Last weekend, the San Jose Earthquakes secured their first road point of the season in a gritty 1-1 draw with the Philadelphia Union. Yet coach Mikael Stahre is not satisfied. The Swedish coach said today that they have made “small, small” adjustments in the first four games of the season but remain open to more material changes ahead of Saturday’s home fixture versus the Houston Dynamo.
Thus far this season, Stahre’s only starting-lineup change has been to replace Shea Salinas with Joel Qwiberg at left-back against Philly. Harold Cummings’ red card suspension will force another change this weekend and it could be the catalyst for additional tactical shifts.
“In the first four games there’s been just small, small changes so far,” coach Stahre told reporters on Thursday. “The coaching staff know the players more, know the MLS more, know the opponents more, and…I’m open to change formations, I’m open to change some players. That’s necessary to win games, that’s necessary to keep the team warm and keep the energy level.”
Stahre debuted a new 5-3-2 formation in the second half of the Philly encounter, dropping Florian Jungwirth into a back-three and tucking the wide-men inside. “We did it because we felt that it would be better to have those three in the back to build up out of the back,” said defender Nick Lima. “We have players that can play those [roles]…so I wouldn’t be surprised if we do that in the future.”
While Stahre’s main focus in the preseason was the implementation of a pressing system, his attention has now broadened. “The most important thing for us is to handle the build-up,” he said. “When we cross the halfway line then we can face the opponent’s goal and are just forty-yards from goal. Then we are not just good, I think we are very, very good.”
The build-up, he felt, was what prevented the Quakes from establishing a strong foothold in Philadelphia. Said Stahre: “The first twenty-five minutes in Philadelphia were a disaster. We hardly crossed the halfway line. Every time we did cross the halfway line we had chances, actually. I think we are still really good when we cross the halfway line…but I think we played too slow and had too many passes backward and too many technical mistakes.”
Although the Quakes have looked promising in spurts so far this season, Lima emphasized the importance of stringing together a complete ninety-minute performance. “It has to happen from the start,” he said. “We’ve had good moments in games and good spans but we need to play a full ninety.”
That is the task against Houston on Saturday. Houston have been poor on the road, with only one victory in their last nine away outings in MLS. However, they are dangerous with pace in behind, and top scorer Alberth Elis will keep Nick Lima busy on the wing.
The fullback appears more than ready, however. “With Elis, we’ve played him in the past and he’s created problems,” Lima said. “I get to be on his side and be in his ear a little bit. I did that last year and that was fun. You can get under his skin and that’s what I want to do, play that role as kind of chippy and scrappy and make sure he doesn’t do much against us.”
With only four points from their first four games of the season, nothing less than a home victory will do for the Quakes.
PHOTO: ISI
