Post-match: San Jose Earthquakes - D.C. United (Saturday, 5/1) postgame thread [R]

Oh, I suppose. Not like DC was peppering the goal, but I was just hoping, especially once the subs came on and Marie wasn't out there with a yellow, that we'd be able to keep the ball like we did the first half. For a while there, we had the edge in possession 65-35, and it looked like DC weren't in the game at all.

The Earthquakes are the most fun to watch when those one-two's out of the back come off, and we can break that first line of pressure. After the first half, we rarely broke the DC press, which concerns me if we're pressed by a better team.

But hey, I'll take a 4-1 win without a lot of DC chances, for sure.

 

I've been watching the games in Spanish this year, and Hercules Gomez is one of the announcers. He's pretty good--definitely calls it like he sees it.

 

The game result was clenched as soon as our first 3 subs came in.

No team in MLS has scored more goals than the #1 team in the west - the San Jose Earthquakes! (we will drop down after tomorrow's sea-lag game).

 

This season is going to be a wild ride, almost impossible to predict what will happen... MLS is far more unpredictable than most leagues, and the Almeyda Quakes are the MLS of MLS.

Sure, but as of now the top four in the west:
1. San Jose 6
2. RSL 6
3. LAG 6
4. Austin 5

the top four in the east:
1. New England 7
2. NYCFC 6
3. Orlando
4. Montreal

I'm sure everyone predicted the table would look just like that right??

 

next week's game is gonna be a real test. That RSL team is the part this year. They've been mowing people down

 

I was glad to see Tanner Beason in there instead. He actually have enough speed to keep up. It would have been a different game.

 

Bangers mostly: San Jose Earthquakes 4, D.C. United 1 - Center Line Soccer

Great start to the season! Goals by Cade, Yueill and Chofis, some brilliant defense by Flo, its a beautiful morning!

Schedule gets a lot tougher from here...but for now, I'm pleasantly surprised and actually enjoying my Quakes soccer.

 

We are looking better than I thought we would. More cohesive, more teamwork, a little more steady. Our defense is still shaky, but we expected that. On that note, I thought the Beason and Flo pairing looked good. Flo stayed back and Beason ranged forward a bit to disrupt the enemy. I like that. Beason isn’t exactly fast, but he’s faster than Alanis or Flo (looks like anyway). I hope that Beason continues to start. Now we just to find a replacement for Flo.

Chofis looked much more engaged and involved in the game than in previous weeks, so that was good. On the downside, he picked up another yellow card. Dang!

So looking better than I expected. RSL will be a challenge next week. A good early test.

Go Quakesfans!!

- Mark

 

why would we find a replacement for our best defender? makes no sense.

 

Best defender and great on-field inspirational leader. I forgot who it was who made a play deep in the Quakes half towards the end of the game - Espinoza(?), and looked like Flo walked up to him and gave him a kiss on the side of the head . That's how much he cares about winning.

 

In postgame comments, Chofis said he still doesn't think he's 90 minutes fit, and referred to his year+ not playing. OK. Training started, what 3 months ago? 2 and 1/2 months ago? And he's still not 90 minutes fit? Oh well, if it means that he's got more in him and he's talking about more defense, that's a positive.

"I am working at getting back to full strength. I am not sure I can fully perform for all 90 minutes. I had a stretch of a year and three months in which I didn't have any participation. As Matias has mentioned, he will take me step by step. There is still a long road ahead. The most important thing is to get back to being at my best. I want to get back to being able to make more sacrifices and help the defense, as I had in the past under Matias. I am slowly getting there. It has not been easy, but the most important thing is to show the work I have been putting in."

 

Best defender on the Quakes is a sad statement to type. He is a decent depth option at best. He wouldn't be a starter on any MLS team, I'm sure of that. CB is definitely our biggest hole and hope that this summer transfer window will be the one we use to acquire a quality CB.

 

I diagree. He's not the most physically gifted defender in the league, but he reads the game well and distributes very well, and has the intangibles that help you win games.

 

Against Houston he several times overcommitted to the ball (when he didn't need to), and I think one of their goals resulted. At the time I thought "with his experience he should not be making that mistake."

 

He takes chances, sometimes too much. But Houston was one game. He's played many games for the Quakes.

 

He could mean several things. Physical fitness maybe, mental fitness is important too. You have to be “on” every second when you’re playing, and mental fatigue sets in as the game wears on. And he might also mean his interactive fitness with the team. He says that he’s been working out, but he hasn’t been getting game minutes, so there’s that whole seeing the game and working with your teammates thing.

But, if this is a “weak” version of Chofis, and there’s a better version of him that we have yet to see, I’ll take it. He does need to be better than he is, even in this last game against DCU. We’re counting on him more than we should. So an improved version of Chofis would be excellent. Especially if it’s a version that doesn’t earn a yellow card every match.

Go Quakesfans!!

- Mark

 

Love Flo. Just think he needs to be paired up with a bigger, more physically imposing CB, like Muma. That was a great tandem.

But Flo for me plays with the heart and passion, as you say Jazzy, thats what I look for. You could see it after he made that massive defensive play to save a sure goal, at a key point in the game last night. He’s a fighter, that’s what we need. Leading by example, that’s Flo.

 

Right, it's not all about physical attributes and execution. There are the intangibles.

 

His first year or two with us, I thought Flo was good. But the opposition has gotten better and Flo has gotten older. As our other comrades have pointed out, he needs to be a bench player for us.

Our defense is weak at best. That means that we need better defenders. I think Beason looked good last night, but I expect him to have growing pains. Flo is past it. He just is. I hope that we keep him on in some capacity or other because he’s a good guy and bleeds blue. Lopez looks like he’s ready for prime time. TT is a stopgap at right defender. We can do better.

We need a lot of upgrades on this team if we mean to be competitive. CB needs to be one of those upgrades.

Go Quakesfans!!

- Mark

 

We've given up 4 goals in 3 games, not bad. The defense is OK. Remember, we don't play a traditional defense. Guys are defending all over the field. Positions aren't as important. TT lines up at RB, but he's defending all over the field. The specific positions have more relevance to offense than they do defense.

In general he had a fairly pedestrian game, but TT is one of our best ball winners, and won it a few times for us last night. And that's the key - we have to win the ball in midfield. Matias understands this. If we do that, we're going to do well. We're not good enough to absorb attack after attack in the final 3rd and we're not good enough technically to grind out goals with long slow buildups. We have to win it, and then counter into space. And we're especially good at the countering into space part now with Cowell in there.

That said, sure one more good CB would be nice. Alanis / Beason seems like a pretty good combo on the left. We could have a more athletic complement to Flo on the right, if Jacob is not ready.

Also, Abecasis looked good again at RB. I wouldn't be at all surprised if he's the starter at some point. But either way, TT / Abecasis is a solid tandem at RB IMO, though they may struggle with speedy attackers at times.

 

I say reinforce, don’t replace. Flo has had to shoulder an awful lot of the workload. he hasn’t had the benefit of a good CB pairing for years now. our outside backs have been a cobbling together of attacking players who were never cut out for a defensive roles (TT, Shea) and we still don’t have career defenders holding down those positions.

We do need a CB but we also need real wing backs. Flo has been our one defensive saving grace. steady most of the time, works hard, great leader.

 

Again, it's not a traditional defense. We can't think of it in those terms. I'd be more concerned about TT and Shea at outside back positions if we played a traditional defense. But they're defending all over the field as are the mids. As I said earlier, the positions are more relevant to the offense than to the defense, with the exception of CB.

 

Credit to TT too, he’s grown into that role and that Matias style pretty well, probably because it does make better use of his natural, more attacking style skill set.

Hope he can keep it up here as the schedule gets tougher.

 

Yeah, and as I said, Abecasis looks good too. I feel pretty good about that position.

Oddly enough, after our "austerity" offseason roster build, I'm not sure where we really need depth right now. CB is one spot. I guess someone who can play Yueill's spot but you can also have Remedi move up a bit with Judson behind.

 

absolutely. Quakes brought in competition, an Almeyda guy, and TT won that duel outright. Good for him