Wednesday news wrap

It’s a chilly Wednesday morning by the Bay but hot off the presses is the news that the Quakes have once again prevailed over a Premiership reserve side during their 10-day stay in London. This time, it was the Spurs reserves going down 1-0 on a 51st minute goal from Bobby Burling. Perhaps the most impressive part of the feat is that the only regulars in the San Jose starting 11 were Ramón Sanchez and Cornell Glen; instead, it was Andrew Weber earning the clean sheet in goal, fronted by a back four of Steve Beitashour, Burling, Ike Opara, and Justin Morrow. The rest of the Earthquakes lineup consisted of Simon Elliott, Antonio Ribeiro, Quincy Amarikwa, and Chris Wondolowski. For Tottenham, the side was Alnwick, Walker, Kaboul, Dervite, Smith, Townsend, Livermore, Parrett, Rose, Mason, and Kane. (As reader Dave in San Jose points out in the comments below, there’s now an article on the match, along with a photo gallery, at Spurs’ web site.)

Note to Quakes: Look into acquiring this Livermore person. I see potential for a “Where’s Livermore?” ad campaign.

It’s the second victory in a row for the Quakes over a reserve side for a team from the Prem. On Tuesday, San Jose beat West Ham’s reserves 2-0. Love the hammers on the wall in the dressing room there. Despite the loss, the English press reports that head Quake Frank Yallop thinks Kieron Dyer may yet overcome his injury problem to feature for West Ham.

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We’ve been lax on keeping up with South Africa news in advance of the World Cup, but that will be changing soon. In the meantime, enjoy these two galleries of photos of the new Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg, which will host both the first and final games of the tournament. Kudos to all involved in SA for creating some of the most impressive stadiums around for soccer’s big event. We’ll be passing along more photos and other tidbits in the coming weeks and months. And yes — opening kickoff is only 92 days away!

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Three members of FC Gold Pride have been called up to the U.S. women’s national team camp for the team’s two friendlies against Mexico later this month. Joining red, white, and blue regulars — goalkeeper Nicole Barnhart and defender Rachel Buehler — is rookie forward Kelley O’Hara.

The sides square off on March 28th in San Diego (TV: Fox Soccer Channel) and March 31st in Sandy, Utah (TV:ESPN2).

FC Gold Pride opened their training camp on Monday. They’ll be holding a closed-door scrimmage today against Japanese side TEPCO Mareeze, the same side that will feature in Saturday’s free exhibition that begins at 6:30 at the Mustang Soccer Complex in Danville. Look for a report from training camp on this week’s Center Line Soccer podcast.