SAN JOSE, Calif. – Over the last two years, the San Jose Earthquakes generated 13 goals off dead-ball situations in 68 regular-season matches.
Sunday, the Quakes had two such scores in the space of 16 minutes.
It’s obviously too small of a sample size to declare that San Jose are bringing back the heady days of 2012, when the Quakes scored 21 times off of corners or free kicks. But putting home one goal from each type of restart in a 2-1 victory against the Chicago Fire was a pretty good nod in that direction.
“We’ve got a lot of good-sized guys,” said Quakes midfielder JJ Koval, whose initial header on a fifth-minute corner kick set in motion the chain of events that ended in Fatai Alashe’s first professional goal. “I think a lot of it comes down to determination in the box. And I think we’re determined to get on the end of it. So why not? I think that we could be one of the best teams in the league on set pieces, and we want to be.”
Any set piece begins with a delivery, of course, and if it’s of poor quality, it dies there. Designated Player Matias Perez Garcia, healthy after suffering a torn meniscus essentially upon his arrival last year, has taken command over the ball on restarts – and he's placing it in dangerous areas with consistency.
“He delivers a great ball, and it wasn’t just those two [goals],” Quakes head coach Dominic Kinnear said of Perez Garcia. “We looked dangerous on a couple of other ones as well. ... His set-piece deliveries, he’s up there with the best of them.”
Perez Garcia is helping generate more chances as well. The Quakes have been fouled 44 times in their first three matches, a rate of 14.7 per game. Last year, they averaged 12.4 in that category, so it’s an increase of 18.4 percent – and Perez Garcia is leading the way, having suffered eight fouls in total.
The Argentine playmaker is often getting cut down after receiving passes with his back to goal in the attacking third, thus setting himself up for another set-piece opportunity.
“Around the league, you have guys like [Columbus Crew SC's Federico] Higuain, [Real Salt Lake’s Javier] Morales, and the one thing you don’t want to do is foul them because obviously you’re putting your defense under pressure,” Kinnear said. “Sometimes, it’s hard not to [foul] because these guys are such good players and they can get away from you. You’re just a pinch late and it leads to fouls, which leads to dangerous opportunities.
“It’s not by design; we’re not telling Matias to go in these areas and get fouled. It’s just happening.”
Once it happens, the Quakes can bring considerable aerial power to bear.On Sunday, Alashe and Koval combined with center backs Clarence Goodson and Ty Harden to give Perez Garcia a quartet of legitimate targets.
All four players used their heads in setting up Alashe’s goal: Koval knocked the corner kick away from onrushing Chicago goalkeeper Sean Johnson, Harden took the brunt of Johnson’s attempted clearance, Goodson redirected the ball goalward and Alashe knocked it home from the doorstep.
“That’s a great one, for me,” Kinnear said. “It’s just being very aggressive. And if you look at it, there wasn’t one foul. We just were a little bit taller, a little bit [more] aggressive and sometimes the ball finds the right person in the right spot. You do make your own luck by being aggressive.”
