Yallop on Wednesday’s scrimmage + Garcia update

Here are some selected quotes from San Jose manager Frank Yallop following Tuesday’s Wednesday’s 2-2 draw with the University of California, as well as an update on Nick Garcia.

Garcia’s news first. He has a tender right hamstring, although he doesn’t think it’s serious. “It’s a little tweak,” said the Quakes’ captain. “[Sitting out] is just precautionary so it doesn’t get worse.”

Garcia added there is a 50/50 chance he’ll play in Friday’s exhibition against Colorado, but that “for sure” he’ll be ready for the games next week down in southern California.

Here are the quotes from Yallop.

On Wednesday’s game:

It was a chance for some of the guys who have been on trial and some of the younger guys to impress and get 90 minutes under their belt, and they did that.

On whether defender Chris Willaims is actually on trial or just training with the team:

I spoke to an agent who said I’d probably like [Williams]. He didn’t do badly, and he scored a good goal at the end…but doing well in these games and running out in a black shirt for us in the league is a big step, a big difference.

His thoughts on the actual result:

Although we’ve got our shirts on, it’s not really our team.  I don’t take much from the result. It’s more about individual performances. [What we had out there] is not really a team. Guys are trying to make our real team if you like…It’s basically just an exercise. We’d rather do it with no one watching and talking about it but we have to.

On which players impressed him:

I thought Davide Somma had a better second half, he was real lively, he did some good stuff. I think Shea [Salinas] is always good. He’s got what we’re trying to do with him a little bit. I thought he did fine.

Did Salinas play a little bit of right back?

He did, just because. He’s not going to play there, believe me. He’s a winger and he deserves to be further up the field than a right back. But there weren’t many other bright spots today I don’t think.

His impressions of Pablo Campos:

He wasn’t as good as yesterday. We had a practice game yesterday and I thought he did well. He just has to learn the way we do things here. Up front, you have to be active and always available, and I think that’s a part of the game that we have to get into him. Ability-wise, he’s got some ability and he is a good finisher. It’s just more the mobility of him at the moment. But he’s not played for months. He’s only two weeks or ten days in. He’s getting fitter as we go each day so we’ll see how he gets on. For starters he’s done okay.

So you need to see more from Campos off the ball?

He’s trying to do it, but he’s really not in good shape. When he turns it on he’s pretty good. He can do it in spurts, but it’s about being consistent for 90 minutes, and that is what we need out of all of our forwards.

His thoughts on the overall state of the team:

It’s going okay. I’m quite happy with what I’ve seen so far. I think we have more depth than we had last year. We’re more stocked in the positions that we need to be in. We just don’t want to miss a beat when we get injured, i.e. Ramiro Corrales. I again say that we would have made the playoffs if he had stayed healthy. We don’t want to get into that situation. At least we have some experience and some depth, and let the best man win the position. It’s not only good for the players, but it’s good for the coach. I’ll deal with all that stuff.

Can you say anything about Riihilahti?

We hope it will go through. I think he’s agreed the contract, he’s just waiting for his international stuff and all that. Hopefully everything is clean on him.

Is that an opportunity to move Ramiro back to left back?

It’s just a chance for [Riihilahti] to come in and meet the team, and there’s no guarantees for me. You’ve got to play well and do well. I think it’s healthy…I don’t give a starting spot to anybody. Ramiro has got to play well as well. He’s looked good in preseason. But [Riihilahti] is another good experienced player we’re hopefully going to use. That’s important for all of our guys. We don’t pick a team now. We’ll pick it when we start playing. Whoever plays well, plays.