You may have lost count of the newspaper and internet columns hailing the arrival of English striker Darren Huckerby as the reason for San Jose's turnaround this season. But Huckerby wasn't coach Frank Yallop's only signing. Midfielder Arturo Alvarez,
who played for Yallop in the Quakes' earlier MLS incarnation, has also made a huge difference to the team's offense.
Alvarez is a highly creative player with flair on the dribble and a penchant for unleashing shots from unexpected angles. Many feel he should have been part of Peter Nowak's Olympic squad that failed in China this past summer. Since arriving from Dallas, the Quakes' Thursday night opponent, Alvarez has scored three goals and tallied two assists in just seven games.
"A lot of young players come in here [MLS] and their confidence goes way down," Alvarez told Elliott Almond. "You have to be mentally strong." Learning to be patient has been part of the player's learning curve, and he recalls a national team member once telling him, "Arturo, play simple." He now understands the veteran was telling him: "Sometimes there was a point where keeping it simple was the best thing to do."
In spite of that, Yallop praises the fact that Alvarez is "unpredictable. He doesn't do the normal, simple straight-up stuff" when attacking. "It gives him such an edge on defenders because they don't know what he is going to do -- I don't think he does half the time. He just gets it, looks at the player and says, 'I'm going to do this now.' And he does it."
No comments yet.
