Forward shuffle continues

Conrad Smith and Yuri Morales are out. Ryan Johnson is in, for the moment. Johnson is a forward out of Oregon State who was drafted in 2006 by Real Salt Lake and later shipped to Chicago. He spent part of 2007 overseas before returning to play indoors with the New Jersey Ironmen. He has made one appearance for the Jamaican national team.

Beasley targeting April return

While covering the latter stages of the Olympic qualifying tournament last week in Nashville, I had a chance to sit down with USMNT head coach Bob Bradley. While the primary gist of our conversation had to do with Wednesday’s friendly against Poland, as well as the plight of some Americans playing overseas, one topic that didn’t make it into the preview was the status of injured midfielder DaMarcus Beasley.

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International men of mystery

For those eager to begin accumulating their Earthquakes trivia, forward Gavin Glinton and midfielder Ivan Guerrero became the first players from the new version of the Quakes to earn international call-ups.

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Challenge Cup wrap up

The Carolina Challenge Cup is over, and if it’s any indication of what’s to come in the regular season, the Quakes are going to surprise a lot of people.

If you missed it, the Quakes became the first team ever to win all their games in the tournament by shutting out the MetroStars Toros Rojos de Nueva York, 3-0. That score line doesn’t flatter the Quakes at all — they really were that dominating.

Here at the blog, we thought that match might represent a bigger challenge than that posed by either a USL team (Charleston) or last season’s cellar-dwelling Toronto FC. After all, New York is the only team with two official Designated Players in Juan Pablo Angel and Claudio Reyna. The Quakes scored early and often, though, starting with a Kei Kamara header in the first minute of the match. There were times that the side on the field even bore a passing resemblance (pun intended) to the previous Yallop-era teams. We still wonder where all the goals are going to come from, but on Saturday night the answer to that question was Kai Kamara, Gavin Glinton, and New York defender Eric Brunner who knocked the ball into his own net.

Meanwhile, MLSnet is chock full of Quakes goodness these days. There’s an in-depth profile of defender James Riley from writer Andrew Hush as well as a season preview with a projected starting 11 from Jeff Carlisle. Opening day is on its way!

Finally, we have something fowl to report. The Quakes are joining with KFC to create the Colonel’s Corner, a corner section in both Buck Shaw and the McAfee Coliseum where you can get a ticket for, ahem, a poultry $15. Wing it on down to your local KFC to purchase your tix and we will promise, as always, to keep you abreast of any new developments.

Quakes close out Challenge Cup with emphatic win

Ronnie O’Brien moves past Fulham’s Luis Boa Morte in the 2005 MLS All-Star game. Photo: Brooks Parkenridge, isiphotos.com

They may be just an expansion team, but the San Jose Earthquakes showed they’re ready for the regular season, completing a three-game sweep of the Carolina Challenge Cup by defeating the New York Red Bulls 3-0 on Saturday night. Early goals in each half staked the Quakes to a 2-0 lead before a late own goal by New York defender Erik Brunner upped the final margin. The result at Blackbaud Stadium in Charleston, S.C., saw the Quakes come away with a 4-1-2 pre-season record with one match to go, an exhibition next week against the Portland Timbers.

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Seattle paper previews season for Quakes; Quakes gear to arrive Monday?

As the Quakes look to wrap up play tonight in the Carolina Challenge Cup (5:15 p.m. on USLLive.com), the Seattle Post-Intelligencer checks in with their San Jose Earthquakes season preview. Reporter Pat Martin speaks with Coach Frank Yallop and defender Nick Garcia in evaluating the team’s chances for success in 2008.

“I think there is pressure on all of us because we want to start the season off well and make the playoffs like every other team in this league,” said Yallop… “We don’t want to just sit here and settle for second best. We are trying to prepare the team to win every match we play.”

Ah! That’s the Earthquakes attitude we’ve been missing for two seasons. Anyway, despite the reporter’s misspelling of Ryan Cochrane’s last name, it’s a good read.

We have two other stories to pass along today. First, MLSnet.com’s Steve Davis looks at San Jose’s midfield in his “Five-a-side” column. (Someone needs to tell him that Ramiro Corrales spent plenty of time in central midfield during his previous tenure with the Quakes. It’s not really much of an experiment playing him there now.) Also, the Pocono Record includes a quote from Frank Yallop in their article on soccer tennis.

Finally, we hear that the Soccer Pro stores in San Jose, Dublin, Pleasant Hill and Modesto expect to receive their first shipment of home and away replica Earthquakes jerseys sometime on Monday. Tell them the blog sent you…

Carolina Challenge Cup, plus Beckham saves MLS

We have two items of interest today. The first is one we missed yesterday — Soccer America’s match report from Wednesday’s victory over the Charleston Battery to clinch the Carolina Challenge Cup.

Also in today’s news, an interview with David Beckham will be broadcast on “60 Minutes” Sunday night, and mixed in with what we’re sure will be fascinating questions about Posh, his tattoos, and being perhaps the most famous athlete on Earth is this fact, as reported by The Canadian Press:

David Beckham has an option to buy an MLS franchise when his five-year Los Angeles Galaxy contract expires after the 2011 season, according to a CBS “60 Minutes” profile scheduled to air Sunday… the option was granted to the 32-year-old midfielder and his manager, Simon Fuller.

Interesting, huh? Are we talking expansion franchise or is it possible that Beckham could one day own the Galaxy itself, thereby ridding MLS of AEG except for the portion of Houston that they still own? (And to think some people scoffed when Beckham said he was coming here to benefit American soccer!)

Carolina Challenge Cup, Roma, and O’Brien

Now that the various bashes, benders, and blowouts held in celebration of last night’s capture of the Carolina Challenge Cup have died down, we’ll pause for a moment to reflect on the glorious victory.

There. Feels good, doesn’t it, even if it is a pre-season tournament? Hey, somebody had to win it — it may as well have been us.

There’s an extended match report on MLSnet.com and another on Charleston.com. A user named Mikey also has a gallery of photos from the cup over on SmugMug.com.

Meanwhile, SI.com reports that no new progress has been made on the rumored acquisition of A.S. Roma by Quakes investor John Fisher. Interestingly, however, they note that Italian daily sports newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport “is today reporting that Fisher’s plans for Roma include the development of a new stadium to replace the Stadio Olimpico.”

Apparently, soccer stadiums are like potato chips — you can’t build just one.

Finally, we have a video from Channel 5’s St. Patrick’s Day broadcast featuring momentary Time magazine honoree Ronnie O’Brien.

Soccer America: Yallop in no hurry to fill roster

There’s one more story from today’s news. Soccer America’s Ridge Mahoney spoke with Frank Yallop and reports that the coach is in no hurry to fill the team’s roster.

“We could sign players, but I want to make sure they’re good signings and what we actually need,” says Yallop, who has former San Jose and D.C. United striker Jamil Walker with the team for the Carolina Challenge Cup in Charleston. “We have enough players to field a team. We will fill the roster as we move along.”

Yes, that’s the other news. In addition to Trinidand & Tobago striker Conrad Smith, Yallop has invited former Quake Jamil Walker to try out for the team. Walker, who is recovering from a severe Achilles tendon injury, was recently cut by DC United.

Oh, and there’s one other thing: the Washington Post’s Steven Goff says that the Quakes may be looking at Argentine forward Facundo Sava, who Wikipedia says is 34.

SI.com: Fisher to buy Roma?

We already knew that John Fisher, the billionaire investor in the Earthquakes, became a rabid soccer fan at the 2006 World Cup, walking around Germany with an American flag painted on his head. We already knew that he had purchased three percent of Glasgow Celtic. If there was any doubt that he’s the coolest owner in MLS, SI.com reports today that Fisher is eyeing a purchase of A.S. Roma, the storied Italian side that last won Serie A in 2001. The team, which is captained by World Cup-winner Francesco Totti, is denying that the team will be sold, but time will tell.

In other news, Elliott Almond of the Mercury News spoke with MLS deputy commissioner Ivan Gazidis, who believes that one of the Quakes’ biggest challenges will be building team chemistry.

“You’re trying to develop team chemistry from scratch, with a new collection of players,” Ivan Gazidis said Monday during a conference call. “The difficulty of doing that, regardless of the quality of players you have, is sometimes underestimated.”

Finally, the Quakes have hired Jed Mettee as the team’s director of broadcasting and communications, a role similar to what he held with the Quakes from 2001 to 2005. Our congratulations to him.

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