If that’s not enough, Centerline Soccer is reporting that Doyle is working on bringing in another forward and a midfielder, one from Latin America, the other from Europe.  Clearly there will be plenty of raw material for Yallop to fashion a squad capable of serious cup contention.  I still miss O’Brien, and I still think it was a mistake to let him go, but I’ll put my faith in Yallop’s squad-building abilities until proven otherwise.

There are still some major questions as the season approaches however:

- Can Alvarez fill Ronnie’s shoes at right mid?  He is much more the run-at-defenders, make cutbacks type of wide player a la Huckerby, and less the well positioned crosser of the ball.  Time will tell whether this will provide a double threat on both wings, or simply prove redundant.

- Will the Quakes find Ramiro’s partner in the midfield?  Is it Convey?  Is it Ring?  Is it another player who will be brought in?

- Who will partner Garcia in the middle?  Hernandez was so solid in the middle it would be a shame to move him out right, yet Riley’s departure renders this necessary, unless the Quakes pick up someone who can play that position.  Or will Yallop choose to place his faith in Cochrane once again in the center of the park?

- Will the Quakes move to upgrade the left back position?  Will Convey fill that slot?  Denton had a solid season, with a few glaring mistakes along the way.  The consensus seems to be that the Quakes can do better here, but with other, more glaring holes to fill, will Denton get another season?

Stay tuned, cause this roster will continue to be shaken up in the weeks ahead.  I know, I know, bad joke…

In a blog a couple of weeks ago, I tried to predict which Western team might go on a run, little did I know that all of them would!    We definitely need some help this weekend.  Here’s your supporter’s guide to this weekend’s games:

L.A. – Columbus: Worst versus first.  Give  ‘em hell Crew!

Chivas – D.C. United: Some might hope for a draw to hedge our bets on either a western berth or wildcard.  I say go for a D.C. win, because we are playing Chivas soon and need to maximize the impact of that game.

Toronto – New York: With Toronto posing no threat, back them to beat the Bulls.

RSL – New England: Surely RSL can’t pull off a big road win two weeks in a row.  We need the Revs to sink this ship.

Houston – Colorado: With Houston safe in the first spot and no threat to our playoff chances, let’s hope they can pick up a road win against the Rapids. 

Chicago – Kansas City: Chicago looks safe in that third spot while K.C. is fighting for a wildcard berth.  Let’s go Fire!

Here’s what the standings would look like if all the results went our way:

Houston 43

Chivas 36

Colorado 34

RSL 34

Dallas 33

Quakes 32

L.A. 29

Which leaves us only two points out of the third spot with a game in hand.  At this point, destiny is still in our hands, but only if we can win at least three or four out of the last five games. 

What are the keys to winning tonight’s game?  Be physical!  It seems like teams have found the Quakes’ weakness: we lack physicality and can get pushed and roughed out of a game (see Houston and Salt Lake).  We also have a lack of height, which together with the lack of physicality means that we are best when we keep the ball on the ground.  The problem right now is that having Corrales in the middle would help us weather what’s thrown at us in the midfield, while Grabavoy tends to get lost and dominated way too easily.  I would like to see Johnson, who is one of our most physical players, get the start or at least a hefty amount of minutes.  Keep the ball on the ground, but play with real drive, direction, and pace, because the Dallas players are not going to allow a lot of time on the ball.  Finally, defensive shape and concentration is key.  It’s obvious that our backline doesn’t have enough pace to catch up to long balls over the top when they’re out of position.  We need Garcia and Hernandez in the center, who as a pair seem to be better organized and composed. 

This reminds me of another late season game in Dallas for a playoff spot (except on that occasion it was the last game of the season), anyone remember that one?

Let’s go Quakes!

It was always bound to end this way really.  Once the Quakes were confirmed as coming back to the league, most people predicted a kind of “friendly rivalry” developing between the new and old Quakes.  That was always a delusion.  When such strong emotions are invested in something, you can’t just turn them off or tone them down to a lukewarm, happy medium, instead, they can only transform into strong emotions of a different sort.  After living and bleeding with those ex-Quakes through trials and tribulations, when suddenly they score on you, its a betrayal.  Add to that fact the lingering trauma and hard feelings attached to the “theft” of our team, and the two cups won by “our players”, and you have a recipe for fireworks.

Believe me, I know, because at the first preseason game against Houston, I clapped politely at the returning Quakes players in those horrid orange jerseys.  Once they scored against us, I was calling them “traitors”.  I’m sure it works the other way too.  For those ex-Quakes, it must be hard to be heckled by those who once supported you.

But that’s not enough, every rivalry needs some good villains too.  In this case, we have a trio.

Exhibit A: Brian Ching.  Hacks Cochrane in the first meeting of the season.  Then celebrates his goal this past Saturday by running up to the Quakes fans in a blatant display of “f off”. 

Exhibit B: Kei Kamara.  Oh yes, the newest of ex-Quakes.  I defended Kamara longer and harder than most, and even when he left for Houston, I had no hard feelings.  After all, it’s not his fault that he couldn’t hit a luxury condo in downtown San Jose with a tennis ball.  But he had to run his mouth about “wishing he was in Houston earlier”.  Add to that a healthy helping of diving, arguing with every official in the zip code, and getting into it with his old teammates, he took the lion’s share of the fans’ ire (including a classic “we started winning when you left” song).

Exhibit C: Eddie Robinson.  This was always his fate given his tendency to be a first-rate hack.  I overlooked these tendencies when he was a Quake, because he seemed to bleed blue.  But let’s face it, over the last couple of years in Houston, he has become less of the elite defender he once was (he was awesome in 2005, taking the ball effortlessly away from Eddie Johnson on one memorable occasion) and more of the outright thug.  To top it all off, he throws up four fingers to the Casbah after a round of heckling on Saturday.  The audacity of this guy!  Did he forget that two of those rings were won in a Quakes jersey?

So there you have it, a trio of villains and a new rivalry getting more intense with every game.  Fouls and hard challenges were not in short supply, and the crowd was way more abrasive than normal.  Hey, I’m grateful, there’s nothing better than a good rivalry.  There are exceptions to my hate, however.  I can never find it in myself to heckle Craig Waibel (an honorary Quake forever), Brian Mullan (the consummate professional), or Pat Onstad (the lovable Canuck). 

As for the game itself, a draw was a fair result.  The Quakes did themselves no favors by playing the ball in the air, as the Dynamo have a marked height advantage.  Our strength is when we keep the ball on the carpet.  Our early struggles this season were down to the fact that we didn’t have the skill to play on the ground, nor the size to play in the air (with our “target man” being the aforementioned Kamara).  However, Houston were pressing heavily (a trademark of Yallop-Kinnear football), forcing the Quakes into long balls.  Our main offensive engine, Huckerby, found himself faced with two or three defenders every time he received the ball.  Yallop will have to to adjust the gameplan for next Saturday, when the rivalry continues in Houston, in what will be the toughest game in our final home stretch to the playoffs. 

Look for a review of where we stand in the playoff race on Wednesday, with a match preview to follow. 

Our destiny is truly in our hands at this point, but the margin for error is so slight in the West this season that a few slip-ups during the home stretch could ruin all our hard work.  It all depends on if we can keep up this hot streak.  If we can’t, will another team catch on fire and pass us by?  Colorado?  Not likely, despite having a relatively decent squad, consistency is their kryptonite.  L.A.?  Again, I just can’t see it.  They will eventually win a game, but their morale is too far gone at this point.  Dallas?  They have an outside chance of challenging us, but really they seem to just be treading water until the offseason.  Chivas is our main competitor at this point, so let’s not lose the chance to pass them by.

Ahhh, no pressure.  It was so easy when we sucked.  All we had to do was sing and crack jokes, safe in the knowledge that mediocrity was an accomplishment.  Now, when every game matters so much, I might have to invest in some meditation classes.

I wasn’t quite as confident as Melissa to start out the season, but I did think we had an outside chance of making the playoffs. I didn’t think we’d be quite as offensively impotent as we were.  But hey, kudos to the boys for sticking together and keeping us in a position where we can make this late season miracle run, many times we were unlucky not to get a win or did enough to deserve a draw instead of a win. 

Melissa did a pretty good preview so I’m just going to add a few cents (or at least loose change) to it:

* The Return of Kamara: When he left, I said: “watch, now he’s going to find his scoring touch and come back to put a couple in the net against us when we play Houston again”.  I was right on the first part and hopefully I’ll be wrong on the second.  My girlfriend always didn’t like when I got down on Kamara for his lack of scoring, touch, etc..  Last Saturday, she was distraught as I laid into Grabavoy in a similar manner.  Yes, indeed, the “new Kamara” is born.

* The Ghost is Laid to Rest?: Have we finally gotten over the stealing of our team?  Now that we have our new bona fide heroes in Huckerby, O’Brien, Hernandez, etc., does it take some of the edge off?  I think it definitely does, but in another way it just makes it weirder when you see Huckerby squaring off against Mullan, like backing your new love against your old flame. 

* The Heart Attack Award Goes To…: Our annoying tendency in the past few games to stand back once we’ve gained a lead and let the opposition have their way with us.  We’ve been lucky so far, but it will burn us at some point.

And finally, here’s the Quakes wishlist for the other games this week:

* Chivas – New England: Snap out of it Revs!  Let’s hope for a REVS win

* Columbus – Toronto: Toronto’s our competition, so let ‘em have it CREW.

* Los Angeles – Kansas City: Really, the best result is a draw, but no way I’m hoping for that…  Kill them, WIZARDS!

* Dallas – D.C.: A draw is the best result, but we can settle for a D.C. win.

* Salt Lake – Red Bulls: A draw is the best result.

* Chicago – Colorado: Do the business, FIRE.

Can’t forget that we also added the 37-year old Lima.  I don’t think there will be any grandpa jokes in practice because it looks like you wouldn’t like him when he’s angry.  Then there’s Scott Sealy.  I think I’m more excited about him than other Quakes fans, including my compatriot, Sean.  I think he’s definitely an upgrade over Kamara because he can actually finish and has good pace.  I could be wrong though, and he could be yet another Glinton-Kirovski-Peguero bust. 

Now for the favorite hobby of Quakes fans at the moment, figuring out where our new toys should fit in.  Here’s what my lineup would look like if I were manager:

              Sealy-Johnson

Huckerby-Lima-Corrales-O’Brien

Guerrero-Garcia-Hernandez-Gray

                   Cannon

Yes, I would stick with a 4-4-2, as adjusting to a new system would throw the rhythm off, which is already going to be shaky with three new players coming in.  I prefer not to waste our savior’s talents, so let’s put him where he likes to play best and is most effective, on the left wing.  This puts Guerrero in the left back spot.  Sorry Denton, but Guerrero is better defensively AND can fly forward and provide good offensive punch as well.  I don’t have much confidence in Cochrane and think Hernandez is better in the middle with Garcia.  Gray is an upgrade over Riley at the right back spot in my opinion due to his heart, and he also will not make as many mistakes.  Lima and Corrales will be classic Yallop “side-to-side” midfielders, taking turns going forward and defending, as they both have skills in attack and defense.  Johnson will win the balls up front, and Sealy will run onto them and finish.  Looks good on paper, let’s see how it all works out in real life. 

Right back – OK, Riley sucks. I mean, I’m sorry, I’m sure he’s a nice guy and everything, but he’s just no good. I don’t know if it was the own goal against New Engerland, but there is no reason for him to be in a starting XI, no matter how many injuries we have. When everyone is healthy, Hernandez will be here, so it shouldn’t be an issue, but for depth purposes, it would be nice to figure something out here. Especially since I think he’s a better center defender than Cochrane. Adam Smarte, despite issues with clearing the ball, looks adequate for now. There’s a reason that the kids that get picked last in the playground play left or right back. Its the easiest to hide.

Forward – I’m not really going to go into this too much. I am assuming that since you are reading this blog, you have somewhat of an interest in the team, and thusly, you understand the situation. Hint: John Cunliffe is not The Answer.

Attacking Mid – I’m sure ‘dwsharks’ will be here any minute to disagree, but Grabavoy does nothing. I understand that I use him to scapegoat, but the fact is, your playmaker should DO something, and he does nothing. The end.

In my perfect world, Corrales would be at left back, Hernandez and Garcia in the middle, a new player at right back. Guerrero and O’Brien on the wings, Gray in the holding midfield spot, a new attacking midfield player, and Ryan Johnson with a striker that can hold up the ball (and score). If that XI could play game in and game out all season, and we didn’t have to worry about depth, we would be in the playoffs. Unfortunately, depth is important. And depth can only develop over time.

There really isn’t too much to say about the game, and as The Frank said, there really isn’t too much that can (or should) be taken from this game. Real had something to prove, and wanted it more. We were lucky to get into the half 0-0, but the speed of Findley really opened up the game for the Royals.

This is the kind of game we should be getting used to for the next season or two. The fact is, the players we have are not good enough. Which is fine. Growing pains are normal for an expansion side. That doesn’t mean we should go sign someone just for the sake of it, even though he may still be injured (ahem). But alas, lets try to find some positives:

1) John Cunliffe – I really liked what I saw from the Brit. He took his goal very well (is he a natural lefty?), and really did not miss by much from his long-range effort a couple minutes later. I’d like to see him get the start against Columbo next week.

2) Shea Salinas – Any offense we created in the first 60 minutes, El Shea was in the middle of it. Linked up well with Johnson and Corrales a couple times in the first half, I was disappointed to see him go off so early. I would like to see him try his hand on the left wing next week, with O’Brien on the right, and Corrales and Grabavoy in the middle.

3) Ramiro Corrales – Okay, I know he does not have good touch on the ball. And is prone to make mistakes. BUT. He was flying around the center of the pitch, especially in the first half, not allowing Real to get into any sort of rhythm on offense. With the midfield listed above, that would allow Ramiro to stay in that holding midfield spot, and not go forward (hopefully).

All-in-all, a poor effort, but it is to be expected. We can only hope that we come out ready to play in Columbo, and perhaps grab a point (or three!) at another team who should be undefeated at home, if not for a late Shalrie Jospeh penalty last week.

Go Quakes!

Amir Lowery and Dan Benton signed with the team. Lowery is a defender recently from the Wizards and Benton signs on as our backup goalkeeper. Benton was the guy who filled in for Cannon and Burpo for a short while during preseason. If I remember correctly, he did quite well and he’s a local guy. Local love is in the hizzy.

Peguero Jean Philippe was placed on the season-ending injury list effectively ending his loan from the Danish team Brondby. Turns out, the knee swelled up again and is not healing. But because Jean Phillipe didn’t stick around for very long, the Quakes do not move to the bottom of the MLS allocation list. Go figure.

Ivan Guerrero was just called up to the Honduran National team. He will likely miss the next three games. Ok, this bit of news might not make fans particularly happy but I do wonder, who will start in his place? Shea Salinas is the only guy coming to mind here unless Ryan Johnson doesn’t keep the striker spot he had against Houston. Thoughts?

Kelly Gray is really really really really happy to be back in San Jose. And I’m happy for him. My guess is he’ll maybe compete for Ramiro Corrales’ spot which may cause Corrales to perhaps occupy a winger position? It does seem our team is lacking a little bit in attacking midfielders right now. I’m just wondering who may unconventionally pick up that slack in the short term. Thinking outside the box here.

Rolando Fonseca is the new trialist in training this week. He’s 33 and Costa Rica’s all time leading goal scorer. Quakes fans love goal scorers – especially ones without busted knees.

And with a sad sad heart I report that there are now zero Bay Area teams competing in this year’s Open Cup. Despite having pretty darn stellar seasons so far, both the San Jose Frogs and the San Francisco Seals got squeezed out of the lead by the Los Angeles Legends (on goal differentials) who won the spot to represent our PDL division in the competition. This may not help in the happy fans department either, unfortunately. But if it’s any consolation, the Seals currently sit at first place in the Southwest Division (11pts) with the Frogs at second (10pts).

And after watching them lose to the Revs, there really isn’t anything new to say about the Quakes. I think the team is still plagued by the same ol’ same ol’ that plagues them every week. The players just haven’t had the time to get comfortable enough with each other yet. And here we saw again, our midfield almost completely disappear and our backline fall apart. Luckily our defense pulled it together during the second half which brings up another observation of note. It seems to take our guys over 45 minutes to get into some sort of sync with each other. We often get it together within the second half but usually our improved performance ends up too little too late. Now, whether there is a correlation between Yallop’s tendency to change the formation in the second half and the team’s late in the game improvements is up for debate. Anyways, here are some more observations…

We can try the long-ball approach or we can try to pass it up the pitch but if our midfield disappears, we are not getting sh*t done. Our little group spent the entire game looking for the Quakes’ midfield. Most of the time, we couldn’t find it.

It’s going to be a bad game if we forget Ronnie O’Brien started. About midway through the first half we wondered aloud if he was playing. The camera eventually panned to him. Boy were we shocked.

We broke another record last night. We now have the fewest goals this MLS season. Did I not say we are going to make the most of our time in the cellar? My friend’s immediate response to this bit of news: If we were playing golf, we’d be winning.

James Riley forgot which team he plays for. In fact, during the game, my friend checked the MLS scores on his phone and it listed Riley as a member of the Revs. We tried to take a picture of that but it came out too blurry to read the words.

Shea Salinas was the Man of the Match. It was a brief glimmer of a chance… except he attempted the shot just a few seconds too late. I say, he still has THE FEAR.

The Food of the Match was the fish & chips I ate at the Pig & Whistle. Very fried. Very greasy. Very good.

If I ever buy a Quakes jersey, I now know what I’ll get printed on the back of it. The words “That Guy” and a random number like 0.08 or pi.

The Personal Moment of the night was the San Francisco fog rolling onto the pitch during the Seals game. Sure, we could no longer see the other end of the field but it certainly made the game picturesque.

We found midfield during the PDL game. The Quakes appear to be a bit busy introducing their new scent: Hint O’ Midfield for Men. The SF Seals, on the other hand, were a straight up shot of midfield. A brown bag full of whiskey and midfield. A huge heaping dose of midfield. In fact, number 21, midfielder Jesse Henderson, scored their only goal and celebrated with a backflip.

If the Quakes win zero cups this season, our little group will just decorate a cup with glue and glitter and drive it down to the Quakes offices to give to them. We hope we can present our cup to the entire team personally. Anyone think they’ll go for it?