For 25 glorious minutes Sunday, the San Jose Earthquakes were on course to make the Western Conference playoffs.
Then the full weight of what the Quakes needed to accomplish came crashing down around their ears.
In the end, there was no miracle finish for San Jose, who took an early road lead against FC Dallas before being ground down by the West's best club, who posted a 2-1 victory at Toyota Stadium.
It was a bitter coda to the Quakes’ first season in their new Avaya Stadium home. Under the tutelage of returning MLS Cup-winning coach Dominic Kinnear, San Jose rebounded from last year’s last-place finish to get within four points of a postseason berth – but nevertheless will be watching, rather than participating, for a third straight November.
“Yes,” Kinnear told reporters when asked if it was a disappointing season. “Because you’re close to making the playoffs, and when you do make the playoffs, anything can happen. It’s such a crapshoot sometimes.
“So not making it – yeah, we want to be playing on Wednesday. Going home and cleaning out our lockers for a little while is not what we envisioned. We knew it was going to be a tough fight, this Western Conference this year. It came down to the last game – and I give the guys credit for getting us that opportunity. And unfortunately, we just came up short.”
The Quakes never got the help they needed in other matches: Either Portland, Seattle or Sporting Kansas City had to stumble to open the door for San Jose, but all three of those clubs posted victories. And ultimately, San Jose didn’t fully help themselves, missing some early chances against a Dallas defense that opened in shaky fashion.
San Jose did get on the board in the 13th minute when Matias Perez Garcia forced a turnover and set off a transition capped by Quincy Amarikwa – who had seen a chance skitter away with a heavy first touch minutes earlier – outmuscling Zach Loyd and Matt Hedges before beating goalkeeper Jesse Gonzalez from 11 yards.
“I think we frustrated them, especially early on in the first half,” Amarikwa told reporters. “They didn’t have an answer for us. I feel like we made them switch tactics, play a more uncomfortable style than they’re used to. They like to play out of the back. We were giving them the first entry pass, but the second, they couldn’t figure it out. And we had them on their heels that whole first half.”
Dallas equalized in the 38th minute as Mauro Diaz put the Quakes right back where they started at halftime. And things took an ugly turn for the visitors in the 67th minute when Perez Garcia delivered a left-handed slap to the back of Diaz’s head – an act that did not escape notice from the refereeing crew.
It was a second indefensible red card inside a month for the Designated Player, who was sent off Sept. 27 after celebrating his 87th-minute goal – which would turn out to be the difference in a 1-0 victory against Real Salt Lake – by taking his shirt off and earning an automatic second yellow.
Cautions were quickly issued in ensuing minutes to Marc Pelosi and Clarence Goodson as the 10-man Quakes were stretched by the hosts’ speed.
“Sometimes, when the game’s getting away from you, you foul,” Kinnear said. “I didn’t see the red card, myself, but I heard it was [worthy of] a red card, so I can’t complain about that. And then after that, frustration [sets in] and tempers kind of lose their way a little bit. And the ref’s going to go to his pocket more than he probably wants to.”
Dallas found the go-ahead goal in the 79th minute when Victor Ulloa forced a turnover and took a return pass from Fabian Castillo to slot home past charging San Jose goalkeeper David Bingham.
San Jose gamely chased another goal, but at that point they needed three combined tallies between themselves and the LA Galaxy to get back above the red line. The dreams were well and truly dashed.
“I think if, at the beginning of the year, you could have asked the guys, ‘Would you like [13] wins, [47] points coming into the last game of the season?’ I think every single person would say, ‘Yeah, definitely,’” Amarikwa said. “I don’t know too many times in the past where that wouldn’t have been enough to get you into the playoffs. But it’s a testament to how deep the [Western Conference] is, how competitive it is and where MLS is going, each and every year.”
