Ryan Johnson (orange) and Ike Opara (yellow) fighting for the ball in today's intense session.
Photo: Dani (www.danivernonphoto.com) for TheBaySoccer
The difference between Joe Cannon's smile and apparent good mood during the training session and his intense and serious face when answering questions about the current collective bargain agreements negotiations says a lot.
While negotiations are in everybody's mind (the deadline for talks expired last night and no agreement has been found), the San Jose Earthquakes had a good and intense training session this morning at West Valley College (Saratoga).
Joe Cannon's save of the day. Photo: Dani (www.danivernonphoto.com) for TheBaySoccer
The San Jose Earthquakes' goalkeeper didn't give any new information but gave some interesting thoughts about the situation. You will find his interview at the end of this page.
Everyone seemed focused and working well, as Frank Yallop confirmed. "It feels better [than last year]. There are those two guys who hopefully won't be out of training for too long, especially in the pre season but he [Andre Luiz] showed he is very fit and he looks good so we just wanna clear this, [...] he can play with it but we feel it's the right thing to do to get a look at it and if it needs a small operation [...] we will do it", he said (see the injury report below)
We will not develop the CBA talks subject today, so let's talk about the team for now.
Everyone returned this year (except for Shea Salinas picked by the Philadelphia Union in the expansion draft), no major injury has occurred and no one failed the physical tests...Things seem to start better than last year. And it is not only a matter of luck: "we had a lot of injuries last year and we're trying to make sure we won't have that problem this year." Yallop said. "I think the depth of the squad is better this season. We've kept the guys we wanted to keep from last year and we've added some good players so, I feel that we're much more equiped to handle any injury this season and, hopefuly, this will show true in the first few games we have."
Ike Opara, a huge asset for the Quakes' future? Photo: Dani (www.danivernonphoto.com) for TheBaySoccer
The other positive point compared to last year at the same period is that almost all of the players present at the camp are signed. Last year's endless list of trialists was, in my opinion, an early sign that the staff didn't really know where they were going. It also prevented the first 11 to play the pre-season games which were used as trial games for new players instead of being real preparation games. This won't happen this year.
Frank Yallop confirmed that he hopes he will be able to start the season with a defense that will hold the whole season. Apparently, Jason Hernandez and Brandon McDonald are favorites for the 2 central defense spots. Ike Opara is not far behind, while Aaron Pitchkolan and Bobby Burling should be quality backups.
Chris Leitch on the right and Ramiro Corrales (who appeared in a great shape today) on the left, will complete the back four.
This means the Quakes have a supposedly reliable defense to start the season, which is a huge improvement compared to last year, when Kelly Gray and Nick Garcia started the season knowing that the staff didn't completely trust them.
Eduardo was present today but didn't train. The Brazilian forward is another cause of optimism as he could be the technical complement to Ryan Johnson. About Johnson, I noticed he took a few very good shots with his left foot, which seems to be a new skill he has been working at during the off-season.
Last thing Frank Yallop told us today: Ramiro Corrales will be the team captain in 2010.
The fact that I'm mostly bringing good news today doesn't mean that the Quakes have suddenly turned into a top MLS team. I'm not even sure this would be enough to approach the playoffs. But I really think that starting with a stable and identified roster will help the team having a better start of the season.
A few (not too) bad news though:
- Brandon McDonald (hamstring strain), Andre Luiz (knee injury that might require small surgery), Bobby Burling (toes) and Ramon Sanchez were out with ligth injuries.
- Eduardo was here but not training.
- Andrew Hoxie (4th draft pick) failed to convince the staff and is no longer traing with the team.
Back to good news, Dani has officially joined TheBaySoccer today and will be one of our two photographers following the Earthquakes this year! You can see some of her beautiful non-soccer work here.
Below are today's full Frank Yallop and Joe Cannon's interviews. The coach gives more specific comments about the new players and Cannon explains his concerns about the CBA negotiations:
Frank Yallop:
Joe Cannon:
The honks in the background came from the players' bus which was waiting for Joe who was kind enough to answer a few questions despite his team mates' impatience.
