Benlucky's Blog

This is great news: Red Bull park will be built like a soccer stadium, and not a glorified concert arena with a soccer field in the middle. Yes, a real soccer specific stadium, not a multi-purpose venue for entertainment per AEG. I am so happy!

Too bad the Fire, Rapids, Burn, Galaxy, Chivas, all have new stadiums that do not use the end zones well so that they can have concerts in them. I wonder what Real and DC United will end up with, not to mention us ‘Qs fans in San Jose…

With the news that Ian Russell is Yallop’s assistant coach in San Jose, we can be even more assured that the style of play for the new Quakes will resemble that of the old. Russell displayed hustle and desire every minute on the field, flying up and down the wing. Even when it became apparent that he did not have the skills of a Brian Mullan, or even a Manny Lagos, we liked to cheer his effort in sprinting to the corner to hit a cross and then sprinting back to help on defense.

This sense of style is also reinforced by the expansion draft choices made by Yallop and Doyle. They concentrated on gritty defenders and hard-nosed central midfielder types to hold the middle, leaving the attack to the forwards, the outside midfielders, and to some extent the outside backs.

Can you say four-four-two, with the middle two of the middle four being cautious?

As you might know, the ‘Qs traded for two new players.

GK Burpo from Chivas USA for the fourth round pick in the upcoming draft. Note that Burpo is 35 years old. I think Yallop really likes keepers to have lots of experience. Burpo has been stuck on the bench behind the up and coming youngster Guzan. I expect that he will be our starter in goal.

And F Kamara from Columbus for Carroll, the defensive mid taken in the expansion draft from DC. I always like Carroll in DC, because he could play simple one and two touch and knew where to be on the field. I guess Sigi must have given up on Kamara, because he is still pretty young.

So for now, we have this lineup:

————Burpo————-

Hernandez Cochrane Goodson Riley

Grabavoy Vide Pozniak Guerrero

——-Glinton Kamara———

I also saw an interesting story by Ridge Mahoney in SA how the ‘Qs have 2/3 of their cap money left, along with 3 or 4 allocations (transfer money) totalling something like one million dollars. So I would think Doyle and Yallop might be looking for some more skill players to bring in, probably a couple from outside the USA.

For now, the Quakes have ten players:

1. Ryan Cochrane, (Houston Dynamo)
2. Clarence Goodson, (FC Dallas)
3. Ned Grabavoy (Columbus Crew)
4. James Riley (New England Revolution)
5. Joseph Vide (New York Red Bulls)
6. Ivan Guerrero (Chicago Fire)
7. Brian Carroll (DC United)
8. Jason Hernandez (Chivas USA)
9. Gavin Glinton (LA Galaxy)
10. Chris Pozniak (Toronto FC)

Yallop took all young hustling type players, but some are pretty skillful too (IMHO): Grabavoy, Guerro. Otherwise, they are defensive players; Carrol, Goodson, Hernandez. And of course, Ryan Cochrane is coming home.

The audio of the event was uplifting; I could hear the excitement in the crowd.

Now for the more interesting part: Yallop and Doyle have said in no uncertain terms that there are some trades coming up tomorrow. Some of these players will not play for the SJ NewQuakes.

So stayed tuned for what happens tomorrow, and in the months to come.

Now if I can get Sherie to agree on season tickets…

I can’t help but think that Alexi choose Ruud Gullit for the “sexy hair.”

Video of Alexi is here.

Embedded Ruud here.

Or was it because both were musicians?

You Tube Alexi again and Ruud.

But it is a certainty that Cobi Jones was hired as assistant coach because of his hairstyle.

Sorry I didn’t review the Houston vs. KC game already. Not much to add here; I still like to root on the old ExQuakes. Dom and the boys were spirited, played attacking and aggressively, and deserved to win. Too bad Ching is hurt; lucky that Jaqua will still be around to play the final against NE.

I am not too hopeful that we will have an attacking game on Sunday. Probably will be a defensive slugfest with not enough whistles for rough and late contact. Not that we can’t hope, however…

Okay, so you know I watched the MLS semifinal game last night, between Eastern teams NE Revs and Chic Fire. Here is my reaction, before I read any news articles:

The TV experience: I love watching HD soccer, especially now that I can record it on the DVR and watch it when I am ready and pause it when I need to. Don’t tell the network that I zap through all the commericals and most of the talking heads stuff before, at the half, etc. (Sorry Julie Foudy, but I want to use my time to see the game.) ESPN has gotten better at missing less action with better timing of the promotional popup mess.

I hate so much of what ESPN does to take one away from the game. Why block the gorgeous look of the stadium/field/players with that ugly red and black banner scoreboard? There is more “filler graphic” than there is real info, even if you call the promo logos information. It is even wider on the second row from the top, so the most intrusive part is more in the middle of the screen. And it is not even at the top of the screen, so that I am teased by seeing the game above the banner. (How many times have I written to ESPN to fix that this year, never to get any reply?) ABC/ESPN: get a clue, watch an HDNet broadcast.

The setting: That new stadium looks gorgeous, although it is oversized for the crowds the Revs draw. But why do they have that 30 yard gap between the stands behing the goal with the rabid supports and the rest of the crowd? Are they trying to isolate the rowdies from the families? It makes for a bizarre view on TV, the way the crowd is fractured. I bet it must be even more bizarre for the people there, when we see the near sideline totally empty. Strange site…

However, the field looks good. Those American tackleball lines are almost entirely gone, at least enough gone that they do not detract from the visuals. But…

A plastic field none the less. Probably plays better than many, but it promotes a game that is less entertaining to watch, as it encourages the high ball, which encourages big players and rough play.

The man in the middle: Kevin Stott, you are on my holiday list now. Your gift will be a new whistle. Did you forget to bring one? How many rough tackles do you let happen? Why no yellow cards for studs up shin busting tackles after the ball is gone? Did you have direction from the league office to not give out cards so the “stars” of the team would all be available for the final?

The goal: Taylor Twellman had that one moment of brilliance that decided the game. Of course it was dangerous play, with his boot just missing the heads of two Fire defenders. Of course the ref wasn’t calling any penalties for mugging in the box, so why should he disallow this? Thanks for the one moment of pure soccer joy.

The run of play: There were countless tactical and rough tackles to prevent an offensive thrust, many by both teams. Few were called as fouls, some were allowed as “play on” advantage by Stott, and many brought on whining from Blanco, but also from Twellman, Ralston, etc. So both sides resorted to this dirty style, as of course you do whatever it takes to win that the ref allows you to get away with…

So to get a chance on goal, anyone, especially in the middle of the field, had to get rid of the ball fast. One or two touches were all you were going to get before you were chopped down. Both teams understood, both teams moved the ball to the wings where it could be worked forward for the inevitable cross. Some crosses connnected into some sort of shot, but remember that the receiver of the cross was getting mugged as the ball arrived, so few were very threatening. TT’s moment of brilliance was from a cross that bounced straight up during the initial mugging, then TT got balanced before the defenders and got the bike to go in. ..

The coaches: Osorio, while he got the players to play tactically well, blew the substitute thing. Calen Carr has the mobility to get away from the mugger and get a shot off, but didn’t get on until the last ten minutes. Wanchope’s concrete boots just set him up for Parkhurst of whomever to mug him when the ball arrived. Rolfe did okay out on the right, but I wish he had an extended chance up top to use his speed to escape behind the Rev muggers on some through ball.
Oh well, NE Revs back in the final. Probably another one goal will decide that game as well, unless there are more whistles by the ref.

Well, Frank Yallop will be back to coach the ‘Quakes, with Doyle as the GM. (LA Times) This should be good news; hopefully we can have a decent team by the second year, and compete in the playoffs by the third year or so.

So now it is confirmed that Frank Yallop is on board for the ‘Quakes. Even better, there as some writers that have slung some mud at that Galaxative corporate “brand” machine that couldn’t let FY do his job. I am so happy to see Ann Killion let it rip in the Mercury News. Now lets get on with team building, and stadium building, and fan building…

Well, Frank Yallop will be back to coach the ‘Quakes, with Doyle as the GM. (LA Times) This should be good news; hopefully we can have a decent team by the second year, and compete in the playoffs by the third year or so.