If West Brom wanted to play a class California team they should have shot a little more north; WEST BROMWICH, England (AP) -- West Bromwich Albion has been forced to call off a two-game series in California later this month. The English Premier League club said Friday the Los Angeles Galaxy had canceled a preseason game with West Brom to play an exhibition against Spanish power Real Madrid on July 18. West Brom said it had tentative plans to face the Galaxy on July 20 and Chivas USA on July 26. ``We're not commenting on that at all,'' said Galaxy spokesman Patrick Donnelly, who also would not confirm whether the teams had a signed contract. West Brom chairman Jeremy Peace was upset with the decision. ``I am angry and disappointed at the treatment of our club and we will be reporting all the circumstances to FIFA, and other relevant football authorities,'' he said. ``We strongly believe we had a firm commitment from LA Galaxy who, on June 8, confirmed by e-mail that they had finalized their local arrangements to take West Bromwich Albion to their area.'' Peace said the team hoped instead to play two preseason games in Europe.
Does that mean the Quakes have already schedualed friendlies with other teams? In the ESPN artricle it says West Brom were looking to schedual friendlies with other teams in California so I started to get the impression they would play the Quakes instead, but I guess not. http://soccernet.espn.go.com/headlinenews?id=336415&cc=5901 Any word if the Quakes will be playing anyone?
Dear WBA, We(the San Jose Earthquakes) are available to play your side and would be more than happy to have you here in our fair city. You will be treated much better here than in LA and we'll all go out after the match and drink many pints of tasty beer. Just ask Aston Villa how they liked their time up here and I'm sure you'll have just as good a time as they did. Come on AEG, you bastards, throw us a stinking bone already.
What can you expect, it's AEG after all, proving once again what a slimy backstabbing organization they are.
taken from Dodgeball: "I guess if you didn't quit when the going got tough, you wouldn't have anything to regret for the rest of your life."
<--- You can probably guess i'm a little disappointed. I had heard through someone who works for the Quakes that once the LA match fell through they might play up here, but I guess not.
LMAO....outstanding! We would be happy to play them and I love the postgame plan, too. I also utter a hearty "AMEN!" to yalpstel's observation about damaging the U.S's already flimsy standing in international footie circles.
Yeah well.......I'm sure West Brom would probably love to play SJ if they didn't now hate our owners.....the same ass-wipes who snubbed them in favor of Real Madrid. Pure class AEG......pure class.
AEG was trying to get WBA to agree to the Quakes taking the game instead of the Galaxy.....that's not going to happen now, because WBA has filed their grievance and have cancelled their trip. Maybe it would have worked out if the Quakes weren't owned by AEG, as pointed out here. Haven't heard anything about any other International friendlies in the works for the Quakes......
The mere fact that it was after they were offered a match with Real Madrid is a slap in the face to WBA and the SJE organizations.....So AEG has basically slapped the EPL and themselves in the face......great.
I think that even the EPL folks can understand why Real Madrid is a preferable team for LA to play. In reality, unless asking a purist, West Brom wha? is the response one gets when talking about them. On the other hand, every semi-serious fan knows Real Madrid, and they will certainly excite more in latin Southern California. HOWEVER, the real problem here is the apparent double dealing and lack of integrity exhibited by someone in the Galaxy or AEG organization. Assuming the WBA exec is truthful about the assurances they received, the Galaxy should have kept the deal with WBA and figured something else out with Real Madrid. It may come back to bite them as well .. is a non-major team likely to waste time even talking to them next year? Question -- are there rules about how many of these exhibitions that US teams can play? Would playing both WBA and RM been allowed?
I said most of what I had to say about this topic over on the West Bromwich Albion board... I would add, though that had LA been more forthright with Albion about a possible friendly with Madrid, perhaps Albion might have been more amenable to coming up north instead. Instead, the club's chairman was so offended that he wouldn't entertain any alternatives from AEG. Which is too bad, because I would have been the first in line if Albion were playing at Spartan. OH BTW if I can go on a bit of a tangent in this NQR thread... Does anyone know of a soccer shop in the Bay Area/Sactown/northern San Joaquin Valley that does English Premier League lettering & numbering? I just received these replica shirts from WBA and would like to get letters & numbers & shoulder patches. The only place I know of that does this sort of thing is down in SoCal, in Pasadena.
The more crap the galaxy send me about the Real Madrid match, the more $ signs I see for AEG. First was the email for the opportunity to "buy" spots for 4 Water Kids - $500 for 1 Child, (Child gets to be the water kid for real Madrid for half the game and the LA Galaxy for Half the Game) 14 Ball Kids - $250 for 1 Child (Child gets to stand behind the field boards and throw the balls back into play) Galaxy Giant Jersey (Must Purchase 30 Real Madrid 2 Game Packages) Packages start at $65 per Private Real Madrid Closed Door Training Session For $30 you get a pass to a Real Madrid Training Session in the Home Depot Center and a corner ticket to the Sept 4th Galaxy Game. and today The Los Angeles Galaxy announced that beginning today the club will be auctioning off an exclusive opportunity to participate in the "Dream Team" for the upcoming Galaxy-Real Madrid match on July 18 at 7:30 pm at The Home Depot Center. Imagine walking out on The Home Depot Center's pitch in front of a sold-out crowd of 27,000 side-by-side with David Beckham, Real Madrid and the L.A. Galaxy during the starting lineups. Among the 18 spots that will be auctioned off on E-Bay, fans will have to opportunity to bid specifically on the chance to walk out with three select players during the starting lineups, side-by-side with either David Beckham, Ronaldo or Zinedine Zidane. And the kid has to buy a ticket to the match. I wonder what the price of the WBA water kids and ball kids would have been?