The World Cup afterglow shined brightly Thursday morning as about 1,000 soccer fans crowded the Earthquakes’ training facility just to watch a practice.
Tottenham Hotspur, one of the English Premier League’s storied clubs and Arsenal’s fierce rival, was holding court.
The Spurs’ nine World Cup players didn’t make the trip, but it felt like a sighting of the royals. The Spurs might not have the international cachet of Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United, but the north London club is one of the English Premiership’s major teams.
“It’s fantastic for our players to get to play that quality of player,” Quakes coach Frank Yallop said of his team’s 1 p.m. exhibition Saturday against the Spurs.
Two of those players are Robbie Keane, Ireland’s all-time leading scorer, and England midfielder Tom Huddlestone.
Tottenham qualified for its first UEFA Champions League tournament this year with its best EPL finish in history — fourth. The result knocked Liverpool out of its cherished and lucrative spot among the league’s top four and blocked its chance to play in the Champions League, considered one of the world’s most prestigious tournaments, that runs concurrently with the Premiership.
With coaches and players calling the 2010-11 season perhaps the club’s most important in decades, the team’s training this week in San Jose is more than an exercise in goodwill and selling the brand. But Thursday was a day to sign autographs and get to know the Earthquakes, one of Tottenham’s three international partners.
The partnership grew out of a friendship with former sporting director Damien Comolli and A’s general manager Billy Beane, a Spurs’ fan. Beane and Lew Wolff, who owns the A’s and the Quakes, spent time with Comolli at the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
Once Wolff brought an expansion team to San Jose in 2008 it seemed natural to create a partnership with Tottenham. The relationship grew in March when the Quakes spent 11 days training at the Spurs’ facilities in England.
Now Tottenham will play an exhibition at Buck Shaw Stadium before traveling to New York on Thursday to face the Red Bulls and new star Thierry Henry. Tottenham, Manchester City and Manchester United are the three English clubs touring America this summer.
The match at 10,500-seat Buck Shaw almost is sold out according to Quakes officials. The team didn’t move the friendly to a bigger stadium because it wants to establish strong roots in the South Bay where it plans eventually to build a 15,000-seat stadium.
“Games like Tottenham will carry over to our home games,” Quakes vice president David Alioto said. “Sometimes it feels like we’re playing on the road when we play here.”
It sure didn’t seem that way Thursday as a many of the fans wore Earthquakes jerseys, including 49ers quarterback Alex Smith.
The quarterback and offensive tackle Joe Staley came to practice because the 49ers want to build a relationship with Tottenham ahead of their Oct. 31 game in London against the Denver Broncos.
The Spurs didn’t seem to mind the frivolity, but they have much work ahead.
Manager Harry Redknapp has no illusions because the EPL is a sports arms race with the richest teams able to buy the best players.
“Man City is going to get stronger, stronger, stronger,” said Redknapp of a team owned by a sheik from the United Arab Emirates. “They have so much money it is crazy. To finish in top four will be tough.”
Contact Elliott Almond at 408-920-5865 and follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/elliottalmond.
