Center Line Soccer

In South Africa, the Local Organizing Committee for the 2010 World Cup has launched a PR effort called “Football Friday.” The idea is simple — wear a team shirt on Fridays to promote the coming tournament. That sounds like a pretty cool idea, so I’ve donned a vintage U.S. jersey (the 1995 home version, if you must know) and am now prepared to dispense with the latest and greatest.

• Speaking of South Africa, among the unknown wonders of that nation is a robust sense of humor. Here’s a taste from Haribo, their answer to the Onion: a story on Germany’s path to the World Cup.  (“It’s not that we don’t trust the German football team — it’s just we get a bit twitchy when we hear an up-beat German team talking about ‘launching a campaign’ and saying that ‘it will all be over by July 2010′.”)

• Last night’s thrilling scoreless draw between Houston and Seattle should be one more nail in the coffin for the old cliche that a 0-0 game is, by definition, no fun to watch. The game had everything but a goal — an amazing turnout, passionate supporters, close calls, a few big saves, and perhaps a few more controversial calls than were necessary. From a neutral perspective, though, even the complaints about the officials add to the atmosphere, to say nothing about the boos directed at Seattle’s latest archenemy, Houston goalkeeper Pat Onstad. The chorus of jeers every time he touched the ball reminded me of some memorable Quakes games at Spartan Stadium, when Diego Serna and Landon Donovan were on the receiving end of that treatment. Well done, Seattle!

• My only complaint about last night’s broadcast was the ceaseless selling of the “SuperClasico,” the upcoming match between the Galaxy and Chivas USA. Yes, it’s  unusual to have two teams sharing a stadium, but it’s not like we’re talking about AC Milan and Inter here. The history of the Gals and the Goats has been neither super nor classic.

• The off-season has been busy so far for FC Gold Pride. They’ve already signed former Boston Breakers defender Candace Chapman, a teammate of FCGP’s Christine Sinclair on the Canadian National Team. They’ve since added Niki Cross, a former college and W League teammate of Kristen Graczyk, and yesterday they traded goalkeeper Alison Whitworth and a late draft pick to Atlanta for a pair of draft picks, bringing the Bay Area side’s total to four of the first dozen in the 2010 draft.

From here, the trade looks like one which could be a win for both sides. Whitworth performed well in her four starts last season, but was always going to be second choice to U.S. international Nicole Barnhart when both were available. On the Gold Pride side of the ledger, head coach Albertin Montoya is pleased to have all those picks. “There is a tremendous amount of talent and potential coming out of the collegiate ranks this year,” he says. “These women are players that I can see coming into WPS as starters and making an immediate impact for our team and the league.”

•  Yesterday’s trade was the first ever for FC Gold Pride. The first trade for San Jose’s MLS team was also the first in league history, bringing Troy Dayak back home to the Bay Area from the MetroStars in exchange for Rhett Harty and a first-round draft pick.

• Finally, our own Embele Awipi, writing for the Salinas Californian, takes a look at the big picture in San Jose — how the Quakes have fared since their return to MLS and what has to happen next.

Jay Hipps is managing editor of Center Line Soccer. He can be found on Twitter @jayhipps.