More about Huckerby, Sealy

Today’s calendar reads “DH+1,” so apparently we’ve dropped the Gregorian calendar for the, uh, Quakian calendar as we move into the first day of the Darren Huckerby era.

The anticipation is thick. Fans are looking at YouTube highlight reels of Huckerby’s play with Norwich City, Man City, and Coventry — Sean Rubio has assembled a Darren Huckerby Video Extravaganza, parts one and two, over on theoffside.com — and everyone is wondering how he’ll look in black and blue, against MLS competition. In fact, the last time we remember this level of excitement about a San Jose signing was in 2001, when a youngster named Donovan joined the team. They’re obviously very different players, but the buzz is similar enough.

The acquisition of Huckerby has completely overshadowed the Quakes’ purchase of Scott Sealy from the Wizards, but we like this pick-up, too. If there’s one thing Quakes GM John Doyle emphasized when we interviewed him two weeks ago, it’s that a player who can score 10 goals in an MLS season, like Sealy did in 2006, is “a valuable asset.” We tend to agree, as the streets leading out of the league are littered with the shirts of forwards who were highly touted but couldn’t produce that much. Even an acclaimed goal scorer like Eric Wynalda never tallied more than 10 goals in a season, and he only did it once for San Jose.

The move is being criticized in some circles, with the harshest condemnation coming from Ives Galarcep on his blog, Soccer by Ives. He writes that the Quakes paid too much “for a forward who A) is planning to leave MLS after this season and B) is likely to miss time due to World Cup qualifying with Trinidad & Tobago.” While it’s true that Sealy’s contract is up after this season, we have not been able to confirm that Sealy is looking to leave MLS at the end of the year. We plan to ask some more questions about this at tonight’s game.

Delving into research mode, we find conflicting evidence. Sealy once told the Trinidad Guardian that “my ambitions are to move on to Europe,” but that was in 2005, when he was being touted as a potential rookie of the year in MLS. A lot can change in three years. We also found an interview from last year, published on the Wake Forest web site, that contains this interesting exchange:

If you could have one of your old Wake Forest teammates play with you in Kansas City, who would it be and why?

This is a hard choice because I was able to play with a lot of good, committed players while I was there. If I had to choose, it would be Amir Lowery. His attitude and determination was 100 percent everyday, in practice and in games. He was a leader, not just vocally, but mostly through his actions. If I wanted anyone to be my teammate those are qualities that you cannot instill in someone — they are innate. On top of that he knew how to play the game and understood what was needed to be a winner. On the biased end, he was my roommate for 3 1/2 years and I watched him evolve into a better soccer player and a man.

That same Amir Lowery is now a San Jose Earthquake, so who’s to say that Sealy won’t be inclined to renew his contract? Besides, even if Sealy does want to go to Europe, that means he’s going to be extra motivated to score goals in the next 15 games. Anyway, that’s enough speculation — we’ll report back on the issue when we have more information.

We’ll leave you with this 10-minute interview with San Jose standout Ronnie O’Brien from Comcast Sports Net Bay Area’s Kate Longworth. It was originally broadcast in part during halftime of Saturday’s match against the Rapids. Thanks to “TubeMonkey29″ for the video capture.