hellofaride

Well its been hell of a ride but there comes a point in a mans life when he just cant go on, and I think I have almost hit that point when it comes to playing for me. This preseason I've been in Los Angeles with Chivas, Ive been in San Jose with the Earthquakes, Ive been in Puerto Rico, and I just got back from Seattle. The traveling has been tough, the weather at opposite extremes, the pitches from grass to turf to dirt and the players from the best in the country to absolutely shocking. Unfortunately for me nothing has worked out for different reasons. Chivas they were stacked, positions filled and I wasn't going to make the team playing left back. San Jose...well in all fairness to me I am waiting to hear back about a contract but its just been too long, but lets be honest. Puerto Rico was close but in the end it didn't work out and in Seattle I sprained my ankle two days into the trial and just couldn't play on.
So now I am back in Berkeley plotting my next move. I could play in the USL2 in Harrisburg, Penn and sign a contract right now but do I really want to do that? Is it time to hang up the boots? Is it time for me to finish my last semester of school, get my degree so I can coach college ball? Is it time for me to pick up a couple youth teams and focus on my new career? I know what my parents would say, I know what my sister would say, I know what my gf would say, but ultimately I need to do some soul searching and figure this one out on my own. I knew that this day would come in my life and I dreaded it more than anything in the world. Does this mean I'm gonna stop playing? Of course not but just not at the level that I see myself playing at. Could I take a year off this season and try to come back next year? A possibility, but would be very difficult to do but not impossible. So as you see this post is mostly a series of questions that I have to ask myself and be realistic about. Only time will tell and that time is coming very soon.

something in the way she moves

This probably has to be one of the toughest months of my footballing career. I remember someone once told me that soccer doesn't owe anybody any favors in this life. It is a beautiful game that cannot be taken for granted and can be a cruel cruel game when not fully appreciated. One example that every footballer no doubt has experienced, is when their team has been dominating possession for the majority of the game, punishing the opposition, controlling the flow and tempo, creating chance after chance, but just can't put the ball in the back of net. The other team has been hanging by a thread but for some reason are still in the game and in the final minute finally catch a break and take advantage of the one mental lapse the opposition makes and scores the game winner. Two minutes later the game is over and one team is devastated and is wondering where they went wrong, and the other team doesn't care about getting dominated for 88 minutes just as long as they have the W in their column. Football this month has been tough.

It's mid March and I am still looking to find the right fit for me on a squad. I have been to LA for three weeks with Chivas USA, a few days in San Jose with the Earthquakes, half a week in Puerto Rico with the Islanders, and now possibly making the short trip north to Seattle to train with the Sounders for a week. I am still waiting to hear from a few teams but who knows what's gonna happen. Through all of this there has been one consistent person in my life that has continued to push me through and through and has not allowed me to give up my dream of playing professional footy, my girlfriend Patty Rodriguez. So this blog is dedicated to her.

I think my main man James Taylor says it best, "If I'm feeling down and blue, and troubled by some foolish game, she always seems to make me change my mind. I feel fine anytime she's around me now." Now not that I would ever call football a foolish game but I think he's got the right idea. Patty understands that a footballers career can be very short and could be over before you know it. I could be in LA right now, coaching a couple teams, taking some classes online or at a JC and spending every single day with her, but instead she would rather have me keep playing at the highest level possible for me and is even willing to buy my flights anywhere in the country. Come on now boys, who wouldn't want a girlfriend like that? I know she will support me in any decision I make, but she always reminds me that good things happen to good people and when you think positive dreams do come true. She's a true testament to that statement as her career in radio has taken off since she started working with Ryan Seacrest on KIIS FM down in LA. I know with her positive attitude, a work ethic like none other and the attitude to not take no for an answer, she is going places. I just hope I can keep up with her.

I know one day we will both look back on this month and have a good laugh about it. I know for a fact that God doesn't put challenges in front of us that we cannot handle. But I tell you what, when you got a girl like Patty on your side, it always helps the cause and no matter how tough it will get, I know she will always be by my side. What more can a man ask for in life?

La vida loca

So much has happened in the past four or five days starting with a quick but tough two day trial with the San Jose Earthquakes. We played two 90 minute matches, one on Monday and one on Tuesday and I just don't think the legs are meant for that kind of running.
Anyways overall I was most pleased with my performance. I got to play in the center if the midfield where I belong and somewhere I just didn't get a shot with at chivas. I enjoy taking control of my team and moving the ball east to west and north to south. I've always tried to play the game the way Arsenal play. Even though I absolutely hate the gooners I respect their futbol. There isn't a better team at passing the ball in the world right now.
So the first day my team won 4 2. Not a bad result however the team showed well so it made certain individuals shine. The second day was a bit tougher as the legs on everybody began to get heavy. My team went up 2 1 at half. I had both assists, one to my old California Victory mate Josh Hanson. However the legs on my mates went out in the second half and we ended up losing 4 2. However all in all a successful trial.
The following morning I was flying at 6am out of SF0 to Puerto Rico. Me and Josh Hanson or just Hanson as I call him now have started a 3 day trial with the Puerto Rico Islanders. We are staying at the Puerto Rican Olympic Center in Salinas, PR high up in the hills. The view is breathtaking, the heats up and the humidity is on fire but I'm playing football near the beach and just trying to keep the dream alive.
Ill find out next week about the Quakes and find outSaturday about PR. So stay tuned to see where I will end up this upcoming season. Until then...ciao
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Day by Day

Today was an interesting day in my life in Berkeley, the San Jose Earthquakes were in town playing my alma mater and I was able to watch them first hand on my old training ground, the infamous Golden Bear practice pitch.  Before I get to the game I just need to point out that Cal has the best college training pitch in the country.  I'm just being completely honest.  If you could imagine dark green grass, flat surface, perfectly mowed, up against the Berkeley hills with thousands of trees lined up on the hill as if they were watching our sessions from the stands and then the view of the San Francisco bay in the foreground...well to me it doesn't get much better.

It was good seeing the quakes play today.  I saw a lot of my old buddies and former teammates and it felt good to be able to enjoy a match on the sidelines for a bit.  It made me hungry and excited to join the quakes on monday.  Do I think I can fit right in?  Absolutely, there was never a doubt about that.  All a player can ask for is a fair shot in this game.  However, once provided that chance its the players full responsibility to make the most of it, a part of me only wishes that maybe I came to the quakes from the start of the preseason.  But it is what it is, and these are the cards I have been dealt and now it is back at my feet where I like things to be.

Tomorrow Cal has its annual alumni game, a match of great importance and legacy to the Cal faithful.  It is a day where old friends, families, wives, and girlfriends gather at Memorial Stadium, play some footie and talk about old times.  It will be great to see everybody and share some stories.  I might not be the best story teller, but I tell you what, I know how to listen and have a good laugh, and a good laugh I will be having.  

So its day by day for me this next week.  It starts with a good nights sleep, a proper breakfast, an alumni match of epic proportions, day off on Sunday and Quakes here we come.  My whole professional career has been in California, might as well keep the trend alive.  Goodnight  

Ebb and Flow

First of all I want to apologize for not writing sooner but my life has gone through the ups and downs that life always likes to bring in unexpected times, literally in my case as I just moved from southern california back up to northern california in Berkeley.  Lets get caught up quickly in the past two weeks.  On Friday Feb 22 I was sent packing from Chivas USA.  I was in preseason with them for three weeks and thought things were going well.  I was playing well, confidence was high, fitness was good but unfortunately it just did not work out.  What went wrong?  Well only the coaches can answer that but all I can do is keep my head up, my nose clean and keep working towards my goals.   

However, that afternoon was tough for not only me but for my parents and my girlfriend.  I think Patty took it the hardest.   A couple hours later I had a flight back to the bay area for the following day and just like that I was gone.  Patty and I went from spending every day together to all of a sudden the next day she was dropping me off at the airport with tears in her eyes waving goodbye as I got on a plane back to Berkeley.  Back to the long distance relationship which we have done for so long already.    

    As I was still enrolled in classes I came back to school on Monday and tried to salvage three weeks of missed classes.  After talking to all four of my professors, only one was willing to work with me and allow me to make up the missed work, which meant I would be doing a semester of work for only four units.  Not what I had in mind and something I didn't want to do so it was back to the drawing board.  I have to thank all of my academic advisors who helped me and are still helping me to graduate.  I have less than 17 units to get my degree from UC Berkeley and I promise you just like I promised my parents that I will graduate.  But for all of you dreamers out there, I am just not ready to give up my dream of playing professional soccer.  

    I have now played professionally for three years and I have had some great times and I have had some rough times.  But once you have that taste you never want it to leave and the passion, well the passion will never die.    

    The past two weeks since my time with Chivas ended has been tough.  My heart was not into school, it was still with futbol.  So while my teachers were saying no to me in school and still not having a team to play for, the only natural thing to do was find another team.  And that has been my goal since.  Literally calling and emailing head coaches, agents, team administrators, anybody that could find me a team.  In all honesty I have learned a lot in the past two weeks, not only how the futbol world works but also how life works when you take the initiative and you say to yourself that you are going to get things done right now, not later but now.  Santiago Canizares, the goalkeeper for Valencia and Spain said once, "I have realized that in football, as in life, commitment can take you a long way.  Without strength of purpose-skill, speed, and strength are worthless."  

    Today I talked to the head coach of the Seattle Sounders and he wants me to come up on a week long trial in two weeks.  Later this afternoon I got another call from the assistant coach of the San Jose Earthquakes and he wants me to come in for a three day trial starting on Monday.  Even though I haven't signed one piece of contract paper Canizares was right, you have to have commitment to make things happen for yourself.  Patty tells me this all the time.  She is amazing when it comes to things like this.  I haven't met one person like her when it comes to making things happen.  If she wants it, she makes it happen, she has no fear, and I admire that in her.  

    So now its time to get ready for these trials...but lets be honest, I'm ready and I can't wait to get out on the pitch and just express myself the way I always have since I was four years old.  Trials have never bothered me to be honest.  In fact I relish in them.  Yes you have to have a bit of an ego when you out there, yes you have to be confident, a bit cocky but its because you are fighting for your livelihood and you have to tell yourself that you are better than the player next to you.  If you can't do that then you don't belong on the same pitch.  

A final prayer to the little sister of my best friend Angel who has been in the hospital for almost two weeks now.  She got pneumonia but it has been further complicated by an enlarged heart. My prayers go out to her and her family.  I have no doubt that she will make a full recovery, I mean she is a Quintero...a tough bunch if you ask me. 

Until next time...