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.
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…
Did anyone else notice that Peter Wilt was at the game in the visitors’ section?
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.
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.
If it weren’t for San Jose’s lack of depth, Salinas wouldn’t be playing.
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.
Sully said Ronnie “Ekelund”
Ha
that was the highlight of the game… which says a lot about how crappy it was.
Not a pretty or inspiring game for the Fire but we’ll take the 3. Danke schön San Jose.
If it weren’t for San Jose’s lack of depth, Salinas wouldn’t be playing.
That was absolutely pathetic from Salinas. No one being paid money to play soccer has any right missing that.
Not sure if anyone has said it, but that baseball stadium looks like crap. A lot worse than the San Jose one.
Crazy George—terry bradshaw——- Seperated at birth???
Crazy George makes an appearance!
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?
Bretos got really excited there…
Halftime. 1-0 Fire.
FSC announcers say at least 20,000 fans, probably more.
Nice shot by Grabavoy. Quakes have had some great chances so far, but still no luck.
FWIW, Oakland Coliseum is only 35 miles from downtown San Jose, not 60. Only the traffic makes it seem further away.
Eric – maybe just pull out a new euphemism? Like even a dogs a*s sees the sun? idk…
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.
Eric – Blind squirrel eh?
BizarroRooney with a goal and Peter Wilt is doing his best Bruce Pearl impression.
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.
Barrett 1-0 Chicago
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!
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.
Kamara’s looking dangerous so far.
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.
Conde’s dealing with his separation issues with Osorio by replacing him with food.
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.
Thanks for the info about the stadium, etc
I hope the SJ fans pay less for games in this venue than they do at Buck Shaw…
My first reaction to Conde out there – he looks a bit tubby.
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…
Im at the stadium. Good crowd considering it’s 60 miles for San Jose. The stadium is probably 2/5ths full. field looks amazing.
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.
Whoops, then FSC says something different…
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.
Conde will play today. watch for an own goal. just kidding of course heheheh
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.
Conde will play today. watch for an own goal. just kidding of course heheheh
Conde was onscreen… and he is in the lineup posted on mlsnet.com. Ok, this will be interesting.
Hey now. Is that Wilman Conde in the Fire’s starting lineup
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.
http://www.channelsurfing.net/ has it. Scroll about 3/4 of the way down, it’s on the list.
and sorry the channel says 21500 soccer NOT 21500 Sports
man whats with me today…hope that helps lol
ignore the )…then in the previous comment lol ..just go to http://www.tvunetworks.com/
Bits, download TVU Player from here (http://www.tvunetworks.com/)…then follow this link (copy and paste into your browser) tvu://21500
also you can just run TVU Player then click on Sports then select the channel that says 21500 Sports
Does anyone know how to watch this game online? Please provide directions to any links.
Thank you in advance!