Quakes drop 2nd in a Row; Chivas USA 2-1 San Jose
By: Chris | April 23rd, 2011
The Quakes are going to get an earful from Yallop on Monday, you can bet your ass on that. After describing this match as a must win, the Quakes played tepid soccer and only seemed to come alive after Chivas’ second goal. Despite 4 mintues of second half stoppage time, the lads couldn’t secure a tie. Despite holding a lead for the second time this season the Quakes once again were playing catch up to their opponents. The team didn’t seem to have any fire in their bellies all game, even after their first goal.
The new 4-3-3 formation has been played in an effort to get the Quakes more scoring opportunities this year. Wondo’s breakout season last year was great, but he was the only one scoring in the last 2.5 months of the season. So Yallop decided to go with the 4-3-3 to get more goal scoring chances. It worked for the first 4 games as the Quakes played some exciting attacking soccer. However I don’t think the team is mentally or physically prepared to deal with the defensive consequences of a 4-3-3. With the exception of the Dallas game in Week 2 the Quakes have fallen behind in every game. What used to be a rock solid defense last season has turned into swiss cheese. Last year the team sported the classic 4-4-2. While it may not have been very flashy, you couldn’t argue with the results and performances the team was putting up. They were getting scrappy 1-0 wins, but they were getting wins and had those 13 shutouts. It might be time to think about switching back to something akin to the 4-4-2.
The Quakes need to be able to hold on to the ball in the midfield. Building attacks out of the midfield with short, precise passes around the midfield and to the forwards will open up passing lanes for forwards or dribbling lanes for the attacking midfielders. The problem the Quakes have had the last few games is they have been unable to maintain possession to start attacks this way. The midfield has become a battleground for the ball and today the Quakes were sending the ball back to the defenders and having them use the long ball pass up the field to players who did not have enough room to engage the opponent. Another problem I noticed today is that a lot of the players were clustered in the middle lane of the field. With players from both teams in the middle lane there needs to be very precise passing, which the Quakes were not capable of today. Dawkins was constantly forced to dribble in circles or back towards his own goal to try and find an open man to pass to. No one was running to the sides of the field to get open. By playing on the wings you can stretch the defense and open up holes for attacks.
There also seemed to be a malaise to the team today. Several times I noticed players walking around while a player was lining up a free kick. In one instance Busch was restarting from a Chivas offside call and he wanted to send the ball to the left side of the field to Convey. But Bobby was walking in the middle of the field and wasn’t even looking around to see what was going on. Busch was yelling and waving his arms but Convey didn’t notice and Busch eventually sent his kick into the middle of the field. I liked seeing Scott Sealy starting today. He is fast and works on defending in midfield better than Johnson. When Johnson was subbed in for Sealy in the second half everyone in the stands around me started complaining.
Finally, the Quakes need to work on making quicker decisions when in the attacking third of the field. Too many times today players would hold up the ball around the 18 yard box and then send it back to a defender near the midline. All the midfielders did this at some point, and in some cases it’s necessary as the forwards are too covered and sending the ball in would be pointless. But there were also times when Convey, Sealy, Cronin, Stephenson and Dawkins could have taken a shot from 20-25 yards. Granted it’s a low percentage shot but if it’s on target you make the goalie work for the save and hopefully rattle him a bit. The shark-like mentality was lacking this afternoon and it was very disappointing.
That being said, I would give player of the match honors to Wondo. His goal in the 16th minute was perfect. Once again he slipped away from defenders and from an extremely tight angle he was able to direct his header over Chivas keeper Kennedy but inside the far post. That takes a ton of skill and proves that Wondo’s head is just as valuable as his feet.
Game Highlights
Wondolowski Goal
Moreno Goal
Trujillo Goal
Reserve Game
Some good news is that the Reserves managed to beat Chivas in their game this afternoon. The Quakes won 3-1 thanks to goals from Johnson, Ampai, and Yuri Morales. Chivas’ goal was scored by Trujillo. I thought Ampai played well in the main game today and it’s good to hear that he’s scoring goals in reserve matches. Hopefully Johnson and Ampai can bring that confidence to the first XI.
I thought this season was going to be a fight for 4th place in the division between Seattle, Dallas, and San Jose. But we might have to aim for 5th place. In reality 4th and 5th are in no way different from each other since they play each other in the “wild card” berth for the playoffs. 4th just seems a more realistic goal since RSL, Colorado and LA will most likely be taking the top 3 spots. However with Vancouver and Portland playing pretty well for expansion teams, the Quakes are currently sitting last in the West (9th) and 17th overall. It’s only the 6th game of the season, but last year we had 12 points already with 4 wins. I keep reminding myself it’s a long season and last year Dallas and Colorado started slow and they both made it to the finals. You never know. But something better start happening in a positive way soon.
GO QUAKES!
Category: 
Home 
