And now for something completely different
After losing all four MLS games in July Earthquakes fans were hoping the general manager John Doyle would make a move to bolster a squad that can’t seem to find chemistry on the pitch. While Doyle made a couple of small moves they were no where near the huge signings a growing contingent of supporters are calling for. A quick rumor of a possible bid for Real Sociedad forward Carlos Vela turned out to be as real as a golden unicorn. Now that the transfer window is closed the Earthquakes face a gauntlet at the end of August when they play Sporting KC, D.C. United, and Galaxy in nine days. That might be reason for Earthquakes fans to watch games with their eyes partially covered by their fingers. And now for something completely different.
The Earthquakes will get better as the season progresses.
The Earthquakes can gain a lot of points in their final nine games of the season. Probably not enough points for a playoff run, but enough to give the fans and players alike hope for next seasons campaign. Seven of these nine games are at Avaya Stadium where the Earthquakes have won four of their seven wins this season. Combine that home field advantage with new scoring threat Quincy Amarikwa and it looks to be an interesting last couple of months. Amarikwa has four goals since joining the Earthquakes at the end of June and accounts for every Quakes goal since that time. Now that Chris Wondolowski is back in the lineup maybe Dominic Kinnear can finally find that group that puts the ball in the back of the net. Earthquakes fans should remember this particular quote by Voltaire. “Life is a shipwreck, but we must not forget to sing in the lifeboats.” Now how did that song go? Always look on the bright side of life…
Luck of the Irish
As I arrived to my seat for the August 2nd match against the Timbers I was met by a polite Irish man who had inadvertently taken my seat. As he embarrassingly showed me his ticket I realized his mistake. A quite common one to make even in a modestly sized stadium like Avaya, he was in the correct seat and row but he was off by one section. I offered him the seat next to mine as my seatmate had to miss the game due to a last minute emergency and I knew the seat would be unoccupied. Plus it gave me the chance to pick the brain of a European soccer fan for 90 minutes.
First up I wondered how someone with such a thick Irish accent ended up at a soccer game in Silicon Valley. Apparently he was a goalkeeper coach on vacation who caught wind a professional soccer game was happening nearby and bought a ticket. A true Irishman indeed. He then asked about the bar. Yes that bar. While he loved the idea and the look of it, he was baffled that most of the people at the bar actually had seats but chose to congregate there. Why wouldn’t the front office sell more standing room tickets to get more butts in seats? I went on to tell him that I was surprised by his positive reaction as so many people on the internet have taken to using it as a punchline about the Earthquakes. I explained that next years all-star game is going to do wonders to show how awesome it is to watch soccer from there. He agreed but wondered, what is an all-star game.
Apparently in Europe players are content with knowing whether or not they had a great season based on individual achievement and the amount of hardware the team brought home. As I explained to my new Irish friend, in American leagues we must select a group players that we deem are better than the rest and have them play a game in against each other in the middle of the season. “But they only know each other for like three days.” Well, that’s MLS. At least the shootouts are gone. Before he even thought about asking what a shootout was I pointed out that you could see the planes landing at San Jose International from our seat.
Luckily we had plenty of time to ask each other questions as the game was as exciting as watching grass grow. The most exciting stat of the night was that if you had indeed been watching the grass grow you would have seen it gain .23 millimeters. That is a true fact and you can Google it and do the math for yourself. He next wondered if all the people in the little shops around the stadium had paid for a full price ticket. After I nodded my head he gave a response that I won’t type word-for-word on this column, but the main point was “people are paying to shop?” He couldn’t imagine paying the money he did to watch a 90 minute soccer game only to stand in line to buy a new scarf. All I could muster as a response was yet another shrug.
The final topic we spoke on was the makeup of the crowd. He was surprised to see so many families and especially young kids in attendance. “It can’t really be that bad out there”, I asked as I suddenly doubted how much I thought the world loved soccer. He assured me that every Premier League game was not a scene out of Green Street Hooligans and families do attend matches. He also made it clear, though, that he was not planning on taking his sons to any Premier League game until they were at least 13 years of age. “I wouldn’t want to subject them to that,” was the final thing he said before the slow pace of the game was too much for him and he made his exit.
An interesting view from an outsider’s perspective. Shame the game was so slow. Ultimately a positive response not only to Avaya Stadium, but to the progress MLS is making to becoming a world class league.
Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images
