Post-match: Los Angeles Galaxy - San Jose Earthquakes Western Conf. Semi Game 1 (Sun., 11/4) postgame thread [R]

They use it in other parts of the world.

 

If the Earthquakes are the Goonies, surely LA are the "Astoria Country Club" crowd...

 

Clutch = win.
Whining, flopping, clinging to entitlement = loser.
That's the difference between these two teams.

 

Bad Math, Bad Math! 10-7!

 

Yeah but that rule doesn't apply here right?

 

Was at the game in person, boy was it fun at the end to see all of the LA players look like they were in shock and to see the Quakes walk off with the win.

I agree with those who said that the Quakes didn't play that well, but it's not like LA really outplayed the Quakes that much. Yes, they had a lot more possession (particularly in the first 30 miutes of the second half), but it was clear that the Quakes were playing tight defense and not taking many chances going forward. Neither Beitashour or Morrow went forward much, by design, to force LA to earn goals by building up play. LA has mostly been successful the past several years as a counterattacking team, so forcing them to build up play the length of the field is a good strategy. Also, Ramiro was pinching in because LA had a lot of success last game going up the middle at the Quakes defense, so it was clearly part of the strategy to have more defense in the center of the midfield.

Unfortunately, Chavez and Baca had a hard time helping the midfield to hold possession (Chavez was real poor, based on his usual standard of play) and so the Quakes went more and more direct out of the back and gave up more and more possession. But the Quakes defense was very tight, whenever LA got the ball in their end the defenders and midfielders clogged the middle (by design) and didn't give LA the chance to beat them that way. Yes, they gave Beckham some room, but that looked like it was by design, as LA didn't have anyone in the box who was going to win a header against the Quakes defense from the run of play (until late, when Buddle went in).

For those calling for Salinas to start, Shea was very poor in the Portland game and I suspect that's one of the reasons Frank went with Ramiro. And in his short time in this game, Salinas also was not very good at keeping possession, so I don't see him starting Wednesday. Dawkins was very good when he came in, and hopefully he's feeling good and is able to start and play 90 on Wednesday. And unfortunately, as people have noted, Gordon looks like he's definitely still hurting so he's practically only available as a late game sub.

LA is a good team (when they stop whining and play ball), and they can definitely come back and win Wednesday. But the Quakes have not been shut out at Buck Shaw all year, and have scored 2 goals or more in most of their home matches the past 3 months. So I like the Quakes chances of getting at least 1, if not 2 goals, so LA will likely have to get at least 2 goals (if not 3) to send the game to OT.

This was the best result for any road team in the first round of the playoffs, so maybe people can enjoy it instead of complaining about the style of play. Remember how many people talked about 2005 when the Quakes played aggressively at LA and got down by two goals?

 

Oh, and I hope that Arena and Omar and the rest of the LA players keep complaining about the refs and not worrying about the team they are playing! For whatever reason, the Quakes sure manage to get into the heads of their opponents, and that can only help them.

 

Clutch = Victors!!

We're going to win. Maybe not big, but we're going to beat the filth! And there will be much rejoicing!

GO QUAKES!!!
F@#$ el-lay!!

- Mark

 

Good on you! Every Quakes fan who attended that match is a hero!

I'm pumped!!! I fully expect us to beat the filth, and whoever we play next all the way to hoisting the CUP!!

For those of you complaining about Shea, he's not great all the time, and he does make mistakes, but if we give him enough minutes, he's going to have a positive impact on the game. His speed terrifies the enemy, and he can cross with either foot. Granted, he doesn't always cross well, but he still scares the crap out of the opposition. His speed and tenacity will open things up for us. Trust me. Shea will help us to break them down.

GO QUAKES!!!

- Mark

 

I see a lot of criticism of Baca's play in this game, but I didn't really see it. There was a lot of bypassing of the midfield but I don't think that was Baca's fault. His stats were pretty typical for him - 49 successful passes and 8 unsuccessful passes. He wasn't losing the ball much, let's put it that way - pretty typical for him. He may go for the safe pass a lot of times, but he doesn't have any problem holding possession. I think the reason for the midfield bypass is just tactical - the mids were playing more defensively and LA was pressing relatively high. And the long balls - even if completed to Lenhart and he would dump off a header, there wasn't enough support there to hold possession typically. [Side note: Bernardez though is a really good long passer - he hit some long passes in the 2nd half especially - just turf huggers that went on a line 40 yards downfield right to the recipient.]

My only criticism of Baca's play is that he is a little too tentative defensively, so while he does a good job marking people and closing passing lanes, he doesn't win possession very much and rarely tackles.

The Quakes were just lucky in this game. LA had a poor finishing game, and even still just barely missed a few times. I think the Quakes played better in the 1st leg in 2005 in LA, but sometimes the score doesn't reflect what happened in the game all that well.

On another note, I like Taylor Twellman as a color guy. He tells it like it is - no BS, and does not play favorites. He was talking about how he didn't understand Gonzalez's attack of Quakes play (they were 72 goals worth of "embarrassing", etc.). He also supported Lenhart - said that he's a guy that you'd love to have on your team - does so many things to help you win, and "in the game" or "within the game" which sounded like he meant to say that he doesn't cheat or play dirty necessarily.

 

Omar and "embarrassed" are two words that are now inextricably linked. Whacked upside the head with a fat, wet, stinking bag of karma.

 

I'm not sure of Chavez's injury status. In any event, Chavez should not start!

I got your Bash brothers; Plus, I kicked Baca & Corrales to the bench.

--------- Gordon --- Lenny ----------
--- Dawkins -- Wondo --- Salinas ---
---------------- Cronin ----------------
-- JM --- Jason --- Victor --- Beta ---
---------------- Busch ------------------

 

I wouldn't mind this for next year, but clearly Gordon would be a half time sub or if you stretched it really far a 60 minute sub. Baca despite a big mistake that led to a shot that Keane should have scored with in the second half, will always be more two-way than Wondo. Hate to say it but Wondo's hold up is above average, but not stellar. So he really should be pushed up higher than attacking mid to get the most out of him.

Also, Salinas is a poor-man's Chavez. I like him and his attitude a lot, but I think Salinas should remain as Chavez' sub unless Yallop think that Salinas is more fit at the moment.

 

That's correct, no away goal rule.

So much higher chances of overtime and penalty kicks.

 

Can't you address him as "Ramiro?"

 

Yes! I bow before your lineup. There are others here who will shoot it down because there "isn't enough defense" with Baca missing from the middle, though. I really don't see Baca as a defensive asset - more of a liability. That old saying is true - the best defense is a good offense. With Baca in the middle, we do not have good offense, nor much of a defense.

Bring Chavez off the bench to relieve Shea or Simon, Baca/Ramiro in depending on the game situation. And why does everyone keep forgetting we have that kid named Garza? Not polished, but an option for late game offense. Sercan the terror of the reserve league. Khari (meh) if we need a warm body in a uniform.

 

One must admit it, the Scum are the Whiniest team in the league. Those million-dollar salaries ought to be able to hit a bull in the ass with a bass-fiddle.

 

We all love Ramiro and I'm sure he can still produce somewhat but I also seriously think he is pretty much done......

 

On Baca, I agree with you that he didn't play horribly, but seeing it in person you could see how he wasn't moving to open space as much as he should to show for passes, and also could see the passes that he COULD HAVE made but didn't. And while he didn't lose possession, it seemed that more of his passes went to a guy who was not in a good position, so the ball was lost on the next pass. And Baca was not helping as much in closing off the LA passing lanes as some of the other midfielders (particularly Cronin and Corrales). But it's his first playoff game, he's young, so it's not a surprise if he was a bit off. Chavez is the one that surprised me with how poorly he played, and how stupidly he played. That was a really dumb yellow card he took, and then he flirted with a second yellow when he walked off the field when he was subbed and was ignoring the ref who was telling him to leave on the far side of the field.

Anyway, I agree the Quakes were lucky to get a win, but not that they were lucky to get a tie. I thought the Quakes had a few very good scoring chances as well, particularly in the first half and then in the last 15 minutes, and so it's hard to say that LA was the only team threatening to score. What was noticeable was how well the Quakes closed down on the LA players in the middle in the offensive third and gave them no space to shoot. This was probably the best I've seen the Quakes defense play in the past 3 months - LA missed most of their shots because they were harrassed.

 

Possibly he was playing tentatively, afraid to make a mistake. But he plays a little tentatively to begin with, so I guess it was just amplified a bit.

I would say that a 2-0 or 3-1 loss would have been about right for this match. Yes, the Quakes played good defense. But LA still had a lot of great chances:

- The Gals box crash on a free kick in the 1st half where Becks put the ball on Keane's head about 6 feet from goal and he hit it just wide.
- Donovan laying the ball off for Keane who rattled the woodwork 2nd half.
- Victor dove in and whiffed, setting someone (forgot who) free to run in on goal. Poor final pass spoiled a great chance.
- Buddle got free in the box and passed behind Keane who was again crashing the box and in a great position for a tap-in
- I believe two Becks crosses that went just over McGee's head. If that was Buddle, those are two goals.

I'm hard pressed to think of good Quakes chances. Wondo had a few. There was that cross to Wondo in the first half that was just over Wondo's head, and he seemed to be complaining that he was held or something. Bernardez's first free kick that was spilled by Saunders was a half chance I guess. I'm sure there were a few more, but they were few and far between and not as dangerous as LA's chances in general IMO.

A tie in that game would have been lucky. A win is ridiculous - "go to Vegas right now" kind of stuff .

 

The filth are quite capable of scoring two goals in this match, knackered or not, which is why it's imperative that we score first. Tired legs are willing to exert extra effort when the finish line is in sight which is why we must kill their enthusiasm by making it 2-0 early, demoralized legs run a lot slower.

 

yes. i agree. if we hit them quick, they are gonna push higher leaving room for the counter

 

Agree with the two immediately above. We need to start out like we're behind by two. Get a quick goal or two and then we can make them do the running.

 

Yeah, Baca was way off, and I agree with your comments, even though I was watching on TV. I saw lots of potential good passes that he failed to make. (Dawkins missed some too for that matter.)

I hope you're right that it was just first playoff game jitters for Baca. He's better than that, and we need for him to be better, because he's almost certain to start. (If we had been giving Khari minutes as a Baca replacement all season, he'd be a decent replacement, but we haven't, so I don't think that's a good idea.)

It was bullshit of the ref to tell to go off on the far side. I'd have been peed too. But yeah, he could have gotten another yellow there. And his play was no where near up to his usual level. I'm thinking that he's carrying a ding, or hasn't yet completely shaken off the rust from his previous ding.

Here I disagree. Had the filth score on any of their earlier chances, our guys would have stepped it up and pressed for a goal. Also, a big part of the filth not scoring was that we didn't give them time or space on the ball in our end. We pressured them a lot. It was a frustrating and conservative game plan, but it worked. I was never concerned that the filth might win. Never. (I was also drinking good wine and watching with my dog.)

We had three shots on goal, they had two. They had on twelve attempts on goal, compared to our eight. They had two corners, we had three. It was a much more even game than many Quakes fans are giving our guys credit for. And look at all the running the filth had to do! Those tossers will be flagged half way through the next match. We're going to crush them.

Ah ha! There ya go!

GOOOOOOO QUAAAAAAKES!!!!!
F@#$ el-lay!!!

- Mark

 

Sometimes the numbers are not really reflective of what happened in the game, and this game is a good example. Given the nature of the chances and the number of them, this really should have been more like a 2-0 Gal win.