Malaysia, China, England, and more

We’ve got a little news from a lot of places today. Let’s just jump in, shall we?

- Marlon Alex James has scored his second consecutive hat trick in Malaysia Cup play for his soon-to-be ex-team, Kedah. Remarkably, all three goals came in an 11-minute span in the first half. His contract ends on August 31 and Malaysian soccer officials have decided to kick all the foreign players out of the league afterwards, so we know for sure he’s going to be looking for a new team. Whether or not he ends up in San Jose is still up in the air, but the MLS transfer window closes on August 15, so if it’s going to happen, it has to happen in the next week.

Here’s the video showing James’ trio of goals. The quality of the competition in Malaysia is undoubtedly not on a par with MLS, but we’re still impressed with his composure around goal and finishing ability.

- Olympic soccer has already begun, and our own Jeff Carlisle is in China reporting for ESPN. His preview of the U.S. men’s Sunday morning match against Holland can be found here, along with his story on yesterday’s US/Japan match. NBC’s Olympic web pages are here, along with TV listings and an online viewing schedule.

-  Darren Huckerby was interviewed on a BBC radio show yesterday, where he explained, among other things, that San Jose fans are “very, very cool.” Here’s a transcript of the portion of the interview that covered Huckerby’s new life in America:

How much are you enjoying MLS and playing for San Jose?

I’m enjoying it a lot. It’s completely different from what I’ve been used to, but apart from that, it’s really, really good. The place is beautiful. It’s sunshine every day. It’s a good life.

When you say it’s different from playing in the championship, what is it like? A lot of us have never seen an MLS game in the flesh.

I think the pace is a little bit slower because, you know, the last two games we’ve played it’s been 85 degrees, at 12 o’clock in the afternoon. So, that makes it a little bit less intense, but you’ve got to do things when you’ve got the ball. It seems to be a lot more passing and keeping the ball — the Championship tends to be a lot of long balls and get it to the forwards and stuff, so technically, it’s a little bit different.

You’ve got two goals in your last two games. Are you already a hero to San Jose fans?

I don’t know, I don’t know. I’ve started OK. Before I got here, we’ve made a few signings — not just me, we’ve brought in another couple forwards as well. And we’re doing OK. The last three games, we drew two and won one, so I hope we can keep it going.

When you got that first goal for San Jose, did it give you the same sort of buzz as scoring here in England?

It gave me the same buzz, but nothing will change the way I feel about playing for Norwich. If I had a choice tomorrow I’d come back and play straightaway. But that’s life — I’ve got to work with what I’ve got. It’s not a bad second place, but it will always be second place.

And you got one over Beckham the other day, didn’t you? Tell us about that.

Yeah, he plays for L.A. Galaxy, and obviously they’re the biggest, highest-profile team in MLS. They’re not necessarily the best team but they’re the biggest team here, so it was kind of built up as one Brit versus another Brit. We came out on top that day, but that’s one game.

Did you get a chance to speak to him?

I did, yeah. Only for about 20 seconds, before the second half started. He just asked me how I was getting on, and, you know, what I thought of the weather and the different styles of football. It was nice for him to come and say hi, and he said some nice things after the game as well, because the press wanted to know about what I could bring to the MLS and stuff. He said some nice, complimentary things.

Is it quite a surreal feeling when you’ve got David Beckham talking about you in an interview after the game?

Uh, kind of. I’ve never been one to swap shirts or this or that after a game. He’s asked about everything after the games. He’s the main man in MLS so he’s got a lot of things he has to do after games, so it’s just nice that he acknowledged that we did OK.

How big is MLS over there in the States? When you walk around San Jose and where you’re living, do people recognize you yet?

No one — it’s great! It’s different — it’s fourth place behind basketball, baseball, and hockey, so that’s just the way it is. There’s a die-hard bunch of fans who follow the team, but at the end of the day, it’s nothing like it is in England.

So what are the fans like?

They’re good fans. They seem to be very, very cool. They enjoy the football, but like I said, it’s completely different. The stadium is - it’s just a college stadium at the minute, until they build the new stadium, so it’s not like Carrow Road which was awesome to play in front of. This is a little bit different, but it’s still good, in a different way.

Are there any new Darren Huckerby songs yet, or do American fans not really go down that line?

I think they’ve adopted a Huckerby one already. It kind of doesn’t sound right — “Oh Hucker, Huckerby” doesn’t sound quite right in America, but I’m sure they’ll figure something out.

I went on Norwich’s preseason tour to Sweden, and the fans on that trip have got a new Huckerby song. You know the Kim Wilde hit, “Kids in America.” It’s to that tune, but it’s “Huckerby’s in America, wo-oah.”

Good, good. 

Are you still number 6?

That was part of my signing, I had to be number 6. (laughter) No, not really. The number 6 came up, luckily for me. I had the choice between number 6 and number 10, so there was always going to be one number I’d pick. 

You’ll always be the Norwich number 6 in a lot of people’s eyes out here. 

Huckerby also spoke about the Canaries’ chances in the coming season, which starts this weekend against Coventry. If you want, you can hear the interiew in its entirety — an enterprising Norwich City fan recorded it and posted it online here.

- Finally, it’s been announced that Real Salt Lake’s new stadium will open for MLS action on October 9 and will host next year’s all-star game. You can take a gander using the RSL construction cam.  The team name spelled out in the seats is a nice touch but we’re not sure about the roof, which doesn’t look like it will do much to hold in the sound. Still, it’s almost infinitely better than Rice Eccles, so applause, applause.