David Bingham’s First Goal and Other News

You may not be able to see David Bingham’s face in that picture, but I’m sure his smile is as big as Jason Hernandez’. It’s been a while since I’ve posted, sorry for that. In the meantime the Quakes held Philadelphia to a 0-0 draw on Saturday night, defeated the English Premier League’s West Bromwich Albion in a friendly on Tuesday, and today there was some trading going on that resulted in 3 new players joining the Quakes.

Philadelphia
The Quakes held Philadelphia to a 0-0 draw Saturday night. If you had told me at the beginning of the year that the Quakes would be able to hold the leading team in the Western Conference and the 2 leading teams in the Eastern Conference to draws, I would have taken the 3 points total and be happy. As it stands all three of those ties could have easily been wins for the Quakes. With 53 minutes against a midfielder in goal during the Los Angeles game, a late game tying deflection goal against New York, and a stagnant attacking 0-0 draw against Philadelphia, the Quakes had opportunities to upset the big three in MLS so far this season. Granted we lost to both New York and Philadelphia earlier in the year, but wins would have evened out the results.

Everyone should try to listen to the Quakes Cast Podcast hosted by the guys at www.centerlinesoccer.com. After the Philadelphia match they talked about how the Quakes seemed too timid or scared to try anything offensively against the Union. But it hasn’t just been against Philadelphia. With the exception of the New York game, the Quakes have not played well offensively since they lost to Sporting Kansas City. There just seems to be a severe lack of creativity on offense. No one is making penetrating runs, there are no searching passes, and the Quakes have resorted to the long ball against from the defense or deep in midfield. Even Simon Dawkins seems to be affected by this, as he hasn’t been able to create much without help.

The defense once again proved how valuable they are and kept the attacking duo of Sebastien Le Toux and Danny Mwanga off the scoresheet for Philadelphia. Bobby Burling and Hernandez have been rocks at center back, Ramiro Corrales has shown he can still handle speedy attackers on the flank, and despite Steven Beitashour’s injury, Chris Leitch has been filling in for him superbly. Until the offense can figure out what’s wrong, I expect to see more 0-0 draws or 1-0 losses.

West Brom
Last year Tottenham, our club partners in England, came over for a friendly match that ended 0-0. It was a fun match and Buck Shaw was packed for the match. West Brom is preparing for their second season in the EPL and as a smaller club, the turnout at Buck Shaw was much smaller, but there were still a lot of WBA fans in attendance. It always amazes me how many fans of these small teams show up out of the woodwork to support their club.

Given that this match was a friendly and didn’t mean much, the Quakes trotted out a highly reserve squad for the match. Only 3 starters were normal MLS match day starters. They were Burling and Hernandez at center back and Khari Stephenson as an attacking midfielder. The rest of the starting XI were David Bingham (GK), Tim Ward (RB), Justin Morrow (LB), Rafael Baca (RM), Sam Cronin (DM), Ellis McLoughlin (LM), Joey Gjertsen (F), Scott Sealy (F). The subs were Andrew Weber, Anthony Ampaipitakwong, Corrales, Dawkins, Omar Jasseh, Ryan Johnson, Chris Leitch, Steven Lenhart, Matt Luzunaris, Brad Ring, and Chris Wondolowski.

After listening to the Quakes Cast on Tuesday I was hoping that the Quakes’ attack would be a bit more daring and work to get out of their slump. Friendlies don’t mean anything so the players shouldn’t be afraid of trying new things and experimenting with plays or runs. However the Quakes ended up playing the game in mostly the same way they have been playing their last 5 MLS games. But there was some magic in the 3rd minute of the game, as Bingham scored on a goal clearance. Bingham picked up a through ball by West Brom, put the ball on the ground, and kicked it down the field. According to Bingham, he was trying to get the ball to Sealy, but when he realized he over hit the ball, he turned around in disgust, so he didn’t see the ball skip over West Brom’s goalie and into the goal. Here’s a video of the goal.

Stephenson managed to score the Quakes’ second goal in the 45th minute. He found some space about 30 yards out and fired off another long range shot that eluded the ‘keeper and put the Quakes up 2-0. This is Stephenson’s third goal this season from distance. While the goal is impressive, the question is why are the Quakes resorting to long range shots to try and score? West Brom managed a ton of quick 1-2 passing and through balls behind the defense. They tore up the defense, especially in the second half when the entire back line was subbed out. Luckily, Bingham and Weber were in top form and made a total of 7 saves on the night. West Brom’s goal came from a shot at the top of the 18 yard box, after a player slalomed his way through 3 defenders.

While the offense still isn’t looking threatening, hopefully the win gets some confidence back into the attackers and they are able to string together some passes to score against Columbus this weekend.

Transfer News
Two weeks ago the Quakes traded Brandon McDonald to DC United in return for allocation money and it looks like that allocation money has been put to use. The Quakes have traded Ryan Johnson, allocation money, and an international roster spot to Toronto FC in return for Alan Gordon (F), Jacob Peterson (M), and Nana Attakora (D). Attakora is a central defender, which the Quakes are actually in need of right now. With Ike Opara still out injured, and no timeline for his return, San Jose needs a third CD because they have no backup for Burling or Hernandez. Leitch did okay against Chivas USA, but it’s not his natural position. Peterson might be able to fill the void we currently have at right midfield, but his stats in MLS aren’t great, so hopefully he’ll be able to settle down and gain some consistency.

Alan Gordon was brought in primarily to be a backup for Lenhart. It might seem superfluous to have both Gordon and Lenhart, but Gordon has years more experience than Lenhart so Gordon will be able to help guide Lenhart a bit. It also provides some competition during practices for Lenhart to work hard. Finally, every third yellow for Lenhart from now until the end of the season results in a game suspension, so if he tallies more suspensions Gordon can step in for him. (Gordon joins Simon Elliot and Alejandro Moreno as the third player to play for all three California teams) Johnson’s form has been inconsistent this season. He started the season slowly, heated up a couple of games before he left for the Gold Cup. He played fantastically in his 4 games with Jamaica but when he came back his form diminished again. In his first season with the Quakes in 2009 he scored 11 goals and in 2010 he had 2 goals and led the team in assists. So far in 2011 he has had only 2 assists.

Both Gordon and Peterson will be available for Saturday’s game against the Columbus Crew while Attakora has said he’ll need 2 weeks to be match ready.

Finally, Matt Luzunaris and Justin Morrow are heading to Florida on loan deals for the rest of the season. This is the second season in a row that Morrow has been in Florida and Luzunaris’ first. It seems the Quakes are grooming Morrow to replace Corrales at left back and Luzunaris is getting more game time as a target forward.

GO QUAKES!

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