Vancouver Whitecaps FC - San Jose Earthquakes (Saturday, 9/14) pre/in/postgame thread [R]

Espinoza took too long with the cross. Quakes are slow thinkers...

 

I had the same idea, but my wife turned the game on and I took a break from my wood working project and sat down and watched the game. Bad decision!

 

Vancouver looked so organized, both on offense and defense, and had an clearly discernible shape every time they/ we had the ball. We spread out and slow. Frustrates the s##t out of me!!

 

Watching the replay now...

 

I shoulda stayed in bed

 

Honestly trying to be positive because the players played hard and didn't give up.

But the juxtaposition in possession... Every Quakes pass you hold your breath and it almost seems like luck that they connect until they eventually lose it. Vancouver ran simple wall passes and give-and-gos like you learn in youth soccer and just tore through the Quakes... made it look SO easy to burn defenders and find space.

 

Instead of keep moving with the give and go like Vancouver did, our players took many touches of the ball, hesitated and then either forcing a pass or passing it backward or back to where the ball came from.
It was disgusting to see the sequence which Yueill and Morales kept short passing the ball sideway between themselves. It’s like a game of “see who will lose the ball under pressure”. And of course they lost the ball shortly.

 

Running onto thru balls, yes. Beating guys with the ball, no.

 

If you want to see an example of how Niko's one-footedness hampers his game and why I complain about it, check out minute 16:07. Niko receives the ball about 8 yards in front of the center line on the right side. He's got a defender to his left and a defender to his right but with some space. Espinoza is in front of him with space in front back towards the center line and to his right. Instead of moving a bit to his right to get a better angle between the defenders and then hit a right-footed pass to Espinoza, Niko instead avoids moving right and instead hits an awkward outside of the foot pass with his left that is too close to the defender to Espinoza's left and it's easily picked off.

Then of course there was his "shot" with his right that took about 30 seconds to travel 8 yards to the keeper. But I'm not going to be too harsh on him for that one because I think the shot was contested and he wasn't able to follow through.

 

This is the 2nd game in a row where we had 5 shots total. Doesn't cut it. If Jebo is not available, there's no reason to start Judd instead of Bouda. I feel like Bouda is at least a little bit dangerous.

BTW, from the fotmob availability thing that I think mjlee22 posted, looks like Jebo has an abdominal injury? I was beginnning to worry it was another concussion because MLS availability report just said "upper body" (thanks...).

 

Watched the replay...

GK Daniel seemed to have a busy night and made some nice saves.

Bouda's goal was nice but he was totally offside.

The Caps were way strong for the Quakes and scored some nice goals and even hit the crossbar on a header.

Again, I know this season is over, but the next season begins in Wed, Feb 21, 2024 which is only 5 months away.

The Quakes players are just average or below league level quality and I don't see them improving in 5 months’ time.

How many of these same players will remain with the club?

I am counting at least 6-7 starters will or should be gone and the same amount of newer players need to be signed to make an impact.

 

I have not followed the NCAA lately and I know the top picks are usually duds but sometimes you can find some hidden gems.

Are there any good college prospects out there?

Maybe we can find a hidden talents in the MLS Super Draft?

 

No.

 

The only reason Ousseni Bouda is on the Quakes is because he played for a local college team, the Stanford Cardinal.

He was picked for the 2022 MLS SuperDraft and signed I believe a 3 year Generation Adidas contract.

Fisher isn't even paying him yet, but he seems like a decent player.

If he could make it, I’m sure there are other similar players like him out there that will be available...

 

There’s no magic bullet. The Superdraft will not save us even if we have the #1 or #2 pick. But it’s another tool in the toolbox and can help build depth. But we have to be smart. Our last #2 was Haji. Can’t miss like that. We’ve actually done OK with the draft in recent years with Munie, Beason, Bouda, Marie, and Ricketts - who’s been injured forever but hopeful.

 

We can't rate Ricketts... dude could be an injury plagued bust. Bouda jury is still out.

 

I'm not saying that they will find an NFL like savior in the Super Draft but looking at the history off the top of my head, here are a few names that come to mind that were found in the drafts:

Steven Beitashour
Ike Opara
Justin Morrow
Paul Marie
Shea Salinas
Jackson Yueill

Opara was always injured with the Quakes but he turned into an all-star defender.

Same goes for Beita and Morrow.

Of course they won't make an impact right away but maybe they can become useful players and establish themselves.

Also, since our owner won't spend, the draft is a free tool to utilize.

 

Yes about Ricketts, but I liked what I saw in limited minutes. There's potential. We'll see how it goes from there. No guarantees. That's why I wrote "hopeful", but didn't make any claims beyond that.

 

You liked Kip Colvey too and he sucked.

I like Ricketts too.

 

Kip Colvey quit playing because he couldn't make much of a living as a soccer player so now he is a Physician Assistant.....

 

He may have sucked, but I never saw him suck. That's why I can't say that he sucked. It would be saying something I don't believe / never saw.

 

Are you one of those, you have to see it, other wise its not true? I'd hate you as a boss or teacher. Especially when it comes to tattling.

 

I am totally open to the possibility that "he sucks". But again, I didn't see it, so I don't say it myself.

 

We would've lost 7 or 8 - 0 if Yarborough was starting instead of Daniel.

We looked like absolute garbage on Vancouver's plastic crap, as usual.

Espinoza and Lopez looked awful. Tsakiris was poor and at fault on their first goal, although a vancouver player did have his hands on his back (in my rec league the refs would usually call that a foul but for some reason it often gets allowed at the pro level). Judd was useless, we missed Jebo up top and probably should've started Bouda over Judd. No pressure on Judd and he receives an easy pass in the center circle during build up play and he just gives it away with a bogus pass to no one. Skahan at fault on the second goal... loses track of his man and fails to deny the entry pass leading to the assist that creates the goal.

I'm not surprised a lot of the guys struggled but it was disappointing to see Espinoza and Lopez look poor too... these are the big money guys who should be dictating the game for us.