This Is American Soccer, US Soccer, MNT, WNT, and MLS - Tackling the subject of Soccer in the US, and worldwide.

no matter how you look at it or think of it / it’s life and you just got to play the game
-Tony Joe White, Rainy Night in Georgia

March 28, 2008—It’s a mad jumble of American soccer. An MLS expansion team that replaced an existing MLS team that took off for Houston is playing against one of the best fan-supported USL teams and their newly acquired Japanese World Cup veteran on a collegiate soccer field that produced several U.S. and Canadian national team stars. 1,200 people showed up in rain, hail, and snow. This is American soccer.

Brian Costello’s addition to the Diary Project is after the jump.

I walked into the Clive Charles Soccer Complex with my Timbers Army scarf wrapped tightly around my neck to see a pre-season friendly between the Portland Timbers and the San Jose Earthquakes. Often superfluous at Timbers games—the USL is a summer season league—the scarf came in handy that night. Many game time temperatures hover in the lovely range of 85 degrees. But on a typical early spring night in Portland, Oregon—swirling winds, the occasional hailstorm followed by calmness followed by more rain—I was glad to be both warm and clearly marked as a true fan. Taking my seat I thought that this must be like what it feels to see a game in England. A bit cold, a bit wet, but warm with excitement over the game’s potential.

As for the game itself, it pitted two teams at very different stages of their pre-season preparation. The Timbers had been training for two weeks with this being the first serious tune-up. The roster was filled with familiar faces and crowd favorites like Scot (S-C-O-T, SCOT WITH ONE T!) Thompson, captain and University of Portland alum Andrew Gregor, and short firecracker Tom Poltl. Two rising stars from last year’s team, Bryan Jordan and Josh Wicks were gone. They both now play for some team in California with some guy named Beckham on it.

San Jose on the other hand had been practicing for close to six weeks. I didn’t really recognize any names on their team other than goal keeper Joe Cannon. They are an expansion team, so I didn’t expect much in the way of stars. It must be weird for San Jose fans to see this no-name gang of potential on the field after having lost real stars. But I don’t think many Timbers fans gave it much thought. Other than the San Jose coaches no one was there to see what the Earthquakes could do.

The Bay Area boys came out flying, scoring two goals in the first 15 minutes. With the Timbers back on their heels, the Quakes looked like a well-oiled machine. This is where you might want to think that any MLS team will crush a USL side. But in the second half those thoughts were gone. PTFC worked their way back into the game, a troubling development for a team on the eve of their MLS debut do-over and a testament to the boys from the Rose City.

The comeback was in no small part because of Takayuki Suzuki, the aforementioned Japanese World Cup veteran and now Timber striker. The USL has signed aging World Cup stars before—Miami FC’s Romario and Zinho for two—but Suzuki looked like he had some gas left in the tank and then some. He was all over the field with brilliant touches, a world-class turnaround cross to yet another new addition to the Timbers front line—and another UP alum (are you sensing a trend here?)–Chris Brown, who sent a laser header off the goalpost. The Army—do I need to explain who one of the best supporter groups in the nation is?—sensing something special welcomed their new star as they only know how, with song. And while our enthusiasm was rewarded with a scrambling goal in the 71st minute by another new name–Tim Karalexis–an equalizer was not to be had. Quakes: 2, Timbers: 1.

To say that this little pre-season friendly between Portland and San Jose didn’t mean anything would be missing some perspective. Sure, only 1,200 people may have come, hardly the thousands that pack the EPL stadiums or even the big crowds at MLS opening weekend. But about 400 of them—Army faithful to the core—packed the east stands chanting and yelling and singing and stomping their feet like it was the most important game ever. And in some ways, it kind of was. A new season dawned and everything seems possible.

I like the MLS. I want to see what Beckham and Donovan and Blanco and Conrad and Twellman and Altidore and Angel and some new undiscovered star will do this year. But I live in Portland. And I love my team. Do I want the MLS to come here? Sure, but not at the expense of these moments.

It was Portland’s little secret pre-season opener. Ours to cherish. Granted, it was cold and wet and some players were so obscure that they didn’t even have names or even numbers on the backs of their jerseys. But I paid only $9 bucks and was literally 10 feet from the keeper’s back. When the Army yelled, “Who ate all the pies?” Cannon was quite aware that we felt it was he who ate them all. And I gotta say, that halftime hot chocolate never tasted so good.

Early the next morning Portland’s kept secrets continued. In the continuing sleet, rain, and hail at PGE Park the Timbers held a soccer clinic… for adults! Only 12 braved the sharpened elements. Guys ranged in age between energetic mid-twenty-somethings to graying, former-athlete-types, all bundled up to handle the weather. I started the day under a turtleneck, t-shirt, sweatshirt, fleece, gloves, and hard shell rain jacket. One guy confessed that he didn’t grow up playing soccer due to his growing up in the South, where according to him it was all about American football. A couple of young speedsters were curious about the Timbers “tryout policy.”

Assistant coach Jim Rilatt, midfielder Kiki Lara, and new roster invitee Vardean Adzemian were on hand to run us through some drills before a scrimmage. Adzemian was late due to his initiation with Portland’s light rail MAX train, so Lara led the warm-ups before Rilatt started in on dribbling and passing drills. The coach explained that the exercises were not just about the technique but also the pacing. He wanted a particular rhythm so as to let players have interval rests between plays. The idea being, keeping a player’s stamina fresh keeps his mind sharp.

Most of us were just dying to collect a bit of advice, technique, logic, strategy and conversation to help improve our game. I have a feeling some of the guys who showed up never played organized soccer with a real coach. Others, like the talented wannabe Timbers, were recognized by Rilatt and pushed with a few more challenges. Bodies ran back and forth, skills and weaknesses overly apparent. Insulating layers were shed. After three hours on the brand new FieldTurf we eventually found a bit of Rilatt’s rhythm. Then I proceeded to be sore for the next three days.

Heading over to the stadium, I had been very nervous. Would I be overwhelmed by more talented players? To my relief, everyone played to each other’s strengths and offered support. There were some better than I, and others I could blow by, but none of that mattered. When we split into four-v-four scrimmages with one-goal elimination matches, my quartet held the grounds for close to 20 minutes stringing together a few wins. My pinnacle for the morning came when I uncorked one of the best crosses of the day that lead to an acrobatic goal scored by a guy I had, at first glance, totally underestimated. Lara, manning the nets for the scrimmage quipped, “We’re playing some soccer now.”

At the end of the session, Rilatt told us how he designed the day’s drills with an eye towards future coaches, as most of us already are or would perhaps one day become a mentor for either our own kids or others. As we continue to unfold the layers of American soccer, what better way to learn about what the future can hold than sharing a field with devoted soccer pros who want little else than to pass on their knowledge in the hopes that we in turn will pass it on to the next generation? With that thought my pre-game nervousness, bled out with sweat, turned to glowing pride. Portland soccer, no matter what comes of it, is in good hands. Who knows, maybe one day my son will play on some snowy rainy windy field battling it out and writing the next chapter of American soccer.

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Brian Costello is a soccer/baseball/hockey/football fan with no off-season from his obsessive fandom and who keeps talking about writing his own blog someday. His work can also be seen at Batgirl. Contact Brian at bacostello@mac.com

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