Donatelli Out; Dawkins In (Maybe)

The Quakes returned from their adventures in north London with an eye towards more lineup changes. They are negotiating with Tottenham to sign midfielder Simon Dawkins on a year long loan deal. Dawkins trained with the Quakes and the Tottenham reserves the last 2 weeks and even played for the Quakes in two of their exhibition games.

The Mercury News has the article here.

“Simon wants to do it; Tottenham wants to do it,” San Jose coach Frank Yallop said. “Hopefully we’ll have some good news soon.”

In order to make room in the team’s salary cap to finance the deal, Donatelli was waived. The Quakes waived Eduardo, Glen, Stephenson and Geovanni after the 2010 season. Dawkins is an attacking midfielder, much like Donatelli. I would imagine the reason for the change in personnel is the fact that Dawkins is a bit younger. The team may also feel that his history in the English system trumps that of Donatelli’s. It’s a bit harsh, but Doyle and Yallop felt that Dawkins’ abilities outweighed Donatelli’s.

Here’s the schedule for the Quakes for the rest of this week.
Earthquakes Schedule for the Week of 2/28/11
Tuesday, March 1 – 10:15 a.m. – Practice at Nutrilite Training Facility
Wednesday, March 2 – 10:15 a.m. — Practice at Nutrilite Training Facility
Thursday, March 3 – 10:15 a.m. — Practice at Nutrilite Training Facility
Friday, March 4 – 7 p.m. — Exhibition vs. Colorado Rapids at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, Calif.
Saturday, March 5 – Off
Sunday, March 6 – Off

The match against Colorado will be a good test of how far the team has come in training, and to see how well training with the Spurs has paid off. The boys are definitely still feeling the sting of losing to Colorado in the Eastern Conference Final. The Quakes will want to repay them for that loss. Here’s my guess at a probable lineup (in no particular order): Busch, Ward, Hernandez, Opara, McDonald, Convey, Ring, Ampai, Cronin, Wondo, Lenhart.

Hopefully we’ll get a list of starters for the match tomorrow from the official site. Until then,

GO QUAKES

Category: Player News, Preseason