It’s been a summer to forget for the men in black and blue.
The good will that this year’s team accumulated during their impressive start to the season has all but evaporated after the losses started to pile up last month. Now, the San Jose Earthquakes can’t stop the bleeding.
Four conceded to Minnesota. Three to the Sounders. Two to Salt Lake. Two to San Diego. Three to Austin. Four to LAFC in front of 50,000 fans at Levi’s Stadium. All teams in and around the Quakes in the Western Conference standings, where seven teams are jockeying for the last three postseason spots.
Which made Saturday’s game against the lower ranked St. Louis City SC a must-win. Their response? Another three goals conceded. In the first half. The home side would never recover and are now firmly on the outside looking in of a top nine seed.
“It’s the same problem we’ve had all year,” a defeated Bruce Arena said after the match. “We’ve had a very difficult time defending in front of goal. And oddly enough, it’s something we place a lot of attention on. Yet, we can’t get it right with our back line. They have not done a good job of marking people.
“We have to be very honest about it,” he added. “It’s at a point now where it’s very surprising, what we’re seeing.”
Why are the Quakes here? They’re top in the conference in goals scored, but more importantly, they’re bottom-third in goals conceded. Their goal differential since the start of July is minus-10, which means they’re often getting themselves in too big of a hole to dig out of.
What’s troubling is that fresh off an embarrassing loss to LAFC last week — which one might argue came down to a wide disparity in top-end talent — Arena’s players allowed a struggling St. Louis side the time and space to assert themselves first.
Brandon McSorley, making his first-ever MLS start, scored twice for the visitors. Both goals came from unimpeded crosses into the box and poor marking by the center backs. German DP Marcel Hartel scored a golazo in the 19th minute to add insult to injury.
“Every day,” Arena responded when I mentioned that his staff must be talking about defending all the time. But what is happening between the weekday preparations and the actual games?
“If I knew the answer to that question we’d have 30 wins,” Arena said.
Losing DeJuan Jones earlier this month to injury has not helped. The mid-season acquisition had brought order to San Jose’s lineup since arriving from Columbus and, on top of his defending, has seven goal contributions in just 15 games played. Without him or backup Nick Lima available, Arena has resorted to experimenting with formation changes and on Saturday deployed captain Cristian Espinoza at right wingback.
“We’ve been working the whole year with a back three,” Espinoza said. “Then last game we played 4-3-3 and then sometimes 4-4-2.
“From what I see, we always wait to concede a goal before playing in [an aggressive] way,” he added. “It’s like we’re hesitating too much. When the game starts, we don’t take risks, we don’t go forward, we don’t play well. Then, when we get scored on, that’s when we start to do all the things right. At some point, it has to be the opposite. We need to take the risk from the beginning.”
After Saturday’s loss, the Quakes slipped below Houston and Dallas for the ninth seed, which is good only for a play-in berth. Real Salt Lake is one point behind them for now, in 12th place, but have two games in-hand.
San Jose’s path to the postseason is perhaps the slimmest of the bunch. They have back-to-back road games against San Diego and Vancouver — two of the conference’s best — and close out the season against Austin FC on Oct. 18.
Odds & Ends
- Arena went from knowing his best starting XI, to now shuffling his lineup every week. Newly acquired midfielder Ronaldo Vieira has started three straight games now since arriving from Sampdoria, while Preston Judd has been preferred over Josef Martinez, who has 12 goals to his name.
- Ousseni Bouda, who has actually played in the most matches on the team this season, got a rare start on the left wing. The 25-year-old is perhaps the only forward player who can stretch the field for the Quakes with his pace. The likes of Arango and Martinez, at this stage of their careers, play more between the lines. Hernan Lopez and Amahl Pellegrino were both allowed to leave the team.
- Daniel Munie has lowkey got wheels for feet. Despite his coach’s harsh words, the center back has been preferred over veterans Bruno Wilson and Rodrigues. He has won multiple one on one duels against forwards with his pace.
About the Author: Kevin V. Nguyen is a business and sports journalist based in the Bay Area. Follow him on X/Twitter @KevinNguyen_89 or on Bluesky @kevinvnguyen.bsky.social
