Francisco - midfielder
Salinas, Shea - midfielder
Sealy, Scott - forward

And here are the unprotected players:

Arce, Miguel - forward
Ayres, Jay - defender
Cunliffe, John - forward
Denton, Eric - defender
Ghebru, Michael - midfielder/forward
Glinton, Gavin - forward
Grabavoy, Ned - midfielder
Gray, Kelly - defender/midfielder
Gustavson, Michael - goalkeeper
Hatzke, Matt - defender
O’Brien, Ronnie - midfielder
Riley, James - defender
Roberts, Jamil - defender
Smarte, Adam - forward
Somma, Davide - forward

To which can be added: “Move along, Seattle. These aren’t the droids you’re looking for.”

A complete list of the players who could find themselves Seattle property on Wednesday is available on MLSnet.com.

- Finally, here are some shots of the Quakes’ Darren Huckerby training with Lowestoft Town, where he’s working to keep up his fitness in the offseason. It should also be noted that Lowestoft Town is sponsoring a Disco Night on Friday, so if you’re up for a quick transatlantic flight, you head out to the LTFC Social Club and join in the chants of “Let’s all have a disco.”

Warriors, on the field and in the parking lot at Home Depot Center

The Solar Powered Soccer Blog mobile unit was on hand yesterday in Carson for MLS Cup. Here are some scenes from the Crew’s first MLS Cup championship:

- Before the match, the Hejduk clan was out in full force, near an encampment of Crew fans at the edge of the parking lot. Frankie’s mom and aunt were grabbing anyone who walked by and inviting them to help themselves to the prodigious spread that was laid out behind their cars: fried chicken, homemade brownies, and — at Frankie’s insistence — the Columbus favorite, bratwurst. When thanked for his family’s generosity later, Frankie explained that the name “Hejduk,” in its original language, means “warrior.” “That’s us,” he said. “I’m a warrior on the field and she’s a warrior at the tailgate.”  (Full disclosure: the brats and brownies were delicious.)

- The Manhattan Beach Hyatt Hotel, temporary headquarters for the Crew, was the setting for the team’s post-game celebration. The scene would have been familiar to any Earthquakes fan who was fortunate enough to have attended the festivities following the ‘01 and ‘03 MLS Cup victories. Players and coaches grinning with their friends and families were there, of course, but so were a ton of supporters. Sigi Schmid was surrounded by well-wishers, congratulating him for both his victory and the enormous plate of crow he simultaneously served up to the Galaxy brass. (”It’s a very emotional moment for me winning the game here in L.A. in front of family and friends and, to be honest, in a town I was fired in,” he told the L.A. Times. “So it meant an awful lot.”) Guillermo Barros Schelotto was there and so was his twin brother Gustavo, which was good for some double-takes from people who didn’t realize he had a twin.

The new trophy was there, too, along with the Supporters’ Shield, and once the players had their chance to get their photos taken with the cup, the fans took their turn. Friends posed in groups or alone with the cup, some holding it triumphantly over their heads while others opted for the rare shot with MLS Cup in one arm and the Shield in the other. It’s times like those that the unique bond between MLS teams and their supporters really shines, and everyone who was there knew it was an occasion to be savored. “Can you imagine Philly fans being invited to pose with the World Series trophy after they won it last month?” a fan observed. “That would never happen.”

The presence of thousands of Crew fans in the north end of Home Depot Center even played into the team’s strategy, according to Steve Sirk, a Columbus journalist who has covered the Crew for years.  “They won the coin toss, so they set it up so they’d be attacking the north end in the second half, just like they do at home,” he said. “They wanted the fans near the New York goal at the end.”

The only sour note to be heard were laments that the team wouldn’t be together intact next year. The expansion draft is likely to take a player from their roster, the contracts of Schmid and Schelotto are up at the end of the year, and defender of the year Chad Marshall is out of contract then, too, and has expressed interest in playing abroad. The SPSB doesn’t often offer advice, but here it is: Enjoy the victory, Columbus. You’ve got plenty of time to worry later. This is your day.

• • •

“The Quakes win the cup! The Quakes win the cup!” That was the call from Jack Edwards when Dwayne DeRosario scored the golden goal that won San Jose’s first MLS Cup in 2001, and it echoed again for the two ex-Quakes who won  yesterday, Alejandro Moreno and Danny O’Rourke. In fact, the last four MLS Cups have been won by the team with more ex-Quakes on the field. This year, Moreno and O’Rourke for Columbus outnumbered Kevin Goldthwaite for Los Toros Rojos, and the Crew prevailed. Houston, with their boatload of ex-Quakes, won the cup in ‘06 and ‘07. The Galaxy, behind Landon Donovan and Todd Dunivant, won in ‘05. The trend only faltered in ‘04, when Jimmy Conrad’s Kansas City Wizards failed to get the job done against DC United, who won despite having no former Earthquakes on the field.

Of course, when current Quakes play in MLS Cup, they’re undefeated. That’s probably a more meaningful statistic.

Friday pot luck

Thanksgiving is still six days away but already the Solar Powered Soccer Blog is thinking about food. So, today’s fare will be a pot luck — a little from here, a little from there, combining for a tasty buffet of the latest Bay Area soccer news.

And, uh, England, too. That’s where Darren Huckerby is spending his off-season, and he’s finally found a place to train a couple times a week, although it’s not where he expected. Back in May, when Norwich City boss Glenn Roeder told Huckerby that his services would no longer be needed by the Canaries, the gaffer invited Huckerby to come back and train with his old club. With Hucks again in England and looking to keep fit, though, Roeder’s invitation was narrowed to use of the club’s facilities and weight room and didn’t include training with the first team.

Fortunately for Huckerby, however, there is another nearby club that was happy to open their doors, so he is now training twice a week with Lowestoft Town FC. Never heard of them? You’re not alone. LTFC competes in the East Counties League Premier Division, which is the ninth level of English football, according to Wikipedia.

To their credit, Lowestoft Town is currently top of the table by a wide margin. It’s also worth noting that several of Huckerby’s former Norwich City associates are involved at the club, as reported by the Norwich City Advertiser:

 His former City team-mate, defender Craig Fleming, helps coach the Ridgeons Premier Division leaders, while Dave Carolan, the former City sports scientist who now works with Colchester United, will also be putting the players through their paces. Those players include former Norwich midfielder Cedric Anselin and ex-City reserve team player Damian Hilton, who has signed for the Blues after quitting as Wroxham manager.

• • •

Meanwhile, Earthquakes owner Lew Wolff made the news when he was interviewed in New York, where he was attending the Major League Baseball owners’ meeting. Wolff said that he was trying to arrange a Bay Area friendly next summer between Tottenham and the Quakes (which Center Line Soccer reported last month), that MLS agreed that the Galaxy “would make two visits a season to San Jose during the Earthquakes’ first three seasons” as part of his agreement to bring back the Quakes, and that “he would like to build a 15,000-seat stadium costing US $40 million — not including real estate — near San Jose’s airport.”

That last bit, the mention of 15,000 seats in the stadium, created a bit of confusion. When Wolff last spoke of the stadium (also at the press conference announcing the partnership with Spurs), he explained that he wanted an intimate stadium and that he didn’t see the need for luxury boxes. “I think the need is to satisfy families and to be as close to the action as possible, so the less walk up to the top — we’re talking about this every day. The intimacy is what we’re trying to create, both for baseball and for soccer.” He didn’t mention a specific capacity, but it was widely assumed that the target size was still 18,000.

Fortunately, today Elliott Almond of the Mercury News clears up the resulting questions about the Earthquakes stadium in his article, “Clearing up Earthquakes stadium questions.” (Not the most imaginative headline but very much on point.) Here’s the meaty part of Almond’s story:

(Wolff) wants a 15,000-seat stadium that could be expanded to 18,000 for big games. The reported price tag of $40 million (without land) actually is $40 million to $60 million. That’s still much less than the $100 million San Jose city documents estimate for the project. Wolff said the land value is negotiable and couldn’t guess what it might cost.

Is that all clear now? Well, not really, but the proposed stadium capacity has been a moving target for a long time, starting with the proposed deal between the Quakes and San Jose State.

Meanwhile, there’s another local angle developing, this one regarding Earthquakes training facilities. Natalie Everett of the Morgan Hill Times reports that the Quakes are on their way to creating a new training center in that South Bay city. The team would purchase the former Golden Oak Restaurant and convert it into a training facility and has also offered to take over management of the city’s Outdoor Sports Center, a recently-renovated facility which includes two lighted fields, practice fields with artificial turf, and a number of additional fields.

According to Everett’s article, the training center would include  “a weight and cardio facility, treatment rooms, personnel offices and dining, video and meeting rooms,” and the Quakes would refurbish a practice field to “MLS standards.” Everett reported yesterday that Morgan Hill’s Parks and Recreation Commission has “recommended that the City Council allow  the Earthquakes to negotiate exclusively with the city for a long-term lease of the Outdoor Sports Center.” Stay tuned…

• • •

Landon Donovan is going on loan to Bayern Munich, at least until the start of the MLS preseason and maybe longer. It’s a can’t miss deal for MLS: if Donovan does well, his transfer price goes way, way up. If he doesn’t do well, they’re surely hoping he’ll come back to L.A. for good. The situation gets sticky, though, if he does well but AEG doesn’t want to let him go — and that’s exactly what the Solar Powered Soccer Blog is predicting. If you watched the Cristiano Ronaldo drama this summer between Manchester United and Real Madrid and thought, “Why don’t we ever see things like that with American players?,” well, this may be your chance. One more prediction: If Donovan really wants to go, he’ll go.

• • •

Finally, there’s an interview with Arturo Alvarez on the Earthquakes’ web site.

New WPS side gets name: FC Gold Pride

With U.S. women’s national team legend Brandi Chastain at the podium, key figures of FC Gold Pride and the WPS were on hand for the naming announcement. Top row, left to right: Albertin Montoya, head coach; Sissi, assistant coach; goalkeeper Nicole Barnhart; defender Rachel Buehler; and defender Tracy Hamm. Front row, left to right: FC Gold Pride general manager Ilisa Kessler; WPS commissioner Tonya Antonucci; and team owners Brian and Nancy NeSmith with daughter Amanda. Photo: John Todd, centerlinesoccer.com, isiphotos.com.

Filling a void in the Bay Area soccer landscape that has existed since the 2003 demise of WUSA and the CyberRays, today the new name of the region’s Women’s Professional Soccer entry was made known. Starting next year, FC Gold Pride will take the field at Santa Clara’s Buck Shaw Stadium, a ground they will share with the MLS San Jose Earthquakes. Read more…

Expansion draft rules force tough decisions for Quakes

The league’s rules governing the expansion draft may require San Jose to protect Scott Sealy, despite the fact that the striker has declared his intention to seek a new club in Europe. Photo: John Todd, centerlinesoccer.com, isiphotos.com.

For weeks now, general managers of both the professional and amateur ilk have been pouring over rosters to determine who will be exposed and who will be protected in Wednesday’s Expansion Draft. If you’re Quakes’ GM John Doyle and head coach Frank Yallop, the choices aren’t as cut and dried as you might think. Read more…

Galaxy, in danger of losing Landon, sign Tristan

The days may be getting shorter, but the cloudless skies are providing power for another excursion by the Solar Powered Soccer Blog today.

First, a brief recap of Earthquakes-related news:

- GM John Doyle and coach Frank Yallop are in Cary, North Carolina this week to scout the ACC tournament and will move on to Tampa for the Big East championships on November 14 and 16. Goalkeeper coach Jason Batty is attending the Big Ten championships in Madison, Wisconsin. Assistant coach Ian Russell appears to be the lucky one of the bunch, though — he’s going to Las Vegas to scout UNLV games this weekend. Tough assigment there, Mr. Russell.

- A deserving Quake has earned a call-up to the U.S. men’s national team! Head trainer Bruce Morgan, the only staffer who’s been with every San Jose MLS team since the league’s inception, is in Commerce City, Colo., for the team’s training camp ahead of their November 19 World Cup Qualifying match against Guatemala.

Now, onto the headline news. As the blog has noted previously,  former Earthquake Landon Donovan, after the most productive season of his career at age 26, has been talking up his desire to play in Europe, and it looks like he may get his chance. As reported in a number of outlets, including Soccer America, Donovan has started a 10-day training stint — or, as is more likely, a trial — with perennial German powerhouse Bayern Munich. Bayern is coached by Donovan’s fellow Southern California resident Juergen Klinsmann, a man who is familiar with Donovan thanks to his past experience as a technical consultant to the Galaxy.

Bayern is treating Donovan’s visit as a Big Deal. The team has posted a photo gallery and even two video interviews on their web site. In a story posted today — you can find a version translated by Google here —  Donovan is quoted as saying, “I’d like to play in Europe.” His skills, having been put on display in a training match, get a thumbs up from Bayern and Germany forward Miroslav Klose as well as the club’s general manager, 1974 World Cup winner Uli Hoeness.

It remains to be seen if the German giants will pursue acquiring Donovan or if they can work out a deal with MLS, but it looks like  the Galaxy is preparing for Landon’s potential departure by signing Tristan. No, not his twin sister — not even L.A. is that desperate for some cheap PR ink — a 17-year-old forward named Tristan Bowen.

(Sorry to drag you all that way for a lame Landon/Tristan joke. It’s the off-season and already the SPSB is clearly short of match fitness.)

Catching up with Hall of Famer Hugo Perez

Hugo Perez speaks with a reporter after his August, 2008 induction into the National Soccer Hall of Fame. Photo: Howard C. Smith, isiphotos.com

(LOS ANGELES) — At the opening of the 18th Honda Player of the Year Award ceremony, master of ceremonies Andres Cantor described the luncheon as a “high school reunion.” About a dozen former winners and United States team veterans were there, including Hugo Perez, the first winner of the award in 1991. Perez’s career included stints in the NASL and Europe in addition to 73 caps for the Stars and Stripes. This summer he was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame. Read more…

Mustard and mayo

It’s been a little while since the Solar Powered Soccer Blog has been fired up, but there’s news to report so it’s time to play catchup. Who doesn’t relish an opportunity like this? It’s not good to leave readers in a pickle. And remember — for safe reading, always use a condiment.

The big news today is that the Earthquakes’ Darren Huckerby has pulled down the MLS Newcomer of the Year award, beating out fellow nominees Andre Rocha of FC Dallas and Claudio Lopez of Kansas City. The Quakes went 5-4-5 after Huckerby’s midseason arrival, a pace that would have earned the team a playoff berth had their first half record not been an abysmal 3-9-4. Hucks tallied six goals and four assists with the team, averaging over a point a game from his spot on the left flank, where he provided nightmares for MLS defenders in almost every match.

“Darren had phenomenal run for us right from his arrival to the team,” Earthquakes head coach Frank Yallop said in a team press release. “He brought an attacking mentality to our team that helped spark us on our run for the playoffs. His experience and professionalism were also great assets to the team this year. He is very deserving of this award.”

Huckerby’s instant impact was remarkable in a season in which many highly-touted signings, such as DC United’s Marcelo Gallardo, struggled to showcase their talents in MLS. The Quakes went 4-0-4 in his first eight games, with the former Norwich City star scoring in his first two home matches with the club.

Congrats to the well-tanned Englishman. It will be interesting to see what he can do next year with the opportunity to play for a full season.

• • •

Speaking of Huckerby, he’s returned to England for the off season, and the Norwich Evening News has a photo of him enjoying his new season ticket at Carrow Road. The paper also interviewed Hucks about his return to Norfolk and his first season in San Jose:

 “There are some very good players over there. There are the ones you hear about, like Beckham, but Beckham didn’t get in any of the top 10 voting - over there it is stat driven with assists and goals and Beckham wasn’t in any of the top 10s. He is in the top 10 of getting paid, and he is a massive ambassador for the league, but I think that sometimes undermines how good some of the other players are…

“The thing is, the standard of the first 11 players in virtually every team is pretty good, but after that they were no way as strong as here. That’s the biggest difference; the strength in depth of squads over here is much, much better than over there. If you look at any squad in the Championship you have 25 players who have all played a lot of games and who all know the game inside out. Over there, after the first 11, 12, 13 players you have got kids who have only kicked a ball at college level.”

Huckerby also spoke glowingly of San Jose and California:

“California is a lot different, of course, but in a way it was familiar as well. It’s kind of quiet in San Jose, it’s not like an LA or a New York, just how I like it to be honest; not too in your face, but a brilliant place to live - it was 85 degrees every day at least and not freezing like it is here.”

He may be in for a surprise come February and March, but Bay Area winters are likely better than those in Norwich, anyway.

• • •

It’s time for MLS to end the “let the fans throw streamers onto the field” experiment. It’s always been disrespectful to the game, but the final straw should have come on Sunday, when a Houston fan narrowly missed New York’s Dane Richards as he was completing a weaving, 65-yard run to set up John Wolyniec for Los Toros Rojos‘ third goal of the game. (You can see the video here.) Let’s face it — it’s only a matter of time until a fan disrupts a significant play with a streamer. That simply can’t be allowed to happen. Besides, the practice puts all of MLS in a bad light. Can you imagine people chucking streamers onto the pitch at the World Cup? No? How about in the English Premier League? How bad does a league have to be before streamers would be acceptable? MLS needs to realize, once again, that the game is what people go to see — not streamers or any other gimmicks like the league’s early attempt at a tie-breaker, the shootout.

As for the result of that match, which saw an unheralded New York knock out the two-time defending champions, wow — who saw that coming? It brings to mind the classic quote from Germany’s 1954 World Cup winning coach Sepp Herberger: “The ball is round. The game lasts 90 minutes. This much is fact. Everything else is theory.”

• • •

- Former Earthquakes captain Jeff Agoos, who earned two of his record five MLS Cup championships with San Jose, is profiled on FIFA.com.

- Speaking of Goose, he is one of several former San Jose players who is on the 2009 National Soccer Hall of Fame ballot.  He is joined by Mike Burns, John Doyle, and Dominic Kinnear.

- Scott Sealy, whose MLS contract expires at the end of the year and may or may not return next year, was called up by Trinidad and Tobago for three Digicel Cup matches and the islands’ crucial World Cup qualifier on November 19 against Cuba.  Sealy played the final 50 minutes of T and T’s 3-2 win over Antigua & Barbuda on November 5, the first half of their 3-1 win over St. Kitts & Nevis on November 7, and the first half of their 1-1 tie on November 9 against Guyana, but never made the scoresheet.

- The Vancouver Sun reports that the Vancouver Whitecaps, one of the groups currently bidding for an MLS expansion franchise, have released a rendering of their proposed home, the 59,000-seat BC Place, dressed down to a 22,000 seat capacity. It’s not awful, but no one is going to be too excited about the proposed “synthetic FIFA-approved pitch.” In any case, the rendering can’t hold a candle to their proposed waterfront stadium. If they do get into MLS, here’s hoping that any stay in BC Place would be temporary. That waterfront facility would be a beaut.

- Finally, here’s a YouTube selection of San Jose’s top ten goals of 2008. Enjoy!

The election results are in…

Ronnie O’Brien, seen here celebrating his highlight reel goal against Houston with James Riley and Arturo Alvarez, is the winner of this year’s CLS readers’ Man of the Match award. Photo: Michael Pimentel, isiphotos.com.

It’s the first Tuesday in November and all across America, voters are waiting to hear the results of the election. Center Line Soccer readers, wait no more! We have the results right here. Read more…