With each step forward, the San Jose Earthquakes have taken two steps backward this season. Although the Quakes finally began to build momentum in an unbeaten road trip this past week, their energy dissipated in an abysmal 3-1 loss to last-placed DC United at Avaya Stadium. DC overran San Jose’s back-line with three first-half goals, a shell-shocking start that coach Mikael Stahre labeled “an absolute disaster.”
The Swede took the blame for their defensive errors, citing “bad decisions from the coach” in regards to San Jose’s lineup. “We came out totally wrong,” Stahre told reporters. “We made mistakes with the ball and couldn’t press them well enough. They easily found spaces behind us and to be frank, they were much better than us this evening.”
Stahre continued his experiment with a three-at-the-back formation, which he debuted against the Vancouver Whitecaps midweek, and replaced Shea Salinas with Chris Wehan, targeting a more offensive setup. The tradeoff was not worth it as DC United opened huge gaps in behind San Jose’s back-three.
Speaking after the match, center-back Jimmy Ockford explained the flaws of the system: “We get numbers behind the ball, which is good, but staying compact, I think we can do that a little bit better. Transition wise, if we lose the ball in the midfield we have to close in numbers better.”
Zoltán Stieber capitalized in the fourteenth minute, ghosting in behind San Jose’s back-line to run onto Luciano Acosta’s diagonal ball. The Hungarian winger had all the time in the world to tuck a low finish into the back of the net.
Acosta was at the heart of DC’s midfield, which was always a step ahead of San Jose’s lethargic back-line. The Argentinian nipped ahead of Jackson Yueill in the twenty-second-minute and played into Darren Mattocks, who had ample space to finish as Ockford failed to close down the ball. Acosta dispossessed Yueill in the midfield yet again fifteen minutes later and found midfielder found Yamil Asad, who curled past Tarbell from the edge of the area.
Offensively, San Jose had dangerous moments but lacked cutting edge up front. Danny Hoesen pulled one back by outmuscling his defender and finished an advantageous rebound, his fourth goal in five games, but he alone could not do enough to salvage a result on this occasion.
Chris Wondolowski, a halftime substitute, came close on multiple occasions in the second half, but it was still DC who looked more likely to score. Steiber shot wide near the hour mark and Mattocks was in on goal twice, yet couldn’t beat Andrew Tarbell in goal. It mattered little, though, as DC’s lead never looked in doubt.
