Know Thine Enemy: "San Jose" Earthquakes of Oakland and Santa Clara
Sounders FC tries to break a two-game winless streak when "San Jose" comes to town Saturday night. Here's a little primer about our opponent whatever happens to pop into our heads.
We have never been to San Jose, we have never met anyone from San Jose, and we don't know anyone who's ever been to San Jose. Thus you'll forgive us for wondering if San Jose even exists. The players of the "San Jose" Earthquakes must have similar doubts, as they play not in San Jose but, depending on the opponent, in either Santa Clara (at Buck Shaw Stadium on the Santa Clara University campus) or Oakland (the Coliseum, home of the Raiders and A's).
Said players include forward Cam Weaver, the former Seattle U and USL Sounders star. The 6-4 Weaver--a Kent native--led SU to an undefeated national championship season in '04, and was USL Rookie of the Year and co-leader in goals in '06 with the Sounders. He got some European experience the past two years, playing for a second-division team in Norway. Weaver signed with the Earthquakes before this season, he's played in all five games (though he's come off the bench in the last two) and scored one goal--a game-winner against Houston, in the Earthquakes' only win of the year.
Why only one win? The 'Quakes have blown a late-game lead in their last two games, both draws at home. They allowed an 85th-minute goal against Chicago two weekends ago, and a 74th-minute goal last weekend.
It's the second go-around for San Jose as an MLS host--the San Jose Clash were one of the league's original teams. Renamed the Earthquakes in 2000, they moved to Houston in 2005. As the Houston Dynamo, the former Earthquakes won the 2006 and 2007 MLS Cups. So a crisp Napa wine isn't the only thing Quake fans turn to when they need bitterness.
"Earthquakes." Huh. You have to wonder if that name couldn't end up being a bit of an embarrassment should a really devastating quake hit the Bay Area. We can't imagine a New Orleans team taking the name "Floods" or a Phuket team named the "Tsunamis."
The name goes back to 1974, when San Jose got a North American Soccer League franchise called the Earthquakes. Sounders FC joins San Jose as the only MLS teams to have retained their NASL names. To celebrate this fact, the Soccer Silicon Valley Community Foundation has launched The Heritage Cup, which will be contested between teams who've kept their NASL names. As Sounders and San Jose are the only such teams, they'll contest the cup in this first year of the competition. When Portland joins the league in 2011, they'll also be eligible for the cup, since they are retaining the Timbers name.
Sounders/San Jose is Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at Qwest Field. You can watch the game on KING 5. The game's sold out, but as we write this there are tickets on Craiglist and StubHub.
