Quakes Get Scrappy 1-0 Victory in USOC Match Against Portland
By: Chris | May 5th, 2011
It took 120 minutes, plus stoppage time, before a winner in this US Open Cup Qualifying Match could be determined. Ike Opara managed to squeeze a header, or necker if the stories are true, past a diving Perkins for the game winning goal.
Portland had 10 starters that did not start for them when they played Real Salt Lake over the weekend. Head coach John Spencer said in the post-game interview that he wanted his starters fresh for their Friday game against Philadelphia. The Quakes started 4 players who also started against Philadelphia the previous weekend. But only 2 starters had never started or played before, goalkeeper Andrew Weber and defender Bobby Burling. The Quakes had a more experienced team starting than Portland, but the game did not play out like an experienced team versus and inexperienced team.
Both Portland and San Jose has chances to score in regulation time but the keepers were quick on their feet and kept the game tied. Portland didn’t make their first substitution until the 98′ minute. Spencer obviously wanted to use his reserves as long as possible so that his starters would stay rested for Philly. San Jose made their first sub in the 83′ minute, bringing on Lenhart for Stephenson. This served two purposes, Lenhart was able to hold onto the ball on long passes and he’s another tall target on set pieces. San Jose ended up putting on another two attackers, McLoughlin for Johnson and Morrow for Convey. Now Morrow is more of a defender but he was pushing the ball up as well as he could.
Opara’s goal finally came at the death of second overtime. Cronin took a corner kick which was cleared out of the box back towards Cronin on the sideline. He collected the ball and sent it back in and Opara managed to get a head, or neck, on the ball and put it in the net. Ike got a yellow card for celebrating but that’s nothing compared to netting the game winner minutes before penalty kicks. Lenhart could have scored at the end of the first overtime, but his goal was called back because the refs deemed he had Maradona’d the ball into the net (used his hand).
So this win gets a monkey off the team’s back. First because the team hasn’t won a USOC game since 2005, and second, the result may give the players that spark they need to start playing better in MLS. Seeing how the Quakes have a horrible record in penalty kick shootouts, it’s a good thing Opara was able to end the game when he did.
The attack for San Jose against Portland looked very much like it has against their last 3 opponents. Most of San Jose’s scoring opportunities were coming off set pieces rather than on field build up. That’s not to say the Quakes weren’t trying. The Quakes kept a high line of pressure on Portland, but both teams seemed to be mired in midfield. Passes into the attacking third on both sides of the field were generally balls over the top and the attacks usually fizzled out.
Weber looked good in goal. He had 3 or 4 really nice saves. He had a save in both halves which involved knocking the ball down and then recovering the rebound. In the first half he knocked the rebound out for a corner and in the second half he smothered the rebound with his body. Both Weber and Perkins had to fingertip out one mid to long range shot during the game. San Jose’s defense was decent, but Portland was constantly pushing down the left flank. Sal Zizzo was using his speed to try to get around Corrales a lot. Almost every attack by Portland originated on the left. The Quakes are guilty of the same however. They relied on Convey and Corrales to bring the ball up the left hand side of the field and play in crosses for Johnson and Wondo.
A couple of things I noticed that the team needs to work on. The attacks aren’t working right because teammates aren’t on the same page when it comes to running into space. There were many instances where a pass was intended for another player to make a run into space and pick up the ball, yet there was no run. So many passes ended up going right back to Portland. The midfield wingers, Convey and Stephenson, would get the ball just over the halfway line on the sides and then get double teamed. The problem was that there was no one nearby to pass too. Convey and Stephenson would then try to dribble out of danger but almost always give up the ball. The other players were just too far away for Convey and Stephenson to safely pass to before they were covered.
Hopefully these issues can be ironed out before their next game, which happens to be next Wednesday in Vancouver. The Quakes get 7 days (5 days from this writing) to prepare and rest up for the game. In regards to USOC, the Quakes will face off against Chicago some time at the end of May. The Quakes are the designated home team, but they also play Chicago at Chicago at the end of the month. So they might try to find a way to play the USOC game out east to cut down on travel time. The winner of San Jose/Chicago qualifies for the actual USOC tournament.
GO QUAKES!
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