SAN JOSE, Calif. – With all the twists and turns the San Jose Earthquakes and their fans have endured over the past weeks, a major talking point has slipped through the back door ahead of the team’s biggest game of the season, against the Portland Timbers on Decision Day presented by AT&T (Sunday, 4 pm ET | ESPN – full TV and streaming info).
That would be the effectiveness of their once-unstoppable man-marking scheme, spearheaded by Matias Almeyda’s unorthodox tactical philosophy.
After a 9-2-2 span from May through July, positive results have grown less frequent for Almeyda & Co., who have lost eight of their last 10 games.
The Quakes aren’t necessarily being punished as harshly as they were by LAFC, who outscored them 9-0 over two games this season. Rather, opponents have battled it out toe-to-toe for 90 minutes on most occasions, suggesting that some are catching on to one of MLS’s most unique styles of play.
"Yes because the game is to be studied,” Almeyda told MLSsoccer.com when asked if he thought the league had caught on to his team’s style. “And just like we study the rest – there is nothing to hide. I think the day they [the opponents] figure you out is when you've stopped working.”
One recent trend with San Jose has been a lack of defensive stability in the late stages of games. For example, the last three games for Almeyda’s side – against Atlanta United, the Philadelphia Union and the Seattle Sounders – have all been lost after the 78th-minute mark, despite them holding leads or deadlocks in those games at one point in time.
Despite the results not mirroring the work done behind the scenes, Almeyda cautions that the Quakes are always a work in progress.
“We are constantly making changes,” the Argentine added. “They are minimal, they can't be noticed, but that’s why we like them because they can’t be seen. It's the way we pressure, when to pressure, and who will be the first to pressure. We always modify how we start off playing – if we take chances first, if we should take shots from distance.
“Our tactics may be the same, but our movements can be different. It's difficult to tell if an opponent plays the same way every time. If you keep doing the same thing, then you aren't working, and this team works.”
Whether they’ve been figured out or not, the Quakes are vowing not to take their foot off the pedal as they visit the Timbers in a win-or-go-home situation. They believe that as long as that mentality remains, there is nothing stopping them from being the team they once were.
