By Ridge Mahoney, Senior Editor
Soccer America Magazine
SPARTAN POSTSCRIPT: Not every Quakes fan in attendance last Saturday at Spartan Stadium turned out to jeer Landon Donovan. Long after a pinata in his image had been swatted and stomped on by angry fans, and the Quakes had done the same to the Galaxy in a 3-0 victory highlighted by two own goals and an unbelievable quadruple-save by Pat Onstad, more than 100 fans waited for Donovan to emerge from the Galaxy locker room.
As the last man out, his teammates were waiting on the bus. Over the din of the bus's engine could be heard the pleas and shouts for autographs. After a brief consultation with Coach Steve Sampson, Donovan — escorted by two security officers — went over to the fans to sign a few souvenirs before joining his teammates on the bus.
The mood of most of those fans contrasted sharply with the ones present during the pinata pounding and others that displayed signs reading ''PRIMADONOVAN: Traitor'' and ''Donovan is traitor scum'' and ''Landon 'Judas' Donovan'' during the match.
Yet the most telling sign read ''Anti-Earthquake Group,'' with the letters ''AEG'' largest and most visible.
It is AEG that condemned the franchise to oblivion by miserly management, deriding Spartan Stadium as a financial sinkhole, and actively courting of out-of-town buyers. It's also AEG that promised Donovan that if those harsh, nasty Germans didn't coddle him sufficiently, he could luxuriate in Southern California.
AEG has what it wants. Donovan is headlining at the Home Depot Center, and the Quakes are twisting in the wind.
QUAKE SHAKE: Yet against the Galaxy, the Quakes started eight players who weren't with the team last season. Their makeover appears to be working.
''They got all of their shots in those 10 or 15 seconds,'' said Coach Dominic Kinnear of a flurry of point-blank shots that Onstad somehow repelled, ''and if it happens again the ball has to go in. I won't say there wasn't some luck, but all in all I think we played very well tonight.
''We were moving the ball well and [when] you get the ball to the feet of guys like Mark Chung and Dwayne [DeRosario], and Ricardo [Clark] was using the ball very well tonight, and Brian Ching can hold the ball, it's a good performance.''
Kinnear also credited central defenders Eddie Robinson and Danny Califf for shutting down Jovan Kirovski, Cobi Jones, Donovan, et al.
''They were excellent'' said Kinnear. ''Eddie, Danny, Ricardo and Dwayne. There was not much going down the middle. Even though Dwayne's an attacking player, his defensive work doesn't get noticed, but I see it.
''We were good, and we deserved our breaks, but you don't expect to get breaks like that.''
METRO-CAP: Contracts are guaranteed as of the end of this week, so if teams are to jettison players to tweak their salary-cap numbers, they have to move quickly.
The Metros are negotiating with keeper Tony Meola as they try to trade Johnny Walker, who will earn about $110,000 this season. The Crew, which had been interested in Henry Ring with both Jon Busch and Matt Jordan sidelined with injuries, would be a logical destination for Walker.
How can the Metros afford Meola, with high-priced Sergio Galvan Rey, Amado Guevara, Jeff Agoos, Youri Djorkaeff and Ante Razov on the roster? Razov is only taking up about $90,000 of the Metros' cap, since the Fire agreed to pick up a good chunk of his salary when he was traded to the Crew and is still on the hook for that amount.
If the Metros can get some allocation money or salary-cap relief out of the Crew or another team, they can afford Meola, whose MLS rights are still held by Kansas City. They acquired portions of allocations in the Ricardo Clark and Eddie Pope trades and sent a portion of an allocation to Columbus along with John Wolyniec in exchange for Pope.