Number nine, number nine, number nine…

The good news last night is that the Quakes ran their unbeaten streak to nine games, extending their “best in MLS, 2008″ mark by one. Other than that, there wasn’t much about number nine to get too excited about.

Both coaches were pleased with their teams’ efforts, but neither one got the three points they were after. Ronnie O’Brien scored a spectacular goal, but it was nullified minutes later by a Brian Ching goal that came off a deflected cross. But perhaps the most sobering thought after last night’s physical battle was the fact that the teams get to do it all again a week from now.

The Dynamo brought a more businesslike attitude to last night’s match, but it didn’t stop them from enjoying themselves, either. Dwayne De Rosario and other ex-Quakes could be seen signing autographs long after the match had ended, and we spoke to several other coaches and players who were glad to be back once again in San Jose, even if they had a job to do.

The decision to move the team to Houston was ridiculed by one anonymous member of the team, who noted that AEG’s rationale for the relocation was the fact that their team was playing in a college stadium and couldn’t get a deal done for their own facility, which is exactly the situation the Dynamo is in now. “It would be great if you guys got your stadium finished before we do,” he confided, as we shared a bitter laugh over the irony of the situation.

With the Houston area now reeling from damage caused by Hurricane Ike, the public funds that AEG covets are likely to be further out of reach than ever, so we think there’s a very good chance that yes, you’ll see a new stadium opening in San Jose before you see one in Houston. Also on the bright side, of course, is the fact that the Earthquakes are no longer subject to the whims of AEG, an organization whose brilliance is now on display at their “super club,” bottom-of-the-table Los Angeles. If every cloud has a silver lining, as the old saw goes, losing AEG is the one that belongs to Earthquakes fans.

• • •

On to the post-game press wrap:

- Our coverage includes a match report from Jeff Carlisle,  audio interviews from Earthquakes and Dynamo coaches and players, and a photo gallery.

- On the newspaper side, there are match reports from the Mercury News and Houston Chronicle.  Merc columnist Ann Killion also takes a look at the growing rivalry between the two teams.

- Two centerlinesoccer.com writers, Jeff Carlisle and Pete Ratajczak, were on the job for MLSnet.com. Jeff has a match report and post-game story while Pete covered the post-game angle from the Houston side.

- You can also read match reports from Goal.com and the AP.

- MLSnet.com also has highlights of the match here.

Deja vu all over again

So, once again it’s the return of the team that used to be the team that wasn’t allowed to return, or something like that. Actually, there are only a dozen former Quakes on the Dynamo roster (if you include Kei Kamara and Richard Mulrooney, neither of whom participated in the “merry Christmas, you’re moving to Houston” experience of December, 2005), so it’s not as much of a homecoming as some in the media might think.

The good news is that, whatever you think of that drama, today’s match will pit the two hottest teams in MLS. The Quakes are undefeated in their last eight games, the longest such streak in MLS this season, while the Dynamo have won six out of their last seven league matches. Tonight’s match should be a treat, and if San Jose prevails, it will push them past Chivas into third and, depending on the outcome of Real Salt Lake’s sojourn to New York, could put them into a tie for second. We’ll also note here that Houston’s road record is 2-4-5, so they are not unbeatable despite their recent form.

If you haven’t done so already, we highly recommend reading Tim Hanley’s breakdown of the match. For your pregame enjoyment, we also offer audio interviews with coach Frank Yallop and players Ronnie O’Brien, Joe Cannon, and Arturo Alvarez.

In other pre-game news:

- On the newspaper side, we have previews from Mark Emmons of the Mercury News,  who was told by Earthquakes coach Frank Yallop that Houston wants “to kick our ass,” and from Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle, who talks about the preparations made families of Houston players to weather Hurricane Ike.

- On MLSnet.com, our own Jeff Carlisle provides a match preview and junior journalist Collin Handlin takes the helm of Quake Shake for an interview with Nick Garcia. There’s also a pre-match fact sheet.

- Also on MLSnet.com, Steve Davis takes a look at the playoff picture in this week’s Five-a-side column.

-  Goal.com also offers a match preview and prediction.

- SSV’s Colin McCarthy notes Major League Soccer’s rosy future over on the Soccer Silicon Valley blog.

- Finally, we can report that Ramiro Corrales was doing some running and exercising with team trainer Bruce Morgan yesterday at practice. Don’t expect to see him in the next couple weeks, but know that his recovery from his sprained MCL is well under way.

Friday I have Saturday on my mind

OK, so we’ve mentioned the Easybeats before, but with the big game coming tomorrow, we couldn’t resist doing it again.

Before we get into all the pre-game stories, though, we present this excerpt from a Q and A with the Washington Post’s soccer sage, Steven Goff:

Q: Any Galaxy-related boardroom/managment or player news, rumors, whispers you’ve come across recently?
A: Reliable sources tell me that the Galaxy is not good.

Goff’s sources know everything, so it’s hard to disagree with that assessment.

Meanwhile, further up the table, fourth place San Jose hosts first place Houston tomorrow, and even the national press is paying attention. USA Today’s Beau Dure takes a look at the match, speaking with San Jose’s Frank Yallop, Joe Cannon, and Darren Huckerby, as well as Houston coach Dominic Kinnear. He devotes further attention to the Quakes in his blog, The Netminder, which features additional comments from Cannon and Huckerby. Good reading from someone who has covered MLS for a long time. Beau knows soccer! (He also has a music blog.)

The Quakes have also posted their fact sheet for the upcoming match.

In other news:

- Former Trinidad & Tobago goalkeeper Shaka Hislop, writing in his weekly column for London’s Guardian newspaper, suggests that Arturo Alvarez could help fill the creative void on the U.S. men’s national team. “Alvarez is nothing if not very creative, but defensively he’s a liability,” he writes. “That part of his game has to improve before he can seriously contend for an international call up.”

- Bloomberg News reports today that the owners of the New York Mets are looking into buying an MLS expansion team. Baseball and soccer together? Well, it seems to be working out pretty well for Lew Wolff. Their interest was first reported last year in the New York Times, so the fact that they’re still making noise about this publicly would seem to indicate that they’re pretty serious about it.

Off to attend the Earthquakes’ training session. Will report back tomorrow.

Quakin’ Quakin’ Quakes

Ah! Nothing like a little Los Lobos reference to start the day.

Just a few items to pass along this morning. Our own Jeff Carlisle was in Chicago last night for ESPN, and he has a couple stories online — a match report and a Damarcus Beasley profile —  from the unexpectedly one-sided U.S. clash with Trinidad and Tobago. Apparently either T&T has gotten a lot worse since the 2006 World Cup or the U.S. has gotten a lot better, but we’ll take the 3-0 win either way.

Speaking of teams that have gotten a lot better, reader Tim Cahill reports that the Quakes are now ranked at number four on  Fox Soccer Channel’s power rankings. Fourth! It’s probably a bit premature since San Jose isn’t even in a playoff position yet, but it’s also hard to argue based on their current form. (We’ll also add that Keith Costigan, who writes Fox’s power ratings, has had eight teams ranked number one over the course of the season, and three of those sides have also been ranked as the worst in the league at some point in 2008. When he says “this week’s power rankings,” he means they only apply to this week.)

Speaking of this week, we’re only a couple of days away from the final regular season visit of the Houston Dynamo.  The Houston Chronicle previews the match, speaking with coach Dominic Kinnear about the last meeting of the two teams and summarizing the changes since then.

We also have a couple updates from stories mentioned earlier this week. As it turns out, Fabian Espindola of Real Salt Lake did not actually break his leg while landing a celebratory back flip after almost scoring a goal against Los Angeles. The broken leg was a misdiagnosis and he actually just suffered a severe sprain, as the Deseret News reports.  His prognosis hasn’t changed, though — he’s still out for four to eight weeks.

Also, we noted yesterday that Forbes magazine had, for the first time ever, assigned values to the teams in MLS, complete with reports of 2007 revenues and operating incomes. We wondered at the time why MLS would open their books to the magazine, and it turns out they didn’t. Sources have told Center Line Soccer that the magazine’s numbers are not entirely accurate, but are in fact educated guesses based on research.

Finally, the Earthquakes have published the lates edition of “Quakes Shake,” which we present in its entirety below.

Forbes appraises MLS sides

The Los Angeles Galaxy may be at the bottom of the MLS standings, but they’re top of the charts when it comes to something else: raking in the cash.

So says Forbes magazine in their valuation of MLS teams, which provides some rare insight into each team’s revenues and operating incomes (article here, slide show analyzing each team here).   Based on an analysis of 2007 figures, the Galaxy’s value comes in at $100 million in the magazine’s appraisal, more than double the $44 million price tag placed on the number two team, Toronto FC. (The Quakes are not included in the story since they didn’t field a team in ‘07.)

This is the first year that Forbes has  included MLS in its annual valuations of U.S. sports leagues, and it’s clear that they’re impressed.

Expansion franchises in Seattle and Philadelphia recently agreed to pay $30 million each to join the league, three times what Toronto FC paid to join MLS three years ago. Commissioner Don Garber says the next two expansion teams, to be announced in 2009, will cost $40 million. Some team owners are even floating a $50 million price tag.

This is not a pipe dream. Our first independent study on the finances of Major League Soccer—using past transactions as a guide—shows that three teams are already worth at least $40 million, and the average franchise is worth $37 million.

The story also contains some interesting details. For example, a suite at Home Depot Center leases for as much as $150,000 a year, while club seats average $4,500 a season (both of which seem like a lot to pay to watch a last-place soccer team, we might add, but they’re making beaucoup bucks — and a high degree of job security for Tim Leiweke is probably good news for Quakes fans).

On the other hand, Columbus is doing relatively poorly, despite the fact that they play in their own stadium, because they “can’t find sponsors and thus generated just $6 million in revenue.”

It’s all interesting stuff, but it raises a couple questions, too. Mainly, we wonder why  the league, for the first time ever, would release detailed financial information when they will soon be negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement with players. It strikes us as either confident or foolhardy, or perhaps the league’s leaders feel that the benefits of exposure to Forbes‘ readers outweighs any possible downsides. In any case, it’s interesting to see a new level of transparency from MLS, even if it seems like an odd time to do it.

• • •

In other news:

- Today, the Mercury News notes that Earthquakes and A’s owner Lew Wolff  will receive a “Community Cornerstone” award today from the Silicon Valley Leadership Group. The honor will be presented to Wolff today at the group’s “Silicon Valley Projections — Clean & Green Conference” at Santa Clara University by former San Jose Mayor Tom McEnery.

-  The Santa Clara women’s soccer team, the Earthquakes’ roommates at Buck Shaw, are featured today on ESPN.com.

- San Jose Sharks center Marcel Goc and defenseman Christian Ehrhoff will be in attendance at Saturday night’s game against Houston (remember, the start time has been moved to 7:00 p.m. from 1:00 p.m.). The pair, both natives of Germany, will be on hand for Sharks Appreciation Night, so it’s probably not appropriate to ask them if Torsten Frings should have been called for the hand ball on the line back in 2002.

- Finally, we have the two most recent videos from Graham Yallop, the transplanted Norwich City fan  who has been sending video postcards of Darren Huckerby back to the Canary faithful.

One more from the weekend

There’s no Earthquakes news today — if you missed the highlights from the weekend, let us just say “eight game unbeaten streak, longest by any team in MLS this year,” and “sole possession of fourth place” — but there’s one item from last weekend we feel obligated to mention.

If you watched Saturday’s match between the L.A. Galaxy and Real Salt Lake, you  would have seen an early goal by RSL’s Fabian Espindola. It came in just the sixth minute, and he celebrated with gusto, capping off his celebration with a spectacular back flip. His landing was not so spectacular, though — in fact, it was so unspectacular that he broke his leg.

Tragic, yes, but it gets worse. Moments after ending his season with a self-inflicted wound, the referees called the goal back. Espindola was offside when he scored.

The only way it could have been worse would have been if the ref had given him a yellow card for an excessive celebration.

The Salt Lake Tribune reports that the Argentine had this to say after the match:

“I’m embarrassed,” said Espindola, who celebrated goals with a flip since his days as a youth player in Argentina. “I’m never going to do that again. I don’t know what happened. I’ve done it a million times. If I would have known I never would have done it.” 

Ironically, as Andrea Canales points out on Sideline Views, three minutes later the Galaxy’s Bryan Jordan celebrated his goal by doing a front flip. And, uh, by not breaking his leg.

Oh, and talking about Sideline Views, we’ll also add that Luis Bueno now has San Jose at number five in his MLS team rankings, and is also wondering why so many ex-Galaxy players and coaches are doing so well. Soccer by Ives also has the Quakes at number five in his weekly MLS Power Rankings.

Anyway, here are the highlights from the RSL/LA match. (Nothing too gruesome — it wasn’t an Eduardo/Joe Theismann-style leg break. Espindola was probably the only person who knew that something had gone horribly wrong.)

Little joy in victory

If you had wandered into the San Jose Earthquakes locker room last night after the match, you might have been surprised to learn that the team had just closed out a 2-1 victory to run its unbeaten streak to eight games, establishing a new best for the league so far this season.

Players were happy with the three points, but no one was that happy with the team’s performance. On the way to the showers, a player’s shouted profanity broke the air, followed by a frustrated demand to no one in particular that the team needed to learn how to close out games more effectively. There was no trace of the giddiness that was seen after the 4-0 New England win three weeks ago, despite the fact that last night’s result catapulted the Quakes past three teams and into sole possession of fourth place in the Western Conference.

This shouldn’t be seen as a negative, though. In fact, it’s a measure of how much progress this team has made. Winning isn’t enough.

If you think back to May or June, any win would have been greeted gladly,  with comments like, “We didn’t play well, but three points is three points.” That sort of attitude may befit an expansion side, but this team has a higher standard in mind now.

Their focus is on making the playoffs, but even more than that, they want to play up to their own capabilities, which is a goal that indicates just how strongly this team believes in itself. Being frustrated with a win may seem like an odd reaction, but it’s the reaction that’s going to push them to new heights. With two matches coming up against the defending champions, that extra bit of motivation is coming at exactly the right time.

• • •

Here’s the post-game press wrap:

- You’ve probably looked there already, but we have a complete match report with links to a ton of video and audio interviews with players and coaches.

- Center Line Soccer’s Pete Ratajczak, writing for MLSnet.com, has a match report and a post-game feature.  The MLS highlight package can be viewed below.

- On the newspaper side, we have match reports from the San Jose Mercury News and the Washington Post.

- Wire services Sports Network and  the AP also offer match reports.

- In other news, the Sunday News of New Zealand reports that the Quakes won’t be offering a contract to midfielder Simon Elliott, who  trained with the team in July to get into shape for his stint with his nation’s Olympic team in Beijing.

Pre-game press panoply

Welcome to alliterative headline day here at the solar-powered soccer blog, because sometimes similar-sounding syllables synthesize sublime sensations.

A quick glance at the pre-game press reports shows that DC United is in even worse shape than we thought. In addition to Jaime Moreno’s absence due to a Bolivia call-up and Bryan Namoff’s yellow-card suspension, we can now add Fred to the injured list, where he joins Luciano Emilio, Joe Vide, and a cast of thousands. The Washington Post’s prospective starting lineup includes rookie midfielder Ryan Cordeiro penciled in at forward and developmental squad defender Mike Zaher at left back. (Amazingly, they are in better shape than Toronto FC, who have had half their senior roster called up for international duty. They’ve even signed their chief scout to a one-day contract so he can suit up. Who knew that when Frank Yallop played Ian Russell and Ronnie Ekelund against Seattle that he would be starting a league-wide trend?)

On paper, it looks like the Quakes have an excellent opportunity to take all three points today. Let’s hope it plays out the same way on grass.

• • •

On to today’s press:

- Elliott Almond, who has returned from Olympics duty in China, has a nice piece in the Mercury News about Ronnie O’Brien, whose game has benefited greatly from the presence of Darren Huckerby on the opposite wing.

- The Washington papers, the Post and the Times, both have pre-game features.  The Times notes that DC “hasn’t beaten a team from the West away from home this season.”

- Our own Jeff Carlisle, writing for MLSnet.com, provides a pre-game piece, and the league’s site also offers a pre-game story from the DC United perspective.  Steve Davis also mentions the Quakes in his weekly Five-a-side column.

- Goal.com’s Pat Walsh analyzes the game and predicts a 2-0 San Jose victory.  That works for us.

The day before the night before

We’re still well over 24 hours away from seeing the Earthquakes take the field against DC United, but there’s already a buzz here at the solar-powered soccer blog.

Looking over the official pre-match fact sheet, we find out that DC is going to be even more shorthanded than expected. Out due to injury are two players who started Wednesday night’s U.S. Open Cup final: forward Luciano Emilio and ex-San Jose midfielder Joe Vide. Also, Jaime Moreno is away, playing with Bolivia, and Bryan Namoff is out due to yellow card accumulation, so that will force coach Tom Soehn to make four changes from Wednesday’s lineup.

We have no idea who is going to start for DC, and they’re even shorthanded in press coverage since the Washington Post’s Steven Goff is in Cuba to cover tomorrow’s U.S. men’s national team match.  In any case, this match looks winnable. Good thing, too, since Colorado’s victory in Dallas last night means the Quakes are back in last place in the West (although, paradoxically, three points could vault the team as high as third place).

It’s been a busy week for San Jose. In addition to Tuesday’s exhibition against Seattle, the Earthquakes have completed the signings of a pair of developmental players — Michael Ghebru, a 20-year-old midfielder, and Davide Somma, a 23-year-old forward — a process that has been in the works since at least last Tuesday, when Jeff Carlisle first reported the team’s interest.

Here are some additional details from the team’s press release:

Ghebru, 20, was born in Germany and played in the youth system at three different clubs. He spent time with Offenbacher Fotball Club Kickers 1901, MSV Duisburg and Eintracht Frankfurt. Ghebru will count as an international on the Earthquakes roster.

Somma, 23, was born in South Africa, but has Italian citizenship and also possesses a green card. He has spent time with three Italian clubs in his career. He started his career with Perugia in 2004, before signing with FC Pro Vasto in 2005. Somma played most recently for Olbia Calcio.

The Earthquakes have also announced another exhibition match. This one, against El Salvador’s Club Deportivo FAS, will take place on  Tuesday, October 7 at 7:00 p.m. at Buck Shaw Stadium. FAS is the defending champion of the Salvadoran first division and four of its players feature regularly for the national side: defenders Marvin Gonzalez, Ramon Flores and Alfredo Pacheco and forward Emerson Umana. Tickets available via the usual sources.

Emilio out for Saturday’s match

As we look ahead to Saturday night’s match, there’s good news and bad news coming out of the DC United camp this morning. The good news for DC United is that star forward Luciano Emilio scored the first goal as the team won their second U.S. Open Cup, defeating the USL-1 Charleston Battery 2-1. The bad news is that Emilio re-injured his groin on the very shot that scored the goal, and he has ruled himself out of Saturday’s match against the Quakes. The Washington Post story also notes that “(Joe) Vide left the game with a hamstring strain but said he is preparing as if he will play in Saturday’s game at San Jose, which waived Vide on July 14.”

Of course, whether or not any news is good or bad depends largely on one’s perspective, so Emilio’s absence is not necessarily bad news for San Jose. As for us, we’re not complaining.

 • • •

In  other news, the Quakes have moved up to number 8 in the Soccer by Ives MLS power rankings. Ives Garlarcep, the site’s proprietor, adds,”if we’re talking current form, San Jose is probably among the top three teams in MLS.”

Finally, Goal.com has published the latest column from Earthquakes midfielder/defender Kelly Gray, in which he praises teammate Jason Hernandez for his recent play.

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