Will San José defeat the team from the Windy City? Will Chicago say "No way, José!"? The Earthquakes rumbling the visitors? The Fire scorching the hosts? Discuss. GO SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
This game is scheduled to be televised live on both Comcast SportsNet California and Comcast SportsNet California HD at 7:30pm PDT. AT&T U-verse CSN CA: Channel 767 CSN CA HD: Channel 1767 Comcast (Bay Area) CSN CA: Channel 41 CSN CA HD: Channel 721 Comcast (Sacramento area) CSN CA: Channel 34 CSN CA HD: Channel 721 DirecTV CSN CA: Channel 698 CSN CA HD: Channel 698 DISH Network CSN CA: Channel 409 CSN CA HD: Channel 409 Because of the possibility of the channels' preceding Oakland Athletics - Baltimore Orioles MLB game going into extra innings, this San Jose Earthquakes - Chicago Fire game will also be simulcast on both Comcast SportsNet California Plus and Comcast SportsNet California Plus HD. I hope that helped. GO SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
This game will also be broadcast on the radio live on both KLIV 1590 AM (English) and KZSF 1370 AM (Spanish). GO SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
The Fire have been doing well this season. So we need to stomp them! But the Lanternkickers just lost a couple of good players, right? GO QUAKES!! - Mark
I have two tickets for this game. They're at the corner... wouldn't sell them for much. Anyone interested?
Do you know the names of the SF pubs that show the soccer games? I remember one at Kezar and a few others but I forget the names.
This might be wild speculation. But, if wondo hits a bit of a slump in goal scoring, do you think there may be a possibility that gordon might be a golden boot winner this year? i mean, 9 goals already? he is only 7 off from wondo, and started not even half the games or even have half the playing time as him. TBH, i want lenhart on the bench, the guy can't shoot, the guy can't run...he is practically useless at this point. Great player, but toooo toooooooo slow and clumsy, and if we need someone to win headers, gordon is better..IMO. Wondo is WAY to damn slow, so, i know we have been winning and all...But what if we sign a forward with SPEED, and play with a 3 forward team formation. wondo and <insert fast striker who can hold and shoot and dribble the ball here> with gordon playing in behind the two, with a 3 man mid? pretty much a wide diamond mid field. two fast outside mids, and a center mid playing behind them. since we are all attack team, it could be possible. i dunno, i just feel like we are running out here with our forwards, not one forward (other than sercan, who sucks at shooting) has any REAL pace. and no one on our team other than bernardez(who is a defender) and possibly khari can really take a chance at goal(oh and chavez). all of our forwards pretty much...roll shots towards the keepers instead of a powerful strike..........................................................I dunno, just my gut feelings. Eventually we cant use 3 TARGET forwards... we have NO strikers. Just feel like we are lacking in some aspects. we need a wayne rooney esque player, who can go back and defend, and move up for a open position and take a shot with some venom. so far, we have Zilch players like that, everyone kind of just ya know...STAYS in their said position. midfielders just midfield, never move up and tee off shots, forwards just forward and never go back to mid field. defenders just defend, and only one goes up to attack. My gut just says eventually..we will be the ones playing the mini violin as we can not continue this, we have depth yes. but no one with REAL bite(other than wondo, but again he is a target forward and not a striker) even our mids are sluggish moving up... okay, my 7 am rant is over, sorry for the long post, i just want someone to clarify all the crap i just spewed all over your screens.
I agree. The Quakes need to make a move for a more pure striker that can create his own shots and open up more opportunities for others. A Messi or Rooney type. I know the Quakes are scoring plenty of goals so far, and Wondo is on a record-setting pace... but still. When I see the Quakes play, I feel like we need one more guy that can be like the orchestrator of our attack. Wondo is not a great pure forward. He's good at finding the right areas to be able to get an opportunity on goal. But he's not particularly accurate. Neither are Lenhart or Gordon, who need a partner who can set up good scoring chances for them. Basically, we need another quality striker or attacking midfielder.
There really isn't room for a player like this. With Dawkins on the field there is already a good amount of play through the middle, which is supposed to be complimentary to the wide play of a guy like Chavez or Salinas. Having a player that creates attacks from within the center of the field has already been tried with players like Moreno (not a forward, obviously, but somebody who doesn't always look to go out wide). What exactly would a player like the one you're describing do with the current set up? Where would he play? Scoring goals is not the problem with this team and it probably won't be so long as we have players that can fit into the current system. What do you mean by pure forward? The guy does exactly what he's supposed to as defined by the organization of the team and he's scored 17 goals, more than anybody else in the league. He's also done it consistently for three years. How could he not be accurate? If you want to talk about accuracy, look at Kamara who has more shots and shots on goal that Wondo, yet just 7 goals. Gordon has played fewer minutes than Lenhart and has 9 goals. If those guys aren't accurate under your definition, then that is one very high standard that maybe one or two players on earth could meet.
I'd like to see us have a speedy forward on the bench who we can bring on if our regular guys aren't getting it done. I'm not impressed with Dawkins. Sorry. But we do have a few different attacking options now. Late against the WhiteCraps Croninja played a lot of balls into the box that could have resulted in something better. Partly the WhiteCraps were good, partly we were off, and partly the ref let them get away with a lot of fouls, especially late. But some pure speed would be good. And I'm thinking bench options. Yeah, I was stunned by that comment too. Wondo is a withdrawn forward, he plays behind and off of the target forward. He's not fast, but he's a deadly finisher for sure. Yeah, we're doing very well on the scoring end. Where we lag is when we start Dawkins. He drifts inside (which may well be what Frank wants) and that pulls us out of shape. Baca isn't sure where to go or what to do, and Baca is not good outside anyway. My preference is that we use Dawkins as a late game sub when we want a change up. But we should play Baca and Cronin in the center every possible minute, and Shea and Marvin outside. That's how we win and dominate, so let's do a lot more of that, and less of any other option. (Unless we're behind late, in which case, going to three defenders in back for more offense is a good idea. GO QUAKES!!! - Mark
the starting midfield should be" locked in" by now as: shea, baca/cronin, chavez dawkins comes in late as a sub for baca or as a forward sub if one of the targets is gassed and the other target forward is injured or if we need a goal then cronin comes out and dawkins comes in. otherwise he should sit and no playing him on the wing as many have said he 'pulls the whole team out of shape' and leaves a 'wide hole on the left side for the other team to attack'. heck let's just trade him.
I agree that Salinas and Chavez are a better starting pair, however I'm not so sure about the dominating part. Now, personally, I would risk giving up a little more possession if it means that the quality of the time with the ball is improved. I think that's what's at the heart of the issue with Dawkins. He did well when he had the ball in terms of passing percentage and maintaining possession. Unfortunately, the ball didn't go out wide as often as a result. That said, I expect that if Dawkins gets another start, that Wondo and Gordon will be more prepared for that type of service and will adjust accordingly. I'm not a big Dawkins fan but I'm not going to throw him under the bus after his first start in a long time. If he went out wide a little more or pulled defenders in to make space for Morrow to send in crosses a little bit more, I think he'd be more effective. As it is, he's predictable once he's got the ball in the final third.
Oh -- don't forget that Saturday is Iranian Heritage Night. Pretty ironic that Steven Beitashour will be out for yellow card accumulation, eh?
In honor of IHN they'll be giving out free Kabab Koobideh to the first 1000 customers. What's next, Eastern Lithuania heritage night?
All we've done this transfer window is weaken our team. I hope it doesn't come around to bite us in the butt. It's not as if we don't have the cap room to bring in another striker...or even more defensive cover.
Making a significant signing will show that this front office recognizes the opportunity we have to win a title this year, and are not afraid of behaving like a title contender. When other contenders start piling up in preparation of a late season run, we need to be able to respond in kind.
Fire making moves today... they sent Puppo out on loan and brought in a Dutch striker from the belgian league: http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2012/07/24/macdonald-puppo-out-fire-shake-dp-slots
So Dawkins is predictable, but Salinas isn't? I find that bizarre. What's predictable is that Salinas will put his foot on the ball, wait for the defender to stop, then try to out-accelerate him to the endline. With Dawkins "heading toward the center" means attacking with a broad angle of options from completely horizontal to vertical. And unlike Salinas he can combine elegantly with other players in the middle on his runs. Dawkins cutting toward the middle brings Morrow more into the game on the wing, but isn't that what everyone was calling for? "Free Justin Morrow" and what not? He had a crap game, but because of a handful of peculiar mistakes, not because he's not the man for that job.
The difference between the two is that Salinas is looking to put service into the box from out wide. He was pretty much the only player trying to get behind the defense before sending service in against Vancouver. It is predictable, but if you go out wide you have the benefit of other players making runs into the box and pulling defenders in with them. It also helps to have good targets like San Jose has. Dawkins' favoring of playing centrally means the team defending can clog the middle up. It's easier to do this and Vancouver is pretty darned good at it. Dawkins moving towards the center only provides more options if he uses them. The fact of the matter is he didn't look to go out wide often enough and I think a lot of that has to do with how quickly he looks to go to goal. When he did wait and work the sideline a little bit, the team was much more dangerous. Breakaway attacks are great if you've got support, but when you try to go in against two or three defenders without checking first to see if there's somebody around who's open, you see poor final passes and broken up drives into the box. Just for the record, I was not part of the free Justin Morrow crowd, and secondly, as I said before, it only brings Morrow more into the game if Dawkins allows him to get into it by both waiting for him to overlap and then passing the ball to him or combining in a triangle with either Baca or the lower lying forward.