Quakes notebook: Get Smarte on Saturday?
By Jay Hipps · June 13, 2008
A replacement for the suspended James Riley may be coming from an unexpected source on Saturday: developmental player Adam Smarte.
It may seem like a surprising choice, considering Smarte played up front at U.C. Santa Cruz, but Earthquakes coach Frank Yallop and his staff have been grooming Smarte as a right back and he’s been playing there for the Earthquakes Reserves.
The lineup could change by tomorrow, of course, but he was practicing with the starters at Stanford on Thursday.
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We had a chance to talk with Yallop about the emergence of Ryan Johnson at forward. While Smarte played at forward and is being moved to defense, Johnson was originally listed as a midfielder/defender with the Quakes.
“He can play left back, left-side midfield, and, as you now know, out front,” said Yallop. “He has played forward, when he was in Norway.
“It was a bit of a look-see by me — I thought, why not give him a shot, see how he does. I spoke to Ryan and he said, ‘I can play out front,’ which is good for any player — he’s got a lot of strings to his bow — and he’s taken to it real well, he’s doing great.”
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Before the team’s relocation at the end of 2005, the rivalry between the Earthquakes and the Galaxy was generally recognized as the best in MLS. Yallop believes it will take a while before the duel reaches the heights seen earlier in the decade, though.
“Because we live close to each other, it’s a rivalry, but from ‘01 to ‘03 is when I felt it was really strong, that rivalry, and the years after that, because they were two of the top teams in the league,” he said. “We need to get ourselves going to make sure that we’re a force in this league and then you’ve got a sort of table-top clash. As of right now, we’d love to beat them on the weekend, they’d love to beat us, so it’s a healthy rivalry that we both look forward to.”
As for how the Quakes can bring home three points against the resurgent Galaxy, Yallop has some ideas about that, too.
“They’ve scored the most goals of anybody in the league, so that says something about their play,” he noted. “They want to get forward, they want to put people under pressure, which is great. Hopefully we can break a little bit and get at their back four, but they’re a strong unit. They’re top of the league in our division, and they’re not there for any other reason that they’ve got the most points. I’m just looking forward to the game, us performing well at home, and hopefully we can get that win.”
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Don’t expect to see Nick Garcia tomorrow or Wednesday night at Salt Lake City, but trainer Bruce Morgan is hopeful Garcia could return the following Sunday at RFK Stadium against DC United.
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What a difference a year makes. Last season, every time David Beckham made his first appearance, that city’s newspapers, radio, and TV fell all over themselves to cover it. Today, we’re still waiting for the Bay Area’s media to acknowledge the upcoming visit from Posh Spice’s hubby, but the “just the facts, ma’am” pre-game notes are now available on the Quakes’ web site.
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Interesting buzz about Beckhampalooza according to Andy Gray during the Euro coverage–the press coverage has mellowed out on him (mostly due to his ankle injury last year) but it slowly has come back. However, mainstream America thinks otherwise–Parade (yes that Sunday rag) thinks he’s a flash in the pan. However (bleep) that weekend freebie.
Still, the core fans very much think otherwise–Beckham is on a roll, and put him together with Donovan and they’ve accounted for most of the Galaxy offense in goals and assists.
29k tickets sold for this event–hey if it sells out, it means the buzz is there–and, leave the tarps on the third deck. Could very well be The Beatles or Elvis.