Across time zones and past borders, the San Jose Earthquakes’ winless streak just keeps marching on.
With a 2-0 loss at Montreal 440167119" tabindex="0">on Saturday, the Quakes failed to register a “W” for the ninth consecutive time. As San Jose (6-12-10) dropped farther out of the frame of the Western Conference playoff picture, another potential milestone came closer into focus: the Quakes’ franchise record winless skid.
San Jose went 13 matches over almost three full months without recording a win in 2011 -- the longest stretch in club history, either before or after the first iteration’s move to Houston in 2005 -- and the Quakes responded by extensively remaking their roster in the offseason.
It remains to be seen what steps San Jose will take this winter. In the meantime, coach Mark Watson is left with the here and now of trying to put a stop to his own personal version of “Groundhog Day”: watching the Quakes give up killer goals too easily.
This time, it was Jack McInerney who turned the trick, knocking home the loose rebound from Marco Di Vaio’s shot in the 81st minute to bring a sudden and crashing end to San Jose’s best stretch of the game, a 20-minute chunk in which they finally looked like a team capable of beating the Eastern Conference’s last-place club.
“To concede a goal against the run of play like that, it was just too soft,” Watson said. “It’s been happening too much recently. It’s a disappointing night for us. Again.”
The Quakes’ slide has been fueled in part by injuries -- midfielder Matias Perez Garcia, the club’s third-ever Designated Player, made his return 440167120" tabindex="0">Saturday after a month lost to knee surgery -- but also a maddening display of a club that’s able to get so near the promised land, only to have things fall apart in a hurry.
For example: San Jose finally cut free on a dangerous counterattack in the 70th minute, Sam Cronin setting up Jordan Stewart’s lead pass for Shea Salinas. But though Salinas found an open Atiba Harris at 10 yards, his header zipped wide of the far post. Eleven minutes later, Di Vaio was running onto a throw-in and forcing a diving save from Jon Busch. McInerney, unmarked, cleaned up at the back post with a homely but effective application of his left thigh.
“I thought over the course of 90 minutes, we created a bunch of good chances,” Watson said. “We just have to be a bit more clinical in the final third.”
If the Quakes can’t end their stretch of futility at altitude against fellow nine-game winless sufferers Colorado next weekend -- and San Jose has only one victory away from home all year -- it could lead to a new team low. After the Rapids, the Quakes get Portland in a home-and-home set, a trip to Real Salt Lake and then a home date with a Vancouver side that might be fighting for their playoff lives. Reading that schedule, the possibility of a 14-game stretch without a victory seems quite possible.
“We can’t do anything other than look at our next game and try to get the result,” Watson said. “It’s a tough situation right now. The guys are disappointed, obviously. We seem to just find ways to lose games right now. It has to turn around for us to have any chance.”
