SEATTLE – The San Jose Earthquakes went into their Sunday evening away match with the Seattle Sounders hoping that they could put an end to the goals they had been leaking in recent weeks.
The first 45 minutes went according to plan. But then the Quakes, conceded three second-half goals to a shorthanded Sounders squad en route to a 3-0 defeat, bringing San Jose to 13 goals allowed in MLS play since new head coach Chris Leitch took over on July 1.
“We’re playing to try and get the first goal, that’s for darn sure,” Leitch told reporters after Sunday’s match. “I think defensively, we have enough cover back there to withstand the opposition’s attack. But when you don’t get the first goal, it makes it tough for sure.
“I thought defensively, look, they’re dangerous in transition. But I thought we did a decent enough job to slow down that transition. You look at their goals, there were two off set pieces and one off more a mistake on us.”
While keeping Seattle scoreless over the opening 45 minutes, San Jose even had a couple of chances to take a 1-0 lead.
It was that inability to jump out in front, Leitch said, that may have been his team’s undoing, as Sounders midfielder Cristian Roldan tallied a second-half brace, with defender Kelvin Leerdam adding the insurance in the 65th minute.
“We take chances to go after our goals and we don’t get it. We concede one and then shortly thereafter concede two,” Leitch said. “And then 10 minutes later off of another set piece…so two set pieces. The second one wasn’t necessarily off of great play, it was just a mistake on our part.
“I thought we were moving the ball well in the first half and even parts of the second, but we have to be a little more assertive in that final bit.”
The continued defensive lapses represent a troubling trend for San Jose as they look to make a Western Conference playoff push.
For now, midfielder Shea Salinas said, there’s nothing for his team to do except attempt to regroup ahead of upcoming home matches against the Colorado Rapids and Columbus Crew SC.
“We’ve got two home games coming up here and we’re just outside of the playoffs,” Salinas said. “I think now is the time where we’ve really got to stick together as a team. We can’t point fingers, we’ve got to look at ourselves and see what we can do better individually. I think that’ll give us the push we need to make the playoffs here.”
One possible solution may have come on Friday night, when the Quakes signed center back Francois Affolter. The former Swiss international brings a wealth of experience and talent to a struggling backline.
"Having Francois join the club midseason will give us an injection of experience, having played at a high level, and technical ability," said Earthquakes general manager Jesse Fioranelli. "He is a tall, aggressive central defender that will surely boost the club as we push towards the postseason. We can consider ourselves fortunate to have a player of his caliber want to join us as a free agent over other clubs that had interest in him from Europe."
