Pre-game press roundup, New England edition

There’s one more article in the ongoing Darren Huckerby saga that we’ll get to in a minute. First, though, to the more immediate matters at hand: tomorrow’s match featuring the Earthquakes at New England, which is shaping up to be a test of depth for both sides.

The bad news, as my colleague Jeff Carlisle reported this morning, is that Earthquakes’ striker Peguero Jean Philippe is out for this week and maybe longer, thanks to fluid buildup on his surgically-repaired right knee. With Gavin Glinton already out due to sports hernia surgery, this leaves the Quakes very thin at forward. Kei Kamara, this is your time to shine!

Fortunately, the Revs aren’t in much better shape. According to Revs coach Steve Nicol, Taylor Twellman is unlikely to play tomorrow. Nicol is quoted on Boston.com as saying, “Taylor is day to day. There is a slim chance [he will play] but, to be honest, we are hoping for next week.” (That gives us something in common with Nicol; we’re hoping for next week, too.)

A quick look at the MLSnet.com match preview tells us that Revs forward Kenny Mansally is listed as questionable with a sprained right ankle, so that could mean that both of New England’s starting strikers will be sidelined. (The injury list also specifies that Jean Philippe’s knee is suffering from “internal derangement,” which sounds to us a lot more like a mental condition than a physical one. That’s unlikely, though, unless the doctors at Brondby, his Danish club, implanted a tiny brain in his knee which has now gone mad.)

On the other hand, Steve Ralston is ready to go for New England, although he may have painted a target on his shirt when he told the Boston Herald that, while his recently-separated left shoulder feels good now, “the hardest part is just knowing how to trust it if you’re not sure that you’re going to do something to make it pop back out again.” (In case Ramiro Corrales is reading this, remember: it’s his left shoulder.)

All is not lost, however. Quakes fans can take solace in the fact that Chicago Tribune reporter Luis Arroyave predicts a final score of New England 3, San Jose 1, and is so confident of this outcome that he has made it the $$$ ARROYAVE LOCK OF THE WEEK $$$. Why is that good news? His “lock of the week” picks have gone 3-5 so far this season.

On to the Darren Huckerby watch. As you probably know, the Quakes were beaten by Toronto in the race to file discovery claims with MLS on the former Norwich City striker, so TFC gets the first shot at signing him. According to this article on the English site EDP24.co.uk, Toronto coach John Carver is going to do his best to sign Huckerby.

“We’ve said all along we’re not stopping with what we’ve got,” Carver said. “And the one thing we can sign at the moment is players who are out of contract. He is one that is out of contract. He’s one that we’ve talked about. As it stands at the moment nothing (has) happened. I’m looking for players to improve the side and he’s certainly one player that would take the side in the right direction.”

Of course, there are other elements in play, too. We can always hope that Huckerby will prefer the lush green turf of Buck Shaw Stadium to the lush green plastic of BMO Field, the sandy beaches of Santa Cruz to the rocky shores of the Great Lakes, and the bug-free nights of San Jose to the mosquitoes and black flies of Ontario.

Speaking of which, it’s shaping up to be a beautiful weekend. Let’s hope for a nice result to top it off.