Yallop has options—finally—for Toronto match

Frank Yallop’s Earthquakes have a new depth as a result of the team’s mid-season signings. Photo: John Todd, centerlinesoccer.com/isiphotos.com. 

With the signing of three potential starters in Darren Huckerby, Francisco Lima, and Scott Sealy, and the return of Ryan Cochrane and Jovan Kirovski from injury, Earthquakes coach Frank Yallop gets to experience something a bit different this week, as his team travels to face Toronto FC for the first time Saturday: options.

Normally, coaches take a great deal of care in constructing their lineups, picking the players who have performed well in training as well as previous matches, but that hasn’t always been the case this year for Yallop. The Quakes’ forward line has been particularly hard hit this year, with injuries striking Peguero Jean Philippe, Gavin Glinton, and Kirovski, and Kei Kamara absent for a month due to World Cup qualifying duties with Sierra Leone.

Today, things are different. Yallop has at least five players vying for the two starting spots at forward and greater depth throughout the side, a fact that pleases him.

“Competition for places is always good on any team, and we’ve just signed three players, so that’s a good sign for the squad,” he says. “It’s going to put some people under pressure.”

It’s not guaranteed that that all three new Quakes will see time against Toronto FC, but Yallop hopes that they will all be available for the match.

“(Darren)’s only trained once in two months, so it’ll be a little bit tough on him to just be thrown out there,” he says. “Hopefully he can be on the bench but we’ll talk about it. I don’t want to force him into anything he’s not quite comfortable with, so let’s make sure it’s right. Scott Sealy will probably be available, because he’s playing in MLS and he’s fit and raring to go, so we’ll decide on him. Same with Lima — we’ll see how he feels. They might all get some time.”

The coach’s options don’t end at player selection, though. With Huckerby’s arrival, there’s a chance that the Quakes could switch from a 4-4-2 to a 4-3-3, pushing a midfielder further forward on the pitch.

“Darren’s kind of a wide attacking player — he’s a goal scorer, but from a wide position, so it kind of lends itself to playing that (formation),” Yallop says. “We’ll see with the personnel we have. I actually thought Ronnie O’Brien played pretty well inside in the last game — I thought he was comfortable under there, he passes it well, he doesn’t lose it, so he’s kind of a good attacking option for us there instead of out wide, where he’s almost wasted a lot — if we don’t find him early, it’s not a comfortable position for him. But centrally, I think he did a nice job. So we’ll see. Scott Sealy is a good point man as well, he’s good with his back to goal, so I’ll look at it and put together a good combination of players for Saturday, and we’ll see moving forward how we shape up, formation-wise.”

Despite O’Brien’s “questionable” status on this week’s injury list, Yallop also notes that the Irishman is hoping to see time against his former club. “Oh, he wants to play this one,” Yallop says, grinning. “Yeah, he’s desperate to play this one.”

The face off between the expansion sides of the last two seasons comes on the heels of San Jose’s convincing 4-0 win over the Olympic team from Honduras.  While Yallop doesn’t put a great deal of weight on the result, he was nonetheless pleased with his team’s play on the night.

“It’s always good to score against any opposition,” he said after the match. “Obviously this was a friendly and they weren’t the strongest team we’ll face this year, but it’s never easy finding the back of the net and it was nice having four different scorers. It might give us some confidence to feel a little more comfortable in front of goal. I thought we played with a bit of confidence for a change, and it shows we can play pretty good football.”

Confidence, he believes, is particularly important for an expansion team. “Right now, other teams can kind of turn up and play in MLS,” he says. “They don’t worry about the results because they’re an established team. We’re kind of edgy on everything right now, so it was nice to see them just kind of go out there and play and perform.”

He singled out Ned Grabavoy, Ramiro Corrales, Shea Salinas, and Kirovski for their play on the night. That’s no guarantee they’ll start on Saturday, though: they’ll have to win their spots in practice, too.