San Jose Earthquakes 0 - 1  Chicago Fire

Where was the Finish?

Saturday April 12th, 2008
MLS - Match 2


McAfee Coliseum, Oakland, California

Attendance: 20,038

Shots: SJ 19 - CHI 9 - Corner Kicks: SJ 7 - CHI 0...That's only 2 of the many stats in favor of the Quakes in yesterday's match. But in the end, the 3 points go to Chicago. This is soccer...It is not always the best team that wins. Was it experience and a better finishing that brought Chicago the victory, or just lack of luck for San Jose? We could argue for hours without finding a definitive answer. It may be a little of both. With a little more luck, the Earthquakes could clearly have at least equalized in the end of the game but, at the same time, finishing is not only a question of luck. When you are so obviously superior, you have to bury the opposite team early enough to prevent luck from becoming a factor. This is what the Earthquakes were not able to do.

Everything was there for a beautiful soccer afternoon. Besides the crowd (over 20,000 fans), the beautiful weather and the natural excitment of a home opener, the fans were delighted to witness a great moment in the troubled history of the Earthquakes when Soccer Silicon Valley officially returned the 2 MLS Cup Trophies to Lew Wolff. Now, the Earthquakes are back with their whole background and the supporters' groups didn't forget to thank the saviours with a banner claiming "Wolf, FIsher & SSV: Our holy Trinity"

In this festive atmosphere, the Earthquakes started the game with entousiasm and created the first chances. Kamara with Glinton in the center and Guerrero with Riley on the left wing combined well, but the most active player was O'Brien with a lot of good crosses for Kamara and Glinton in the first 30 minutes.

Chicago seemed totally unable to handle the pressure imposed by the Quakes when, in the 19th minute, Blanco controlled and used his body to protect the ball. With the tackling Earthquakes' defender on the ground, Blanco had all the time to pass the ball to Tomasz Frankowski who shot from outside the box. The ball was stopped by Joe Cannon but Chad Barrett was the first on the rebound and pushed the ball into the net in spite of Cannon's effort to recover the ball.

For a few minutes, San Jose continued their domination, and then seemed to slow down. With Corrales looking tired, nothing really happened in the last ten minutes of the half except for a good shot by Grabavoy,just wide left (43rd)

The second half started as the first one: San Jose dominated, created a lot of chances (too many to list here) but couldn't finish. As in the first half, they seemed a little tired after 30 minutes. However, they seemed to recover in the last 5 minutes and should have obtained something, at least one point, when they touched the posts twice in the stoppage time and Salinas missed the last chance.

When he heard the final whistle, Joe Cannon (who was about to throw a long ball to his forwards for what he thought would be a last chance) kicked the ball in rage in the stands. He then turned around to appluade the supporters behind him who never stopped chanting during 90 minutes...No doubt he would have loved to offer them a better result.

There is no reason to be too harsh with the Earthquakes. They played well, created chances and almost never were endangered. The 2 weaker periods they had (about 10 minutes in each half) didn't allow their opponent to create any chances, which is a very good sign. Being able to neutralize the opponent when you have a lower period is very important. On the other hand, not being able to score after such a domination should be a real concern for Frank Yallop (read Yallop's and players' reactions after the game in Ben's commentary below).

T.H.

Quakes stay optimistic despite going 0-2

The Quakes played a much improved game today at their home opener against the Chicago Fire. Unfortunately, they were unlucky and fell 1-0 but the Quakes looked like the better team on the day.

Defensively they were much more composed then in their season opener and pressured the Fire all over the field. Chicago’s Mexican superstar Cuauhtemoc Blanco was held in check for most of the game except for the one sublime ball he played to create the match’s only goal, which came in the 19th minute.

Offensively San Jose had more possession of the ball and outshot the Fire 19-9. Chicago keeper Jon Busch had to make 8 saves. San Jose forwards Kei Kamara and Gavin Glinton looked dangerous and combined for seven shots. Ronnie O’Brien, playing again on the right side of the midfield, whipped in numerous quality crosses and had several nice attempts at goal.

 During injury time at the end of the match Kamara blasted the ball low from inside the box, Busch managed to get a hand on the shot after diving low to his left, sending it ricocheting off the post for Shea Salinas to be given a golden opportunity to equalize for San Jose. The rookie went for power when all he needed was to push it into the goal and smashed the ball over the bar. Chicago must feel that they made a great escape by getting out of Oakland without dropping any points.

At the post match press conference Earthquakes Coach Frank Yallop stated that he was “Pleased and proud of the way the guys played,” and that he felt the team really “Should’ve got something out of the game.” He went on to say that he felt the match was “Night and day,” from the game last Thursday in Los Angeles and that the team was “Over the stage fright,” of that first match.

“We should’ve scored at least 2 goals. We created great chances but it’s all about finishing,” continued Yallop. He admitted that Salinas “Will have nightmares,” about his late miss but that he feels the Superdraft pick had a real impact after coming on as a substitute.

“We’re not complete yet. Our completeness is finishing chances,” continued Yallop. When asked about realistic goals for the season Yallop replied without hesitation “Make the playoffs.”

In the locker room Quakes veteran keeper Joe Cannon expressed his disappointment: “I expected to get a result today.” While he feels the team is working hard and that they played with a real sense of urgency in the last part of the match, he understands that life as an expansion team will continue to be difficult. “The goal knocked the wind out of our sails a little bit,” he admitted. “We’ve got two tough road games and we’re 0-2 now. There’s a realistic chance of no results.”

The mood of San Jose defenders James Riley, Nick Garcia, and Jason Hernandez was a bit more upbeat. All agreed the overall performance today was much improved but that they haven’t gotten the breaks they needed to win. They felt they had done a good job in defending Blanco and even got under his skin a little bit. One example of this came around 55th minute of the match. Blanco found himself on the ground after losing a header to Garcia at midfield and he kicked out at the Quakes centerback without connecting. Soon after this incident there was some pushing and shoving between the players, which earned Fire defender Bakary Soumare a yellow card. After the exchange San Jose really began to step up their game and put Chicago under pressure for the rest of the match. If not for the Fire’s keeper and the frame of the goal the result would have been a draw or even a victory for San Jose. Instead, it was a bitter loss.

Its still early days in the season and while Earthquakes fans will be a bit depressed following two tough losses there is still plenty of time to gain the points necessary to make the Major League Soccer playoffs. The team has definitely improved. Some of the concerns fans had after the performance against the Galaxy should be relieved. Chances were created. Ronnie O’Brien really made an impression. The forwards threatened to score on several occasions. The Quakes kept the ball and passed it around nicely, they showed much more creativity in attack, often switching the field and playing the ball into the feet of their strikers, who both showed an ability to shield the ball and lay it off for midfielders making runs. This resulted in some nice combinations and fluidity in the attacking third. The defense, offense and overall play were very much improved. The Quakes certainly played well enough to win and bounced back nicely from the trip to Los Angeles. A respectable crowd of 20,038 turned up for the match and the team created enough excitement that hopefully many will return.

The difference in the score came from one pass by the Fire’s Designated Player Blanco, a man who did little else today, but that one, simple ball through the middle of the Quakes defense led to a shot, rebound and goal for Chad Barrett and Chicago. San Jose does have talent but they have not chosen or been able to fill their own Designated Player slot. They remain a work in progress that has been together less than two months. Certainly more players will be brought in as the European seasons wind down and contracts expire but until then the team will need to dig deep and fight every time they step onto the pitch because so far luck hasn’t been on their side.

When Quakes forward Kei Kamara was asked what the plan was for the team as they head to Colorado to play the Rapids on April 19th he responded intensely, “Get a point.”

By Ben Sizemore

Fans' impressions

After the game, fans stayed a long time in the parking lot, sharing their feelings between happiness of having the Quakes back and the frustration after the undeserved loss. A group of supporters continued to cheer in the lot, confronting the Chicago fans (about 30 of them accompanied their team to Oakland) in a friendly voice contest.

Attendance: 20,038

Goal: 

Chad Barrett (19th - Assist: Tomasz Frankowsky)

Yellow cards: 

CHI: Bakary Soumaro (Reckless Foul, 55)

SJE:Ryan Cochrane (Reckless Foul, 65)

SJE: James Riley (Pushing, holding, 90+4)

Lineups:

San Jose Earthquakes: Joe Cannon - Jason Hernandez (John Cunliffe, 85th), Ryan Cochrane, Nick Garcia (C.),  James Riley -  Ned Grabavoy (Ryan Johnson, 79th), Ivan Guerrero (Shea Salinas, 59th), Ramiro Corrales, Ronnie O'Brien -  Kei Kamara, Gavin Glinton

Chicago Fire: John Busch - Dasan Robinson, Bakary Soumare, Wilman Conde (Daniel Woolard, 79th), Gonzalo Segares - Stephen King, Cuauhtemoc Blanco (C.), Justin Mapp - Tomasz Frankowski (John Thorrington, 73rd), Logan Pause, Chadd Barrett (Calen Carr, 61st)