SAN JOSE, Calif. — For the first month of the season, the San Jose Earthquakes looked lost and confused on the field. They lost four straight games — the worst start in the franchise’s history — allowing goals at an alarming pace and having lacking any bite on offense.
They finished March at the root of the MLS table, and it seemed entirely possible that it would get even worse.
But head coach Matias Almeyda, brought to San Jose with much fanfare, had a plan, and he stubbornly stuck to it. He wanted the Quakes to play an aggressive, man-marking style of play that is designed to frustrate opponents defensively and create opportunities in the attack. Almeyda preached patience to his players and in the media, believing better days were to come.
Since the start of April, when Almeyda changed up his starting lineup, looking for the right combination of players that would see his plan to more fruitful results, the Earthquakes have responded with two dominating wins at home against the Portland Timbers and Sporting Kansas City while losing a close contest at the Houston Dynamo. By all appearances, the team has turned a corner.
“The team is finding the way,” Almeyda said following the 4-1 victory against Sporting KC, “They are finding a style. We knew about the opponent we were facing, and the players understood the way they needed to play this match, and I think that’s where the key factors were. The delivery, the sacrifice, the collective play, the determination of every player, and I think that’s why we were able to make a difference.”
The biggest changes in the starting eleven came with the benching of Chris Wondolowski and Valeri “Vako” Qazaishvili, the team’s two highest paid players, in favor of Danny Hoesen and Shea Salinas. The moves by Almeyda have paid immediate dividends, with the pair scoring five goals combined in the last three games and showing a joy for the game that was lacking in the team last month.
“For sure. If this system works, and the freedom we get to play, then it’s a lot of fun,” said Hoesen, who was named to the MLS Team of the Week for his two goal performance against SKC. “You see people smiling on the field. You see people working for each other. You see these guys every day. You see these guys maybe more than your own family. You need to work together and like each other. After a win, it’s a lot easier.”
Salinas, playing as the Quakes captain while Wondolowski is on the bench, agreed: “Our confidence came as a team. We worked hard together, and as they were getting frustrated, we gained more and more confidence.”
The biggest complaint from observers of the Earthquakes earlier in the season was centered on the disjointed interplay among players in Almeyda’s demanding man-marking system. Too often, opponents were able to pull the formation apart and pepper Daniel Vega’s goal with shots from every angle. The Quakes ended March with four losses and a -12 goal differential.
Another key change that has catalyzed the team’s turnaround was the introduction of Florian Jungwirth at centerback for the injured Guram Kashia. San Jose’s Defensive Player of the Year in 2017, Jungwirth has brought an intensity to the position that was missing before. The vocal and demonstrative defender has seized his opportunity.
“Communication is key,” Jungwirth said. “It has taken time, but now we are implementing it better and better. When you have that fighting spirit, you get results like that.”
The German did commit two fouls that lead to Sporting Kansas City penalty kicks, but he waved that off as part of the aggressive style of play Almeyda has been preaching since his arrival. More importantly, he has seen the same intensity in preparations on the training field now translating to the game day experience, and that has made all the players hungry for even more success.
“The attitude, the fact that everyone ran and fought together,” Almeyda said. “Everyone took the right risks to play. They understood the game plan very well and they knew that in front of them was a team that punishes you if you make any mistake. That’s the level of concentration we hope they play all of the matches.”
With more players in the mix for playing time than there are minutes to pass around, Almeyda has had to make some tough lineup decisions. Relegating Wondolowski and Vako to the bench was tough, but maybe more difficult was taking Nick Lima out of the starting eleven. The budding U.S. national teamer and San Jose’s best player last season, Lima was supposed to be a lock to be on the field. Instead, he had seen his playing time diminish since opening day.
Never one to sulk, Lima kept working hard in training, improving his role in Almeyda’s system and showing the coach that he’d moved past some of the mistakes in his early season performances. He got the start against Kansas City, though it was at left back and not his preferred right back station, filling in for the suspended Marcos Lopez. The team’s overall defensive showing was its best of 2019.
“Yeah, guys are bought in,” Lima said. “To be able to see that when we are bought in, we work together and it’s working. Its positive reinforcement for the group and I think we need to continue that with our dialogue together and it’s showing.”
Anibal Godoy, tasked with shielding the Quakes backline and limiting opponents in the crucial center of the formation, shared Lima’s sentiments: “We did what Matias wanted us to do on the field,” Godoy said. “We got a lot of confidence from the beginning. We stayed concentrated on our defensive responsibilities, and were able to stop their attackers, which was key to the performance.”
The Earthquakes newfound confidence will be tested this week, as they head on the road to face the Seattle Sounders on Wednesday and FC Dallas on Saturday. Both teams are undefeated at home and are heavily favored to keep it that way. The Quakes will need every ounce of momentum they can muster to earn their first points on the road this season, but Hoesen believes they’ve got what it takes to change the league’s perception of San Jose.
“Everyone is understanding his role a little bit more,” Hoesen said. “We know what the coach wants, and it takes time, which we said from the beginning. Now it’s starting to click, and hopefully teams will have more respect for us.”
“This is what we worked on all preseason,” Salinas added, “and obviously there have been some frustrations along the way, and there probably still will be, but when the game plan comes together, and you can clearly see we are progressing, it is exciting.”
Against the Sounders, the Earthquakes will be without Godoy, who is suspended for the game due to yellow card accumulation. He received his fifth caution of the season during the 4-1 win against Sporting KC, following an altercation with Gerso after the halftime whistle. Godoy had come to the defense of his teammate and fellow Panamanian Harold Cummings, who Gerso had fouled just moments before.
The team will have to adjust to Godoy’s absence in Seattle, but he did not apologize for the transgression, making it very clear in his postgame comments that he will always stick up for his teammates. He felt the suspension, earned only seven games into the season, was in part due to the referees’ less than lenient view of his style of play, but it sees a bigger picture benefit to the team’s cohesiveness in mentality.
“Everyone did their part, and our solidarity on the field is what lead us to the win,” Godoy said. “We keep working on everything, even with the results. The unity of the team is most important, and moving on we will keep getting better.”
Godoy will join the team in Texas ahead of Saturday’s game against FC Dallas, with Judson likely filling in for the Panamanian on Wednesday. Yellow card accumulation suspensions are certainly a self-inflicted setback, but Godoy’s team-first attitude was applauded in the locker room following the SKC game.
“Yeah, absolutely,” Salinas said. “When one guy gets into a scrum, we all want to be there to have his back. We are a family, and it’s not just a word we say, it’s an action we take, and things like that show it.”
It is said that teamwork makes the dream work, and for the Earthquakes, that has never been more true. The ethos of San Jose soccer centers on the belief that they all have the support of one another, that the team’s goals are always more important than any individual player’s. Almeyda has made it his mission to bring that attitude back into the team, and recent results seem to show his message is being heard.
Hope seemed lost in March, but it’s been growing in the weeks since. And if the Earthquakes can take something from their two games against the Sounders and FC Dallas, the rest of the league will have to pay more attention to San Jose. No longer pushovers, these Quakes are showing better days are ahead.
“The success of this group is contagious,” Godoy said, “and when the group is together, we will move forward.”