From Taking a step forward or backward? By Sigi Schmid / Special to MLSnet.com San Jose Earthquakes 2005: W-L-T: 9-4-7, GF-GA: 30-23 2004: W-L-T: 5-6-6, GF-GA: 28-26 A couple more goals scored added to a few less goals allowed results in wins. This team had to be completely remade. No Landon Donovan, no Richard Mulrooney, no Ramiro Corrales, no Ronnie Ekelund and no JeffAgoos left a void down the middle. In comes Ricardo Clark, Brad Davis, Mark Chung, Danny Califf, Kelly Gray and Alejandro Moreno and the team is on song, as the English like to say. They've made clever trades -- and all this without Brian Ching for the most part. Ronald Cerritos is playing like he wants to finish his career in San Jose (or will it be another city)? Coaches Dominic Kinnear and John Doyle have done a similar job to Frank Yallop. They have created a good locker room that likes each other and works for each other and where there are few egos. They only start three non-U.S. players and that says something for the American player. To make that run for the title, they need Ching to return, and have Chung and Davis to create and score. From Keys to the 2005 stretch run in MLS Storylines to watch over the final few months of the regular season By Marc Connolly / Special to MLSnet.com 21. Brian Ching -- Once the behemoth striker returns from hamstring surgery, look out. Since the Earthquakes have had to go it without him since mid-May, getting him back onto the field will be as though they went out and make a big signing. 26. Brad Davis -- He's been impressive thus far. But now the 23-year-old All-Star needs to start scoring goals, especially with that lethal left foot of his.
S.A. may still have a shot at landing Major League Soccer By W. Scott Bailey San Antonio Business Journal Updated: 8:00 p.m. ET Aug. 7, 2005 Soon after Phil Hardberger was elected to succeed Ed Garza as mayor, Major League Soccer (MLS) ended talks with the city concerning the possible placement of a team here for 2006. But San Antonio has captured the fancy of at least one existing MLS ownership group in recent days and could be back in the hunt for a team. MLS Commissioner Don Garber thought he had an agreement in place with the City of San Antonio that would have permitted a team to play rent-free in a refurbished and retrofitted Alamodome. That franchise would also have benefited from a share in certain dome events and naming-rights revenues. But Hardberger and certain members of City Council were no fans of that deal and publicly criticized it to the point that the league commissioner issued a statement proclaiming that "MLS and its owners will no longer consider San Antonio as a candidate for an MLS team in 2006." Garber may have no interest in San Antonio currently. But there are tremors emanating from San Jose that indicate that the owners of the MLS Earthquakes might. The Earthquakes are owned by Los Angeles-based Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) and have been the topic of relocation discussions for more than a year. Most recently, Houston has been mentioned as the likely new home for the MLS team. One scenario has Mexican media company Televisa -- which owns Mexican pro team Club America -- working to secure the rights to operate the Earthquakes. Club America would then move the Earthquakes into Houston's venerable Astrodome. But Houston may not be a lock. At least not yet. Industry observers say AEG President and CEO Tim Leiweke has indicated that a decision could be made on the fate of the Earthquakes before the end of the month. Soccer Times, an industry trade, reports that Texas is the likely target for relocation of that team. Leiweke was unavailable for comment at press time. But AEG spokesman Michael Roth says, "(Leiweke) feels that San Antonio is a good alternative, a viable market for MLS." More rumblings Roth's comments come only days after Leiweke reportedly told a writer in Washington, D.C., that "there is every likelihood we will keep that team and move it someplace where we do have a soccer-specific (stadium) solution." He added that San Antonio's Alamodome "is really a good temporary solution as to where to put a team until a soccer-specific facility can be built." Roth tells the Business Journal that Leiweke stands by those statements. But MLS will need to regain some support at City Hall before the Earthquakes or any other MLS team will seek a move to San Antonio. To date, Hardberger's greatest concern has been the shaky financial history of MLS and giving up too much in city incentives to get a team. "Will it make money for the city? ... My answer is not today," Hardberger told the Business Journal only days before he was elected. "Maybe in 20 years." Hardberger was meeting with Toyota officials in Japan and was unavailable for comment on the MLS matter at press time. A spokesman for the mayor says he is uncertain if Leiweke and Hardberger have discussed the plight of the Earthquakes or any other MLS opportunities. Waiting game Garber has told reporters from coast to coast recently that his league will focus its attention on a number of other cities, including Houston. He has characterized Toronto, Houston Cleveland, Milwaukee and St. Louis as being "at the top of our list." As for the Earthquakes, Garber says the first priority is to try and keep the team in its current market. But that seems unlikely, as all efforts to secure a soccer-specific stadium for San Jose have proven unsuccessful so far. Dean Munro is executive director of the San Jose Sports Authority, an organization similar to the San Antonio Sports Foundation. Munro says his group, along with the grass-roots organization Soccer Silicon Valley, has worked diligently to try and keep the Earthquakes in San Jose. "We've worked for two years to try and find some kind of solution," Munro says. "We've been very active." The connection between AEG, the Earthquakes and South Texas goes back more than a year. In June of 2004, the Business Journal reported that the Earthquakes could land in either Houston or San Antonio. Roughly 14 months later, it's still unclear what level of corporate and season-ticket support exists for such a team if it were to move to San Antonio. MLS spokesman Simon Borg says a sales drive intended to spark interest in a San Antonio MLS franchise ended before it ever really got started. Multiple sources say that drive -- initiated while Garza was preparing to depart City Hall -- was thousands of sales shy of the league-mandated goal of 5,000 season tickets sold. "There was no momentum generated for that campaign," Borg says.
Just wish they would mention Dero who has been a huge part of the success. Once again he gets left out of the reports, probably cos these guys are not actually looking at the games.