Quakes Grab Clean Sheet, Goal Drought Lives On

It was a good news, bad news type of night for the San Jose Earthquakes Saturday Night at Avaya Stadium. The good news was that the Quakes backline was able to pitch a clean sheet for the first time this season. The bad news is that the back of the net continued to elude their attack for a third straight league game as the Quakes settled for a 0-0 draw against Real Salt Lake.

“From my perspective, it was one of the best performances of the season,” said Earthquakes Coach Mikael Stahre. “We defended quite compact and solid and also created enough chances to win this game. I can’t be happy with a tie at home, but I’m quite pleased with the performance in general.”

Playing their third game in seven days, it was expected that Coach Stahre would rotate the lineup after Wednesday’s loss to Seattle. What was not expected was that Chris Wondolowski, Danny Hoesen, and Florian Jungwirth would all start the game on the bench. Quincy Amerikwa got his first start of the season and responded with a solid effort that saw him bring his usual aggressive attack on the goal, culminating with one of the Quakes best chances of the evening in the 66th minute, but was Rimando’d as the RSL legend got just enough of the ball to deflect off the cross bar.

The Quakes once again had a furious onslaught to end the match, producing several chances in front of the Real Salt Lake goal, but the frustration in the final third continues, as the Quakes were once again shut out for a third straight MLS game, last scoring a late consolation goal in a loss to Portland on July 7th.

While goals have been difficult to come by, the buzz after the match was how much better the team has been defensively since the acquisition of Defender Guram Kashia. Kashia went the full 90 minutes in his second MLS start and has provided a steadying influence since joining the team.

“The whole backline and our two holding midfielders were really solid tonight. Good communication, smart confident plays and when the big moments came we were able to make a play,” said Goalkeeper Andrew Tarbell. “Every game you need good individual performances on top of good collective performances.”

Following the All Star Break, the Quakes will head back out on the road to Western Conference table toppers FC Dallas next Saturday, while Real Salt Lake returns to the friendly confines of Rio Tinto Stadium to welcome the Chicago Fire.