Match reports from all over note Quakes’ win on Kamara’s day

We know some people were wondering about how the Quakes, and particularly the team’s forwards, would respond to the pressure of going two games without scoring. As it turns out, that was nothing compared to the challenge Kei Kamara faced: his brother Yusiffu, 41, had passed away nine days earlier, three days after he had three teeth removed.

“It’s just Africa, man, that’s all I can say,” Kamara told reporter Brian Howell, who covered last night’s match for the Mercury News. “Not good medical treatment.”

Kamara plans to pay tribute to his brother, who played goalie and followed his brother’s Major League Soccer career closely, this season. That made Saturday’s goal a special one.

“Every single game this year, my first goal and every goal, everything I do this year is just going to be for him,” said Kamara, who spent two months during the off-season with his brother. “Every game this season is going to be dedicated to him. It’s somebody that I love, somebody that raised me up. He’s resting right now, and I know he’s looking down on the whole team. He’s going to follow us this year, I know that.”

Kamara’s tale adds a poignant note to a solid effort from the Quakes. Everyone on the field made a contribution, from keeper Joe Cannon in the back to Kamara’s strike partner, Gavin Glinton, who was unlucky to have a goal called back in the 39th minute. The defense was solid and outside backs James Riley and Jason Hernandez got forward frequently to contribute to the team’s offense. The midfield may have had their best game yet: Ronnie O’Brien scored one and probably should have netted at least one more, Ned Grabavoy played well on both sides of the ball and provided a sublime through ball to Kamara on his goal, Ivan Guerrero was a threat on offense and a terrier on defense, and Ramiro Corrales was the anchor the team needed centrally. We could say equally good things about the subs.

What is perhaps most exciting to us at the blog is that this kind of team effort was a hallmark of San Jose’s teams from 2001-2005. Watching this team doesn’t feel like watching an expansion team; it feels like watching the Earthquakes.

• • •

On with the press roundup:

MLSnet.com provides a match report and two post-game reports, one focusing on the Quakes with quotes from Frank Yallop and O’Brien and one about the Rapids, with quotes from Fernando Clavijo, Colin Clark, and Bouna Coundoul, the latter of whom had some kind words for the Quakes’ O’Brien:

“Ronnie O’Brien is a very smart player,” Coundoul said. “We’re talking about somebody who plays all over the world. He picks his times. When the team is focusing on somebody else, he sneaks through, and he catches it so many times. Finally one showed up. We need to do a little bit better.”

The Denver Post has a match report and the Rocky Mountain News‘ blog “FC Rocky” has a piece on the game.

• • •

Finally, there’s news from Fresno Bee reporter Ken Robison that Fresno Fuego striker Pablo Campos spent two days last week on trial with the Quakes and is being considered for a Generation adidas contract. Campos was PDL Player of the Year in 2007.

(There’s one other story, too — the Mercury News has published an editorial about the proposed soccer stadium. We’re going to spend today basking in the glow of last night’s victory, but we’ll talk about it tomorrow.

Quakes finish what they start; beat Rapids 2-0

 

Kamara delivers against the Rapids. File photo by John Todd/centerlinesoccer.com/isiphotos.com. 

When the San Jose Earthquakes walked off the field following last week’s loss to Chicago, they knew to a man that given the way they had played, they deserved better. But in Saturday’s match against the Colorado Rapids, the score was a perfect reflection of their performance, as the Quakes put together a complete team effort in claiming a 2-0 win.

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Match day previews

The Quakes have no wins and no goals so far this season, but at least the trends are moving in the right direction. The team was flat in week one but played well in week two. Are more improvements on the way today? Similarly, San Jose was denied a goal by the refs in week one but it didn’t happen in week two. Is week three the time for that debt to be repaid?

We’ll know in a few hours how things turn out; in the meantime, lots of people are speculating about today’s game. Our own Jeff Carlisle provides a match preview for MLSnet.com with comments from San Jose keeper Joe Cannon, who has also played with the Rapids, on playing at altitude:

“[The altitude] affects a lot of little things,” said Cannon. “I think you see a lot of misjudging on crosses from ‘keepers. But it affects everyone on the field. I think the fullbacks judging headers, the forwards with their timing; it’s a tough place to play.”

You can also find Beau Dure’s pre-game report for USA Today here, and wire service pre-game stories here and here. The official MLS pre-game fact sheet está aqui.

Mercury News reporter Elliott Almond focuses on Quakes strikers Kei Kamara and Gavin Glinton in his pre-game piece, noting that each of the strikers has surmounted big challenges just to get where they are today. Kamara fled war-torn Sierra Leone when he was 14, arriving first in Gambia and eventually in the U.S., while Glinton’s family left behind poverty in the Caribbean to arrive in Brentwood, with Glinton eventually starring for Livermore High.

The Denver Post profiles Colorado Springs native James Riley in their story, headlined — brace yourself — Riley sees veterans as icing on the Quake. (We don’t know what’s in the water in Denver but we recommend against drinking it, particularly if you write headlines for a living. For example, the Post has a story on a new signing for the Rapids, Stephen Keel, whom the club identified through an open tryout. The paper’s staff has summarized it thusly: “Open tryouts provided Rapids a view to a Keel.” That’s even worse than the “icing on the Quake” headline since there’s a chance you’ll get a Duran Duran song stuck in your head after reading it.)

Finally, London’s Guardian newspaper talks with executive vice president of sports operations for the Quakes, Billy Beane, about his work towards quantifying on-the-field performance in a way that would help identify undervalued players.

Wrapping up the week

It’s Friday and we’re going to take the opportunity to wrap up a few loose ends from this week.

First off, our blog recommending the banning of plastic horns at future Quakes games gathered quite a few comments, most of which agreed that human voices bring more personality and excitement to a game. That got us to thinking about a quote we once read from former Quake Eddie Lewis about the support from Sam’s Army at the USA’s 2-0 victory over Mexico in the 2002 World Cup:

“The fan support is night and day to what it used to be,” Lewis said. “Usually when you go to a stadium that loud, all noise cancels out. But against Mexico, we could hear every single chant — and almost every one of them I was whispering under my breath, saying the words along with them. It’s an amazing spirit.”

Somehow, we don’t think we’ll ever hear any player saying, “The ceaseless buzzing of the plastic horns in the crowd inspired us to victory.”

Yesterday’s column on AEG’s antics in Houston didn’t draw as many comments, but have a gander at Bernardo Fallas’s piece in the Houston Chronicle to see how that town’s fans are reacting to AEG’s the commissioner’s letter. (Hint: The story’s headline reads “Commish’s words ruining good thing,” with a kicker of “MLS threat a slap to Dynamo fans.”)

• • •

There are a few items that appeared online during the past few days that merit mention as well. Local blog Soccer Spin has posted interviews with assistant coach Ian Russell and midfielder Ronnie O’Brien. They’re both pretty excited to be with the team, and O’Brien is enjoying both life in San Jose (”It’s beautiful out here, there’s not much you can complain about”) and playing under Frank Yallop (”He’s pretty relaxed when he has to be and when he really wants stuff done he makes a point. He wants us to work hard, he says what he has to say but for the most part it’s been really, really enjoyable to be here”).

Speaking of blogs, Soccer by Ives local correspondent Kevin Matthieson has posted his take on the home opener on SBI. (It looks like he’s also been successful in getting Ives to update the Quakes logo they’re using over there. Well done, Kevin.)

We are also happy to report that Center Line Soccer is getting some recognition from our peers both on the web and off. Two CLS stories were mentioned yesterday on du Nord, the daily compendium of American soccer news, and L.A. Times soccer reporter Grahame Jones cited CLS in yesterday’s “Soccer Daily” column:

Yallop and John Doyle, the Earthquakes’ general manager, planned to be in Seattle on Wednesday night for Mexico’s game against China and also to “have a cup of coffee with him and just say hi and just explore things,” Doyle told the Bay Area-based centerlinesoccer.com.

The Quakes are pretty solid at central defense right now, but just in case you were wondering if there was a chance that former Quake Danny Califf might return to MLS, the answer is that it’s not going to happen anytime soon. Califf has been quite successful with Denmark’s AaB and, while he told American Soccer Daily that he may not be with the club next season, he’s enjoying playing in Europe and has offers from teams in Denmark and Germany.

From the collegiate press comes a report in The Santa Clara that all four of the SCU players chosen in the 2008 MLS Superdraft have signed with the clubs that picked them. Two of them, Jamil Roberts and Matt Hatzke, now proudly wear the blue-and-black of the Earthquakes, while Peter Lowry signed with the Fire and defender Matt Marquess is now with the Wizards.

Finally, we’ll note that the Mercury News‘ online poll about the proposed soccer stadium currently stands at 94 percent for and six percent against. Not a bad result.

Have a pleasant weekend. Oh, and while you’re hear, be sure to check out Tim Hanley’s expert analysis on tomorrow’s Quakes match against the Rapids.

Quakes counters could net a point — or three — from Rapids

When Lady Luck smiles upon you, don’t change a thing!Fernando Clavijo, who might not call it luck, is in the enviable position of having injuries work in his favor. When he sat down with his staff during the pre-season, I doubt he planned on a starting line-up that looks like the one we’ll see on Saturday night. Injuries to Pablo Mastroeni, Conor Casey, Mike Petke, Ugo Ihemelu, Mehdi Ballouchy, Jovan Kirvoski (whether injured or just in the doghouse), and others, have forced the Rapids to play the young guys. Read more

Talk is cheap, watching is cheaper

When asked about his trip to Seattle to watch the Mexico/China friendly, San Jose head coach Frank Yallop said that he and John Doyle did indeed watch Mexican international Antonio “Zinha” Naelson very closely. But like the shy guy at the high school dance, Yallop said that they didn’t speak to him, they only watched him.

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More on the Jean Philippe loan…

Obviously, there is a little bit of confusion about the whole loan vs. allocation thing when it comes to San Jose’s acquisition of Peguero Jean Philippe. You would think that the whole point of getting someone on loan is to not have to spend any money, yet there have been some reports that the Quakes spent allocation funds to land the Haitian. Here’s what I know.

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Wolff speaks, stadium drawings, and a threat to Houston

We didn’t know that the folks from GolTV were in town last weekend, but they must have paid us a visit because they recorded a stellar segment on the Quakes which included an interview with Lew Wolff.

Thanks to YouTube user TubeMonkey29, you can see the segment right here.

Pretty nice, huh? Those fleeting glimpses of stadium drawings really call for some screen captures, don’t they? Fortunately, BigSoccer user futbol monkey (who may be the same user who provided the video to begin with, considering their shared fondness for “monkey” names) has provided those as well.

There’s not much to say after that, is there? The team is back, Wolff has an agreement in principle to buy the FMC site for the purposes of constructing a stadium, and all is right with the world. But wait, there’s more.

Someone once said something like this: “It is not enough that I am doing well — my opponents must also be doing poorly.” And so we now move our attention to Houston, a city blessed two years ago with a championship-caliber MLS team and, uh, its owners.

For all the good things that AEG has done for American soccer (like keeping MLS alive through some rough years early on, for which we thank them sincerely), Quakes fans know better than anyone that they are not always effective in reaching their stated goals. (Yes, we’re being diplomatic.) Many of you will recall their efforts toward building a stadium here for the Quakes, which consisted largely of offering to bless a city with their presence if that city was willing to pay the vast majority of costs for a new stadium. That strategy might work in some states, but it was never going to fly here, where even a team as popular as the S.F. Giants failed three times to get a ballot measure passed for public money for their stadium project. Well, AEG is at it again, and this time they’re working their magic in Houston.

TV station KHOU broke the story yesterday with their piece titled, Dynamo stadium deal at impasse. They sum up the status of negotiations in these three sentences:

The impasse is over money. The Dynamo want millions of taxpayer dollars to help fund construction. The city won’t do it.

Does that sound at all familiar?

What makes the situation even more interesting is that Friday, Houston Mayor Bill White was given a copy of a letter from MLS Commissioner Don Garber, addressed to the Dynamo’s ownership group. You can find the whole thing here (PDF), but here’s a sample:

As you will recall, the decision to grant (AEG’s) request to relocate the San Jose Earthquakes from the Bay Area to Houston was made after significant deliberation among the members of the MLS Board of Governors. Though the team was successful at the gate and had a passionate fan base, the lack of a suitable stadium prevented the team from ever having a viable business.

The relocation, the first and only in MLS history, had a traumatic effect on the League at a crucial time in its development. Our approval was based on assurances that an appropriate soccer stadium would be built in the Houston market in a timely fashion. A suitable stadium is a requirement for all MLS teams, which is no different than the stadium requirements in all other major sports.

Fortunately, the San Jose Earthquakes re-joined the League as our 14th team this season. Ironically, after much work with the public sector, specifically the City of San Jose, our new owners now have a suitable plan in place to construct a soccer-specific stadium. The fact that such a deal could be agreed upon in the most difficult region in the country for public-private partnerships is a credit to the new ownership and its relationship with the City.

I am concerned about the lack of progress in your discussions with the City of Houston. Even in the fourth largest market in the country with a young and dynamic demographic that embraces soccer, the Houston team will continue to lose money without a public-private partnership on a new soccer stadium — a fact that presents significant issues for the League. It is inconceivable that MLS will allow the team to continue playing as a secondary tenant in a college football facility, particularly after the League moved the team due to the challenges at San Jose State.

While another relocation would be equally traumatic, we both must consider our options to ensure that the team has a path to economic success. We learned an important lesson in San Jose: a passionate fan base is not enough to support the economics of operating a professional sports team. The team needs a soccer-specific stadium to ensure success.

Did you ever know anyone who put themselves in the same bad situation over and over again until they finally realized the lesson they were trying to learn? Besides playing in a college stadium, in front of passionate fans, do you know what else Houston in 2008 and San Jose in 2004 have in common? Yup, AEG.

Getting back to that quote, we really don’t need to see our opponents do poorly — doing well ourselves is good enough for us. But San Jose fans have been where Houston is, and looking at them now, we think local fans will appreciate even more just how good they have it. If losing the team for two years was the price Quakes fans paid to get AEG out of the local soccer picture, it may well have been worth it.

Jean Philippe joins Quakes on loan

Peguero Jean Philippe is on his way to San Jose. Photo by Howard Smith/isiphotos.com

The San Jose Earthquakes have obtained former Colorado Rapids and New York Red Bulls forward Peguero Jean Philippe on loan from Danish club Brondby, getting the deal done in time to beat the April 15 transfer deadline, sources have told CLS.

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