Mustard and mayo

It’s been a little while since the Solar Powered Soccer Blog has been fired up, but there’s news to report so it’s time to play catchup. Who doesn’t relish an opportunity like this? It’s not good to leave readers in a pickle. And remember — for safe reading, always use a condiment.

The big news today is that the Earthquakes’ Darren Huckerby has pulled down the MLS Newcomer of the Year award, beating out fellow nominees Andre Rocha of FC Dallas and Claudio Lopez of Kansas City. The Quakes went 5-4-5 after Huckerby’s midseason arrival, a pace that would have earned the team a playoff berth had their first half record not been an abysmal 3-9-4. Hucks tallied six goals and four assists with the team, averaging over a point a game from his spot on the left flank, where he provided nightmares for MLS defenders in almost every match.

“Darren had phenomenal run for us right from his arrival to the team,” Earthquakes head coach Frank Yallop said in a team press release. “He brought an attacking mentality to our team that helped spark us on our run for the playoffs. His experience and professionalism were also great assets to the team this year. He is very deserving of this award.”

Huckerby’s instant impact was remarkable in a season in which many highly-touted signings, such as DC United’s Marcelo Gallardo, struggled to showcase their talents in MLS. The Quakes went 4-0-4 in his first eight games, with the former Norwich City star scoring in his first two home matches with the club.

Congrats to the well-tanned Englishman. It will be interesting to see what he can do next year with the opportunity to play for a full season.

• • •

Speaking of Huckerby, he’s returned to England for the off season, and the Norwich Evening News has a photo of him enjoying his new season ticket at Carrow Road. The paper also interviewed Hucks about his return to Norfolk and his first season in San Jose:

 “There are some very good players over there. There are the ones you hear about, like Beckham, but Beckham didn’t get in any of the top 10 voting - over there it is stat driven with assists and goals and Beckham wasn’t in any of the top 10s. He is in the top 10 of getting paid, and he is a massive ambassador for the league, but I think that sometimes undermines how good some of the other players are…

“The thing is, the standard of the first 11 players in virtually every team is pretty good, but after that they were no way as strong as here. That’s the biggest difference; the strength in depth of squads over here is much, much better than over there. If you look at any squad in the Championship you have 25 players who have all played a lot of games and who all know the game inside out. Over there, after the first 11, 12, 13 players you have got kids who have only kicked a ball at college level.”

Huckerby also spoke glowingly of San Jose and California:

“California is a lot different, of course, but in a way it was familiar as well. It’s kind of quiet in San Jose, it’s not like an LA or a New York, just how I like it to be honest; not too in your face, but a brilliant place to live - it was 85 degrees every day at least and not freezing like it is here.”

He may be in for a surprise come February and March, but Bay Area winters are likely better than those in Norwich, anyway.

• • •

It’s time for MLS to end the “let the fans throw streamers onto the field” experiment. It’s always been disrespectful to the game, but the final straw should have come on Sunday, when a Houston fan narrowly missed New York’s Dane Richards as he was completing a weaving, 65-yard run to set up John Wolyniec for Los Toros Rojos‘ third goal of the game. (You can see the video here.) Let’s face it — it’s only a matter of time until a fan disrupts a significant play with a streamer. That simply can’t be allowed to happen. Besides, the practice puts all of MLS in a bad light. Can you imagine people chucking streamers onto the pitch at the World Cup? No? How about in the English Premier League? How bad does a league have to be before streamers would be acceptable? MLS needs to realize, once again, that the game is what people go to see — not streamers or any other gimmicks like the league’s early attempt at a tie-breaker, the shootout.

As for the result of that match, which saw an unheralded New York knock out the two-time defending champions, wow — who saw that coming? It brings to mind the classic quote from Germany’s 1954 World Cup winning coach Sepp Herberger: “The ball is round. The game lasts 90 minutes. This much is fact. Everything else is theory.”

• • •

- Former Earthquakes captain Jeff Agoos, who earned two of his record five MLS Cup championships with San Jose, is profiled on FIFA.com.

- Speaking of Goose, he is one of several former San Jose players who is on the 2009 National Soccer Hall of Fame ballot.  He is joined by Mike Burns, John Doyle, and Dominic Kinnear.

- Scott Sealy, whose MLS contract expires at the end of the year and may or may not return next year, was called up by Trinidad and Tobago for three Digicel Cup matches and the islands’ crucial World Cup qualifier on November 19 against Cuba.  Sealy played the final 50 minutes of T and T’s 3-2 win over Antigua & Barbuda on November 5, the first half of their 3-1 win over St. Kitts & Nevis on November 7, and the first half of their 1-1 tie on November 9 against Guyana, but never made the scoresheet.

- The Vancouver Sun reports that the Vancouver Whitecaps, one of the groups currently bidding for an MLS expansion franchise, have released a rendering of their proposed home, the 59,000-seat BC Place, dressed down to a 22,000 seat capacity. It’s not awful, but no one is going to be too excited about the proposed “synthetic FIFA-approved pitch.” In any case, the rendering can’t hold a candle to their proposed waterfront stadium. If they do get into MLS, here’s hoping that any stay in BC Place would be temporary. That waterfront facility would be a beaut.

- Finally, here’s a YouTube selection of San Jose’s top ten goals of 2008. Enjoy!