SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Turning the calendar from July meant the San Jose Earthquakes could close out a dreadful, loss-filled month. But August’s arrival put them another step closer to the end of the 2015 MLS season -- a season which, at this point, would not feature the Quakes in the Western Conference playoffs.
With that context as the backdrop, the fact that San Jose scraped out a scoreless draw against the Portland Timbers on Sunday didn’t keep them from feeling like they had missed a greater opportunity -- even if it was their first point in league play since June 27 after an 0-7-0 stretch across all competitions in July. The tie left ninth-place San Jose (7-9-5) seven points behind Portland (9-8-6), although they did move to within six of Seattle (10-11-2) -- current holders of the West’s final playoff spot -- after the Sounders were bounced 3-0 by Vancouver on Saturday.
“Very, very frustrated,” Quakes defender Shaun Francis said when asked about his mood. “I thought that we had them on the ropes. I thought that we should have gotten a couple goals. Coming away with a point, I don’t think that is enough for us. We need more points right now, to get up in the standings. When you’re playing against the conference opponents, you need those points. So we’re very disappointed in coming away with just a point when we thought three points was what we should have gotten.”
While neutral observers might not agree with the black-and-white nature of Francis’ analysis, there were certainly chances for the Quakes, who now rank 18th out of 20 MLS teams in goal scoring at 1.05 per match.
If captain Chris Wondolowski had been able to more cleanly accept Shea Salinas’ delivery in the eighth minute -- after Wondolowski’s impeccably timed run cut out the Timbers back line entirely -- the game’s complexion might have been altered dramatically. Instead, Wondolowski needed a second to dig the ball out from under his feet, giving Portland goalkeeper Adam Kwarasey just enough time to get in position for a kick save.
“We’ve got to stop tying games,” Wondolowski said. “We still have a belief that we can make the playoffs, and [to do that] you have to win games. You have to win home games. You have to put your chances away. … My first touch let me down.”
San Jose generated other near-misses, most notably Salinas’ floater from the end line in the 34th minute, which went just wide, and Francis’ right-footed attempt in the 63rd, which appeared to beat Kwarasey but found the wrong side of the roof netting.
Of course, Portland could point to their own flirtations with scoring, and they would have a point. Fanendo Adi kissed the far post in the 47th minute off a San Jose turnover, and Diego Valeri hammered his 75th-minute spot kick into the crossbar. And as Timbers coach Caleb Porter told reporters, “Obviously, we should have won the game.”
The problem: With 13 regular-season games left, time is running out for the Quakes to have such arguments.
“We take the positives that we were very sharp defensively,” said Quakes goalkeeper David Bingham, who posted his sixth shutout of the season after allowing 12 goals in the previous five games. “And overall, we played well, but we let them off the hook tonight. … I felt like we were the better team.”
