SAN JOSE, Calif. – The San Jose Earthquakes have been struggling to score lately, netting just one goal from the run of play in their last three matches. They nabbed just one in Saturday’s 1-0 victory over the Vancouver Whitecaps, but from the sound of it, the Quakes aren’t worried about their prospects.
Holding the ‘Caps to no shots on goal certainly helps.
“I think Marvell [Wynne], [Cordell] Cato, Shea [Salinas], and Sanna Nyassi did a great job of neutralizing some of their very dangerous players,” Quakes forward Chris Wondolowski said. “That was very important.
“Vancouver has great speed and can counter and break very quickly,” he added. “When they’re pinned back, it’s harder for them to get going forward.”
It continued a trend of some strong defensive performances for the Quakes, who have now allowed six goals in as many games after their first clean sheet of the season.
“The whole back four played well,” San Jose head coach Dominic Kinnear said. "[Center backs] Victor [Bernardez] and Clarence [Goodson] have been playing good together. It’s a pretty solid partnership. Quietly, Fatai Alashe had a good game tonight. He broke up a lot of plays.”
“Someone mentioned that David [Bingham, goalkeeper] had faced the most shots on goal so far this year, so to see him getting no shots on goal was a great thing for us.”
Still, San Jose did struggle offensively for much of the game – getting their only goal when Nyassi slammed home a rebound in the 75th minute. Without suspended Designated Player attacker Innocent, the Quakes also were held without a shot on goal in the first half. And they were coming off a 1-0 loss to Real Salt Lake from last weekend, but Kinnear didn’t seem concerned.
“I thought we were playing pretty good [in the first half]; I don’t think we were that bad,” Kinnear said. “We were just a little bit disconnected at times. I thought our energy level was definitely better [in the second half]. We were moving the ball quicker, and therefore guys were finding little gaps in the field, which made it easier to attack. At that point, we were playing in their half of the field rather than our half of the field.
“Sometimes we rush ourselves,” Kinnear added. “We were kind of getting there, but then we would make the wrong decision. I thought at times we could have been a bit more unselfish.”
San Jose’s offensive worries appeared to take another hit when Wondolowski was uncharacteristically subbed out just past the hour mark, but coach Kinnear said it was nothing to be worried about.
“He was just a little bit tired,” Kinnear said. “He was not feeling good the last day or so and said, “I’m out of gas,” and so I made the sub.”
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Wondolowski reiterated the fact that it was nothing serious.
“I need to recharge my battery and get going, but I’ll be ready,” Wondolowski said of San Jose’s next match, Friday at the New York Red Bulls. “It was one of those things, a very tough decision. It was not happy with myself for not able to be at 100 percent, and not be able to help the team at 100 percent. That was frustrating. I looked at Dominic, and he knew.”
Wondolowski also sounded confident that their offense would be more prolific going forward.
“When we play, we have a saying, ‘11 as one,’” Wondolowski said. “When we do that, we’re a very good team. When we don’t, and rely on someone to try and make a play, we are a bit predictable and easier to defend. We moved the ball well tonight, we were sharp in our movement and our passing and I think it’s good when we did that.”
