Preseason is Upon Us

Is it preseason or pre-season? One word doesn’t look at all correct. Whatever.

According to the MLS website, preseason training begins for the Quakes on the 27th in San Jose. The schedule is as follows:

Jan. 27 – Feb. 5: Preseason Camp Opens in San Jose, Calif.
Feb. 6 – Feb. 11: Travel and train in Ventura, Calif.
Feb. 7: Exhibition — San Jose vs. Portland Timbers
Feb. 9: Exhibition — San Jose vs. Opponent TBD
Feb. 10: Exhibition — San Jose vs. Ventura County Fusion
Feb. 12 – Feb. 16: Train in San Jose, Calif.
Feb. 17 – Feb. 27: Travel and train in London, England
Feb. 28 – March 18: Train in San Jose, Calif.
Mar. 19 – Home Opener against Real Salt Lake at 7:30 pm.

I’m not sure what the team will be doing the 2 weeks between February 28 and March 19, but I assume they’ll be training in San Jose. The exhibition matches will all be played in Ventura, CA. While in London the team will be training at the Spurs Lodge, Tottenham’s training grounds. Last year they spent 10 days there and many players and coaches feel it was one of the keys to their season’s success. Last year the team played 3 matches while in London, against Colorado, West Ham, and the Tottenham reserves. Not sure if they’ll be playing any matches there again since they are playing 3 exhibitions before they leave, but it wouldn’t surprise me to learn they will play the Tottenham reserves again.

I was able to attend the US – Chile game and it was an incredible chance to see the national team play. Of course it wasn’t the main players so there was hardly a sell out crowd, but the energy in the HDC was still high. Once again there were far more Chilean supporters than US supporters. I think the reasoning is that US Soccer wants to get people to games. So to do that they will host Latin and South American teams in the South, border towns, or in cities close to where there is a large Latin population to get those people to the game. It’s a bit strange to me to be promoting the visiting team over the US team but if that’s what it takes to grow the sport some more here, I’m all for it. My seats were sandwhiched between two large Chilean supporters’ groups. So it was very loud and when Chile scored their goal it was deafening for a few moments.

Wondo played 60 minutes in Saturday’s game. Cronin did not get a chance to play however, which was a shame. But Sam is a defensive midfielder and after Chile scored it’s understandable that Bradley wouldn’t want to put another defender out there. Wondo was okay and had a nice shot on goal, but there wasn’t any concrete opportunities created for him or for Diskerud for that matter. The first 60 minutes were not very good for the Yanks when it came to creating scoring chances. But I would bet that Wondo and Cronin will get more chances for Bradley in the future.

The Quakes picked up two more players in the 2011 MLS Supplement Draft. They selected a young back up goalie, Philip Tuttle, from Notre Dame. Tuttle trained with the Quakes in 2009 and impressed enough to be watched over the course of the school year. (Tuttle is on the right in the picture there)

Tuttle’s Career Statistics
Games played: 20
Games started: 16
Goals against: 16
Minutes: 1628:01
Goals Against Average: 0.88
Saves: 45
Shut Outs: 7
Record: 9-6-2

The Quakes also selected a local product, Victor Cortez, from the University of San Francisco. Cortez has played all over for USF, right back, right mid, forward, and in the middle of the field. Yallop had this to say about Cortez, “Versatility is key. He’s high energy, has a high work rate, and we’ll see how he does. He has great enthusiasm, is very much an all-action type of player. … He can play right back, right midfield, up front or in the middle of the park, so that’s a good trait.”

59 Days until the 2011 MLS Season begins.

GO QUAKES!

Category: Offseason Chat, Player News, USMNT News