Sanna Nyassi (17) celebrates his goal vs Vancouver
Photo by John Hefti
by John Marshall
The San Jose Earthquakes travel to Sandy, Utah to take on Real Salt Lake this Friday for the second meeting of the season between the two clubs after RSL took the first match 1-0 at Avaya Stadium.
The Quakes have had an extra week since being dominated by league leaders New York Red Bulls to prepare for Real, who will also be looking to bounce back after a 4-0 drubbing by New England last weekend.
In the 2-0 loss to New York, San Jose rarely threatened in the first half and struggled in defense. The week off should help to remedy that problem as it was apparent the team needed time to rest and regroup. RSL looks to be the perfect opponent to help get the Quakes get back on track as they have been shutout their last 3 matches. San Jose should push to get the early goal and put Real on their heels. If San Jose can take a lead into the half, they’ll have a great chance of getting all 3 points as they’ve only conceded 2 goals in the second half this year compared to 7 goals in the the first.
The last time Real scored was in San Jose, a 1-0 victory where they held the Quakes to only 2 shots on goal. The goal came with a minute to go in the first half and was the start of a 316 minute scoreless streak. The obvious focus for RSL will be to end the scoreless streak in front of their home crowd although the defense will also be hoping to post their first clean sheet at home this season. Getting keeper Nick Rimando back from injury will be a big help for the defense but getting Javier Morales back will be an even bigger relief as he is the only player to score multiple goals this season.
Javier Morales is the only RSL player with multiple goals
San Jose struggled to match up against the Salt Lake back four in their first meeting.
Wondolowski found himself in a more defensive role and Innocent, Adam Jahn, and Matias Perez Garcia were stifled by Real’s defense. San Jose has lacked shape up top lately as players have been given liberty by Dominic Kinnear to switch sides and cover larger areas. The lack of structure has seemed to hinder the attack as the team has only scored 2 goals in their last 4 games compared to 5 in the first 3 games of the season.
San Jose’s best performances have come in games where the defense has stepped up and pressured opponents. Vancouver came into San Jose as the league leaders and left with a 1-0 loss in which they had zero shots on goal. Then in New York the defense looked lackadaisical, leaving attackers unmarked on both goals. The week off should have given them time to regroup and fix the issues that led to those mistakes and leaves them with no excuses coming into this game.
The match will be broadcast on Univision Deportes at 7 pm PT as the second match of a Viernes de Fútbol doubleheader following Houston and Dallas.
