San Jose Frogs Set For a
Successful Season
Friday, April 18th, 2008
 The PDL season (3rd division run by USL, generaly considered as the National 4th Division after MLS, USL-1 and USL-2) is about to start. For the San Jose Frogs, the Big Day is scheduled on Friday, May 2nd at 7:30 pm, when they receive their Bay Area rival, the San Francisco Seals. Aaron Castro (General Manager) and Jorge Espinoza (Head Coach) were proud to invite us to their new home stadium, a brand new turf field located on the James Lick High School Campus with a capacity of 2,000. Their ambition is high for the team as much as for their players.
The semi-professional club was created in 2006 by their owner, Hartmut Esslinger, also owner of a design company called Frog Design from which he took the name. They joined the Southwest division of the Premier Development League in 2007 after an initial season in NPSL (National Soccer Premier League). The goal was to be as close as possible to the local Hispanic community, which is potentialy one of the greatest soccer communities in the country. Jorge Espinoza has been in the Area for more than 10 years. Aaron Castro was born here and even graduated from the same James Lick High School where his team now trains and plays . Dan Oka, one of the key returning players of the Frogs, confirmed to us that "proximity was an important factor in the process of deciding to join the Frogs in 2006". Like his manager and his coach, the 25 year old midfielder is impatient to see the club sign "the top players from college."
The choice of the new stadium was key to this attempt to offer more proximity to the fans: "It's closer to the community, easier to access, has a large parking lot and it is a more comfortable area to come with a familly, grab a meal and spend an afternoon around a footballl match", Castro said*.
This proximity doesn't mean the team is closed to the rest of the world. A quick look at the players training in front of us is enough to understand that the management wants to take advantage of all the diversity offered by the area and beyond. Players come from all over Northern California.
As most teams in the PDL, the Frogs are a great showroom for young players trying to join a professional team. At the Frogs, it is also a mission for the management, who proudly lost 9 players from the 2007 season to MLS teams**. When asked about which of the 10 or 11 returning
players hope to get a professional contract, Aaron Castro has no hesitation: "All of them! They want to make it to the MLS or a professional team overseas." And then, he adds: "We lost a lot of talent. We are in the constant process of rebuilding, which doesn't make things easy, but we are extremely proud of that. That was something that we hoped to be able to do from the beginning".
The departure of some of the top players is not the only difficulty a PDL team has to face. The season starts in 2 weeks and Jorge Espinoza is still looking to complete his roster with 7 to 10 players. "Some players are on trial now, but there are also college players that we like who will only be available after May 3rd, when the college season ends...which is one day after our first league game! And we would like to sign 7 of them, but we are allowed to sign only 5." This is not very convenient for a coach who tries to professionaly build his team, but he immediatly adds that it won't be a handicap as "It's the same for everyone...Our opponents have the same difficulties".
 No reason then not to be ambitious, and Castro makes no detour when he talks about the objectives for the season: "We want to qualify for the US Open Cup and win the League. We fell short on these objectives last season. We finished 3rd in our division last year, which is unfortunate because we certainly felt that we had the weapons to make the playoffs***. And it is important to start well because the first 5 games count towards qualification for the US Open Cup, which is very prestigious and we want to be a part of it". The Frogs' midfielder, Danyllo Ayllon who has previous professional experience in Mexico and El Salvador, is on the same page when he says "I realy want to play the US Open Cup this year and see what we can do against professional opposition."
Their quest starts in two weeks (Friday May 2nd) at James Lick against their local rivals, the San Francisco Seals. The other big rival for the title will be the Fresno Fuego, winner of the Southwest Division and the Western Conference last year. The season is long and we are not going to make any predictions here. The only thing we can say for sure is that the Frogs are young and ambitious!
T.H.
*At PAL stadium in 2007, the average attendance was around 250. Aaron Castro thinks this can be improved this season, in part because of the new facilities.
**2007 Frogs' players signed by MLS teams in 2008: Stephen Wondolowski (Houston Dynamo), Matt Hatzke and Brandon McDonald (LA Galaxy), Javier Ayala Hill and Peter Lowry (Chicago Fire), Matt Marques (Kansas City Wizards), Luke Sassano (New York Red Bull), Rob Valentino (New England Revolution) and Adam Smarte (San Jose Earthquakes)
***Last year, the Frogs finished with 10 wins, 1 tie and 5 losses, for a total of 31 points. The 2 teams who made the playoffs (Fresno Fuego and San Fernando Valley Quakes) had 32 points. Only the first two teams of each division make the playoffs.
Quick Facts:
- Stadium - James Lick High School - 57 N. White Rd, San Jose, CA 95127 - Map
- Tickets - Match ticket: $10 / Season Tickets (8 games): $50 (info to be confiirmed)
- Season's Schedule - Click Here (1st game rescheduled to Fri. May 2 at 7:30pm)
- Roster - Click Here
Related Links:
- San Jose Frogs official website: http://www.sjfrogs.com
- USL (United Soccer Leagues): http://www.uslsoccer.com
- USL (PDL Page): http://pdl.uslsoccer.com/index.html
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