When San Jose Earthquakes head coach Frank Yallop was constructing his team over the winter, much of the outside attention went to a defense that was expected to be solid, and a frontline that had some holes. Less mention was made of the midfield. Sure, the team acquired Ronnie O'Brien and Ramiro Corrales in the latter stages of preseason, but it's safe to say that the unit was flying a bit more under the radar than the other components of the team.
That is until the midfield's dire performance in the Quakes' 2-0 first-game defeat to the Los Angeles Galaxy. San Jose spent the first half struggling mightily to possess the ball, and it wasn't until the second half that the group achieved any kind of rhythm, by which point the match had basically been decided.
"We're a good team on the ball," said O'Brien. "[Then again], you can say it, but you have to prove it."
Over the last two weeks, San Jose's midfield quartet of O'Brien, Corrales, Ned Grabavoy and Ivan Guerrero has done just that; no mean feat given the side's expansion nature. A solid performance against Chicago went for naught as the Quakes fell at home 1-0. But against Colorado, everything came together, with O'Brien notching a goal and an assist in a 2-0 victory.
And the Irishman didn't do it by himself either. On the opposite wing, Guerrero delivered several telling crosses that caused problems for the Colorado defense. In the middle, Grabavoy was just as dangerous, including an inch-perfect through ball that led to Kei Kamara's clinching goal in the second half. And his central partner, Corrales, hung back a bit more than in previous games, allowing him to clog the passing lanes as the Quakes closed out a valuable road victory.
According to Guerrero, the Quakes' improvement is simply an outgrowth of the players' greater familiarity with one another.
"We have more confidence in each other now, and our passing and movement are getting better every game," said Guerrero through a translator. "Against Colorado, we were much more compact and more together when we went into the attack."
The improved midfield play has also resulted from the flexibility provided by each player. Both Guerrero and O'Brien are capable of tucking into the middle, while Grabavoy and Corrales have seen extensive minutes out wide during their careers. This allows the Quakes attack to have plenty of variety, and was especially evident against Colorado.
"Whoever finds themselves in a spot to attack, they can do it from any position whether centrally or from out wide," said Grabavoy. "The good thing about our team also is that if Ronnie or Ivan come inside, we have two outside backs who like to join the attack and get up and down the flanks as well, which helps."
Of course, the trick now is to prove that last week's result was a harbinger of things to come, rather than a mirage. The increased time spent playing together would seem to point to the former assertion, although Grabavoy is taking nothing for granted.
"It's a situation of not being too satisfied," said Indiana University product. "Yeah, we're happy that we got a win, but now we're here training on a Tuesday, and we have a game on Sunday. We just need to look forward to the next game."
Given the team's improvement over the last couple of weeks, they'll do that with an increased level of confidence as well.
Jeff Carlisle is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
