The San Jose Earthquakes lost again, this time against DC United, 2-0 on Saturday. The result adds to a long dismal stretch of awful performances: winless in the last nine league matches with only four goals.
You could point the blame at a jury-rigged backline (due to injuries and suspensions) that couldn’t handle the speed and skills of Dwayne De Rosario who scored both goals of the match. You could take issue with yet another center midfield that was as vacant and lifeless as an old western ghost town scene, queue in the rolling tumbleweeds. Or you can assign fault to a starting forward, that the head coach loves but hasn’t scored a goal in more than two seasons, San Jose’s number 9: Scott Sealy.
Knowing the backline was weak, Yallop should have placed emphasis on the center midfield, learning from the countless mistakes, and ensuring that the Quakes have some control of the game.
Englishman on loan Simon Dawkins was out on injury. Khari Stephenson was placed in the center midfield but looked inconsistent and was again aiming to score from 45 yards away at any chance he got. You would think that Yallop might have communicated to Stephenson to work on passing the ball to the forwards and wings, but most likely Yallop didn’t do that.
Sam Cronin took the place of suspended Brad Ring and did more defending than offensive passing aside from one wonderful pass to a racing Joey Gjertsen who was about to go one-on-one with the goalkeeper. Gjertsen was fouled by Andy Najar and red carded. The Quakes couldn’t take advantage of another opponent with a man down.
Anthony Ampaipitakwong is a natural play-making center midfielder who helped the University of Akron win their first ever-national championship in 2010, was finally placed in his native position in the late minutes of the second half. He produced a lovely pass to Chris Wondolowski giving him a one-on-one with the DC goalie Bill Hamid. So we question, why isn’t Ampaipitakwong placed in the center midfielder position?
The other natural center midfielder is Andre Luiz who has been injured for over a year. Yallop and Doyle have mentioned that Luiz “may be” able to return at the end of the year. Then why keep Luiz on the roster?
Last season San Jose made it to the playoffs, thanks to Wondolowski’s goal scoring streak, a solid defense but something the front office will not easily admit (mostly because it cost them some money), and the play making center midfielder DP Geovanni, the first DP San Jose every had.
Clearly Yallop’s game strategy doesn’t place importance on the center midfielder’s role. As a player, Yallop was a defender. His style of play doesn’t evolve around the ball controlling midfield paired with speedy forwards. Yallop’s style rests on a defensive approach, the old English style of the long ball passing from the deep defensive areas or lobbing balls from the wings to a big target forward.
Half way into the season, MLS teams have done their homework and have repeatedly found ways to cripple or out-coach Yallop’s strategy, resulting to Quakes having winless games and very few scoring opportunities. By now Yallop should have taken note and modified his game plan. Fans are agitated and calling for the firing of coach Frank Yallop and to an extent general manager John Doyle, both of whom were awarded extensions to their contracts earlier this season.
Four mediocre seasons and an ownership that has kept fans in a plywood-constructed stadium have left them bitter. Fans want change and they demand it now!
(image courtesy of sjearthquakes.com)
