Real Salt Lake and San Jose, 1 and 2 in the West respectively, met in San Jose last night to duke it out for top spot in the West. Coming into the match the Quakes had been unbeaten in 4 games and Real Salt Lake had won 5 of 7. The previous 2 meetings between these two teams in San Jose went Real Salt’s way, with a 3-0 drumming in 2010 and a rain soaked 1-0 win in 2011. The last time San Jose defeated RSL was May 30, 2009, so some redemption was in order last night.

First off, the Quakes were missing Marvin Chavez after getting a 1 game suspension for a dangerous tackle in the New York game last week. Victor Bernardez and Shea Salinas were out due to injuries suffered in the New York game as well. As such the Quakes were playing with a backline consisting of Justin Morrow, Hernandez, Ike Opara and Steven Beitashour. The midfield was Simon Dawkins, Sam Cronin, Tressor Moreno and Rafa Baca. Up top with Chris Wondolowski was Khari Stephenson.

There was some concern that without Chavez and Salinas on the wings, there wouldn’t be enough speed to stretch RSL’s backline. Conversely, without Bernardez in the back, could the defense keep Alvaro Saborio and Fabian Espindola under wraps? While Dawkins and Baca did well on the wings, the backline proved that they’ve made significant strides since last season. Last year’s defense was pretty much the same lineup, with Ramiro Corrales in place of Morrow at left back, but with the addition of Bernardez, the Quakes have had more bite and vigor than last year. It’s good to see that that mentality hasn’t dissipated with the loss of Bernardez.

San Jose’s first real chance at goal came in the 20th minute. Dawkins intercepted a poor clearance from RSL goalkeeper Nick Rimando and the ball fell to Stephenson who’s shot glanced off Jamison Olave and bounced off the near post. The rebound found its way to Baca who’s left footed shot from the top of the 18 was parried away by Rimando. Tensions were wound up in the 29th minute as Espindola and Cronin dove for a 50/50 ball in the center circle. The referee ejected Espindola with a red card for a reckless tackle, coming in on Cronin with both studs up. Quakes TV color commentator and club ambassador Kelly Gray had this to say about the play:

Sam Cronin is a very nice guy, even on the field, a nice guy. For him to jump up like that, and get into somebody’s face, it takes a lot.

The fireworks weren’t over in the first half, as Stephenson found the end of a Beitashour cross for the Quakes’ first goal of the night. Stephenson put the ball into the ground and as it bounced up Rimando got a hand to it but couldn’t keep it from going into the net.

Yallop stated after the game that the team wanted to come out firing in order to find a second goal which always gives teams a comfortable cushion to get a win. Unfortunately RSL had their own ideas and Kyle Beckerman moved into the attacking end of the midfield in order to try to spark a response. And respond he did, with a precise shot past a contorted Busch. The fact that Beckerman eluded both Beitashour and Hernandez prior to the shot proves Beckerman’s prowess with the ball at his feet. The Quakes looked to respond by bringing on Steven Lenhart who missed the New York game due to a slight injury. While Lenhart didn’t provide immediate goal scoring relief, he did give the Quakes another boost in their efforts. Sent clear up the middle, RSL defender Jamison Olave and Lenhart tangled at the top of the 18 and the referee judged Olave to have hindered a clear goal scoring opportunity for the Quakes and Lenhart and sent him to the lockers with RSL’s second red card of the match.

Stephenson put the ensuing free kick over the bar, but the Quakes weren’t done putting on pressure, especially with 11 on 9 for the remaining 21 minutes. RSL made some defensive subs to try to ride out the storm for a 1-1 draw while the Quakes attacked and attacked. Yallop eventually pulled out Opara for Alan Gordon and switched to a 3-4-3 looking for the go ahead goal. With time ticking away and still no goal Yallop pulled Baca for Sam Garza’s MLS and Quakes debut. With a bevy of attacking players mainly pushing down the right wing, RSL was holding on for dear life. After 90 minutes the score was still 1-1 but the referee decreed 6 minutes of stoppage time.

Finally, in the 2nd minute of stoppage time, Beitashour found Dawkins near the penalty spot and Dawkins put a diving header into the far corner for the eventual game winning goal. Not to be outdone, Wondo bagged his 8th of the campaign off a cheeky Stephenson chip from inside the penalty area. The Quakes ended a 5 match winless streak against RSL and managed to nab top spot in the super-competitive West, along with 2nd place overall.

Also of note in last night’s game, Jason Hernandez made his 100th career start with San Jose and head coach Frank Yallop was looking to earn his 100th MLS victory, which he secured. Yallop now joins an elite club comprised of Seattle Sounders coach Sigi Schmid (160), Los Angeles Galaxy coach Bruce Arena (131), former Chicago Fire, Chivas USA & New York MetroStars coach Bob Bradley (124), former New England Revolution coach Steve Nicol (112) and Houston Dynamo coach Dominic Kinnear (102).

GO QUAKES!

In the 14th minute Brian Ching collided with Jon Busch and Victor Bernarndez at the top of the 6 yard box. The referee claimed that Busch fouled Ching and awarded Houston the penalty that won them the game. It looked like a silly challenge from the stands, and watching replays of the incident only prove that Busch did not need to come off his line and his attempt to knock the ball away was clumsy and he did in fact penalize Ching. Maybe the ball held up in the wind and that’s why Busch’s attempt at defense failed, but it was a poor challenge in all. Davis coolly slotted the ball past a diving Busch for the game’s only goal.

After the break Chavez came on for Rafael Baca in an effort to provide more speed to attack Houston. Tressor Moreno came on in the 63rd minute and provided more support for the attack. The Quakes were the better team overall, but definitely in the second half. There was lost of movement and passing, but that final piercing ball still eludes the team. There were several opportunities for the Quakes in the second half but they were either saved or not capitalized on.

I still feel the team is missing that last lethal piece in the midfield. Moreno still needs more time to gel with rest of the players and get up to match fitness. He can hold the ball well and make pinpoint passes, he just needs to work on passing while moving. There were several instances last night where he tried to pass while running onto the ball and basically gave the ball to Houston. Bernardez has been a beast at center back, calm, cool, collected; he has an excellent ability to keep possession when needed and excellent defensive abilities. Hopefully Jason Hernandez can come back soon and really cement a partnership with him in the back. I like Justin Morrow as a left back instead of a center back, but he’s been doing fine there right now as well. Finally Steven Lenhart has been doing his thing and getting the attention it deserves from the defense. I feel like his two yellow cards were incorrectly assigned to him but as long as he can keep holding up play to get his teammates in on action, he’s going to get his due soon.

Next week the Quakes travel to Toronto, where they will face their old teammate Ryan Johnson, who has been on a tear for his team in CONCACAF Champions League recently. Wondo scored a hat trick in Toronto 2 years ago and will be looking for some more Canadian good luck on Saturday.

GO QUAKES!

Wednesday, February 22, 2012. A new milestone in Earthquakes history.

The San Jose Planning Department voted 6-0 to deny an appeal to the proposed Earthquakes stadium near the Mineta San Jose International Airport. After almost 10 years of [hard] work, the Quakes are closer than ever to realizing a dream of having their own stadium.

Owner Lew Wolff, President David Kaval and over 300 fans showed up to San Jose’s City Hall Wednesday night as the Planning Department voted to uphold or deny an appeal against the Quakes’ new stadium. So many supporters showed up that over 50 were turned away and could not come inside, where there was standing room only, probably for the first time in the Planning Department’s history. In the original agenda for the meeting, the Quakes’ permit appeal was scheduled for 4th on the docket, but upon seeing the turnout the council moved to reorder the agenda items. It took almost 3 hours, but the appeal was finally overturned and the hall erupted in cheers, claps, and finally the Ultra’s Earthquakes Chant.

In the 2 days following the meeting, President Kaval has stated that the organization has been talking with 5 or 6 groups in regards to naming rights, as well as the construction company(s) responsible for building the stadium. He responded with the hope that groundbreaking could occur as early as May and weather and delays permitting, the stadium could potentially be open for the opening game in 2013.

Not to be sour grapes, but I think the opener for next season is a bit too optimistic. I foresee something similar to Sporting Kansas City in 2011 or Houston this year, somewhere up to 10 games on the road or with Buck Shaw being the home field until the stadium is good and ready to open. No need to rush things and then have something unfortunate happen to the stadium or the fans. Nonetheless there has been a lot of positive feedback from the League, other MLS teams, and local citizens and community groups. Hopefully this stadium brings in a greater soccer presence for the Quakes in the Bay Area and help make San Jose truly Soccer City, USA.

GO QUAKES!

The Quakes had 3 picks in the 2012 SuperDraft. In their first pick they selected a Generation Adidas forward from UC Santa Barbara, Sam Garza (seen above), with the No. 6 overall pick. The team picked up Jacob Hustedt, midfielder, from the University of Washington with the 25th pick (6th in round 2) and Chris Blais, goalkeeper, from the University of South Florida with the 33rd pick (14th in round 2).

I was thinking the Quakes would pick up a backup central defender and left back for some extra depth. Corrales is 34 and getting a bit slower, so an attacking left back probably isn’t his best position at this point in time. He’d be better suited to playing in midfield. With Attakora’s contract not being picked up yet, the Quakes only have Hernandez, Opara and newcomer Bernardez. Opara has been injured for the later half of the last 2 seasons, so if the Quakes go into 2012 with only 3 CBs they are taking a long chance on Opara’s health.

It might be that the Quakes are trying to compensate for the possibility that Dawkins won’t be coming back from Tottenham. Garza and Hustedt can both play in the midfield, but it might be a little congested as the Quakes also picked up Chavez from FC Dallas to play on the right. However most first year rookies don’t get a ton of playing time unless absolutely needed. It doesn’t seem as if both Garza and Hustedt will be needed that much in the first year, but we will see.

The Quakes third pick was goalkeeper Chris Blais. He was one of only 2 goalkeepers selected in the draft. It would seem the Quakes are planning for the possibility that Bingham will be with the Olympic squad in London. Since the Quakes waived Weber, they are left with only Busch and Bingham. Makes sense from a depth perspective, but I wonder if they could have picked up a capable 3rd string goalie for less than a draft pick.

The Quakes also resigned Lenhart and Gordon to new contracts. With these re-signings, and assuming Dawkins doesn’t come back, I foresee a formation similar to this (optimal set up):

Wondo – Lenhart
Salinas – Ampai (Attacking) – Cronin (Defend) – Chavez
Morrow – Hernandez – Bernardez – Beitashour
Busch

It looks like a positive improvement from the beginning of last year, when we weren’t sure what Yallop’s 4-3-3 might look like or how it might function. I think the team plays better when they have 2 up top, especially when one of those is Wondo. The front office might still pick up a designated player, they should still have some money left over from the Convey sale and other transactions. If the team can’t renegotiate with Tottenham for Dawkins, the team will need to find the replacements for left back, central defender and an attacking midfielder, just in case Baca or Ampai aren’t cut out for the position just yet.

GO QUAKES!

Hey look, it’s Krazy George! Cracked.com ran an article titled “5 Sports Fans Who Ruined Sports” and coming in at number 4 was Krazy George. What did Krazy George ruin? Apparently the sanity of head coaches of most sporting teams.

According to the article Krazy George invented “The Wave” at a 1981 American League championship game between the New York Yankees and Oakland A’s. George had seen some drunk Canadians start the wave a year before at a hockey game, but it took another year to finally get the crowd to finish the wave. According to the article, coaches do not like the wave and have even tried to reason with fans to get them to stop.

What does this have to do with the Earthquake? Not much actually, but the article does mention the Quakes and Krazy George, both pertinent to this blog. The article is a fun read as well, but Cracked is a potentially NSFW website, and the first entry in that list has a NSFW video associated with it. The entirety of the article is a good read though.

GO QUAKES!

It was confirmed yesterday by GM John Doyle that the Quakes would not pick up the option on Bobby Convey’s contract. This unfortunate because Convey is a good player, being named to the All-Star Team the last 2 years and winning Comback Player of the Year in 2010. Unfortunately Frank Yallop and Convey had a falling out this last year and Doyle thought Convey wasn’t playing to the ability his salary required. As such his option on the contract won’t be picked up and he’ll enter the Re-Entry Draft later in December. The final blow because of this move is that the Quakes won’t be able to get any money out of a potential trade.

CenterLineSoccer.com had some more designs for the new stadium, including a couple more in addition to the picture I put up yesterday:

I like the way these designs look a lot more than the mock ups that have been used for the past 2 years by the organization to pimp the new stadium. Maybe it’s just the color scheme or the angles in the designs, but I like these designs a lot.

Yes, that’s a rendering of the new Quakes stadium that I at least haven’t seen yet. It comes courtesy of the San Jose Planning Department, by way of CenterLineSoccer.com. A public hearing at city hall on Wednesday, December 14, 2011 at 9:00 a.m. will be held to determine whether or not the Planning Department accepts the permit for the stadium. There was a community meeting in September for residents to voice concerns about the stadium. As such, the Earthquakes organization pulled plans to host concerts at the new stadium due to noise pollution. If all goes according to plan, the Director of the Planning Department will approve the permit and after a 2 week, successful appeal, the Earthquakes can finally start moving on building the stadium.

GO QUAKES!

Yeah, as soon as I make my triumphant return to blogging, some big news drops 2 hours after I update and post. Oh well. The Quakes released their protected list last night and some interesting names are on the list and off the list. We’ll look at the lists after the jump.

The original article can be found at SJEarthquakes.com. Maybe MLS changed the rules from last year, but I could have sworn that each team could only protect 10 players, plus any Generation Adidas players, who are automatically protected. But it looks like this year each team can protect up to 11 players. Here’s the list of protected and unprotected players for the Quakes:

Earthquakes Protected players
Baca, Rafael (M)
Beitashour, Steven (D)
Bingham, David (GK) (Generation adidas – not eligible for selection)
Busch, Jon (GK)
Cronin, Sam (M)
Dawkins, Simon (M)
Gordon, Alan (F)
Hernandez, Jason (D)
Lenhart, Steven (F)
Morrow, Justin (D)
Opara, Ike (D) (Generation adidas – not eligible for selection)
Stephenson, Khari (M)
Wondolowski, Chris (F)

Earthquakes Unprotected players
Ampaipitakwong, Anthony (M)
Attakora, Nana (D)
Burling, Bobby (D)
Convey, Bobby (M)
Corrales, Ramiro (D)
Gjertsen, Joey (M)
Griffin, Maxwell (F)
Leitch, Chris (D)
Luiz, Andre (M)
Luzunaris, Matt (F)
McLoughlin, Ellis (M)
Peterson, Jacob (M)
Ring, Brad (M)
Sealy, Scott (F)
Ward, Tim (D)
Weber, Andrew (GK)

Keep in mind that the Montreal Impact can only select 1 player from each team and if a team loses a player, they can not lose another. Last year each team could potentially lose 2 players as Vancouver and Portland both had a chance to pick players from every team in the league. The worst case scenario is that we lose 1 player from the unprotected list.

It’s always hard to pick and choose who to save for an expansion draft, but overall I’m happy with the protected list of players. More than half are 25 or younger and the average age of everyone is in the 20s if you exclude Busch. I think the only debatable player on the list would be Alan Gordon, and only because of his age for his position. However, I believe that Gordon can be a good veteran for Steven Lenhart to learn from, as well as the other big forwards on the team, Matt Luzunaris and Maxwell Griffin.

The unprotected list is where the consternation usually lies though. There are several players on the list, it can be argued, who could be on the protected list. I think Bobby Burling and Ramiro Corrales deserve to have protected status, but unfortunately the protected list is only 11 players long. I’d include Bobby Convey in that group but he’s already said that he doesn’t want to be here, at least under Frank Yallop’s coaching regime so no need to protect him.

Besides Convey, the other players I would not be upset about seeing leave are Andre Luiz, Brad Ring and Scott Sealy. Luiz has been injured since early 2010, and I have no idea why the club keeps him on the roster. If Luiz really wants to stick around the organization he should retire and move into the front office. He might make a good South American scout since he’s Brazilian and is most likely familiar with that system. Ring is very physical when playing and is often in jeopardy of picking up cards due to his tackling and rough play. He’s also more of a defensive mifielder and when he and Cronin are on the field together there is less attacking play in the midfield. Sealy hasn’t worked out since arriving in San Jose. He’s constantly battling hamstring or groin injuries and the Quakes have been unfortunate enough to make him play with his injuries on several occasions. His runs in the box have never looked threatening and he didn’t partner well with Wondo at all last year.

If you look at the protected list as the core of the team, we’ve got a great foundation to build on. Busch led the league in saves last year and Bingham was invited to the US National Under-23 squad’s training in Germany earlier in the month. He backstopped the team to a 1-1 draw with the Bayern Leverkusen under-23 team. The defense had some good performances last year, and with Morrow and Beitashour’s speed on the flanks, they can get into the attack and harass opponent’s backline and throw off the midfield with their runs. Hernandez was solid again, despite a couple games in late spring. If we can keep Dawkins, it would only benefit our team and Tottenham. He makes a great attacking mid, Cronin is a good defensive mid, and Baca can play on the left or right, although he is a right footer. With Wondo returning, and hopefully Lenhart, the forward corps is already strong, just need some younger guys, Luzunaris and Griffin, to learn the ropes from the vets.

I’m not sure when the expansion draft is, but it’s also possible that the Quakes could end up with players from the draft as well. Remember last year Portland picked up Arturo Alvarez and traded him to Real Salt Lake. We’ll see what happens soon.

GO QUAKES!

In most of the soccer world, a team plays every other team in the league, either home or away in the first half of the season. In the second half, the team plays every other team in the same order, with home and away games switched, so that every team is played twice, once at home and once away. MLS is doing something a little similar but with a weird twist.

Seeing as how a 36 game, balanced schedule is a bit too much at this point in time, the MLS governing body has come up with a unique solution. From MLSSoccer.com:

Western Conference clubs will play each other three times, totaling 24 matches. They will play four conference opponents twice at home and once away, and play the other four conference opponents twice away and once at home. The location arrangement will be reversed in 2013.

West clubs will complete their schedule by playing each of the 10 Eastern Conference clubs once. Five of matches will be at home and five will be on the road. Again, the arrangement will be reversed in 2013.

Each East club will play seven of their conference opponents three times each (21 total games) and the remaining two conference opponents twice each (4 games).

To complete their full slate, East teams will then play the nine West teams once each. Those nine games will be split either five at home and four away or vice versa. The locations will be reversed in 2013.

What does this mean for the Quakes? Since there will be 9 teams in the Western Conference next year, the Quakes get to play every other Western team 3 times for a total of 24 matches. 4 of those teams will feature 2 games at home and 1 away, and the other 4 will feature 2 games away and 1 at home. The remaining 10 games will be against each of the 10 Eastern Conference teams, with 5 being at home and 5 away. Then for 2013, the home and away matches are switched.

The reasoning for this schedule change, besides the travel issues, is to highlight intra-conference and geographical rivalries again. The schedule works wonderfully for every rival in the league except FC Dallas and Houston. Since Dallas is in the West and Houston is in the East, they will only play each other once this year and once in 2013. So that’s a bummer for those Texan fans, but for the Quakes fans, it means 3 California Classicos and potentially 9 games to decide the Heritage Cup (if Portland, Seattle and Vancouver all participate).

The other format change for the league is another playoff tweak. There will still be 10 teams making the playoffs in 2012, but there won’t be a traditional “wild card” race. The top 5 teams in each conference automatically qualify. The 4th and 5th place teams then play a 1 game “wild card” play in game to face the 1st place team in the conference. The remaining 8 teams will play 2 2-game series to determine who advances to the MLS Cup. Finally, the MLS Cup will be hosted by the team with the better record at the end of the regular season. MLS is banking on the idea that the higher placed team will be able to sell enough tickets to the final on somewhat short notice, this way the final doesn’t have to be held at a “neutral” site to ensure ticket sales. Check out MLSSoccer.com for all the details.

This little gem comes from Goal.com. Now, most of what Goal.com publishes should be taken with a large grain of salt, but according to Seth Vertelney, our own Chris Wondolowski has been hearing offers from several different European clubs over the past year. When a striker wins the goal scoring award one year and ends up in second in the second year, most teams are going to take a look at that player. Wondo isn’t over the hill either, he’s only 28, that magical age for soccer players where they are supposedly in the prime of their careers. It’s not surprising to hear that Wondo’s skills are being investigated by other clubs, even European clubs with his output the last 2 years. What is somewhat surprising is just how impressive the European club is that is mentioned in the article. Holland’s Feyenoord and other Scandinavian teams were interested in Wondo. Let’s hope that we can keep Wondo for a bit longer and make a run at the playoffs again.