Quakes Win and More...

Ahhhhhh - finally the sweet smell of victory. The Q's took it to Real Salt Lake and came away with a 2-1 victory. WHile still rough around the edges, the Q's had some new faces in the lineup (Cornell Glen - forward and Mike Zaher - defender). Glen and Alvarez scored for the Quakes. Biggest change? The defense played really well - there seemed like a much greater sense of urgency to turn things around. H and I finally were able to visit Chalatecho after the game for our traditional victory meal of fried tilapia! Yum.


Thank You Paolo Maldini!


This morning I watched Paolo Maldini's final game as AC Milan beat Fiorentina 2-nil. Here is an excerpt from a recent Canadian paper on Maldini and his career:

This is a player who learned his trade alongside Franco Baresi, Mauro Tassotti and Alessandro Costacurta, and helped set a national record of 929 minutes without conceding a goal.

In recent years Milan's other world-class defender, Alessandro Nesta, has spent more time on the treatment table than on the pitch and at a time when Maldini should have been winding down he has been playing more than ever.

He is now due to play his 902nd and final match next week at Fiorentina, bringing to an end his outstanding career. When coach Nils Liedholm handed Maldini, the son of club legend Cesare, his debut at Udinese in January 1985, few would have predicted that the rangy, 16-year-old leftback would still be going more than 24 years later.

He has straddled two periods of Milan greatness, the first under Arrigo Sacchi and Fabio Capello, when the side won three Champions League trophies and five Serie A titles. Though Alberto Zaccheroni's spell in charge included another league title in 1999, there was a real renaissance under Carlo Ancelotti that included a pair of Champions League titles in 2003 and 2007, Maldini's seventh Italian championship in 2004 and a World Club Cup in 2007.
In that time he has changed from a coltish leftback to an ultra-dependable central defender, captain of both club and country.

Despite age and knee injuries taking their toll, he has refused to change his style, relying on stealth and intelligence to win the ball in such a way that the striker doesn't actually realize it's gone. He has been as far from the stereotyped Italian defender as it is possible to be. He has no need for the ankle taps, shirt pulling and all-around cynicism that personified the likes of Claudio Gentile and even Baresi.

It is on the international stage that Maldini's career remains unfulfilled, though it is doubtful he could have gone any closer. Maldini holds the unenviable record of being a losing finalist at both the World Cup and European Championship, both times by the narrowest of margins. It's open to question what hurt the most, a loss on penalties to Brazil in 1994 or David Trezeguet's decisive 'golden goal' that won the continental crown for France in 2000 after the Azzurri had dominated the match.

His 126 caps show how important he was to the national side from his debut against Yugoslavia in March 1988 to retirement at the end of the 2002 World Cup. Despite a 'golden goal' loss to South Korea signalling the end of his career, Maldini kept a dignified, quiet counsel, whilst many Italy fans blamed referee Byron Moreno and FIFA for joint-host nation South Korea's progression to the quarter-finals.

Earlier this year fans launched a campaign to give Maldini one more farewell cap.
Typical of the man, though, he thanked the fans for the idea, but said it would hinder the development of the team ahead of the 2010 World Cup, which to him was worth far more than any number of sentimental farewells.

The man himself is unsure of what the future holds, but says whilst he followed his father to Milan, he won't be following him into coaching. "I won't be a coach, because it is a role that brings out all the things that I don't like about football," he said. "The excessive exposure to the media, moving to different cities and having to work with difficult presidents."
Copyright © 2009 The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



Discovered a couple of podcasts:


World Football Phone In http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/wf/


World Soccer Daily http://www.worldsoccerdaily.com/

Summer 2009

2009 Gold Cup:

First round games are being played at several U.S. venues. The Oakland Coliseum is one site and will host Panama vs. Guadeloupe and Nicaragua vs. Mexico on July 5th (I'll be there). http://concacaf.com/competitions/goldcup/2009/schedule.aspx

2009 World Football Challenge:

A round-robin event involving 4 international teams (Inter Milan, AC Milan, Club America, and Chelsea FC). One game will be played at Stanford Stadium on July 19th (Club America vs. Inter Milan). http://www.worldfootballchallenge.com/

Barca Treble and Q's Drop Another

FC Barcelona dominated the Champions League Final against Man Utd (2-nil). Barca played great possesion ball while Man Utd just did not seem into the game except for the beginning minutes of the first half. H and I joined a group of my friends for the ESPN2 broadcast. It was alot of fun. Barca completed a triple this season: La Liga championship, Copa Del Ray (Italian club championship), and now the Champions League (European club championship).

Quakes vs Columbus: What more can I say. the Q's drop a close one to Columbus 2-1 (again we had a 1-0 lead after 20 min). How long can we stay at 5 points????

2009 Homeless World Cup - Milan!

This year's Homeless World Cup is being held in Milan, Italy! (September 6-13). H and I have joked around about making the trip as HWC volunteers. I'm still not really expecting that we can actually make this journey, but I have inquired about travel costs for volunteers (doesn't hurt to ask, right?).

http://www.homelessworldcup.org/

Hucks and Yallop on Sky Sports

A nice piece was produced by Sky Sports on Darren Huckerby, his career, and his current adventure playing for the Quakes. Oh, and Mr. Graham Yallop (Mr. G) makes an appearance (above photos H took while some filming was being done at the SB San Siro on 3.29.09).

Here is the video that was shown on FSC:

MyQuakes.com

The Quakes have introduced MyQuakes.com recently. It's a social networking website for san Jose Earthquakes supporters and fans. Hopefully it will turn out to be a great place for fans to network and communicate - only time will tell. It is a little "busy" for my taste - more glitz than function at this point, but again - maybe this will help fans to network and meet each other. H and I have both joined - so we'll see what happens!

Despite Another Loss, We Are Behind Our Guys

The Quakes drop their latest game (last night) 4-1 to the NY Red Bulls. The Quakes are on a slippery slope - one that leads to the bottom of the league table. What's happened? I won't harp on how much we miss Ronnie O'Brien. But even having Ronnie might not have made a difference this year so far - the team doesn't seem to be working as a.....team. I am sure the morale and confidence levels have dropped after each game not winning. My latest gripe is that when guys do finally get the ball in the box, they are looking to pass rather than shoot. The past several games we would have the ball in the 6 and we would make one pass too many. TAKE THE SHOT. You can't score without shooting.

US Open Cup, Quakes Update, Champions League, Where is Ronnie?

...alot of things to write about today.

Lamar Hunt US Open Cup - "What Happened?"

One of the oldest cup competitions in the sport and many have never heard of it. Those who have heard of it really don't care too much about it (MLS teams definitely do not see it as any priority - this can be seen when you watch Cup qualifer rosters filled with reserves and developmental squad lads). Basically what happened was that the Cup went the way of the sport of "soccer" in America (Baseball and American football took over and real football faded to the background of the American sporting scene.) I understand that back in the early 1900's, football leagues were heavily dependant on overseas talent and little development was being done to improve America's talent pool. Doesn't sound too much different from today's game! So the US Cup will probably stay in the shadows for eternity (and that's a long time!)

2009 Champions League:

Man Utd is heading to Rome after trashing Aresenal at the Emirates today (3-1, aggregate after 2nd leg 4-1). Man Utd dominated this game. Tomorrow is the showdown between Barca and Chelsea to see who will face Man Utd in the UCL finals. 1st leg was a nil-nil draw at camp nou. Tomorrow's game at Stamford Bridge will be interesting.

Quakes v. Chivas USA:

The Q's looked horrible again. Alot a credit does go to Chivas though (they are a great looking team right now). It reminds me of how the first part of the season was last year - we have little to no offensive threat on the field. Ryan Johnson will be marked be every team and so will Arturo. What has damaged the team the most? (3) Jason Hernandez injury (2) Darren Huckerby injury and (1) THE LOSS OF RONNIE O'BRIEN.

The team is not the same without Ronnie. Is he still available? I don't know for sure, but as far as I can tell, he isn't under contract with anyone right now. There was some web chatter about a possible interest by the Portland Timbers (that better not happen!). We need to get him back. I bet the supporters would be willing to pass the hat if that would help the front office get him back in the black and blue.

Post Game Meals:

I haven't posted much about the post-game meals H and I have had recently. We did hit Hot Pot City again after the US Cup game against NY. The meal was great as always. After the most recent game against Chivas, H wanted to go to a wildlife-themed restaraunt that he was familiar with in Campbell. I said that that sounds interesting. He told me that the specific focus was on avian species, especially one specific type of raptor. I thought, "Wow, intriguing." He mentioned that he knew a Theresa there, so I assumned this must have been one of the raptor specialists. Thanks H.

Oh, and by the way, this is H's friend Theresa...