SAN JOSE, Calif. ā In a league where homefield advantage plays a huge part, the San Jose Earthquakes havenāt had any such help this season.
Itās not that the five-figure crowds in cozy Buck Shaw Stadium arenāt giving the home side their full support. The results simply havenāt been forthcoming for San Jose, who are one of only two teams in the league who currently have picked up more points on the road (12) than at home (11).
The Quakes had a chance to remedy that situation Saturday, but instead suffered a 1-0 defeat to Seattle. San Jose havenāt won at home since May 8, going 0-2-2 in that stretch while getting outscored 7-4.
WATCH: FULL HIGHLIGHTS: SJ 0, SEA 1
āWe come home and we donāt perform,ā Quakes coach Frank Yallop said during an in-game interview just after Fredy Montero scored in the 26th minute. āWeāre scared to play. And itās bad.ā
Yallop also said that his team was showing āno emotionā and didnāt look like it wanted the game, and winger Arturo Alvarez picked up that theme in a quiet post-game locker room.
āItās very, very disappointing,ā Alvarez said. āWeāre at home. I think we didnāt need to get to the point of chasing the game like that. We need to come out with everything we have. We knew how important this game was. We canāt come out flat like that. We kind of put ourselves in a hole there.ā
But there also is a tactical shift the Quakes are failing to successfully negotiate. San Jose have been at their best all season long when they soak up pressure from the opposition and hit them with a counterattack ā see the Quakesā 2-1 win, secured in injury time, at PPL Park against the Union on July 10.
That plan of waiting to pounce on an opponentās mistake doesnāt work at home, however, where visiting teams are happy to play for the tie and take a free point if pressure isnāt applied to them. And when San Jose try to play such a high-press style, it doesnāt work, as in the case of Montero slipping deftly through the Quakesā defense Saturday and slamming home an open header from the edge of the six-yard box.
āI think when weāre on the road, thereās this us-against-the-world mentality,ā right back Jason Hernandez said. āWeāre going into a hostile environment. We kind of sit back in our bank of eight or bank of 10 defensively and counterattack more. Here, I think we press the issue more and try to get the other team on the back foot, which creates a lot of gaps because weāre running and pushing and trying to get after them a bit.
āItās two different game plans, and at home we havenāt seemed to figure out a way to press the other team and make it difficult for them without giving up space for them to play. Thatās something we need to work on.ā
Geoff Lepper covers the Earthquakes for MLSsoccer.com. He can be reached at sanjosequakes@gmail.com, on Twitter @sjquakes.