The San Jose Earthquakes continue preseason training in the Bay Area this week with practices from Monday through Wednesday at West Valley College. The team then travels to Bradenton, Fla. to start the second leg of preseason on Friday, Feb. 11. The team will train for almost two weeks at the IMG Academy.
Misc. Notes
Quakes Full Preseason Plans
The Earthquakes have a busy preseason planned, as the team will spend time in San Jose, Florida, Los Angeles and South Carolina in February and March, leading up to the season-opening game on Saturday, April 2 at Spartan Stadium. Dominic Kinnear's squad will spend almost two weeks in San Jose from Feb. 1 - 10 training at West Valley College, before departing Friday, Feb. 11 for Bradenton, Fla., where the team will conduct preseason at the IMG Academy from Feb. 12 - 24. During their time in Bradenton, the Quakes have five matches scheduled: Feb. 13 vs. Real Salt Lake, Feb. 14 vs. the U.S. Under-20 National Team, Feb. 16 vs. the Chicago Fire, Feb. 17 vs. the MetroStars and Feb. 20 vs. the Kansas City Wizards. All five matches will take place at the IMG Academy. The team returns to the Bay Area on Feb. 24 for several more days of training, before heading down to Southern California from March 2 - 9 for training and exhibition games at The Home Depot Center. The Quakes will make their final trek of the preseason to Charleston, South Carolina to play in the Carolina Challenge Cup against the Charleston Battery (USL First Division), D.C. United and the Columbus Crew. The games for the tournament will be played at Blackbaud Stadium, home of the Battery. The team will be in Charleston from March 17 - 26 and kicks off the tournament with a match against D.C. United March 19 at 8:15 p.m. ET. The Quakes next play Columbus March 22 at 6:00 p.m. ET and finish up preseason training with a game against the Battery on March 25 at 6:00 p.m. ET.
Ching Remains, Mullan Returns
San Jose Earthquakes forward Brian Ching has been selected to the U.S. National Team's 23-man travel roster for the team's World Cup Qualifying match against Trinidad & Tobago on Wednesday, Feb. 9 in Trinidad, while midfielder Brian Mullan did not make the final squad and returned to the Bay Area this past weekend. Ching travels to Trinidad today from South Florida for final preparations before Wednesday's match. The match on Wednesday, Feb. 9 will be broadcast live on ESPN2 at 11:30 a.m. PT. Fans can also follow the game live on ussoccer.com's MatchTracker. Mullan will train with the Quakes on Tuesday for the first time this preseason.
"The Beast" Re-signs
The San Jose Earthquakes announced last week that the club signed defender Troy Dayak to a new contract. In keeping with club policy, terms of the deals were not disclosed. Dayak, 34, has played seven seasons for the San Jose team, beginning his career in 1996 with the Clash. He is currently third all-time in club history in games played (122), games started (115) and minutes played (10,279), after playing in 16 games in 2004. He has scored eight goals and notched seven assists in his career during the regular season. Dayak played in 57 games in his first stint with San Jose from 1996-1998 before a serious neck injury forced him out of the league. After spending two seasons with the Bay Area Seals of the A-League (now USL First Division) from 1999-2000 and overcoming a torn posterior cruciate ligament and a torn medial collateral ligament in his right knee, Dayak returned to San Jose at the start of 2001. In 2001, Dayak earned MLS Comeback Player of the Year honors after a magical season, in which he played in 25 of 26 games, while scoring two goals and helping anchor the stingiest defense in team history (29 goals allowed). In the playoffs, he also scored the game-winning goal in overtime against the Miami Fusion to send San Jose to its first-ever MLS Cup Final.
Quakes Select Four in Supplemental Draft
The San Jose Earthquakes added four new players to the team's roster through the 2005 MLS Supplemental Draft on Friday, Feb. 4. All the Quakes draftees have ties to the Bay Area, as San Jose selected former Bellarmine Prep (Santa Clara, Calif.) star and Saratoga native Brett Rodriguez with the fifth pick of the first round out of Creighton University. The Quakes also added Stanford University goalkeeper Robby Fulton (18th pick), and two former De La Salle High School (Concord, Calif.) standouts - University of California-Berkeley defender Noah Merl (29th pick) and Chico State University midfielder Chris Wondolowski (41st pick). The first-ever MLS Supplemental Draft consisted of four rounds, allowing MLS clubs to add to their rosters, which have been expanded to incorporate ten developmental players in addition to the 18 senior roster spots. Three of the four players participated in the Quakes local pre-draft combine in January.
Opening Day
The San Jose Earthquakes will kick off the 2005 MLS season with a home match against the New England Revolution on Saturday, April 2 at 7:00 p.m. PT at Spartan Stadium. The Quakes are unbeaten in their last 10 matches against the Revs, posting an 8-0-2 record in those matches. The remainder of the team's 2005 schedule will be announced at a later date.
Season Tickets on Sale Now
San Jose Earthquakes season ticket packages for the 2005 season at Spartan Stadium are now on sale. The Earthquakes 2005 season ticket package features 18 games, including all MLS regular season games and special bonus games. The Quakes season ticket pricing once again consists of a Youth (14 and younger) and a Senior (60 and over) discount in three price levels. Prices for the 2005 season ticket packages are $198 adult ($162 youth/senior) for Endzone, $252 adult ($198 youth/senior) for East Sideline, $450 ($396 youth/senior) for West Sideline and $720 for VIP seats. Tickets can be purchased by visiting the Earthquakes Ticket Office at 100 North Almaden Ave., by logging onto www.sjearthquakes.com or by contacting the Earthquakes Ticket Office at (408) 985-GOAL.
