QOBC Vol 4, No 4, May 14, 2024
source: mlssoccer.com
Josh: I was honestly a little nervous to open up this overdue post. I’m less superstitious than many fans, but we skipped a post and the Earthquakes have turned their game play around, potentially reopening their season.
Matt: Hey, no shame there. Where I live, the baseball team has won a few championships lately, and when they are playing well, people will refuse to leave or even re-enter the room so they wouldn't risk changing the momentum. I know that’s not unique, but I’m on board. At one game I went to get ice cream and my team scored…and I almost went back for seconds just for the points! I haven’t checked lately, but I think it would be interesting to keep a running list of who steps on the touchline entering the field, who conspicuously avoids it.
Josh: Kiss the pitch and off we go. Okay, so our last episode was April 11. On April 13, San Jose had the Rapids over to have PayPal Park for dinner, gave up 3 to none. On the 21st, the Galaxy officially takes the 2024 California Clasíco series when the Quakes, even with a 3 goal comeback and 25 minutes with an extra man, walk away 3-4. After that I was thinking “I guess I’ll write more ‘let’s keep the spirits up, good things are happening’… meh” and didn’t fire up the docs. The best things that I can say is these matches resulted in getting Jack Skahan into a starting spot and/or regular rotation, and lighting a fire under Jeremy Ebobisse.
Matt: The main potential morale killer was not scoring when you’re up a player for so long, but you can look at the stats for the Colorado and Galaxy games and quickly see they are teams that didn’t have to rely on fouls to defend their territory. Colorado was efficient, 3 goals with 3 Shots on Target, 3 fewer than the blanked Quakes, with only 40% possession. Against Galaxy, the Quakes had equal numbers of Shots on Target, but couldn’t control the flow of the game when they were limited to only 40% possession.
Josh: But the glimmer of “wait a minute” fired up when San Jose tied Nashville 1-1 on the road, in the intimidating Geodis Park. It was a tale of two halves, and fortunately, the second half was way more about the boys in Blue & Black.
Matt: The Quakes were able to take advantage of a Nashville team that had lost momentum. While Nashville really wanted that first goal, I think this turned out to be a trap game for the home team. The Quakes played a much cleaner game than their previous two, with fouls almost equal 8-7 and no offsides calls. Also of note: Shots on Target were almost equal at 4-5. I loved to see Skahan score…the more that different players put the ball in the net, the wider the opponent has to spread their attention.
Josh: Agreed. And as of this writing, there are eleven players in the squad with at least one goal. Then, on May 4, Star Wars Day, and in the great tradition of the Skywalker Saga, the evil Empire was defeated by the scrappy unlikely heroes. With grit and in front of an audience of 40K+ in Levi’s Stadium, San Jose knocks down LAFC 3-1.
Matt: There were some similarities to the Nashville game plan: the 4-3-3, subbing Judd in, and…okay, it was totally different. The Quakes scored first, then kept LAFC out of their net for the rest of the half. Then, enter Hernán Lopéz for the second half. This was the type of momentum and mojo San Jose needed to win this one, and the ghosts of the Clasico took over and kept LAFC from coming back.
Josh: Believe it or not, there was more good news. For the first time I can remember, San Jose makes it past the first match of the US Open Cup, 1-0, to send our neighbor the Oakland Roots back up the East Bay. But of course, next up is Sacramento, who often does extremely well in US Open Cup play, as they are just a few bags of money and a franchise vote from having been in MLS more than once.
Matt: This was a looser game, with fouls spiking up to 15, and one that Luchi took the opportunity to rest some legs and try others out in different combinations. It worked in the Quakes’ favor, but it isn’t likely that Sacramento Republic FC will be as forgiving.
Josh: But wait… there’s more. Perhaps getting the new DP Hernán López into the starting lineup, perhaps momentum & mindset - the Quakes win again. This time, first road win of the season 3-2 against the Colorado Rapids, who as recently as up there in this column, had embarrassed the Quakes at home.
Matt: For me this is the most important win. Colorado is putting together a resurgence and has been much more consistent team than in the past. While I love a good Clasíco win as much as the next fan, the Quakes win over the Rapids shows some real progress that can’t be attributed to “rivalry energy” or “fluke” or “solar flares.” The Quakes brought the fouls down, played decent footy, and were effective. The 4-2-3-1 with Hernán at CAM and Ebobisse at Striker, with Espinoza and Pellegrino bringing the ball up the wings, made the Quakes look like a team that was starting to mean business.
Josh: Even though it’s a tie for 12th, three wins puts Earthquakes off the bottom of the West and with 10 points to their names. Still the worst goal differential in the West at -8, but also tied for second highest goals scored. The defense has to be the story here, and one major difference I saw was some SJ defenders being okay with just booting the ball out of the defensive half. It made such a difference to not have so many plays of trying to work out of the back, passing to the Keeper, and just end up booting it out the side.
Matt: Feel free to echo the hoarse voices of thousands of town soccer coaches: “Stop passing the ball/dribbling the ball in front of your own goal!” Pass the ball back to your Keeper if you are switching sides or doing a quick reset, but if you sit on the ball in front of your net, it’s going to go in sooner or later. If you make it a habit, the other team is going to pressure you into a mistake at some point in those 90 minutes. Nashville, LAFC and Colorado (in the second game) all saw their SHOTS stats rise - which is hopefully a sign things are getting sorted out in the midfield. Just thinking about it gives me flashbacks of our first post a few years ago, when the midfield couldn’t connect the defense with the offense.
Josh: For a little bit of Kit Talk - I’m really disappointed about how One Planet “jerseys” were rolled out this year. I was surprised that MLS decided not to have the teams in their One Planet jerseys on the pitch, and also, based on being in the parks and watching online, lost a lot of alternate jersey sales! And this year, San Jose would’ve been in blue, and I thought it looked great.
Matt: I thought the blue ones were great (especially for San Jose) and I liked Atlanta’s green, but I’m not going to buy a New England Revolution brown jersey. I love the earth and we need to take care of it, but I’ll look for alternatives to buying this one. Did they keep them out of competition due to not having clear light and dark kits, creating confusion for the refs? Enquiring minds want to know.
Josh: Four more matches until a bye week for our Quakes. We’ll see if that means two episodes or one, lol. Away at Portland, Home against Orlando of all places, Home against Austin, and away at Yankee Stadium against NYFC. Hopefully Coach Luchi and team stay focused and driven. The Western Conference matchups are “6-point” matches, and somehow they end up against some of the strongest in the East yet again. And yes, Dear Reader, yet another season without a New England-San Jose match. Sigh.
Matt: These games are a good opportunity for San Jose. All four of those teams are in the middle of finding their identity, or in the process of losing it in the first place. If San Jose plays solid soccer and doesn’t let their opponents benefit from set pieces, they could walk away with as many as…I’m gonna say it…7 points?
Josh: Hopefully we’ll be inspired to post another episode after the upcoming matchups. I’m pointing to eight more points in May. Vamos SJ!
Quake-o-meter for Matches 4-7 (Richter goes to 9, OURS goes to 10)
Category | Matt | Josh | Average |
Offense | 7.5 | 8 | 7.75 |
Midfield | 7.5 | 7 | 7.25 |
Defense | 6 | 5 | 5.5 |
GK | 7.75 | 7.5 | 7.63 |
Strategy/Coaching | 7.5 | 7 | 7.25 |
Team Composure | 8.25 | 8 | 8.3 |
Final Score on the Quake-o-meter Richter Scale: 7.25 / 10 - big swing in the right direction!
Current % chance of a San Jose/New England MLS Cup Final: 15% - And grateful that San Jose is raising the number a little!
Twitter/X and Instagram: @QuakesCoasts