Saturday, July 12, 2008

'Quake rarities

I'm watching the San Jose-Colorado match and I saw two things that I you don't see every day:

- San Jose scored a goal
- Frank Yallop got sent off


First, the goal. Ryan Johnson smashed a diving header past Bouna Coundoul with about 30 minutes left in the game. Unfortunately for the 'Quakes, Conor Casey equalized about five minutes after.

Yallop, meanwhile, had a bit of a meltdown. Apparently, Yallop felt there was a foul on Conor Casey's goal. Casey muscled Jason Hernandez off the ball as he powered a header into the back of the net. TV replays showed that Casey might have indeed gotten away with a push. According to the TV commentators, Yallop was throwing water bottles in anger as he was tossed. When the cameras cut to him, Yallop slammed his suit jacket onto the ground and kicked it.

Aside from his "fucking knackered" presser a year ago, Yallop is about as level-headed of a coach as you'll find in MLS. Perhaps the grind of losing game after game and not scoring game after game has finally gotten to Yallop, at least enough to the point where he can't really hid his emotions any more.

Expansion will do that to you. It's tough to piece a competitive team together as this is the fourth expansion team in the last four years to struggle mightily in their first season.

But there really is only one place to go from here, so keep the faith San Jose. And keep your cool, Frank.

UPDATE: The match ended in a 1-1 draw.

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