SAN JOSE, Calif. – If there was one moment that sums up how the San Jose Earthquakes’ attack has struggled during the club’s current season-worst, 198-minute scoreless stretch in league play, it might have come a couple of minutes into the second half of their game against the Houston Dynamo last Friday.
After Matias Perez Garcia unfurled an outswinging corner kick from the left side in the 47th minute, center back Clarence Goodson easily shed his marker to rise and meet the delivery with a crisp header from six yards.
The only problem? The ball ricocheted off of Quakes midfielder Fatai Alashe, who was trying to serve as a screen in front of Houston goalkeeper Tyler Deric, and bounced harmlessly over the end line.
The play officially went down as a “blocked shot,” one of four suffered by San Jose in a 2-0 loss to the Dynamo. Despite starting the newly-acquired Quincy Amarikwa up top, the Quakes were held to only three shots on target in the defeat, bringing their season total to just 63 in 18 matches. That’s the lowest figure of any MLS club entering play this weekend, although San Jose’s SOG-per-game figure (3.50) ranks 19th of 20 clubs – ahead, ironically, of Houston (3.37), which put eight shots on net while triumphing at Avaya Stadium.
“I think we created a few chances, but probably Victor [Bernardez, who hit the post with a first-half blast] and I had the best ones that I can think of,” Goodson told reporters after the Houston match. “You don’t want the two center backs creating the best chances, perhaps. We have to get up and do a better job of helping Quincy out. Quincy did a very good job for his first game, holding the ball up for us. That was great, but we need to help him.”
They might need, in fact, to replace him. Amarikwa suffered a right shoulder contusion Tuesday from an awkward landing during the Quakes’ 2-1 loss to Club America in an International Champions Cup friendly, putting his availability in jeopardy for Friday night's California Clasico clash with the LA Galaxy at StubHub Center (11 pm ET, UniMas in the US, MLS LIVE in Canada). There’s also a question mark about reserve striker Mike Fucito, who came on for Amarikwa at short notice late in the first half against Club America and suffered a right hamstring injury.
That means Quakes coach Dominic Kinnear could be back to choosing between target men Adam Jahn and Mark Sherrod, who have played a combined 376 league minutes in June and July without generating a shot on net.
“It’s not for lack of putting the work in,” Kinnear told MLSsoccer.com as his team practiced finishing drills Monday. “It’s execution. Sometimes, you’ve got to get a goal out of nothing, just because you’re opportunistic and finding the frame. That’s why we’re out here after practice three or four times a week, so these guys get enough repetitions so in the game, they’re consistent. And right now, our consistency in front of goal, is the one thing that’s highlighted. ... It’s something we can definitely improve upon.”
San Jose’s results in that arena were mixed against Club America. Goodson’s 24th-minute header – off an attempted clearance of Amarikwa’s initial shot – gave the Quakes their first goal in any competition this month. But outside of that sequence, San Jose only had two other shots on goal, and Jahn’s miss after being sent through by Tommy Thompson’s nutmeg pass in the 72nd proved costly when the visitors scored twice shortly thereafter to take the decision.
“It wasn’t ideal,” Jahn told reporters afterwards. “I just hit the shot wide. I need to capitalize on my chances and put the game away. I didn’t, and that came back to bite us.”
Thompson is hopeful the Quakes can take the positives of Goodson’s goal and come up with a better outcome against the Galaxy.
“We played well for large parts of this game,” Thompson said. “Any time you pay well as a team, the kinks get worked out. I think it was a good showing tonight, and we’re going to build on that going into LA.”
