We’re off to see the Wizards

Or, more accurately, the Wizards are off to see the Quakes, because we are definitely not in Kansas anymore. (Or Missouri, for that matter.)

If you haven’t checked it out already, and if we may be immodest for a moment, do check out our interview with Jimmy Conrad. We talked about a lot of interesting stuff, including the 2006 World Cup and San Jose’s MLS Cup victory in 2001. For example, Jimmy had this bit of insight to offer about the worst-to-first Quakes of that year:

 In (San Jose in) 2001, we had a lot of guys who were just on the brink of what they were going to become. Wade Barrett, Richard Mulrooney, Joe Cannon — and we just had so much to prove. And we ended up getting a coach in Frank Yallop who was thinking the same exact thing. We had Troy Dayak, who was coming back from a serious injury, and he had a lot to prove. Jeff Agoos had just gotten traded and he had a lot to prove. Everybody had that same thing, that chip on their shoulder.

We didn’t bring it up at the time, but while Jimmy was saying this, the first thought through our head was, gee, that sounds an awful lot like the team we have right now. Being an expansion team means that every player on the side is a cast-off from somewhere else. Jason Hernandez? Ryan Cochrane? Ned Grabavoy? All left exposed by their former teams in the expansion draft. Nick Garcia and Scott Sealy? Deemed expendable by the Wizards. Darren Huckerby? Arturo Alvarez? Rudely cast aside by a new managers. Granted, many of the new Quakes were pleased to be sent to San Jose (Cochrane, Joe Cannon, Ramiro Corrales, Ronnie O’Brien), but that doesn’t change the fact that their previous clubs decided they weren’t worth keeping around for one reason or another.

It’s likely that Yallop hasn’t pushed this particular motivational button very often this year. It probably wouldn’t work very well when a team is struggling, as the Quakes were in the first half of the season. (Saying, “our record is awful, and have I mentioned that you guys were all discarded by your former teams?” would create more animosity than motivation.) But in the right circumstances, when the team is performing well but needs to dig just a bit deeper to push themselves over the top, it could be a useful tool. Or maybe, just enough for an epic playoff run.

• • •

Here’s the pre-game press wrap, along with a few miscellaneous items:

- Our own Jeff Carlisle, writing for MLSnet.com, reports that Ned Grabavoy is likely to be replacing the injured Ramiro Corrales in the San Jose lineup.

- The San Jose Mercury News, and this is extremely ironic, takes a cue from CLS and interviews Jimmy Conrad for their pre-game piece.  It’s not ironic that they’re doing what we’re doing — no, that’s merely good sense. It’s ironic because we edited out a small section from our Conrad interview where we discussed media coverage of soccer in the Bay Area, and he made this observation: “The Mercury News is terrible. It’s embarrassingly bad.” Oh well — someday they’ll give the Quakes the coverage they deserve, and drive CLS out of business. Until then — well, has anyone else besides Jeff Carlisle reported that Corrales is expected to be out 4-8 weeks with his MCL sprain? Can you imagine a key player for, say, the 49ers going down and the Chronicle not reporting his prognosis?

-  The Kansas City Star takes the “players taking on former teammates” angle, too, except they focus primarily on Nick Garcia and Scott Sealy. We liked this quote from Garcia: “I can see why people come out here and never want to leave.”

- Soccer America’s Ridge Mahoney strikes a similar chord on his blog, with “When Old Friends Meet.”

- Other pre-game stories come from the San Mateo Daily Journal, Goal.com, and the AP, along with the match fact sheet from the Quakes.

-  The Offside Rules has a cool video clip from Earthquakes supporters group the 1906 Ultras. (In fact, it looks to us like the work of CLS contributor Harvey Rañola.)

- Former Quake Joe Vide, picked up by DC United after being released by the Quakes, scored the first goal of his career last Saturday against Colorado and has been rewarded with Goal of the Week honors.