Prior to Saturday's match against the Chicago Fire, San Jose Earthquakes head coach Frank Yallop talked about his team being tougher to play against. True to his word, the Quakes were just that. Unfortunately, goals continued to be elusive, as the home side fell 1-0 to the Chicago Fire.
It was a result that spoiled the Quakes' home opener, their first competitive match in the Bay Area since the team left for Houston following the 2005 season, and given the number of players and coaches who played in San Jose previously, the magnitude of the occasion was definitely felt.
"Just seeing the guys run out, there's a lump in your throat," said Yallop.
But just as important for San Jose, it was a day where the passing was more accurate and their defending more cohesive than it had been in their opening game against Los Angeles. And despite his team walking away with nothing, Yallop took comfort in his team's progress.
"It was night and day really," said Yallop of the Quakes' performance. "We were over our stage-fright from last week. I'm not too sure where that came from, but it was there. I felt real pleased that we were on the front foot, and I think that that was important."
The insertion of Gavin Glinton into the starting lineup gave San Jose a bit more bulk up front, but it was the play of the Quakes midfield that saw the most improvement. Ramiro Corrales provided some valuable link-up play from wing to wing, and Ronnie O'Brien saw more of the ball in a 20-minute stretch of the first half than he did in the entire match against the Galaxy.
But as well as players like Glinton and Kei Kamara combined with one another, the finishing touch was not there. Some of that had to do with the play of Chicago goalkeeper Jon Busch, who robbed Glinton in the 18th minute with a stellar fingertip save.
The woodwork was also not kind to the Quakes. Corrales hit the bar with a speculative effort in second half stoppage time, and a Kamara header hit the post seconds later. The ball rebounded to rookie Shea Salinas, but with the goal begging, he contrived to hit his rebound attempt over the bar.
"I'm definitely not going to be logging on to any blogs anytime soon, so please be nice, I'm sorry I missed," said Salinas with a rueful smile. "I really do feel bad. I feel like I cost the team a point, and I won't miss again."
The question now is does this kind of performance inspire confidence, or plant more seeds of doubt in the Quakes' compliment of attacking players? Most were siding with the former approach.
"I think if we weren't playing well, then the pressure comes," said Glinton. "But today, I thought we played really well. It's just a matter of one of those going in, and then the clouds will lift and then [the goals] will start to fall."
But some of the more experienced players also made the point that it's all about the result.
"You can take some positives away from it, but three points is what we need," said O'Brien. "I think we might have been happier if we had played absolutely terrible and won the game. Obviously we want to play like that every week, but we're two games in now and we can't just say 'all right, we're playing well, and the results will come.'"
Given that San Jose's next two matches will be on the road, any kind of result will be more difficult to come by, meaning Yallop will have to squeeze an even greater level of improvement out of his side.
Jeff Carlisle is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
