Bleacher Report - Articles by Sean Coleman

Quakes Report: San Jose Acquires Arturo Alvarez From FC Dallas

Sean Coleman — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 18:38:25 -0400

The San Jose Earthquakes have added yet another new face to their squad. Using the first round pick and allocation money acquired from Houston in the Kei Kamara trade, the Quakes added Arturo Alvarez as the fourth newcomer to the team in the last two weeks. Alvarez is a familiar face to San Jose, having joined the club back in 2003 at just 17 years of age.

Arturo saw limited playing time with the Earthquakes, and after scoring two goals for San Jose in 26 league appearances, he was promptly sent by former Quakes coach Dominic Kinnear to Dallas along with Richard Mulrooney in exchange for Brad Davis.

Alvarez enjoyed strong success at times with the Super Hoops, and his great showing during the 2007 season earned him time with the U.S Under-23 Men's National Team, as well as a trial with Bordeaux, runners up in the French Ligue 1. While the 23-year-old Alvarez spent most of his time in Dallas on the left side of midfield, the Quakes surely will expect Arturo to spend time as a striker.

In the end, San Jose has essentially dealt Kei Kamara for Arturo Alvarez, which has to be a win for the Quakes. Alvarez has shown some flashes of brilliance, and could be quite the nice complement to Scott Sealy or Ryan Johnson up front.

Alvarez may be most comfortable on the left side, there already seems to be a rather large waiting list on the Earthquakes roster for time on the left side. While some have suggested the Earthquakes may switch to a 4-3-3 with Alvarez here, Yallop will most likely stick to a 4-4-2. At this point, we would be most likely to see:

-------Alvarez---Sealy--------
--Huckerby-----------O'Brien--
--------Corrales--Lima--------
Guerrero-Garcia-Hernandez-Cochrane
------------Cannon-----------

This lineup would have to be considered a formidable threat in the league, especially if Ryan Johnson could be used as a late sub, throwing his body around at exhausted defenders. It's hard not to like this move for San Jose.

Quakes Report: San Jose Falls Just Short Against the New York Red Bulls

Sean Coleman — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 05:28:51 -0400

The San Jose Earthquakes put in their most competent performance of the season. Which is why failing to grab all three points yesterday was perhaps the most frustrating experience of the year.

Despite dominating the entire match, Los Terramotos could never fully overcome an early own goal by Dan Benton, and had to settle for a 1-1 draw at Buck Shaw Stadium Saturday afternoon. All three new signings for San Jose looked impressive, and indeed it was new striker Scott Sealy's shot which set up fellow newcomer Darren Huckerby with a simple tap-in to level the match in the 13th minute.

While the Quakes threatened on numerous occasions throughout the rest of the match, the ball could never seem to find it's way past former Earthquakes 'keeper Jon Conway, who had a strong match for New York.

Now, let's take a long at Sean's famous player ratings (for reference, 6 is average/good, with 7 being great, and anything higher being excellent. 5 is bad, with anything lower being disappointing at least.)

Joe Cannon: 6

Wasn't forced into making tons of great saves as usual tonight, but Cannon did his job when called upon. A solid performance from Cannon, though there is some question as to how much fault Joe was at on the own goal. Perhaps he was out of position, though perhaps it was really all done by...

Eric Denton: 4

Well, let's just say it was a bad, no, awful match for the former Santa Clara University defender. The own goal early on seemed to really rattle his confidence, and any time the ball went near him in our end, the entire stadium seemed to quickly devolve into a state of nervousness. Rightfully, Frank Yallop had seen enough and subbed Denton out at halftime. Sorry Eric, but it looks like you have played yourself out of the starting left back spot.

Nick Garcia: 7

Had a nice little game for himself at center back. Won some critical challenges, and was not afraid to mix things up with the Red Bull attackers. This is what I would want to see from one of the team leaders

Ryan Cochrane: 6

To be honest, I barely noticed that Cochrane was on the field today, which I suppose is not a bad thing when you're playing in defense.

Darren Huckerby: 7

Brilliant stuff from Hucks today. The goal wasn't an incredible quality shot or run, but he did well to get himself in position for it. Darren made numerous opportunities for himself with his runs, and put in some threatening balls that perhaps should have been finished. My only complaint for Huckerby had to be the fact that many of his balls were just a tad off, but next week I expect more of the same.

Ronnie O'Brien: 6

Fine performance as usual from the Irishman, though Ronnie didn't create quite as much in the attack as I would expect. Ended up drifting quite a bit into the center of midfield, where he was actually fairly productive.

Francisco Lima: 7

For my money, Lima was the man of the match yesterday. Francisco sent in plenty of excellent balls to the forwards, held the ball in the attacking end numerous times, and fulfilled his responsibility in defense. With Lima in midfield, we played the most beautiful football I've seen from the Quakes all season. When Yallop removed Lima in the 84th minute, all of the attacking pressure we had seen from San Jose in the second half suddenly disappeared.

Ramiro Corrales: 7

An excellent match from Ramiro yesterday. Corrales and Lima in the center of midfield make for one hell of a team. While his play was not quite the same caliber as Lima's, Corrales did a fine job both in attack and in defense.

Ryan Johnson: 6

Johnson once again proved why he's a starter for this team, yet he also showed why we still have a problem scoring goals. On one hand, his incredible hustle and determination won some excellent challenges to put himself and his teammates in dangerous scoring position. On the other hand, Johnson had tons of chances on goal, and could not finish a single one. In addition, Johnson also made some questionable decisions, taking chances himself when other teammates were in much better positions to shoot.

Jason Hernandez: 7

Another good match from Hernandez. Won some crucial challenges in the back, and did a great job in clearing the ball. Did not seem to have much trouble in defense today.

Scott Sealy: 7

Set up Huckerby's goal by doing exactly what he is known for: Holding the ball with his back to goal, and creating something on the turn. While Sealy perhaps could have put away a couple more of his chances, overall Scott looked threatening and did well for the most part yesterday.

Ivan Guerrero: 6

Wasn't notable for the most part yesterday, though he did show some nice signs of the expanded attacking threat the Earthquakes would have with him at left back. With any luck, he should take that starting spot away from Denton.

Shea Salinas: n/a

As a rule, I do not rate players that were subbed in past the 75th minute. Shea had a strong performance though.

Jovan Kirovski: n/a

So in the end, another moral victory, another failure to win. While it is great that San Jose is playing much better looking soccer, and is starting to control games instead of being controlled, there still exists the glaring lack of scoring. While I think that this will improve even without any new additions to the team, clearly something has to be done.

Up next Sunday is yet another visit from David Beckham and the Los Angeles Scum of the South at McAfee Colosseum in Oakland. Will San Jose redeem itself after June's 3-0 drubbing?

Can the Quakes shake off their Colosseum curse? How will the new boys fare in their first taste of the biggest rivalry in MLS? Can anyone defend Edson Buddle this time? Tune in next week and find out for yourself.

*Note* This is the third time I have had to write this article, hence the extremely late publishing. For various reasons, I've had my article deleted twice before.

Quakes Report: Kei Kamara Sent to Houston Dynamo for First-Rounder

Sean Coleman — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 18:37:58 -0400

Shortly after Scott Sealy's arrival put Kei Kamara's starting role in jeopardy, word now comes from Houston that Kamara has been traded to the Houston Dynamo for a first-round draft pick, as well as allocation money.

While Kamara scored just two goals in his nine league appearances for the boys in blue, each strike came in a rare win for San Jose. Kamara may be expected to provide an immediate scoring threat for the Dynamo, who, outside of superstars Brian Ching and Dwayne De Rosario, do not have a single player who's scored more than one goal this season.

Now, let's be honest with ourselves, here. Anyone watching los Terramotos this season has seen the obvious futility up front, with much of the frustration coming from Kamara's complete inability to: 1. Stay on his feet with the ball (known commonly as Eddie Johnson at Fulham syndrome); 2. Put a shot on goal; 3. Finish the easiest of chances.

Unfortunately, Kamara is an incredibly nice guy. Even more unfortunately, little details like this aren't good enough in professional sports. The fact of the matter is, San Jose needs someone who can score goals, and Kamara is simply too raw, too rough.

An expansion team simply can't afford to have a project like Kamara, especially as a player that perhaps was considered one of the few scoring threats this team had. From the Dynamo perspective, the positive has to be the depth at forward the team now has a bit of.

Kinnear is known for his ability to create diamonds from dust, as evident with the bloom of both Nate Jaqua and Joseph Ngwenya at Houston. Perhaps Kamara can become yet another Creamsicle star. Good luck, Kei.

Soccer Recap: Impact Take Down TFC, Cup Competitions, and Earthquakes Ramblings

Sean Coleman — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 19:42:28 -0400

Canada received a large dose of one of world soccer's wildest weapons: the cup competition.

In a gripping conclusion to the first ever Canadian Championships, the Montreal Impact sent a shock through BMO field, capturing the Voyageur's Cup in hostile territory with a 1-1 against mighty Toronto FC.

The USL1 side snatched Canada's sole spot in the initial CONCACAF Champions League from their MLS foes, on the strength of a Roberto Brown header in the 26th minute. Rohan Ricketts' goal for TFC in the 15th minute gave the sell-out crowd in Toronto hope, but the underdogs from Quebec showed just enough fight to walk out with a point, and first place in the mini-tournament.

All the excitement from tonight's match breeds an interesting question for any self respecting soccer fan in America: Where are all of our cup competitions?

The very essence of any great cup competition taps in to the same principles that the USA has seemed to pride itself on. Little guys getting their shot at the big time, amateurs rising up to the level of millionaires; the American dream itself if you will.

Currently, there's the U.S Open Cup... and not much else. And as much as I love the Open Cup, sadly few others do. Is it so hard to love watching Hollywood United, an amateur team founded by aging actors, take down the Portland Timbers, a club with a multitude of history, fans, and success at high levels?

To watch an obscure third division farm team in Crystal Palace Baltimore walk all over New York, a club that reportedly costs $200 million to run per year?

These tournaments give us a chance to view in action one of many reasons why soccer is what it is: Desire wins above all.

Now, let's get to the flesh and blood of this writer's focus.

This weekend's match between the Earthquakes and Red Bull has to be one of the most anticipated matches in the history of our beloved boys in blue. Huckerby, Lima, and Sealy all look to make their home debuts, and after even some training with the team, should impress even more than each did in last Saturday's international match against Canada's team (status subject to change after tonight's result against Montreal).

While Adriano Lima's presence in the center of midfield was brilliant, Hucks visibly had a bit of trouble dealing with the wet turf, and a referee unwilling to call each fall (though certainly we saw momentary flashes of brilliance, and at least a glimmer of his ability to take on defenders).

And Scott Sealy did well with what he was dealt, though in all honesty, Los Terramotos didn't deal much in offensive power.

But I digress, there has to be some excitement in Quakeland at our discovery of a previously foreign concept: depth. While there's still no real threat up front, the Earthquakes' midfield is easily one of the strongest in the league.

The defense isn't quite as strong as we may have hoped for at times, but having Joe Cannon in goal is a rather comforting thought. Now on to the game.

A win here has to give us confidence going forward. While San Jose's playoff hopes could be compared to a man drowning, the Quakes could be given some much needed mouth-to-mouth should we take all three points.

In New York, we face a team that lacks in defense, has lost vastly dangerous Jozy Altidore, and seems to give away points in a similar fashion to our own charges. Both teams will be expecting a result.

Yallop's likely starting XI:

-------Sealy---Johnson-------

--Huckerby----------O'Brien--

--------Corrales--Lima--------

Cochrane-Garcia-Hernandez-Riley

------------Cannon-----------