Friday, Oct. 24 - Update
The atmosphere was relaxed today at Santa Clara University for the last Earthquakes' training before Saturday's last game of the season against Toronto. The team is obviously not under pressure anymore. However, Frank Yallop insisted again on the importance of winning the last game at home and finish on a good note in front of the fans.
It is difficult to guess who will start the game as Frank Yallop will only decide tomorrow morning, but he gave us a few hints. Lima is back after missing Tuesday's training for personal reasons, Ramiro Corrales is fit again and will play, even though he may not start the game. According to Yallop, [he] "may rest a couple of guys in the back". Our guess is that Nick Garcia, who was not in a good mood today, may be one of them.
Ryan Johnson should start upfront and Ronnie O'Brien will be back in the starting 11.
On their website, the Earthquakes announced that, after the game, all the players "will be out at Autograph Alley as a gesture of thanks for [their] support over the 2008 season".
Listen to Frank Yallop at the end of his last training session before the end of the season (the first sentence is about Corrales):
Click here for Tuesday's interviews
Here is what the tem could look like tomorrow (again, Yallop will only decide tomorrow morning, so this is only our guess):
19
Ryan Johnson
|
33
Scott Sealy
or
17
Arturo Alvarez
|
|
|
6
Darren Huckerby |
|
7
Ronnie O'Brien
|
|
|
11
Ned Grabavoy
or
12
Ramiro Corrales
|
|
|
2
Eric Denton
|
5
Ryan Cochrane |
21
Jason Hernandez
|
4
James Riley
|
|
|
1
Joe Cannon
|
Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2008
Only 12 players were training last Tuesday at Buck Shaw, while Francisco Lima wasn't there for "personal reasons" and the rest of the team was in LA for the reserves' game.
The future of Lima at the club is in question. Frank Yallop still hopes that he will stay for the next season as his contract requires, but the Earthquakes' head coach talked about his doubts, which is rare, and probably means that the midfielder is more likely to leave after next Saturday's game...(Listen to Franck Yallop about Lima's future with the Earthquakes).
Saturday's game (against Toronto FC at Buck Shaw Stadium, Santa Clara University, 7pm) will be the opportunity for the team and their fans to celebrate a more than honorable first season.
The mid-season signings turned a typical expansion team into a playoff's candidate . The last part of the season was less glorious and disappointed the fans who were starting to believe in miracles after their team remained unbeaten in ten games. Overall, the team showed some weaknesses that can't be avoided when you start a new team from scratch but they also surprised with a few brilliant moments in some games and even some excellent games from the first to the last minute. We will come up with a more detailed analysis next week. In the mean time, here are Yallop's first comments on the subject.
We also asked Nick Garcia and Frank Yallop about the importance of the last game. With a win on Saturday, the Quakes will pass LA in the standings. They will then need the Galaxy to lose against Dallas on Sunday to leave the last position in the league to their rivals. Garcia and Yallop left no doubt about the team's motivation for this objective. Listen to them.
Speaking of Garcia, we asked him if he was still angry at Kei Kamara. His answer was a "no" that sounded like a yes...We also asked Yallop if the problems between Garcia and Kamara had something to do with Kamara being traded to Houston...Listen to them.
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