Post-match: San Jose Earthquakes - Real Salt Lake (Saturday, 6/24) postgame thread [R]

Cerén was outstanding. Many good touches/passes/tackles/decisions. The few times he gave the ball away he busted his butt to get it back Best game by anyone in a Quakes shirt in a long time. I hope that version of him keeps showing up.

 

Despite the fact that Ureña has only scored twice, I disagree with those who think he is a terrible finisher. I think his bigger issue is that he is too willing to pass (often to Wondo) when he should go himself. I do think he (and every other Quake) takes an extra touch for control that ends up pushing themselves wider, allowing more defense, etc.

 

Not sure about that. He hit the post once, and the shot he made was at a severe angle. How many other times did he shoot? I want him to shoot earlier and often.

 

It sure looked like Hoesen was thinking that, and it made a difference. He sometimes has great control and the ability to break away, but we need to see more of it. We did tonight.

 

I think Justin Glad showed tonight why he was on the U20 World Cup team--he is a really good defender, despite his age. He was able to do just enough on Ureña a number of times.

 

He looked much more aggressive tonight...Previously he looked a bit passive and his shooting was a bit slack... If he looks like he did in the second half, it will be tough to keep him off the field. Our ability to get Urena and Hoesen the ball on the run was a game changer. We previously haven't seen it to the degree we saw it tonight. Maybe that's all we need to get both of the them going...they might find a nice finishing groove with increased chances.

 

Dawkins wasn't even on the bench. I'm guessing that means Vako will take his spot. Do we need to free up an international slot?

 

With Petke being a former defender, it's surprising how poorly his teams play defense. Even when he won a Supporter's Shield with NYRB, he seemed to prefer a wide open game.

It's fun to watch as a fan, but RSL better get some scoring punch soon or Petke will be fired too.

 

Vako shows up on LOBINA screen, says Hi.

Quakes proceed to run over RSL and pop in 2 goals, all coming from their strikers.

Vako's mojo is real.

 

Quakes warn MLS: Hoesen is just getting started

Highlights | Earthquakes 2-1 RSL

SJ 2, RSL 1: Hoesen takes over as Quakes cruise

 

The same thing happened to us! And we left 10 minutes early because hubby had to get up at 3:00 AM. Being forced to turn left out of Platinum lot added 10 minutes to the ride home. So we were pretty unhappy.

I'm going to email Alyssa and Jesse about this. I don't know if the traffic cop was told the wrong thing or what, but that far LEFT lane needs to have a choice of turning right or left. Can you complain too?

 

As for the game, it was kind of strange. I only counted 4 fouls in 1H, mostly from RSL. Lots of shooting at both ends. Bingham was trying to distribute the ball, and the Quakes were mostly attacking up the middle, none of those long balls over the top.

RSL had like 4 players on the field who were 20 or younger, and I thought it showed. They were constantly outclassed by Hyka, Hoessen and even Lima in 1H. They didn't seem to know what to do or how to play as a team, maybe because Kyle Beckerman wasn't there? And Yura Movsisyan - what a disappointment. He's RSL's Simon Dawkins!

The 2H was more typical of Quakes games. RSL started playing better and SJ's response was to foul. Bingham kicked all the balls long (and out). It seemed like no more attacking up the middle. Also in 2H, Justin Glad finally showed his quality (I hate that cliche, but it works...).

I was actually kind of pissed with Hoessen and Urena. It takes a threat to their jobs for them to score? Ridiculous at $500k and $290k that both of them take half the season to score their second goals. Personally, I don't care which of them are replaced by Vako.

and of course, no one bought our 2 tickets. wahhhh!

 

Yeah I don't think he is a bad finisher - it's his final ball passes that were awful in the 1st half. I wish I had time to do a video compilation of it. He killed attack after attack with a poor decision or poor pass. He is usually not that bad. Still he is my candidate for the bench when Vako joins. Urena at that point becomes needed depth at forward. Urena has started most of the games at forward and just got his 2nd goal. Not very good.

 

Before we go awarding ourselves the MLS cup for this victory let's put things into perspective. We beat what is arguably the worst team in the league and they made us look good in the process, we were totally dominant from the opening whistle and the result was never in question. Keep this in mind though, RSL isn't Toronto, NYCFC, Houston or even Atlanta, their woeful quality made us look like world beaters.
Our last 4 games we were L-L-T-W, We play the filth and then Atlanta for our next two, the results of those matches will be more telling as to our direction.

 

As others have mentioned, Ceren had a monster game, simply outstanding. I guess my comments from yesterday concerning Urena and Hoesen were prescient, and yes, I take full credit for their scoring. (Jazzy, need to borrow your back patting machine.) The decision to keep Wondo on rather than Urena after going down a man was Kinnear being sentimental and not wanting to offend his captain. We didn't need a traffic cone in the center circle. Urena was stretching the defense all night, he had the pace to run down clearances and keep the defense working.

 

I thought Minnesota United was the worst team in the league? LOL. Things vary week-to-week. RSL will spank some teams before the season is out, just as I predicted Minnesota would do after conceding 11 goals the first two games. But you're right, it's a long season. Best not to be calculating playoff odds.

 

I thought it was quite odd as well when I found out that they reopen the bar after the game. They do mention getting alternative forms of transportation home (with Uber being the main mention, so I suspect there's some kind of financial deal there), but still, it's weird. Even weirder that the first night I heard about it was last year during a weeknight game.

Although, since I will be living significantly closer to the stadium in a few weeks and will no longer be driving, it might be more enticing than it currently is.

 

Bingham did distribute from the back quite a bit more, but I still recall a number of balls played over the top of RSL's defense, just defenders or midfielders were doing it instead. The Quakes didn't exclusively play that way, but there was plenty of long ball. RSL is just so bad that the Quakes actually got the ball a fair number of times, so it didn't seem like the same tired old strategy.

Like I mentioned in another post, the Quakes coaching staff got the benefit of being the broken clock for this game. I don't expect it to work against even mediocre opponents. Salt Lake's defense is the worst in the league, so basically any offensive strategy works against them.

 

Here you go - have it at. But return it soon, I'll be needing it...

 

I did as well. Emailed my rep, Danny, and then filled out the survey this morning. I'm weary of Wednesday night's US Open match. I'm thinking of parking where they allow tailgating because they were allowed to go right. Or just don't bother going.

 

Ureyno lacks skill not effort. Dude runs his tail off.

He's like Amerikwa but with an intelligent (vs. average) soccer brain.

He was particularly effective last night as he got behind the RSL back line repeatedly.

 

I thought Bingham had his best game this season in terms of distribution. I noticed a number of shorter "punts" (more like line drives) of various distances that very accurately went to Quakes.

 

Sometimes little comments like this are windows into the thinking:

IMO the real problem after the goal (in the 1st half) is that the Quakes were really terrible in the final 3rd. They still had the majority of the possession, but were just awful with the ball once they moved into into the final 3rd. A lot of it was Urena, but others as well. It got to the point where the game got boring because the Quakes couldn't convert their possessions, which started promisingly with Godoy setting the table from midfield, petering out due to terrible execution.

I just point this out because it shows that Dom is thinking defense already, with like 73 minutes remaining and a 1 goal lead. They should be thinking about getting the 2nd goal there, not worrying about "getting little bit stretched" defensively. They were out on the front foot and had RSL reeling. This is why the Quakes almost never get 3-0 / 4-0 blowout kinds of wins. They get an early first goal, and then instead of going for the jugular, they start worrying about "defensive shape".

 

This. We likely should have scored two or three more but for his poor passing. I call his goal VERY lucky.

Couple other thoughts (mostly reiterated from others):

1) Ceren was my man of the match. He seemed to be everywhere settling everything down and making good choices. I was sitting with his family at the game which made it even better (his Dad's encouragement was infectious).

2) RSL's defense is slower than Wondo. Let that sink in. And they were playing really compact. All we needed was a little speed and grace up front. We should have killed the team we played last night.

3) I thought Hoesen was really good. His best night as a Quake which is encouraging (he's getting better pretty much every game).

4) Lima also had an outstanding game until the yellows. He's going to have a bright future.

5) Anyone notice the player trailing the RSL goal scorer by a few feet? The person that should have been marking him goal side? That was Sardokie. I think the Lima/Cato pairing is ok but how is Colvey not number three off the bench?