Broadcast Booth Bits

This had ought to be fun, welcoming in the reborn San Jose Earthquakes. I know the Revs used to get hammered by the old Quakes – going 0-9-3 versus the Bay Area club between 2001 and 2005 – but that mojo (one hopes) left SJ when the last version team turned in their blue and black for the garish orange of Houston. And while the New Quakes come in with a 1-4-1 season record to date, they do have Frank Yallop at the helm, which means his teams will be tough and game. That’s why I’m looking forward to Saturday’s night’s match.

Yallop suffered through a tough year in Los Angeles in 2007 and I think everyone in MLS thinks he’s in a better job situation for a guy like him. He’s back to the place where he won two MLS Cup crowns, and with the reins of a first-year expansion club in his grasp, can steer this team the way he wants (as a opposed to the way a megastar or a couple of entertainment companies might want a team run).

Yallop, predictably, started from the back. Bringing Joe Cannon back in to play in goal was a strong move, and the back four of established vets like former Quakes Ryan Cochrane and Ramiro Corrales (currently playing in the midfield) as well as hard man Nick Garcia and ex-Rev James Riley were all good signings. Until last week’s 3-2 loss to Columbus, the Quakes “D” had only allowed a stingy five goals in league play.

In midfield, ex-Dallas and Toronto joins Ivan Guerrero, Ned Grabavoy and Corrales as players with legit MLS credentials. And that’s before you bring in the name of four-time All-Star Irishman Ronnie O’Brien. Reports are that ROB has yet to really break out of his shell so far this year, but we’ve seen time and again that he can knife down that right center channel and slice up defenses with his dribble runs.

So we know the Quakes have some steel at the back – though while Cochran should be back from a head injury on Saturday night, Garcia is listed as Questionable with a groin (veteran Eric Denton is the presumptive fifth defensive wheel with Jason Hernandez sliding inside). And we know the SJ midfield has experience and a decent pedigree. But the issue that everyone saw as San Jose’s Achilles heel and which has proven to be the problem is the forward play.

When former Crew striker Kei Kamara is your stud up top, Frank, – no offense to Kei – you have a shortage of talent. And coming into this game both of the other regular starting forwards, Peguero Jean-Philippe and Gavin Glinton, were both injured. After being listed as Out with “internal knee derangement” on Thursday, Peguero was removed from Friday’s league injured list altogether. If you saw some of Pegeuro’s hairdos back when he played for Colorado you’d have an idea of what’s meant by “derangement”.

If Peguero doesn’t start, that means that Shea Salina or Hyde Park’s Ryan Johnson are likely to pair with Kamara at the top of Yallop’s traditional 4-4-2 system. Johnson scored his first goal as a MLS pro last weekend and normally slots in on the left as a pacey sub for Guerrero. Salinas, a rookie out of Furman, has featured on the right and as a withdrawn forward. Neither should bother the Revs experienced defenders much, though Johnson does have that extra step to get in behind.

The Revs coaches are so tough on this team – as they should be. Steve Nicol and his staff were less than impressed with some aspects of New England’s play in the 2-1 win over Chivas USA on Sunday. No question the late goal conceded was down to an inexcusable lack of concentration. And the speed of play, the ball circulation and switching the play didn’t happen fast enough to beat the better teams in the league.

But, for me, that was a quality road result. The Revs were stout defensively (how huge was Shalrie Joseph, yet again?) and got a couple of great goals – one each from Kenny Mansally and Taylor Twellman.

Now according to the papers, Twellman is unlikely to feature in the starting 11 for New England on Saturday because of the injury sustained in the second half Sunday when Shavar Thomas stepped on him, but the good news is that Mansally and Kheli Dube both had excellent outings versus Chivas USA.

A word on Dube. While Mansally and Sainey Nyassi have both drawn rave reviews at turns this season, Dube has quietly become a factor in the Revs’ attacking play. The speedy Zimbabwean has shown that, coming off the bench, he makes intelligent runs off the ball and can hold it up when called upon to do so.

You somehow doubt Nicol will go with the lone forward scheme like he did on Sunday with the Revs playing San Jose at home. So the question is, does Twellman convalesce from the ankle injury more quickly than expected, does Dube get a look in or does Adam Cristman – a DNP at Chivas – reclaim his starting role from earlier this season?

And by the way – I have to lob a salvo back at my buddy – and frequent In the Net guest – Steve Davis. For all the strong video content that some of the other MLS teams now have, this website that you’re on right now is where a majority of these things originated as far as MLS goes.

http://web.mlsnet.com/news/mls_news.jsp?ymd=20080516&content_id=158488&vkey=news_mls&fext=.jsp

As many of you may recall, Revolution Video News had a lot the kind of stuff that Davis writes about…and that’s going back to 2003, when FC Dallas were known as the Burn and slogging it out at Dragon Stadium in Southlake, Texas:
http://www.revolutionsoccer.net/Search/index.cfm?pn=7&PCID=117

Revolution Video News has now evolved into several different video shows. There’s the new, one-of-a-kind postgame show RevsWrap, with extended interviews, analysis, player features and stats. And you have regular updates to RevsTV and Revolution Rewind, which feature the exclusive interviews and the kind of behind-the-scenes kind of stuff Davis lauds Toronto FC for. TFC and FCD have some good content…but they didn’t start this “Content War”. New England set the bar early:

http://www.revolutionsoccer.net/mediacenter/index.cfm?ac=videonews
http://www.revolutionsoccer.net/search/index.cfm?PCID=117

The Revs staff has put a lot of work into video - both in terms of innovation and production - over the years and should get their fairs dues. If you have suggestions or comments, please post them below or email RevsTV@revolutionsoccer.net.

So if ya don’t know, now ya know…