Soccer Oakland

Tottenham Hotspur are facing some hefty roster changes this offseason. Dimitar Berbatov is angling for a transfer to a Champions League club, and the rumor mill has other clubs raiding White Hart Lane for several key midfielders. Juande Ramos might end up looking to fill a lot more holes than the big gaping ones still in Spurs' back line.

He might get some help from an unexpected source -- Billy Beane.

Turns out the Oakland Athletics GM and part-owner of the San Jose Earthquakes is a huge Spurs fanatic, and according to The Guardian, he's talking to Tottenham about applying his Moneyball strategies to the Premier League.

At first glance, it would seem difficult to apply the sort of in-depth statistical analysis available in baseball to the less rigid sport of soccer, but Beane, who has followed Spurs since 2003, is working with a company called Match Analysis to break games down into measurable factors -- things like "number of touches" and "balls won per 90 minutes" for defenders. (Spurs would do well to look closely at that.)

Beane's Moneyball concepts have gone so far as to infect the mixed martial arts world. Could the Premier League catch the bug as well? If it could get Spurs into the Champions League, you can be sure the rest of Europe will stand up and take notice.

LA Galaxy manager Ruud Gullitt's early departure from this year's MLS Combine should have been seen as a bad omen. The club has the most draft picks of any team, yet he elected to cut short his talent evaluations. In what had been hailed as a deep draft, especially with defenders on LA's shopping list, the move was a surprise. No sooner did reports surface of his departure, the first real measurement of the 2008 draft was taken by Kansas City by way of San Jose. The Earthquakes traded their first pick overall for veteran defender Nick Garcia (at right). Garcia, drafted 2nd overall in 2000, is a veteran defensive leader, but the move tips a the apparently low market price of the #1.

From San Jose's side, their gameplan appears to be defense first. A smart move considering the abundance of MLS-caliber defensive midfielders and their current roster. While Clarence Goodson's departure to Norway's IK Start was a setback, the 'Quakes are putting the pieces in place to ensure newly acquired keeper Joe Cannon is well protected. Garcia, 29, joins an experienced back line that is should include Ryan Cochrane (from Houston) and Ivan Guerrero (from Chicago). Coach Frank Yallop looks to have a good, if aged, defensive corps in place before the draft begins, but most predictions had the team looking to trade veterans or allocations for additional draft picks. With this move the 'Quakes get a little bit older, but probably more consistent.

As for the Wizards, their eyes appear to be on top striking prospect Patrick Nyarko out of Viriginia Tech. Nyarko has been the consensus #1 for some time and is expected to have an immediate impact. He would be the likely successor to Eddie Johnson, en route to Fulham for an rumored $6 million transfer. The offense may not miss a but, but this places their defense on the back of Jimmy Conrad and a handful of youngsters.

If the prices of draft picks are falling as prospect hype fades into reality, look for the MLS trade market to heat up even more as we head into Friday.

(HT: Soccer Insider and Yahoo! Sports)

John Fisher, owner of the new MLS expansion San Jose Earthquakes, purchased a block of shares in Scottish club Celtic FC. Celtic, the most decorated Scottish club with 41 league titles and 1 European Cup, is a global brand, recognized around the world and small pockets of America by its players' signature green and white hooped jerseys. Fisher purchased 3.24 percent of the club, controlled by Scottish billionaire Dermot Desmond, for a surprisingly low $995,000.

Checking our math, as we have been known to be fast and loose with the numbers, that puts the value of Celtic FC at roughly 115 million dollars. Conversions and estimations aside, that seems awfully low for an internationally competitive club. While the club isn't one of Europe's largest by a longshot, we're pretty sure Liverpool's payroll is around 100M a year, that puts a controlling interest in the club, should it be for sale, at roughly the same amount as an MLS franchise.

Now, let's be perfectly capitalist about all of this before the inbox flows with angered Scots. None of us are saying an MLS side can take Celtic in a walk, although the All-Stars did have their way with them, but from a strictly dollars and sense perspective, they aren't that far apart on the menu. It will be interesting to see whether Fisher, unable to fully leverage his wealth due to MLS restrictions, will be able to get his "foot in the door", so to speak, over in Scotland. While San Jose isn't the first natural partnership one thinks of with regards to Celtic, one can always speculate.

Fellow MLS owner Stan Kroenke has also made similar inroads in European football. Kroenke owns almost 10% of England's Arsenal FC.

(HT: ESPN soccernet)

In a gaffe that certainly sets MLS expansion San Jose off on the wrong foot, "Northern California's team" went barnstorming for young high school talent, and muddied their eligibility along the way. The California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) is investigating a series of youth development tryouts held by the soon-to-be Earthquakes that places the status of several students in jeopardy. Inside Bay Area.com writes:

[CIF director] Ishida said regardless of whether the players are reinstated, though, any games they played after the tryout would be forfeited. That could ultimately have a major effect on league standings and NCS playoff seedings.

The Earthquakes held seven tryouts from Nov.3 to Dec.2 in Walnut Creek, Oakland, Hayward, San Francisco, Santa Rosa, Salinas and Sacramento.

Ishida ruled that by participating in a tryout, the players violated CIF Bylaw 213-D, whichstates that high school players cannot participate "in any tryout for a professional team in any CIF-approved sport" from Sept.15 to June15 unless the player has written approval from the school's principal and the tryout has no more than five players.

The Earthquakes maintain that because no players received money and because the tryouts were for unpaid spots on the developmental team, they did not violate the spirit of the rule.

Spirit of the rule or not, the new Quakes will certainly get a black eye from this. The wave of forfeitures are the most intriguing part to us, as nothing heralds the arrival of a new sports franchise than holding them responsible for ruining entire high school seasons. Lucky for the students in question this shouldn't affect their college prospects.

San Jose is fortunate they play the 2007 season in a variety of venues in lieu of a home stadium. Its best to be a moving target when you mess up like this.

As you can see from the photo, Mexico had the home-field advantage as its national soccer team beat Ecuador 4-2 last night. But the packed stadium of raucous fans cheering for the Mexican side wasn't in Mexico City or Tijuana or Guadalajara. It was in Oakland. As the L.A. Times reports,

It was the third consecutive sellout for Mexico on American soil this year, following the 62,462 that saw the Tricolores lose to the U.S. in Phoenix and the 63,328 that watched them defeat Venezuela in San Diego.

The San Francisco Chronicle says any game in California is like a home game for the Mexicans. Meanwhile, the U.S. played Guatemala last night in front of 10,932 at Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, Texas.

It says a lot about the state of soccer fandom in this country that the Mexican team always draws many more fans than the American team. (It also says a lot about immigration and America's changing demographics, but this is a sports site.)

Major League Soccer thinks its signing of David Beckham is the way to gain a foothold in the United States, but I just don't see it. Soccer's fan base in the United States comes from Latin America, not Europe. If MLS really wants to become popular in this country, it needs to reach the passionate fans who fill the stadiums to watch the Mexican national team, not the people who know Beckham because his name was in a movie title and his wife is a Spice Girl.