"The San Jose Earthquakes announced today that the club will host Spanish First Division club Deportivo Alavés in an international exhibition match on Monday, August 8 at 7:30 p.m. PT at Spartan Stadium. The first ever match-up between the Quakes and a Spanish First Division opponent will serve as bonus game “A” for Earthquakes season ticket holders. A finalist in the 2001 UEFA Cup, Alavés cruised to the championship game led by Jordi Cruyff, where they dropped a memorable 5-4 decision to Liverpool FC. Based in the Basque capital of Vitoria, Deportivo Alavés was relegated to the Spanish Second Division in 2003, before earning promotion back to the First Division last month. A proud team that boasts ten years in the Spanish First Division, the 84-year old club made a triumphant return to the top league in 1995, eventually leading to the successful run to the UEFA Cup Final in 2001. Training in the United States in preparation for their return to the Spanish First Division, Deportivo Alavés will be integrating several new players into the squad, including former Liverpool FC defender Mauricio Pellegrino from Argentina and Brazilian Wesley Lopes DaSilva from Portugal’s FC Penafiel. Alavés were led last season by forwards Rodolfo Bodipo and Ruben Navarro and Argentinean goalkeeper Roberto Bonano, who formerly played for FC Barcelona. The Earthquakes have a 13-13-5 all-time record against professional international opponents since 1996, including the CONCACAF Champions Cup, the preseason La Manga Cup and friendly matches. Last season, the Quakes defeated Sporting Club of Portugal 4-1 at Spartan Stadium on May 12 and dropped a 3-1 decision to the Canadian National Team on June 5. Tickets for the Earthquakes – Deportivo Alavés go on sale Saturday, July 16 at 10:00 a.m. PT and are $45 (VIP), $30 (West Sideline), $16 (East Sideline and Corners) and $13 (Endzone). Tickets can be purchased by visiting the Earthquakes Ticket Office at 100 North Almaden Ave., by logging onto www.sjearthquakes.com, or by calling Ticketmaster at 408-998-TIXS, 415-421-TIXS, 510-625-TIXS, 925-685-TIXS, or by visiting any Ticketmaster outlet, including Tower Records, Rite Aid and Ritmo Latino. Discounted tickets for groups of 15 or more are available by calling 408-985-GOAL."
San Jose Earthquakes - Club Deportivo Alavés (Monday, 8/8) pregame thread Just received this in an e-mail : GO SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
Re: San Jose - Club Deportivo Alavés (Monday, 8/4) pregame thread How many threads do we need? PS--it's 8/8, not 8/4.
Re: Earthquakes To Host Deportivo Alavés (8/8/05) Awesome! I look forward to the game. I was getting tired of just the same old MFL teams.
Re: San Jose - Club Deportivo Alavés (Monday, 8/4) pregame thread All posted within minutes of each other. In any case, this is the first Monday Earthquakes game (league, U.S. Open Cup or exhibition) that I can remember. Has there been any other before? GO SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
Re: Earthquakes To Host Deportivo Alavés (8/8/05) And we have a real chance to kick their asses, too.
Re: San Jose - Club Deportivo Alavés (Monday, 8/4) pregame thread I'll merge them up later, and since this will be the official pregame thread, I'll edit the title to correct the date. Oops, beat me to the correction, good job.
Re: San Jose - Club Deportivo Alavés (Monday, 8/4) pregame thread Already done. GO SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
Re: San Jose Earthquakes - Club Deportivo Alavés (Monday, 8/8) pregame thread A game against Columbus on that Saturday, with an off-day in between before the friendly. Just going to be a chill night against Alaves. Also add in the US Open Cup game on August 3 against Portland--already major fixture clog there so expect major lineup juggling here and there.
Re: San Jose Earthquakes - Club Deportivo Alavés (Monday, 8/8) pregame thread Yeah, wonder if this means more reserves play against Portland than previously planned.......the good news with this team is that it is actually pretty deep (except at forward). Wonder if Levesque might be called in to play against Portland....easy trip for him from Seattle to play at Portland on Aug 3. This is great news - and the good news for the Quakes is that this game is in between 2 home games, so it's not really a big burden to add it to the schedule.
Re: San Jose Earthquakes - Club Deportivo Alavés (Monday, 8/8) pregame thread "San Jose Earthquakes to host Spanish first division club Deportivo Alavés Monday, August 8 at Spartan Stadium" (Friday, 7/15/05) The Quakes welcome Deportivo Alavés on Aug. 8. (Juan Miranda/MLS/WireImage.com) GO SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
Re: San Jose Earthquakes - Club Deportivo Alavés (Monday, 8/8) pregame thread No. I believe that Levesque already played for Seattle in the US Open Cup. Therefore, by Cup rules, he may not play for any other team in the Cup this season. I expect that we'll see a lot of Nash against Portland. I predict that he'll tear them up. They aren't subbing much, their bench is woefully thin, their left-side middie is inconsistent, and they are playing some midfielders at the defender spots. Goldthwaite will give them three actual defenders on the roster and they are playing a 4-4-2. Josh looks good, but he has some shakey moments too. The Timbers have one big target striker, but he's not nearly as mobile as Ching. GO QUAKES!! - Mark
Re: San Jose Earthquakes - Club Deportivo Alavés (Monday, 8/8) pregame thread well it's not Real Madrid, or Chelsea, but since when do we need to be big and flashy??
Re: San Jose Earthquakes - Club Deportivo Alavés (Monday, 8/8) pregame thread This looks like a candidate for one of those "add a caption" threads! Anyways, i've never seen Onstad up close, is he really that big or is Aloisi that short? I know Hart isn't a big a guy. Oh yeah, thumbs up, on the international friendly with Alaves. Just swing by after work!
Re: San Jose Earthquakes - Club Deportivo Alavés (Monday, 8/8) pregame thread Good point - forgot about Roger playing for Seattle in the Cup already. On Goldthwaite, it's not clear if he'll play for Portland or us...the newpaper said he was on loan for 2 weeks, which would end before Aug 3.....maybe that's why it's only 2 weeks, they don't want to have him play for Portland against us (why help out your opponent?) So on the friendly, anyone know much about CD Alaves? Since they are just moving back up to first division, I'd guess they have a lot of new guys and also that they aren't that strong of a team......
Re: San Jose Earthquakes - Club Deportivo Alavés (Monday, 8/8) pregame thread Onstad is listed as 6'4" and Aloisi at 5'10", and having seen them in person I think those heights are pretty accurate. Pat is a big man; not as big as Conway (who is a couple inches taller), but still big.
Re: San Jose Earthquakes - Club Deportivo Alavés (Monday, 8/8) pregame thread I came home from a weekend away to find this title on ESPN and it suprised the crap out of me. First I wondered what the hell was going on in this mad capped world and then I rememberd that the Quakes were playing Alaves and fell hook-line-and-sinker. Aloisi joins la Liga new boys Alaves Whoops wrong one
Re: San Jose Earthquakes - Club Deportivo Alavés (Monday, 8/8) pregame thread So Spartacus won't have any problem pronouncing that visiting player's name. This was also in the article: So this team had its own bit of glory in 2001. "American businessman"? Wonder if he'll be at the game. If the Quakes play well ... might he be interested in a local MLS investment?
Re: San Jose Earthquakes - Club Deportivo Alavés (Monday, 8/8) pregame thread This is a bad joke and I hope people treat it as such and stay away in droves. A first division team that was relagated to the second division and just earned promotion back to the first division? What, couldn't aeg find a fourth division team from Cuba for us to play? Do yourselves a favor and stay home and watch paint dry, you'll have more fun and it'll be twice as exciting. This has stinker written all over it....
Re: San Jose Earthquakes - Club Deportivo Alavés (Monday, 8/8) pregame thread Yeah, BK, I hear what your saying, but....... It'll be a chance to see some of the reserve guys play, it's free for season ticket holders (I certainly wouldn't pay for it), and most of all, it's a good excuse to go drink beer at Spartan Stadium on a Monday night!
Re: San Jose Earthquakes - Club Deportivo Alavés (Monday, 8/8) pregame thread Probably won't be any worse than last year's ass-kicking of Sporting Lisbon, which was a fun time. And it is indeed another excuse to drink beer at Spartan. For anyone unclear, in Spain, "First Division" (Primera Division) is La Liga, so Alavés' promotion was to the top tier in Spain. It's not like England, where "First Division" is the third tier. And last I checked, La Liga is a slightly better league than the Cuban fourth division.
Re: San Jose Earthquakes - Club Deportivo Alavés (Monday, 8/8) pregame thread Better to play a team which is moving up to La Liga this season than a team that played La Liga last season and is being relegated. It also seems the American owner is putting some significant money into this Alaves team.
Re: San Jose Earthquakes - Club Deportivo Alavés (Monday, 8/8) pregame thread Personally, I'd rather watch the Quakes play Alaves than R. Madrid. At least Alaves has spanish players on the team.
Re: San Jose Earthquakes - Club Deportivo Alavés (Monday, 8/8) pregame thread Yes, it was fun last time we played Sporting Lisbon. The Portugese supporters were passionate but not violent. The Brass band was great. I don't know if we will have the same atmosphere this year. Is there a big Spanish population in the Bay Area ? I don't mean Spanish speaking Central Americans. And, will the Spanish speaking Central Americans come for this team? Anyway, I am going to the game. A Monday night game makes the usually terrible Monday at work easier.
Re: San Jose Earthquakes - Club Deportivo Alavés (Monday, 8/8) pregame thread IMO, any chance to watch the Quakes play, and it doesn't matter who they are playing, is always better than any other alternative out there.