Yesterday in Chicago the Quakes again put in a tough, gritty performance that culminated with a point on the road and a 0-0 result. The Quakes were unlucky not to come away with the victory and as they hit the crossbar and the post in the second half. They outplayed the Fire in the second half and showed fortitude and determination. They now have one more game on the road, in LA against Chivas USA, before they return home.
The question now becomes how will they respond in this next match? Can they build upon the solid defensive effort and improve their finishing or will they regress? The team has yet to produce back to back wins and has tended to follow up positive results with losses.
Clearly, San Jose has been frustratingly inconsistent and the offense anemic but that is to be expected since the team has really only been together since March. Big injuries to major signings have further disrupted the flow. Pegureo is done due to his knee injury, Kirovski barely had a chance to play before getting a stress facture in his foot, Glinton had to have surgery on a sports hernia and now has another injury and on the backline Garcia and Cochrane have missed matches due to injury and card accumulation. Ronnie O’Brien has also missed time due to his own knee problems and international call ups have caused Kamara and Guerrero to miss several games. Then there are the red cards to Riley and Hernandez that have further hampered the team’s continuity. It has been difficult for the team to get into a rhythm and put out a consistent starting 11.
When all of this is taken into consideration San Jose’s record and inconsistent play is quite understandable. In fact, Yallop has done a solid job of fielding a competitive team week in and week out, given the squad he has to work with, and the team has shown the ability to grind out results on the road and has generally been good at Buck Shaw Stadium. Of course there have been disappointing games and wasted chances but again, that should be expected.
The team has limited depth but guys who were brought in to probably act as role players have stepped up and contributed beyond expectation. Denton, Gray, Johnson, Cunliffe and even Smarte have all played well, for the most part, and have easily slid into the starting line up at various positions. Kelly Gray has been especially valuable since coming over from Colorado and Ryan Johnson has turned out to be a diamond in the rough.
While the Quakes remain last in the west there is reason for optimism. They are only 6 points away from fourth place after 14 matches. We can not predict if the team has turned the corner towards being able to get results week in and week out but there is no doubt that the team can compete with anyone in the league despite its lack of a designated player and its expansion status.
After the match in LA on July 5th, which marks the halfway point in the season, the team plays five of the next seven at home. A win against Chivas USA would result in a very respectable 5 points earned on the four game road trip and would create some nice momentum going into the second half of the season. Throw in some victories at home and suddenly a playoff berth is certainly within reach. As long as there are no major injuries to key players then the team should only continue to improve and jell. There are still rumors that new signings could be on the way in July and 10 of the final 15 matches will be at home.
For the San Jose fans it is important to be patient and to continue to come out to support the team and to bring people down to the games that haven’t been to one yet this season. Every game at Buck Shaw Stadium should be a sell out given its small capacity and those sell outs should translate into a nice homefield advantage for the team as it heads into the rest of the season. There is still so much to play for and a possible 48 points to capture.
Saturday June 28th, 2008
The San Jose Earthquakes played a good second half and could even have taken the three points in the final minutes, but Frank Yallop will probably be satisfied with bringing one point from the third of four away games in a row.
The quality of the game was poor in the first half. The Quakes didn't start very well and conceded a big opportunity to Chicago in the first minute. On the first Chicago's possession, Justin Map crossed a ball from the left that Garcia couldn't clear well enough. Tomasz Frankowsky, was at the top of the box to take the shot and force Joe Cannon to make a difficult save (1').
After this initial opportunity, both teams put more energy in containing one another than on creating nice moves. San Jose was losing the ball too quickly and, without being really better, Chicago had the best chances, one of them being a beautiful bicycle kick by Andy Herron who got hurt on his reception and had to leave the field 6 minutes later, replaced by Chad Barrett (16')
The match was a hard fought midfield battle that no one won but Chicago looked more dangerous the few times they approached the goal. However, before the break, the Earthquakes showed one brilliant moment with a combination of 2 triangle plays finishing with a beautiful acrobatic blind pass by Johnson in Corrales' run, intercepted by Thorrington right before the Quakes' midfielder could shot from the 6-yard line.
Hard to guess what Frank Yallop said during the break, but his players came back from the locker room with a much more confident attitude and willing to play higher on the field. With a cleaner positioning and a smarter pressure in the midfield the Quakes obtained a much better quality of possession.
Chicago quickly looked overwhelmed (and tired) and let the Earthquakes dominate, creating their best chances on two counter attacks brilliantly saved by Joe Cannon. The first one came in the 71st minute when Justin Mapp took a powerful shot from outside the box. 4 minutes later, it was Chris Rolfe, alone inside the box tried to curve the ball far from Cannon but the Quakes' keeper's deflected it with his fingertips.
The rest of the time, the locals were forced to commit many fouls and Gonzalo Segares and Bakary Soumare (who did not even get a yellow) can thank the referee for letting them finish the game. On one of their many free kicks, the Quakes touched the cross bar by Ramiro Corrales (53'). They had a second chance, on a free kick again. O'Brien took the kick from the right side (next to the corner flag) for Johnson's forehead, alone at the penalty spot. Johnson missed the target.
In the final minutes, the Quakes had 2 other great opportunities to get the three points.
Shea Salinas had a beautiful shot form the top of the box, but found the post. On the rebound, the ball landed in Kamara's feet. He had all the time to find the target but missed what seemed to be a gift! (86')
Then it's Guerrero who intercepted a back pass from a Chicago defender (Wilman Conde) to Bakary Soumare. Guerrero was going toward the goal with just Jon Bush (Chicago's goalkeeper) to beat, but Soumare came back with a beautiful and desperate tackle (88').
The victory would have been deserved for the Earthquakes, and in other circumstances, they would have been disappointed with the final score. Knowing the difficulties they had to face lately (injuries, suspensions, 4 away games in a row and some frustrating results), they will take that and can already be satisfied with one point and a confidence building second half with Kamara and Garcia back in the starting 11!
After the game,
Frank Yallop wanted to share his mixed feeling: “To come here and play like we did, it’s terrific. I think we deserved at least a point, if not the win. For the guys, they’ve worked so hard and actually played really well and not scored. And that’s been our story this year.”
Joe Cannon was a little more optimistic: “Our record indicates that we have not been as consistent as we need to be this year. We have not been finishing our chances, but we need to keep working at that and it will come.”
Thierry Heumann (email)
Attendance: 15,922
Yellow Cards:
CHI: John Thorrington (Reckless Foul, 28'), Diego Gutierez (Reckless Foul, 45'), Gonzalo Segares (Tackle from behind, 48'), Brandon Prideaux (Professional Foul, 82')
SJ: Ramiro Corrales (Reckless Foul, 29'), Kelly Gray (Professional Foul, 33'), Eric Denton (Professional Foul, 59')
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Brandon Prideaux |
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Wilman Conde |
Gonzalo Segares |
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Diego Gutierez
(Calen Carr, 84') |
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John Thorrington |
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Justin Mapp |
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Tomasz Frankowski
(Chris Rolfe, 65')
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Andy Herron
(Chad Barrett, 16') |
Asst: Craig Lowry |
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Michael Salyers |
4th: Abiodun Okulaja |
Ryan Johnson
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Kei Kamara
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Ned Grabavoy
(John Cunliffe, 62') |
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Ivan Guerrero |
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Ronnie O'Brien |
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Eric Denton |
Nick Garcia |
Kelly Gray |
Jason Hernandez
(Shea Salinas, 83') |
Joe Cannon |
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