May 16, 2015: San Jose Earthquakes midfielder Shea Salinas (6) celebrates with his teammates after he scored in the 60th minute, during the game between the San Jose Earthquakes and the Columbus Crew at Avaya Stadium in San Jose, California, USA. The San Jose Earthquakes won 2-0.
With so many results going their way yesterday, the Quakes have a real chance to inject some dark blue (or is it still red) into the top of the table, writes John Marshall.
The San Jose Earthquakes return to Levi’s Stadium this weekend to take on Orlando City SC for the first time. Orlando’s first season in MLS has been a difficult one for a club with such high aspirations. Prior to last week, the Lions sat on 9 points through 10 games, a far cry from the dominance they were used to in USL. They answered with a 4-0 dismantling of the LA Galaxy to jump up into the playoff spots in the Eastern Conference. San Jose has had a resurgence of their own as of late and currently sit on 17 points through 11 games, and their 1.55 points per game is the third best in the West.
The Quakes will be hoping to build on last week’s performance against Columbus and remain perfect at Levi’s Stadium. Expect defense to once again be the key to three points as the back four will need to contain the Orlando attack of Kaka, Brek Shea, and Cyle Larin if they hope to have another clean sheet. That starts with rookie Fatai Alashe in the defensive midfield role putting pressure on the attack and relieving pressure on Clarence Goodson and Victor Bernardez.
On the other side of the San Jose coin, the Quakes will be looking for someone other than Chris Wondolowski to score goals. Wondo has 6 goals on the season and no other player has more than 1, a stat that could become problematic when Wondo is away for national team duty. It’s going to take players like Shea Salinas and Sanna Nyassi to lighten the load for Wondo and turn the Quakes offense into a dangerous attacking force. Matias Perez Garcia has been fantastic at providing service into the box and creating chances for his teammates, but has yet to get his name on the scoresheet this year. If the Quakes can continue to build up the wings and find space in the box they can expect to add another 3 points.
For Orlando City to come away with a win, they’re going to need Brek Shea to be a force in the attack. The Lions are much more dangerous when Shea is able to pressure defenses and create space for Kaka and Larin, the team scoring leaders. Behind them they’ll need another impressive performance from their defense who shutout LA. All three wins for Orlando this season have come in games where they kept their opponents scoreless and expect that to be the case again against a San Jose team who has historically played well in big venues.
Two players who will be key for San Jose will be Shea Salinas and Jordan Stewart. Both had great games last week against Columbus and both will play a huge role in getting a win against Orlando City. Salinas will need to continue to make dangerous runs up the wings to keep the Orlando defense on their heels and free up space behind him for Stewart to get into the attack again. Stewart assisted on the second goal in the Columbus game and made key defensive stops to keep the clean sheet. Expect the left wing of San Jose to be integral to a Quakes victory.
The match will be broadcast nationally on Fox Sports 1 at 4 pm Pacific Time.
