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Chicago Fire at San Jose Earthquakes: Your Running Commentary

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The Earthquakes are coming home.

After two years of non-existence, the San Jose Earthquakes are ready to take the field for a home match for the first time since the 2005 season. Fans will converge at MaCafee Coliseum in Oakland to watch the reborn Earthquakes take on Cuauhtemoc Blanco and the Chicago Fire.

San Jose didn’t look that great in its debut against Los Angeles last week but the emotions of today’s home opener should provide a boost against a Fire team that struggled to tie Real Salt Lake in its last foray on the road.

Blanco will draw his share of fans to MaCafee but the Earthquakes will need to make sure he has a rude welcome because he will be the key to breaking down a ‘Quakes defense that looked vulnerable against the Galaxy.

For some insight into today’s match, check out Luis Arroyave’s story on former Fire midfielder and Earthquake Ivan Guerrero. Also, check out Centerline Soccer for a feature from Jeff Carlisle on Joe Cannon, as well as some great overall coverage of the Earthquakes.

The match is set for 4:30 p.m. on Fox Soccer Channel. If you will be watching the match and following online then please feel free to share your thoughts, opinions and play by play in the comments section below.

Enjoy the action.

Comments

  1. Gene- ive said it a million times… Id take an ugly win over a beautiful loss any day….

    the Fire may have been out shot 2 to 1, but something like 7 of their 9 shots (or whatever) were on goal, while something like 9 of SJ’s 19 shots were on goal…

    all n’ all, the fire did the minimum to scrap a win against SJ… its still 3 points while SJ linger at 0…

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  2. P.S.

    It’s pretty tough to win games when you are relying on Gavin Clinton for scoring. He’s got some speed and not much else. To be fair to him, he looked better today than he did in LA, but still..

    If San Jose had one more decent goal scorer, both of their first two games may well have resulted in points.

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  3. I think people are being way too hard on Salinas. Yes, he should have scored that ball in the end. Had been playing at the park on Sunday, he’d scored that 99 times out of 100. But he is a rookie at a professional game, and the ball looked so easy, he lost his concentration. I am not sure I’d go as far as FSC in declaring the game to be a “rookie of the year” candidate, but he showed flashes of promise.

    Overall, the game was obviously slower than an EPL match. But I was pleasantly pleased with San Jose – they played fairly creative game on the ground, rather than just made blind crosses addressed to no one in particularly. They should have walked away with at least 1 point, and were unlucky to lose to Chicago, which played like crap. Good thing for them they brought Blanco.

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  4. KPugs: Should the rookie Salinas have scored there? Yes. But I’ve seen equally embarrassing misses from players in the EPL this season. Everyone makes mistakes, and 9 times out of 10 he’ll score on that in the future.

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  5. Ives, Luis Arroyave reports that Frank Klopas is in Europe and is looking at a forward who is interested in playing for the Fire. Have you heard anything about this and who it could be that the Fire are looking to acquire before the transfer window shuts?

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  6. FWIW, Oakland Coliseum is only 35 miles from downtown San Jose, not 60. Only the traffic makes it seem further away.

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  7. Barrett = hottest blind squirrel in MLS

    Maybe I’m being cranky. The goal was moderately easy, but he is playing with a lot of confidence right now…

    Conde with a bad turnover, if SJ had an offense that might have been trouble.

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  8. damn – goal fire . but mark my words Glinton’s not going to be denied. 3m at the stadium and even off the ball he’s doing great finding space. Quakes are looking good.

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  9. I know – and it looks like a decent crowd – but the distance between the fans and the game is less than ideal.

    Strong start from the Quakes!

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  10. MK: Sorry, misread your post. Ticket prices for this game are very high. I imagine if prices for this game were lower, there would be far fewer empty seats. The majority of available tickets were priced at $45-$70. Most of the available tickets at Buck Shaw will be priced at $20-$45.

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  11. MK: The Quakes only play three games at Oakland Coliseum (Home opener vs. Chicago, then the two LA Scum games). The rest will be at Buck Shaw.

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  12. Chase: The Quakes stadium plan is well into development, which one significant reason why the Quakes were allowed to return (the other reason being the interest of a very strong investment group, Lew Wolffe of the Oakland A’s). All significant stadium hurdles have been overcome, and the “final-final” vote from the city council will take place in May. Groundbreaking should occur this summer. And the pics we’ve seen of Buck Shaw Stadium at Santa Clara University show what ought to be an outstanding (if not intimate) venue to watch a soccer game.

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  13. The field looks idiotic, seriously who’s idea was it to let San Jose back in without a legitimate stadium, I’m sure it won’t be that bad once they are back at Santa Clara, but still, it looks ridiculous on TV…

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  14. Im at the stadium. Good crowd considering it’s 60 miles for San Jose. The stadium is probably 2/5ths full. field looks amazing.

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  15. Regarding the stadium question…The Quakes will be playing today at Oakland Coliseum (one of three games this season at Oakland). The vast majority of SJ’s games will be played at their true home for the next three seasons, Santa Clara University’s Buck Shaw Stadium. Oakland looks like a terrible venue on TV so far.

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  16. Wow, yeah, Arroyave has Conde starting, and mentioned ~20k attendance, half for Chicago (i.e., Blanco). Interesting, they are also playing Logan Pause on the right wing, that’s becoming a trouble position for them.

    All eyes on Barrett, I was in the group that thought he was a blind squirrel finding a couple of nuts last week, not the player of the week. But I really hope Mapp puts in another good game, that’s a guy US Soccer needs to pan out.

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  17. Rolfe on the other hand is not in the lineup. looks like the tweaked ankle he had this week is keeping him out – that’s probably why Stehpen King is starting.

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  18. I’m unable to watch the game but curious about how the field and stadium look, as well as what kind of fan turnout and how loud it is. If anyone who’s watching can give any insight later that would be great.

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