SAN JOSE, Calif. – With Chris Wondolowski on US national team duty, finding goals in the month of July was always going to be a tougher-than-normal proposition for the San Jose Earthquakes.
What was unexpected was the Quakes’ capitulation on defense.
After allowing just seven goals in nine league matches during May and June, San Jose let in 11 in just four MLS games this month. Included in those figures: five straight goals scored by LA in the Galaxy’s 5-2 victory on July 17, and three more consecutive tallies hung on the Quakes by Vancouver last weekend during a 3-1 win.
San Jose (7-9-4) went 0-4 in the month – with three more defeats in US Open Cup and International Champions Cup play – and fell to ninth in the Western Conference standings.
“Our defense was relatively strong until about three weeks ago,” Quakes coach Dominic Kinnear told MLSsoccer.com. “That should probably have continued.”
The Quakes have had at least three-quarters of their first-choice back four –Jordan Stewart, Clarence Goodson, Victor Bernardez and Marvell Wynne– available to start throughout the last three months, and used the full quartet in 10 of 13 starting lineups. Arguably, the biggest change in terms of results stems from further up the pitch, where San Jose is giving opponents too many chances to pounce upon the Quakes in transition.
“Right now, defensively, we’re getting stretched,” Kinnear said. “We’re getting caught. … Any team in the world, any league, if you turn the ball over, especially close to your goal, you leave yourself open to something bad. And right now, that’s what we’ve been doing.”
Defensive midfielder Fatai Alashe, who has started 16 of 20 matches as a rookie, said it’s not just losses of possession that are putting the Quakes under pressure but more wide-ranging mental slips.
“I wouldn’t say necessarily turnovers, it’s more just not being clued in and making little mistakes that should be preventable – quite a few from me, and a few from other people,” Alashe told MLSsoccer.com “Regardless of making mistakes, we all need to clue in again and stay mentally strong. It’s a tough stretch of the season."
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The Quakes have a chance to chart a new course beginning Sunday when the Portland Timbers – current holders of the sixth and final playoff spot in the West, seven points in front of San Jose –visit Avaya Stadium (5 pm ET, ESPN2). But San Jose may have to make do without Goodson after the former US international was forced off the BC Place pitch in the 13th minute because of a left hamstring problem on Sunday. If Goodson, who is considered “questionable” by the team for the Timbers match, can’t go, Paulo Renato would likely get the start in his place.
Goodson’s availability aside, Kinnear feels his team is close to finding an answer to their defensive woes.
“You have to identify it,” Kinnear said of solving the issue. “You have to show it, through video. And the players have to understand that this is something we need to negate. … In Vancouver, we started out very slow. I thought we played better in the second half. Obviously, we were pushing forward and got caught a couple of times, but I thought our passing sequences were better. We were making more numbers, passing. We were finding Matias [Perez Garcia] better, and he wasn’t getting fouled as much. That helps.”
