'Quake rarities

I'm watching the San Jose-Colorado match and I saw two things that I you don't see every day:

- San Jose scored a goal
- Frank Yallop got sent off

First, the goal. Ryan Johnson smashed a diving header past Bouna Coundoul with about 30 minutes left in the game. Unfortunately for the 'Quakes, Conor Casey equalized about five minutes after.

Yallop, meanwhile, had a bit of a meltdown. Apparently, Yallop felt there was a foul on Conor Casey's goal. Casey muscled Jason Hernandez off the ball as he powered a header into the back of the net. TV replays showed that Casey might have indeed gotten away with a push. According to the TV commentators, Yallop was throwing water bottles in anger as he was tossed. When the cameras cut to him, Yallop slammed his suit jacket onto the ground and kicked it.

Aside from his "fucking knackered" presser a year ago, Yallop is about as level-headed of a coach as you'll find in MLS. Perhaps the grind of losing game after game and not scoring game after game has finally gotten to Yallop, at least enough to the point where he can't really hid his emotions any more.

Expansion will do that to you. It's tough to piece a competitive team together as this is the fourth expansion team in the last four years to struggle mightily in their first season.

But there really is only one place to go from here, so keep the faith San Jose. And keep your cool, Frank.

UPDATE: The match ended in a 1-1 draw.

Frank's feelings

Frank's take on the game.

Back to normal

Frank Yallop's out of LA and thus out of the limelight and that seems to suit him just fine, at least according to Ann Killion of the San Jose Mercury News.

One of the highlights of the column:

"He is an experienced and popular coach who will, with the assistance of (John) Doyle, put together a functional soccer team.

"(Frank) Yallop never got that chance in two seasons with the L.A. Galaxy. He had to kowtow to the preposterous (Alexi) Lalas, the Galaxy's director of ridiculous thinking. And then he was handed an injured international superstar who effectively turned his team into
a three-ring circus. The low-key, no-nonsense soccer coach was ill suited to play head therapist for the traveling freak show."

Smiles all around

It's really a bit difficult to believe how quickly everything went down between Frank Yallop, the L.A. Galaxy and the San Jose Earthquakes. I mean, just a few days ago Yallop was gainfully employed with the Galaxy, gearing up for a trip Down Under while the 'Quakes were coach-less and trying to fill the void before the Nov. 21 expansion draft.

Now, Yallop is gone as San Jose got their man. San Jose's gain is the Galaxy's loss, but just how much of a loss it really is depends on who you ask. All season long, players and Galaxy suits all said Yallop was one of the best coaches in the league. Coaches don't just become bad overnight so if nothing else the Galaxy lost a talented coach.

Seeing it, though, finally brought it home. Here's a picture of Frank Yallop with San Jose GM John Doyle after Yallop was introduced as coach of the expansion 'Quakes. Yallop in his familiar blue still seems eerie.

I was a guest on Around the League in 90 Minutes today and we talked about Yallop's move north a bit. Host Gary Richards said that Yallop seemed to have had the last laugh as he left the Galaxy pretty much hanging. And while I agree, it's also true that most of the blame for 2007 can be placed on Yallop without the coach having the chance to defend himself.

Yallop fall guy

I didn't really blame Frank Yallop for a lot of what went wrong this season. I felt he had a lot to deal with, with Beckham coming over, and virtually nobody to help him prepare for that. Plus, when you toss injuries into the mix it's asking a lot from anyone to survive that. Yes, he made a lot of deals and I think the Ugo-and-Herc-for-Cannon deal was not a good one but there was still enough on the team that had injuries not decimated the side could have gotten better results.

Anyway, here's my column on Yallop's resignation. I threw in Yallop's Top 10 Galaxy games which wasn't too hard a list to come up with, simply because there weren't many games to choose from. Sigi Schmid's top 10 Galaxy games, well, that might take some time to compile.

The one game that was probably number 11 that maybe should have been on there was the Galaxy's 1-0 win in Houston at Reliant on Aug. 9, 2006. That one probably should have made the list but I didn't see the game as I was in Mexico at the time and it just kind of faded away, unlike the 5-2 win in D.C. when I listened to it on the radio on the way to a Chivas USA game, goal after goal after Galaxy goal.

Keep on the sunny side

At the beginning of the season, Frank Yallop was ever the optimist. Poor results early in the year didn't dampen his mood too much but by the middle of the season he was f-ing knackered and didn't hide his displeasure with results.

It's been a while but his optimistic mood is back. He didn't slam his team or anything. Quite the contrary, he was pleased that they were still alive in the playoff race.

He said the Galaxy did well not to send everybody forward in the second half in search of a goal and did well to contain the Red Bulls late in the game. By not winning, though, other results impact the Galaxy and the club might be dead by the time Frank goes to sleep on Saturday night.

Frank's chatter

Frank Yallop talking about David Beckham's status for Thursday as well as a few things more. Audio is from after Tuesday's training session.

Job status

About one month ago, seemingly everybody was screaming for blood. Frank Yallop was under immense fire as rumors swirled about Jurgen Klinsmann stepping in as Galaxy manager.

Now, the Galaxy is still alive in the race for the playoffs, however slim their chances may be.

I wanted to find out from Galaxy fans what you think should happen with Yallop. Should Yallop keep his job?

On the plus side, the club has played well down the stretch, far better than it had for most of the season. The Galaxy reached the SuperLiga final and is now close to a playoff spot. Yallop kept the Galaxy from completely falling apart at the seams and managed a team that had almost everything go against them, from injuries, the grueling schedule and David Beckham's arrival, and the club has responded with a late push for the playoffs. With a healthy Beckham, Albright, Jazic, Gray and the rest of the walking wounded next season, Yallop will have the opportunity to show why he took San Jose to a pair of MLS Cup titles.

On the minus side, the Galaxy missed the playoffs for the first time last year with Frank Yallop at the helm for about half the season. Many placed the blame for 2006 on Steve Sampson, but this year it's been all Frank. For the Galaxy to miss the playoffs two consecutive seasons should surely be unacceptable for the self-proclaimed "Jewel of MLS," no? I mean, this is after all a club that sacked a coach in August 2004 as the Galaxy had the most points and the most goals scored in the league. Furthermore, Yallop admitted that they didn't handle Beckham's arrival well. Yallop pulled the trigger on some questionable moves (Marshall-for-Buddle, Thomas-for-nothing) that gutted the club's depth and before the start of the season tore apart the depth to fill a hole that didn't need filling (Ihemelu-and-Gomez-for-Cannon). Only three wins to close out the season should keep Yallop's job, right?

Galaxy win for a change

The Galaxy picked up their fifth league win in their 24th match. They now have 21 points and are officially not in last place in the league standings. Toronto have a worse goal-differential.

Still, to have said that this late in the season is just demonstration of how the mighty have fallen. But their 2-1 win over FC Dallas maintains whatever playoff hopes the Galaxy had alive.

With six games left, the Galaxy is 11 points behind Chicago with a game in hand. It'll take a miracle to get anywhere near the Fire but at least these next few games will have a bit of intrigue, however mild it may be.

Here's audio of Frank Yallop after the match.

Post-game audio

Frank Yallop, sounding like a man who has had his spirit broken.

Post-game press conference

Galaxy coach Frank Yallop and midfielder Landon Donovan on the 3-0 loss to Chivas USA.

Post game presser

I didn't have time to stick around for the whole thing because I had to get to RSL's locker room but here's some of what Frank Yallop had to say after the Galaxy's loss to Real Salt Lake.

Yallop post-training

Frank Yallop talks about the team after Friday's training session. He's not quite as candid as he was after the Pachuca game but he drops an f-bomb, proving he's still got it.

Difficulties of managing the Galaxy

Frank Yallop's job has been seemingly on the line for weeks as the Galaxy trudges through poor result after poor result. Not even David Beckham has helped the Galaxy turn its season around as the club has yet to taste victory in league with Becks in tow.

The Galaxy last won a league match on July 4 and the club is now officially at the bottom of the table following Real Salt Lake's victory on Wednesday. Rumors are swirling that Yallop is on the outs and will be replaced by Jurgen Klinsmann sooner rather than later.

I've been on the fence regarding Yallop. In some ways, I feel he is responsible for the poor season because he's the coach and when things go sour someone has to take the blame, someone has to be held accountable. The season is technically not over but for the Galaxy to make a serious run at the playoffs, the team's got to win most of its remaining games and hope other results fall their way.

Also, the Galaxy has made several moves that have not panned out. Dealing Ugo Ihemelu and Herculez Gomez for Joe Cannon filled a hole that didn't exist. Kevin Hartman was more than capable of continuing here as the number one goalkeeper. And although Cannon is a fine keeper, the Galaxy found themselves lacking depth in central defense and at forward.

That spiraled into other moves and eventually the Galaxy was scrambling to fill holes. Nate Jaqua was brought in to replace Gomez and give the Galaxy some depth at forward, but with Jaqua struggling the Galaxy dealt for Edson Buddle and eventually rid themselves of Jaqua.

Tyrone Marshall was traded away and though he's long in the tooth, his experience could have been useful as well. Shavar Thomas was traded before he grabbed a starting spot and he's been nothing short of rock-solid at Chivas USA. And the Nathan Sturgis-Robbie Findley trade that yielded Chris Klein was a bad move no matter how many bicycle kicks Klein makes.

But despite all those moves, it's still unclear whether it was Yallop or GM Alexi Lalas pulling the trigger.

And nobody bargained for or could have prepared for the rash of injuries. Yallop has mentioned the injuries as well as the club's ridiculous schedule before but had never expresses his frustration to the level he did after Wednesday's match. Injuries and a demanding schedule are taking their toll on the club, and the manager can only do so much when dealt such a horrid hand.

Another thing to consider is the composition of the roster. While MLS expanded the rosters to 28 before the 2006 season, it is still difficult for teams to stockpile players. This goes for every team in the league, not just the Galaxy. Had things been different, perhaps the Galaxy might have been able to keep roster or salary-cap casualties such as Thomas, Laurent Merlin and Josh Gardner, players who may have been able to contribute with the Galaxy.

Compare the Galaxy's depth to Pachuca and Chivas, the two Mexican clubs they faced during SuperLiga, and it's not a comparison at all. Pachuca played without Christian Gimenez and Juan Carlos Cacho for a chunk of the second half and all of extra time but replaced them with Luis Gabriel Rey and Rafael Marquez Lugo, who could start for many other teams in the Mexican league. The same cannot be said for Gavin Glinton and Alan Gordon, the Galaxy's two forward subs.

In many ways, I'm convinced that Yallop is in a difficult situation and shouldn't be held accountable. If the buck needs to stop at someone, if someone truly does need to be held responsible, it shouldn't be Yallop. It should be his boss.

Frank talk

I decided to ask Galaxy coach Frank Yallop directly about the rumor that there was tension between Lalas and him, and that at some point the two weren't speaking.

Frank reacted immediately. "Who is that from? Who from the East Coast? That's garbage, by the way."

On the subject of retaining his job, Frank had this to say.

"There’s pressure any day to win games, but if the people above me see the team in the wrong direction, I’ll leave. But I think they see a team on the brink of being good. Yes, results matter, but building a good team is important, too. This league needs to have continuity and this league needs to have strength. In almost every game I’ve been in, we have entertained and we’ve been close in nearly every game. It’s not like we’re getting beaten four nothing in the league - except we had one bad game with Dallas. We’ve been in there and we’ve fought back. I don’t quit, I know that. They’ll have to drag me out. I feel that the team is behind me and they will give me everything they have."