Friday pot luck

Thanksgiving is still six days away but already the Solar Powered Soccer Blog is thinking about food. So, today’s fare will be a pot luck — a little from here, a little from there, combining for a tasty buffet of the latest Bay Area soccer news.

And, uh, England, too. That’s where Darren Huckerby is spending his off-season, and he’s finally found a place to train a couple times a week, although it’s not where he expected. Back in May, when Norwich City boss Glenn Roeder told Huckerby that his services would no longer be needed by the Canaries, the gaffer invited Huckerby to come back and train with his old club. With Hucks again in England and looking to keep fit, though, Roeder’s invitation was narrowed to use of the club’s facilities and weight room and didn’t include training with the first team.

Fortunately for Huckerby, however, there is another nearby club that was happy to open their doors, so he is now training twice a week with Lowestoft Town FC. Never heard of them? You’re not alone. LTFC competes in the East Counties League Premier Division, which is the ninth level of English football, according to Wikipedia.

To their credit, Lowestoft Town is currently top of the table by a wide margin. It’s also worth noting that several of Huckerby’s former Norwich City associates are involved at the club, as reported by the Norwich City Advertiser:

 His former City team-mate, defender Craig Fleming, helps coach the Ridgeons Premier Division leaders, while Dave Carolan, the former City sports scientist who now works with Colchester United, will also be putting the players through their paces. Those players include former Norwich midfielder Cedric Anselin and ex-City reserve team player Damian Hilton, who has signed for the Blues after quitting as Wroxham manager.

• • •

Meanwhile, Earthquakes owner Lew Wolff made the news when he was interviewed in New York, where he was attending the Major League Baseball owners’ meeting. Wolff said that he was trying to arrange a Bay Area friendly next summer between Tottenham and the Quakes (which Center Line Soccer reported last month), that MLS agreed that the Galaxy “would make two visits a season to San Jose during the Earthquakes’ first three seasons” as part of his agreement to bring back the Quakes, and that “he would like to build a 15,000-seat stadium costing US $40 million — not including real estate — near San Jose’s airport.”

That last bit, the mention of 15,000 seats in the stadium, created a bit of confusion. When Wolff last spoke of the stadium (also at the press conference announcing the partnership with Spurs), he explained that he wanted an intimate stadium and that he didn’t see the need for luxury boxes. “I think the need is to satisfy families and to be as close to the action as possible, so the less walk up to the top — we’re talking about this every day. The intimacy is what we’re trying to create, both for baseball and for soccer.” He didn’t mention a specific capacity, but it was widely assumed that the target size was still 18,000.

Fortunately, today Elliott Almond of the Mercury News clears up the resulting questions about the Earthquakes stadium in his article, “Clearing up Earthquakes stadium questions.” (Not the most imaginative headline but very much on point.) Here’s the meaty part of Almond’s story:

(Wolff) wants a 15,000-seat stadium that could be expanded to 18,000 for big games. The reported price tag of $40 million (without land) actually is $40 million to $60 million. That’s still much less than the $100 million San Jose city documents estimate for the project. Wolff said the land value is negotiable and couldn’t guess what it might cost.

Is that all clear now? Well, not really, but the proposed stadium capacity has been a moving target for a long time, starting with the proposed deal between the Quakes and San Jose State.

Meanwhile, there’s another local angle developing, this one regarding Earthquakes training facilities. Natalie Everett of the Morgan Hill Times reports that the Quakes are on their way to creating a new training center in that South Bay city. The team would purchase the former Golden Oak Restaurant and convert it into a training facility and has also offered to take over management of the city’s Outdoor Sports Center, a recently-renovated facility which includes two lighted fields, practice fields with artificial turf, and a number of additional fields.

According to Everett’s article, the training center would include  “a weight and cardio facility, treatment rooms, personnel offices and dining, video and meeting rooms,” and the Quakes would refurbish a practice field to “MLS standards.” Everett reported yesterday that Morgan Hill’s Parks and Recreation Commission has “recommended that the City Council allow  the Earthquakes to negotiate exclusively with the city for a long-term lease of the Outdoor Sports Center.” Stay tuned…

• • •

Landon Donovan is going on loan to Bayern Munich, at least until the start of the MLS preseason and maybe longer. It’s a can’t miss deal for MLS: if Donovan does well, his transfer price goes way, way up. If he doesn’t do well, they’re surely hoping he’ll come back to L.A. for good. The situation gets sticky, though, if he does well but AEG doesn’t want to let him go — and that’s exactly what the Solar Powered Soccer Blog is predicting. If you watched the Cristiano Ronaldo drama this summer between Manchester United and Real Madrid and thought, “Why don’t we ever see things like that with American players?,” well, this may be your chance. One more prediction: If Donovan really wants to go, he’ll go.

• • •

Finally, there’s an interview with Arturo Alvarez on the Earthquakes’ web site.