SAN JOSE, Calif. – It’s tempting, from a fan’s standpoint, to want to see San Jose Earthquakes head coach Dominic Kinnear throw caution to the wind on his trip to Seattle this weekend, eschewing the pragmatic approach that kept FC Dallas off the scoreboard for more than 90 minutes in the season opener and putting three of his biggest offensive weapons on the pitch at the same time.
To Kinnear, however, that might seem like tempting fate.
Playing Innocent Emeghara, Matias Perez Garcia and Chris Wondolowski together would represent the most concentrated application of firepower the Quakes have available at the moment. But it’s a group that has seen only a handful of meaningful minutes together after Emeghara made his MLS debut in the 89th minute of their 1-0 loss to Dallas last weekend.
“We definitely want to have those guys on the field together,” Kinnear told reporters this week. “It’s exciting – but right now, it’s not 100-percent guaranteed we can do that.”
Kinnear was never able to put his power trio together in preseason play. Wondolowski missed the first three matches due to US national team commitment, and upon his return, Emeghara had to pull out in pregame warm-ups in the next match, costing him the rest of his preseason due to a shoulder injury.
“We were going to do it the one time against Colorado in Las Vegas, and then all of a sudden fate had it that it wasn’t going to happen,” Kinnear said.
Emeghara did train fully this week, but it’s no sure thing that he will be ready for a start on Seattle’s turf on Saturday at CenturyLink Field (10 pm ET; MLS LIVE).
“You look at him run, and he’s tucking in that arm, and that kind of limited him,” Kinnear said. “I thought we were in a pretty good spot [against Dallas]. We saw there was four or five minutes [of injury time] and thought, ‘Well, let’s put him on, maybe he’ll sneak in behind and do something for us.’ You want to make sure you don’t put a guy in a position where he’s going to hurt himself again.”
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The other question is a tactical one: Can the Quakes afford to drop someone such as JJ Koval from his role roaming the center of midfield with the likes of Clint Dempsey and Obafemi Martins bearing down on their backline?
San Jose’s defense seemed to pass a test in the opener when they were able to put together a credible performance despite starting newcomers Paulo Renato and Marvell Wynne. And they could get US international Clarence Goodson back from injury as a reinforcement.
“Every game, you learn something,” Wynne said. “Could we have got a point? Yes. Did we deserve a win? Maybe. … I feel like we’ve been together for quite some time. I feel very comfortable back there. So I feel that we can only improve and get more solid.”
Geoff Lepper covers the San Jose Earthquakes for MLSsoccer.com.
