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Darren Huckerby's cross to Ryan Johnson for the first goal of the game - Photo: Nap - TheProjectFC
After last week's loss (0-2 loss at Kansas City), the San Jose Earthquakes needed to show a better performance today at Buck Shaw Stadium (Santa Clara)
Frank Yallop decided to change one player in each line. Ryan Cochrane replaced Kelly Gray in defense, Simon Elliott took Bobby Convey's place in the midfield and Pablo Campos took over for Cam Weaver upfront. Convey moved to left back, leaving Eric Denton on the bench for the first half.
With Simon Elliott starting the game, Frank Yallop brought more power in the center of midfield, hoping to help the team possessing the ball and finding other solutions than long balls directly from the defense to Cam Weaver's head.
The plan seemed to work in the first half.
The Quakes deservedly took the lead a first time, after Chris Leitch sent a long ball in the diagonal of the field, from his right back position to Darren Huckerby on the left wing. On the first touch, Huckerby eliminated Brandon Prideaux finding himself in front of the goal. With Jon Bush (Chicago's goalkeeper) Huckerby had no angle and saw Ryan Johnson coming in the center. The pass hit the target and Johnson just had to push the ball into the net (1-0, 14')
With Blanco on the bench, Chicago had a few good situations, Tim Ward being the biggest threat with his long shots. Joe Cannon was here to save his team until Logan Pause found Marco Pappa alone on the right, inside the box. San Jose's defense completely forgot him and he had all the time to place a low shot in the back of the net (1-1, 41')
The Quakes were still in the game at this point and proved it with an immediate reaction. Bobby Convey, who didn't seem very comfortable so far playing left back for the first time, intercepted a ball 40 yards from the goal. Chicago's defenders didn't expect their team to loose the ball so quickly and were still moving up when Convey ran past the defensive line and beat Bush (2-1, 43')
Bobby Convey's rush before scoring the second Quakes' goal before half time - Photo: Nap - TheProjectFC
With the lead at half time, the Quakes were in a good situation. The game was still open, not everything was perfect, but they looked confident and there was no reason for this to change.
Is it Blanco's presence in the second half that paralysed them? Is it the tactical change made by Yallop at half time that disturbed his players? Or did the Fire just play better after the break...too well for the local team?
They came back from the locker room with Denton who replaced Blanco. Blanco had tried to break into Chicago's defense a lot in the first half, but looked a little clumsy in the last touch, often walking on the ball or falling, hoping to obtain a penalty. Convey took his place upfront. The goal was probably to have someone able to hold the ball and not loose it too quickly.
Unfortunately for the Earthquakes, they made too many mistakes to give Convey a chance to show what he could do in (again) a new position for him.
The number of easy passes missed by the Quakes grew incredibly in the second half, putting themselves in difficult situations that could have been easily avoided. Blanco was ready to take advantage of any ball. He is still not quick but, somehow, he often manages to find himself unmarked 25 to 20 yards from the goal, with enough time to make the right pass.
He missed a few of them, but in the 57th minute, he found Brian Mc Bride at the 18. The forward, facing his own goal, had a beautiful first touch that allowed him to turn around and shoot in the inside of Cannon's left side net (2-2, 57')
Arturo Alvarez before...
Huckerby then tried to make a difference alone a couple of times, but Chicago's defense remained solid. The visitors were actualy now clearly dominating the game and, with so many mistakes and easy balls given away, the Quakes were lucky to obtain a penalty and take the lead again by Alvarez (3-2, 75th)
...And after taking the penalty and scoring what should have been the winning goal - Photo: Nap - TheProjectFC
Unfortunately, more mistakes were to come and they couldn't hold on to this lead.
Salinas, who replaced Hukerby 20 minutes earlier, made the first of two major mistakes by delaying a restart (he threw the ball away while Chicago wanted to play a throw quickly), knowing that he already had a yellow card. The referee showed him the card for the second time and the right winger had to go back to the locker room early (82')
Immediately, Chicago took advantage of the situation and outnumbered the Quakes on a couple of occasions. That's how Chris Rolfe, in the center, about 22 yards away from the goal, found himself with the ball and all the time to adjust his shot. It was powerful. However, it seemed to be directed to Cannon's hands. The Quakes' keeper, looking sure of himself, tried to catch the ball, but it slipped out of his hands and finished its run in the back of the net (3-3, 85')
With such a poor second half the final score could have been worse for the Quakes. The most worrying aspect of their game is the fact that they are not able to confidently hold the ball. Whether they have to hol the score like tonight or they need to reduce the pace of the game (like last week in Salt Lake), they can't play whole games only by sending long balls to the forwards or running quickly forward on the wings. The Quakes are doing these two things well, but when they're out of gas, they also need to be able to hold the ball in the middle and make their opponent run after it. It's already not easy at home, but, playing like this, it will be almost impossible to get results away.
Next game against the LA Galaxy at the Oakland Coliseum is already a must win. With only 4 points in 4 games, including 3 home games, the Quakes are below par and already need to improve the situation quickly.
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