Trouble in Tinseltown?

Today’s soccer spotlight falls on the humble community some 400 miles to our south, an anonymous burg of nearly 13 million souls known predominantly for its utter inability to promote itself or its inhabitants in any way. (Apparently, we got out of bed on the sarcastic side this morning.)

Anyway, the Galaxy has cut loose veteran defender Abel Xavier and he is not particularly pleased about it, as he has been all too happy to share with both Steven Goff of the Washington Post’s Soccer Insider blog and  Goal.com’s Kyle McCarthy. Xavier is particularly critical of Galaxy coach Ruud Gullit.

Xavier told Goff that Gullit “doesn’t respect the players, he doesn’t communicate with the players. He never wants to listen to the players. It’s a bad environment. He doesn’t like players with personality. The players are afraid to speak out because, for most of them, their jobs are not guaranteed. They are afraid of losing their jobs. … Look at Carlos Ruiz: One week Ruud Gullit wants to trade him and the next week he wants to be his best friend. … With all the friction between the coach and the players, how can you have a healthy environment?”

Xavier shared similar criticisms with Goal.com’s McCarthy. “I admired (Gullit) as a player, but I do not admire him as a coach. The way he conducts himself, his lack of ability to communicate with players and his way of developing the team shows a lack of respect. … When we win, he praises himself. When we lose, he blames the players. …They don’t fight for him and they don’t believe in him.”

On the surface, Xavier’s gripes could be dismissed as sour grapes, but many of the observations he shares with McCarthy paint the former Portugal international is an insightful observer of MLS and American soccer:

“The American mentality is great,” Xavier said. “Players want to learn and they want to work. The players always want to play and back the coach. You don’t scream at young players. You’ll kill their confidence. You should show them what to do with the correct language. Before you are a football player, you are a man. You need to be respectful.”

Xavier thinks the American mentality requires a different style of man-management… building team spirit while on the training pitch and cultivating mutual respect.

“MLS is different than Europe,” Xavier said. “You need to integrate with the team. You need to be part of the players and listen to what they say. You need to create a group relationship, especially amongst the experienced players, and he doesn’t do that.”

Interesting. In fact, after reading that last little bit, it sounds to us like Xavier’s biggest criticism of Gullit is that he’s not Frank Yallop. (Or that Ruud is, well, rude.)

In any case, it’s an odd move for another reason. On July 1, MLS contracts were guaranteed for the rest of the season, which means that teams are responsible for a player’s full annual salary after that deadline passes, so the Galaxy gets no salary cap relief from dumping Xavier.

Ah, chaos in L.A. Couldn’t happen to a nicer team.

• • •

There is one thing that’s working in L.A., and that’s David Beckham. The New York Post, icon of excellence in journalism (ow, there’s that sarcasm again), today reports some of the financial benefits that Beckham has brought to both the Galaxy and the league:

The Galaxy sold an astounding 300,000 Beckham jerseys last year, Garber pointing out “That’s more than Derek Jeter, more than Reggie Bush.” As a matter of fact, that’s more than any athlete on the planet. For perspective, Reebok confirmed that jersey sales for NBA superstars Kobe Bryant and LeBron James were in the 75-80,000 range.

“I think at this point it’s probably around the half-million mark, which is great for us and great for the league,” said Galaxy GM Alexi Lalas.

Let’s see — a half-million jerseys at $80 each — $40 million. That’s not the net profit, of course, but it probably helps out the bottom line quite a bit.

• • •

In other news, one of the Quakes’ supporters groups, the 1906 Ultras, have launched a spiffy new web site.  You can also find them in Section 111 at Buck Shaw. Nice job, guys!

Finally, Quakes’ midfielder/defender Kelly Gray has a new column up at Goal.com, talking about the team’s three new signings.

Heroico Cannon salvaguardó un punto a San José en Toronto

El Arquero de los Earthquakes Joe Cannon salvo un punto al equipo el sábado en Toronto. File photo: John Todd, centerlinesoccer.com/ isiphotos.com

Desde de que los Earthquakes tuvieron una meta inapropiada en el partido inicial de la temporada contra Los Ángeles, los fanáticos han estado preguntándose cuando la suerte del equipo cambiará. Hoy pudo haber sido ese día, cuando Joe Cannon atajó el penalti de Amado Guevara que dio a San José un punto merecido en un empate sin goles con FC Toronto en el estadio de BMO. Read more

Olympic Team looks good, even without Donovan

There’s a really good soccer team training in the Bay Area this week. No, not the Quakes, I’m talking about the U.S. Men’s Olympic Soccer Team, who are working out in Palo Alto before heading to Hong Kong on the 25th for a couple warm-up matches on their way to Beijing.

The Olympic team is the U-23s, plus three “overage” players, and there’s been some noise made about the selection of those three older dudes. (What?! No Landon Donovan?!) But I have no problem with the selections Peter Nowak made.

Brad Guzan, who’s Very Good, will get a taste of international pressure in goal. Michael Parkhurst is the reigning MLS Defender of the Year. And it’s great to see Brian McBride, who retired from international competition after the ‘06 World Cup, get another chance to play for his country, and to stay match fit if/when Toronto and Chicago reach a deal over his return to MLS.

As I understand it, the problem with bringing in a Landon Donovan for the Olympics all comes down to scheduling. The US-Guatemala World Cup qualifier is on the calendar for August 20, when the Olympic Team will (hopefully) still be in action. (The Olympic semi-finals are scheduled for August 19, the Gold Medal game is August 23.) Further complicating matters is that August 20 is a FIFA International date, which allows the U.S. to call upon players currently working for European teams, and U.S. Soccer hates to give up those dates.

So, some “A” list guys are being saved for the World Cup. That makes sense. I mean, do you remember the 2004 Olympic Final? (I didn’t, but I looked it up — Argentina over… Paraguay. Paraguay’s silver was their only medal in the ’04 Games, and their first in the Olympics in any sport.) Meanwhile, we’ll get a better look at Freddy Adu, Michael Bradley, and Sacha Klestan, with Robbie Rogers and Benny Feilhaber also competing for time in midfield. And Jozy Altidore joining McBride up top sounds fun.

The first game for the US U-23s+3 in the Olympics is August 7 against Japan. It’s a tough group – The Netherlands and Nigeria are the other two teams, but I think the US should advance.

• • •
As readers of this column know, Brian McBride wins the gold when it comes to the Most Under-rated, Under-hyped, and Under-appreciated Player in American Soccer, but how about a shout out to Ante Razov, who should also be a medalist in this competition. I know that ‘Quakes fans aren’t too thrilled with Razov after that July 5 match, but let’s get serious. How many MLS players (of any nationality) are as consistently dangerous as Razov is from 25-30 yards?

Check out the numbers Razov’s put up over his MLS career: 113 goals, second only to Jaime Moreno’s 118. (And Moreno’s scored 37 of those goals on penalty kicks compared to only 13 from Razov, so in the run of play, Ante’s up 19.) Oh, and Razov’s also played 30 fewer MLS matches than Moreno.

Since June 19, Razov has been tearing it up, scoring in each of the last 6 games he’s played (3 in MLS, 3 in SuperLiga). His free kick to beat the Quakes was a quality strike, and his goal against the LA Galaxy five days later was World Class. Even though he missed several other chances against New England Sunday, he still knocked in a goal.

Razov’s an LA native, a UCLA alum, and he’s scoring goals in Los Angeles. In a league hungry for Star Players, I’d like to see Razov get a little more love.

One more from the road

If you don’t have them already, we’ll say it now: buy your tickets now for next Sunday’s Buck Shaw Stadium match between the Earthquakes and Los Toros Rojos de Nueva York, because you’re going to want to be there, at least if our own anticipation is any sort of barometer of life on planet Earthquakes. The Quakes brought home a point from Toronto’s BMO Field yesterday, the toughest venue in MLS, but they are also bringing back a lot of reasons to look forward to next week’s match, the first in a three-game homestand.

We’ll start with the play of the team’s trio of newcomers: Darren Huckerby, Francisco Lima, and Scott Sealy. None of them have had more than a handful of practice sessions with their new teammates and despite that, all of them made significant contributions yesterday.

We’ll go alphabetically and start with Huckerby. Despite the fact that he has had a total of three training sessions since leaving Norwich City in May, he got behind the Toronto defense twice, forcing a diving save and panicked collision between goalkeeper Greg Sutton and defender Tyrone Marshall with the first opportunity and winning a dangerous free kick on the second, when Marvell Wynne had to chase him down from behind. Not bad for a guy who is probably still trying to memorize his teammates’ names. It’s also worth noting that Huckerby made an impact despite the fact that BMO Field’s artificial turf, dampened by a rainstorm earlier in the day, made it impossible to play balls into the corner for him to run onto — the field was so slick that nothing hit hard enough to get to those spots remained in play. That’s a big weapon in the arsenal of any speedy winger, and we’re looking forward to seeing it in action on the grassy, billiard table-flat surface at Buck Shaw.

Lima’s primary contribution yesterday was mental, with the utterly unflappable confidence he brought to the team’s midfield. We’re not sure how to describe it, actually, but the man has a presence out there that inspires confidence, an aura that says, “You can depend on me.” Considering the lack of confidence that the team has shown at times this year, this is exactly the kind of influence that is needed. We look forward to seeing him really taking charge out there once he’s more familiar with the team and the league, because he looked solid yesterday even though he was playing very cautiously.

As for Sealy, he also played with confidence, which is something the team has been missing. That’s no slight on Kei Kamara or Ryan Johnson, by the way — neither one of them are proven quantities in MLS. Sealy has scored 28 goals in this league, led his team in scoring, and was a finalist for rookie of the year back in 2005. He’s not going out on the field wondering if he’s good enough — that question has been answered — he’s going out there to score. Were it not for a deflection by Marco Velez, he may well have done that in the dying moments of the match yesterday. Given a bit of time to get to know his teammates, he’s going to score some goals for San Jose.

What else is there to look forward to? We noticed yesterday that the Quakes’ attack has added several dimensions. Previously, teams could key on Ronnie O’Brien and pretty much ignore everyone else. Yesterday, with Lima locking down the defensive midfield, Ramiro Corrales was able to get forward a bit more, and it was his through balls that set up Huckerby’s chances. With O’Brien and Huckerby attacking on either wing, defenses will have a lot more to think about from here on out. (And we’re willing to bet Lima has some attacking skills we haven’t seen yet, too.)

The defense was solid, as has typically been the case this year. Kudos to Joe Cannon once again for saving a PK that resulted from one of the worst decisions we’ve seen by a referee all year.

The big question, of course, is whether or not the team can put together a run that wins them a playoff berth. They’ve taken nine points in 11 matches on the road, a pretty solid record, and teams in the Western Conference continue to leave the door open for a late-season surge by San Jose — Colorado, Salt Lake, Dallas, and L.A. all tied yesterday, too. A win next week will start to make things very interesting.

On to the post-game press wrap-up:

-  Match reports, match reports, git yer match reports: MLSnet.com, Mercury News, Toronto Star, Toronto Sun, CBC Sports, National Post.

- Post-game color can be found on MLSnet.com,  from Toronto Globe and Mail columnist Ben Knight, from sportsnet.ca columnist Ryan Johnston, from the CBC, and in the National Post.

- Video highlights are here.

Cannon’s heroics save a point for San Jose in Toronto

Earthquakes goalkeeper Joe Cannon saved a point for the team on Saturday in Toronto. File photo: John Todd, centerlinesoccer.com/isiphotos.com.

(Para este articulo en español, haz clic aquí.)

Ever since the Earthquakes had a goal improperly called back in their opening match against Los Angeles, fans have been wondering when the team’s luck would change. Today may have been the day, as Joe Cannon’s save of an Amado Guevara penalty kick gave San Jose a well-earned point in a scoreless draw with Toronto FC at BMO Field. Read more

It’s game day, eh?

It’s about three hours until kickoff, so that means that about 2,700 miles east of here, the lumberjacks and fur traders of the greater Toronto area are leaving their igloos to travel by dogsled to gather for their pre-game festivities. (One of them may drive a particular type of Camaro, which they will refer to as a “Zed-28.” There is no letter “zee” up north, although there is an “eh.”) They’ll be eating their blubber, clustered around bottles of Labatt’s Blue, Molson, and Moosehead, awaiting a kickoff which will take place “aboot” noon, Pacific time and trying to forget that the CBC failed to renew its license to use the traditional “Hockey Night in Canada” theme. (Whew! That’s just about all of them.)

Meanwhile, Toronto FC coach John Carver “is sick and tired of players using his club’s Field Turf as a reason for either leaving or not signing with the Major League Soccer side,” according to a story that appeared on Friday in the Toronto Sun. Carver told the paper, “I’ll be honest with you, I was concerned about it when I first arrived, but I have seen nothing in terms of injury to our players that can be blamed on the pitch.” Today’s Sun offered the perspective of Ronnie O’Brien and Darren Huckerby on the issue of fake grass, and we’ll just say their opinions differ from Carver’s.

Meanwhile, the Quakes have officially announced the signing of Francisco Lima and the departure of goalkeeper Dan Benton, while the recently waived Joe Vide has been signed by DC United. Lima’s signing has been overshadowed a bit by that of Darren Huckerby, but it’s worth noting that Lima has appeared in more UEFA Champions League matches than anyone in MLS besides David Beckham, as Fox Soccer Channel broadcaster Christopher Sullivan noted when our own Harvey Rañola spoke with him on Tuesday night. It should be noted as well that Sullivan played a key role in bringing Lima to San Jose — at Tuesday night’s press conference, both GM John Doyle and coach Frank Yallop thanked the former Clash midfielder for recommending the Brazilian to them earlier this year.

On to the game-day stories:

- Canada’s media is all over this one, with stories from the CBC,  Toronto’s Globe and Mail, and the Toronto Star.

- SJEarthquakes.com also offers a pre-game fact sheet, as well as the latest Quake Shake video with Charles Wollin.

(Oh, and in case anyone thinks we’re really bashing Canada, we’re not. We heart Canada. In fact, we’re still dismayed that Search Engine has been taken off the air and that Moxy Früvous’ “temporary hiatus” has entered its seventh year — there was nothing like a Früvous concert, although it’s cool that young Canadian girls will lip-sync their “Green Eggs and Ham” on YouTube. Ehwotay!)

Dichio’s absence could cause problems for Toronto

With target man Danny Dichio out with a concussion, Toronto will be forced to make some changes to their front line. Photo: Nick Turchiaro, isiphotos.com.

Jon Carver, Toronto FC’s English manager, has a winning line-up — he just hasn’t used it often enough.  Carver prefers a 4-5-1 and has the bodies to play it although injuries, a few international call ups, and too much tinkering has cost him. Read more

Christopher Sullivan interview

Bay Area Native and former San Jose Clash midfielder Christopher Sullivan steps out of the Fox Soccer Channel spotlight and into ours to give Center Line Soccer’s Harvey Rañola his mid-season analysis of the Earthquakes’ latest acquisitions and their progress to date. Click on the headline above or on “Read more” to access the audio. Read more

Yallop has options—finally—for Toronto match

Frank Yallop’s Earthquakes have a new depth as a result of the team’s mid-season signings. Photo: John Todd, centerlinesoccer.com/isiphotos.com. 

With the signing of three potential starters in Darren Huckerby, Francisco Lima, and Scott Sealy, and the return of Ryan Cochrane and Jovan Kirovski from injury, Earthquakes coach Frank Yallop gets to experience something a bit different this week, as his team travels to face Toronto FC for the first time Saturday: options. Read more

A new day in San Jose

It was just a few days ago that we wondered what it would take to for the San Jose Earthquakes to change their luck. If last night was any indication, we now know the answer: the signings of a right-footed, left-sided English speedster; a Brazilian midfielder with Serie A experience; a scoring Wizard; and a visit from the Honduras Olympic team.

Yes, if yesterday’s 4-0 thrashing of the Central American Olympians was any indication, things are changing in San Jose, if only because it provided a new benchmark for the team. The Quakes didn’t field all their regular starters — Michael Gustavson started in goal, with Jay Ayres in defense, and Matt Hatzke and Shea Salinas in the midfield — but the result will buoy the team’s confidence. The whole team has been working hard in practice, but their hard luck tale in MLS has prevented them from seeing the progress they’ve made. A 4-0 win demonstrates that yes, the team really is coming together — all that hard work really is paying off. The quality of the competition last night wasn’t up to MLS standards, but confidence breeds confidence, so a 4-0 win is a good first step. Oh, and if you missed the match, check out our video highlights (including footge of all four goals) and photo gallery, courtesy of our own Harvey Rañola and Joe Nuxoll, respectively. For the game story, CLS columnist Pete Ratajczak provides all the details in a report for MLSnet.com.

As for the new guys, check out this page for audio from the press conference as well as exclusive interviews with coach Frank Yallop and GM John Doyle about how Francisco Lima, Darren Huckerby, and Scott Sealy were signed and what they will bring to the team. (For those of you who are concerned about Sealy being in the last year of his contract, we encourage you to listen to the Doyle interview for his rationale on that signing.)

Oh, and if anyone is concerned about Lima’s fitness, we have already have proof that he’s in better shape than Marcelo Vega, Cuauhtémoc Blanco, or 99.999 percent of the 37-year-old males out there, thanks to a quick jersey change at yesterday’s press conference:

Any questions? Didn’t think so.

« Previous Page — Next Page »