Preseason, the final tune up against Timbers.

Going back to '08 is tricky but here's why vs '09...

Convey is playing in his preferred position and is playing much better. He's an upgrade from a hurt Huckerby who didn't contribute because he was not playing. And he's also an upgrade on Salinas playing on the left.

Corrales is playing out of the middle, so it's a better position for him. He's combining with Convey. Corrales may not be a multiyear upgrade, but at least for this year Corrales/Morrow is an upgrade from Denton/Convey/Zaher.

Opara is an upgrade from Garcia/Pitchkolan without doubt. Healthy Jason is an upgrade from hurt Jason.

Gjertsen, at least from what I've seen, isn't an upgrade from Salinas or Alvarez on the right and might be a downgrade. We'll see.

A healthy ALM is an upgrade from a hurt ALM--we have to hope it stays that way.

Eduardo is not a replacement but an addition. We haven't seen him play, but in theory he's not just depth at forward and thus it's reasonable to hope he's an upgrade.

Baiteshour is an upgrade from Roberts.

Robles is an upgrade from Ribeiro (me making the assumption he'll get cut today).
Ring is an upgrade from Elliott (who might get cut today too).


The roster stability from 09 to 10 it better than from 08 to 09.

We had about 6 clean sheets in the preseason.

We're not starting the season with major injuries. We have only the Ring injury and I'm crossing my fingers it's not a major.

 

I forgot to mention that Jassey wasn't that impressive. Of course, he is only 17. However, I didn't see any great dribbling ability or speed. Made a lot of silly mistakes. Can we afford a roster spot for him?

Obviously, it was only one game. Just not sure I want to wait 2-3 years to find out...

 

I hope they keep the paper boy around.

 

Thanks for that upbeat assessment, and good points. The team is healthier and there are a couple of unknowns (well, Eduardo anyway)...but up front has been my biggest concern for the past two seasons. Maybe RJ will continue improving, he's definately been a bright spot.

 

Um...you missed it then. Did you see this video?...He totally snakes the Houston defender not to mention a couple really good crosses.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ri2rXpDzoxw&feature=player_embedded"]YouTube- San Jose Earthquakes Preseason 2010 at Kezar[/ame]

 

I asked Brad about it at the event the other night and he said it wasn't bad, that he hoped to be ready for Saturday. If that's true, that's great (and surprising), because hamstrings are tricky...

 

I think you've got him figured wrong. He's both fast and quick. I think he's as quick as Q and has the burst of Salinas, including being fast with the ball in possession. He dribbles very well. His problems as I see them based on both games, is that he's easily dispossessed by any little bit of upper body contact and then falls flamboyantly. He does some silly stuff like trying to take that one free kick as a quick restart, which is right in principle and was dreadful in execution because he rushed it and botched the kick. He also doesn't always make the right decision on pass vs take the defender on. Also, I think he tends to sky his crosses a bit. But for 17 he's very special. He will get even faster since he's so young....and stronger which is going to be important. I think he's absolutely 100% worth a roster spot.

 

That's great news. Players always tend to overstate how well they are, but even so, the fact that he didn't say it's the typical 4-6 week hamstring pull is music to my ears. I was pretty upset in SF, and yes I know it's cold there, that he didn't ice it right away.

 

One small request to the Ultras... Please don't hate me for asking this, but could you try to be mindful of where you wave the giant flag? Much as I love you guys, I also really want to see the game and there were times when the flag blocked my view of what was going on in the goal box even though I was right near the top of 109 and standing up. Maybe it's not a question of where the flag is waved but when -- maybe when the ball is our end of the field, the flag could be kept down (or maybe the big flag should be waved at the top of the section not the bottom)?

I'm not for a second saying the big flag shouldn't be there -- I'm just saying it should add to the environment, and not subtract from it.

Thanks for understanding!

 

Well, he must done well in the Houston game (which to be fair, others have stated) because he didn't show your positive qualities (burst of speed and dribbling). However, on a positive note, he didn't seem totally out of place and didn't run around with his cut off.

Since he is still around, Frank and John must agree with you...

 

This bothered me too. We were getting the ball out wide and then either the ball came across and nobody was there, or the ball didn't come across because nobody was there. I hope the regular season will be different. We should be invading their box with runs.

 

How about "we gave up more goals (50) than any other team in MLS last year, but this year we have a solid pair of center backs and gave up only one goal in our past 5 games?"

 

We did this in '08 with Scott Sealy a couple times.

 

um, pre-season games against marginal opposition.

Saturday will be a better test.

I think our 08 season turned for the worst in a home game against these guys...and they've obviously improved since then.

It will be interesting to see how we stack up against quality oppostion.

 

Not fair....Houston is marginal opposition for sure Colorado may well be too. But West Ham reserves and Tottenham's mishmash of loan returnees and top youth returnees certainly aren't.

 

yes!

 

I was happy with what I saw of Jassey. I say sign him up and give him playing time as an offensive sub when we nead a goal in the second half. He is really fast, has some of the best footwork on the team, runs off the ball more than others to move into space, and will only improve as he gets stronger and wiser with age and experience. Definately worth the investment.

 

Kind of disheartening that our team earning 2.2 million dollars or so with only a couple guys unavailable was unable to beat a team earning about half a million dollars. It makes me wonder if John and Frank are earning their keep. At least nobody got injured and that was probably a primary goal. Still, disappointed in our play and the result.

 

i dont believe Jessey is signed...but he is 17. I say we keep him in camp and put him into the academy

 

So, for everyone that was whining about the Quakes not being high energy enough and going all out in the game against Portland and it being a bit boring, take a look at the current state of the Red Bulls, who did play a wide open high energy game against Santos.

Juan Pablo Angel – Questionable – Right Knee Sprain
Dane Richards – Questionable – Left Hamstring Strain
Carl Robinson – Questionable – Right Knee Sprain
Seth Stammler – Questionable – Right Hamstring Strain
Carlos Mendes – Questionable – Left Hamstring Strain
Chris Albright – OUT – Knee Surgery Recovery
Kevin Goldthwaite – OUT – Adductor Surgery Recovery
Giorgi Chirgadze – OUT – Hip Surgery​

The bottom 3 are chronic injuries, but even so, it's quite a lot. Whose injury list would you rather having heading to a season opener?

 

hard to gauge much from the pre-season really. but yeah, definately good that we're not starting too banged up...

...Saturday will be telling.