Last season, the San Jose Earthquakes were just good enough to secure a spot in the playoffs. This year, they’re just not good enough. It’s still too soon to tell if San Jose’s early slump will cost a playoff position but Saturday night’s loss to the Portland Timbers raised the alarms as the Quakes fell to the bottom of the MLS table. The 1-0 defeat extended their winless to streak to seven matches, a stretch riddled with false starts and late collapses.
The Quakes have played to the level of their opponents so far this season, and, too often, just under. They have offered promising shifts against strong teams such as New York City FC, Sporting Kansas City, and Orlando City, but also slumped to abject draws with the Philadelphia Union and Houston Dynamo. Stahre’s men have yet to lose by more than a goal but have become expert in the art of the narrow defeat, exemplified by their poor performance against Portland.
Although the Quakes had the upper hand in a cagey affair, they failed to convert their chances and were condemned to defeat by Diego Valeri’s late free-kick. The home side lacked intensity and cohesion going forward and were shut out for the first time this season.
The Quakes came close from individual efforts but Timbers keeper Jeff Attinella made no mistakes. Danny Hoesen tested Attinella with multiple speculative efforts early on and the Timbers keeper did well to turn Vako’s curling effort wide of the post on the half-hour mark. Vako also bent a dangerous free-kick fractions wide and Nick Lima nearly converted with a wayward cross, rattling the post.
Portland always showed signs of danger on the break, though. Fanendo Adi struck the woodwork with a low effort in the eighth minute and Diego Valeri was a consistent threat going forward.
Stahre opted for early second half changes, introducing Chris Wehan and Quincy Amarikwa for Chris Wondolowski and Danny Hoesen, but the Quakes were languid in the second period. The Swedish coach has questioned his team’s mentality at multiple points this season and the Quakes were timid in the closing stages as if expecting Valeri’s late winner. They appear inhibited by an inferiority complex or, a more frightening thought, are simply inferior this year.
