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.