Press looks ahead to Open Cup, Buck Shaw

The Quakes play Real Salt Lake in a U.S. Open Cup play-in match tonight, and if you’re wondering whether the Quakes will play their first team, the answer is no. In story for MLSnet.com, coach Frank Yallop made it plain to writer Jeff Carlisle that his focus is on MLS.

“I’m going to play all of the reserves, guys who haven’t played,” said Yallop. “They’ve done well in the reserve games, and they’ve done well in training, so they deserve the chance. I’m going to get them game sharp for whenever we’re going to use them.”

While this glass could be seen as half-empty, we prefer to see it as half-full. Yallop is known for having confidence in his players, a trait that this season has been shown in the careful way he’s put together his roster. When the season started and the team was short several players, he did not panic but instead said time and again, “We don’t want just any guys — we want the right guys.” Everyone on the roster wears the name “San Jose Earthquakes” on his shirt, and we think it’s great that Yallop has the faith in the reserves to go out and do that shirt proud.

Be sure to read Tim Hanley’s preview of tonight’s match on CLS for a more detailed breakdown. For more on the game from an RSL point of view, we’ll refer you to this story in the Deseret News, which tells us that four players will be making their first starts for the Utah side: Matias Cordoba, Kenny Cutler, Tony Beltran and Chris Seitz. Former RSL general manager Steve Pastorino evaluates the team’s progress in this piece in the Salt Lake Tribune.

The story of the day, though, comes from Soccer America’s Ridge Mahoney, who interviews Lew Wolff, John Doyle, and Yallop about the renovations the Quakes have made to their temporary home at Santa Clara University, Buck Shaw Stadium.

Mahoney’s story provides some insight into the team’s renovations to Buck Shaw as well as Wolff’s stadium philosophy, both of which will interest Quakes fans:

Wolff authorized about $3 million in renovations and upgrades, more than double the cost he cited in December before work began, for a facility the team will most likely abandon in three years, when its own stadium near San Jose International Airport is scheduled for completion…

“We think that sports today, and beyond, absolutely have to be in venues that are absolutely perfect, as perfect as you can get for that sport,” says Wolff, whose soccer stadium project cleared a political hurdle last week. He’s also developing a stadium for his other sports team, the Oakland A’s, to replace the Oakland Coliseum shared with the NFL Raiders. “The moment you try to have hockey and basketball, or football and soccer, you lose something. Occasionally for a huge game, you can use a huge venue, but our whole goal is the fan experience.”