Friday, July 31, 2009

Quakes announce Moreira signing


Today's news from sjearthquakes.com
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- The San Jose Earthquakes announced Friday that the team has signed Brazilian midfielder Andre Luiz Moreira. Per league and team policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.

"We are excited to add a player of the caliber of Andre Luiz to our roster," said General Manager John Doyle. "He understands the game well and has great vision. The experience he gained in a number of top leagues around the world, as well as with the Brazilian national team, will be invaluable to our team. Along with Ramon Sanchez, we feel that we have really bolstered our midfield."

Andre Luiz most recently played for Jaguares de Chiapas FC in the Mexican First Division. He registered four goals in his 51 appearances for Jaguares since signing there in 2007. He helped them finish second in Group 3 in the 2009 Clausura tournament in Mexico and earn a spot in the playoffs. They also made the playoffs in the 2008 Clausura tournament.

The Sao Paulo native has made 21 appearances for the Brazilian national team and has scored two goals. He was also a member of the Bronze medal winning Brazil team from the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.

The 34-year-old central midfielder has played for successful clubs around the world such as Paris St. Germaine (France), Olympique de Marseille (France), S.L. Benfica (Portugal), C.D. Tenerife (Spain), Sao Paulo (Brazil) and Corinthians (Brazil). Overall, he has appeared in over 300 professional matches in his career and scored over 20 goals.

While with Sao Paulo, Andre Luiz won two Copa Libertadores titles and two Intercontinental Cups. He helped Sao Paulo defeat FC Barcelona in 1992 in the Intercontinental Cup, and the following year they defeated AC Milan in the final. He also won two Paulista titles in Brazil with Corinthians and one Paulista title and the Conmebol Cup with Sao Paulo. In France, he was a part of the 2003 Paris St. Germaine team that won the French Cup.

Transaction: San Jose Earthquakes (MLS) - Earthquakes sign M Andre Luiz Moreira.

Andre Luiz Moreira #28 
Status:
 Senior/International 
Position: Midfielder 
Height: 6-0 
Weight: 174 
Born: November 14, 1974 in Sao Paulo, Brazil 
Hometown: Sao Paulo, Brazil 
Last Club: Jaguares de Chiapas (Mexico) 
Citizenship: Brazil

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Why blog?

I was listening to a NPR program this morning about the blogging phenomenon. People "blog" to share their thoughts on a subject that they are interested in or are "experts" in. People "blog" to journal their lives and share it with friends. Others "blog" because they see a potential business opportunity if your blog can attract alot of interest from the general population of the world.

What category do I fall in? I guess just sharing thoughts on this global game that has has captured the sports fan in me. I grew up in the SF Bay Area and as a youngster was a big fan of the Oakland Athletics (Major League Baseball), Oakland Raiders (National "American" Football League), and the Golden State Warriors (National Basketball Association). Later, I became an avid supporter of University of California - Berkeley athletics (particularly American football and basketball. "Cal" is my alma mater and will always have a place in my heart as a sports fan. I think college sports has the added "emotional" factor beyond what pro sports bring out of their fans. It is hard to explain in words - it is like "you go as your team goes" and traveling to see your team compete is never a hard decision. Plus your wardrobe retains distinct colors (in my case - blue & gold!).

The only "professional" sport that has even come close to this sense of "attachment" between team and supporter is football. My home team is the San Jose Earthquakes (Major League Soccer). No matter how they are playing or where they are in the league table, you support them to your fullest at every match and away from the pitch. This is further enhanced because with the MLS (unlike the well-know international leagues in Europe), money is not the only driving force. Players for the most part are not making huge amounts of money (most are probably just eeking out a living), but they stay in it for their love of the game and fulfilling their dreams of being a pro footballer. As a supporter - winning is important, but the I think the true fan supports a team all of the time (win, lose or draw).

Monday, July 27, 2009

Quakes Hang Tough; US MNT Crumbles; Football Podcasts

In the beginning it looked as if we were going to experience much more of what we have been seeing at Quakes games when they took on DC United this past Saturday at the SB San Siro. We gave up an early PK and a second goal to go down 2-nil, but the lads didn't react in the same way they have in the past. Ryan Johnson's goal late in the first half sparked the team. The Quakes would eventually comeback to tie with a late PK taken by Cornell Glen. It wasn't a win, but it also wasn't another loss. I'll take the 1 point and congratulate the team for niver giving up.

Mexico Tears Us Up

I am still not sure what happened yesterday in the Copo Oro final between the US and Mexico. The first half was played well by both teams ending in a nil-nil draw at half. But in the 2nd half - Mexico figured out some kind of weakness in the US defense and bombarded us with 5.....count 'em.....5 counter attack goals that made the US squad look like a middle school team. What I couldn't understand was why couldn't the team make an adjustment after the first 2-3 goals??? I was so bad - I think it pretty much erased the positives we gained in the Confed Cup. Yes - it was a different team then the one at the Confed Cup, but no team should be shredded like that at that level. The game next month in Mexico City is going place alot of pressure on the USA.


Podcasts

Just a quick review of the football podcasts that I subscribe to via ITunes:

World Soccer Daily - North America's #1 daily football show (Steven Cohen & Kenny Hassan)

5 Live Football Daily (UK) - Football news, interviews, and discussion (Mark Saggers and regulars John Motson, Steve Claridge, Ian McGarry and Mark Clemmitt )

5 Live World Football Phone-in (UK) - Expert answers to your questions in World Football (Tim Vickery)

ESPN Soccernet - all the news, views and analysis from the world of football (Adriano Russo, Jon Harris-Bass, Dan Mason, and more)

Centerline Soccer - source for news and features regarding the San Jose Earthquakes and WPS Bay Area FC Gold Pride (Jay Hipps and Keiran Downie )

The Guardian Football Weekly (UK) - news and banter from the Premier League, Championship, La Liga, Serie A, and Bundesliga (James Richardson, Barry Glendenning, Sid Lowe and the rest of the Football Weekly team)

Villa Park View (UK) - official Aston Villa podcast

Villa Podcast (UK) - Get all the best bits from Villa games (only during the EPL season)

Thursday, July 23, 2009

El Salvador International Signs with Quakes


The Quakes announced that they have signed midfielder Ramon Sanchez from El Salvador.  He is a veteran of the El Salvador Nat'l Team and has played with several clubs in the El Salvador first division.  I am clueless about Sanchez, but it will be nice to see a new face that will hopefully give us a spark.  
This Saturday's match vs DC United is pretty much a must win for the Q's of they want to maintain some slim chance of sneaking into the playoffs this year.  What a loooooooong season it has been.

Pretty Much Says It All & More on Aston Villa


More on Aston Villa

Without hesitating for a moment, I ordered (directly from AVFC), my home Aston Villa home shirt. I wore it recently at one of my volunteer shifts at George Mark Children's House and Claire (RN mgr, originally from the UK, and a Liverpool supporter) had great interest in hearing about this Acorns sponsorship. I have begun my efforts to delve into AVFC. Two GK are from the U.S. - Brad Friedal and Brad Guzan. Still need to spend more time going through the roster before the beginning of the season. I have also subscribed to the Villa Podcast and the Villa View Podcast. Villa View has some great audio clips from radio calls of AVFC goals this past season.

One more thing - I'm debating if I should subscribe to AVTV ("Exclusive news, exclusive match highlights, live commentary and stats, searchable video archive, and complete match live console". It's not clear what "complete match live console" means (...if it includes live video webcasts... I'm "in". I'll let you know what I find out.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Quakes Lose Another....US MNT Survive

The Q's played the Chicago Fire last night and got burnt again.   They did play admirably for 80+ minutes and then gave up 2 goals to lose 2-nil.  I think confidence on the team is at a new low...sometimes we are so close, but maybe think we can't win (we are focused on trying not to lose instead).  It is tough on a diehard supporter like me to stir up interest in a team when they are going through such a tough time right now.

I was also watching the US MNT play Panama in their Gold Cup match last night (Quakes and MNT games were on at the same time - FSC + CSBA).  It was a tough game - went into OT periods with the US winning on a Kenny Cooper PK in the first OT period.  I am trying to figure out why Cooper has not been a regular on the MNT.  He brings some amazing size and strength to the front line.  The guys now move on into the semis.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

The Pain Continues...


The Q's finally came home for a match last night to take on Toronto FC. There was still talk about the chance to still sneak into the playoffs if we can string some wins together. We'll, after last night, sneaking into post season play may not be coming into the near future. The Quakes really stunk it up last night. They did have their few moments + a nice goal coming from the combination of Ryan Johnson and Hucks, but the defense just didn't... defend. Too many opportunities for Toronto and DeRo. It was really disheartening...it still feels like we have stepped backwards in time to our form at the beginning of our inaugural season last year. The only sure thing that I know is - I'm a Quakes supporter forever.

Non-Commercial Football Shirt Sponsorships





The shirt sponsorship that Barca has with Unicef is quite amazing in this day of bottom line profit. I was scanning the EPL website last week and saw that Aston Villa's shirt sponsor is Acorns - the children's hospice network in the UK. This brings me great pleasure as I am a volunteer at the George Mark Children's House in San Leandro, CA (http://www.georgemark.org/) The past couple of years, I had adopted Chelsea as my adopted EPL team, but after considering this contribution and the support Aston Villa is giving to Acorns, I am considering a switch in my EPL alliance. More later.








Tuesday, July 7, 2009

$30 parking, US player to AC Milan










I went to the 2009 Gold Cup opening round matches at the Oakland Coliseum on July 5th (Guadalupe beating Panama and then Mexico downing Nicaragua).  The crowd was pretty small for the first game.  Most were there for the Mexico game and stayed in the parking lot to party up until game time.  H and I came late so we decided to park in the Coliseum lot.  We almost had a heart attack when we saw that it was $30 just to park.  Dang - the tickets cost $30 each.  I don't think I have ever been to an event where the parking was just as much as the event ticket.  This world is screwy. 


Interesting things that we spotted in the parking lot: "Cage" 1v1 football, girls sponsored by beer companies taking pictures with guys in the crowd (H posed a few times!).  You'll have to ask him about one particular gal that had an expression that never changed!  Lots of food being cooked on BBQ's and little supporter bands marching all over the parking lot with their national flags.  Inside the MEX/NICAR fans were in a frenzy (90+% were Mexico supporters).  We almost had an international incident occur in the section next to us and we had one guy throwing up and going unconscious in our section (a little bit too much of the liquid refreshment I am guessing).  It is too bad - he missed a good match.

US MNT Defender Heading for AC Milan!
It was announced today that Oguchi Onyewu has been signed by AC Milan.  His impressive work in the Confederations Cup must have helped his cause.  I'm looking forward to see how ACM will use him - he is a powerful dude.



Thursday, July 2, 2009

Enhancing Your Appreciation of the Beautiful Game

From several of my previous posts, you all know that I truly appreciate the game of football. I have recently discovered the most powerful way to solidify and make permanent one's romance with the beautiful game. Take some time to learn and play the game. Now I don't mean you have to go out and join a league for 11v11 games and a formal season. Being a total newbie (meaning NEVER EVER have I played the game), joining some formal football league was way too intimidating. H played football growing up and recently began playing again - in an indoor 5v5 league and in an infomral 4v4 outdoor program called SoccerFours in San Francisco.

H encouraged me to try SoccerFours and eventually I did. Before signing up (http://www.soccerfours.com/), I emailed the organizer of SoccerFours - Chris. I told him that I was a total novice who has never played the game and I was concerned how I would "fit in". Chris was totally encouraging. Now that I have played with them for 3 weeks, I have come to realize (1) How out of shape I am, (2) how Chris was right in terms of me being comfortable learning the game in the SoccerFours community, and (3) how much playing the game is really the only way to fully appreciate the players that I watch as a fan and what they can do on the pitch. Beyond the obvious things like passing, shooting, dribbling skills... just their endurance to play 90+ minutes on a full-size pitch just floors me. I am sure that this phenomenon is true for every sport (I don't think people fully appreciate the demands of golf until they actually try to play the game!).