Another match-up against Columbus and all I can say is I’m glad that it’s the last this season (unless we make it to MLS Cup that is, I know, I know, but humor can be helpful). Listen folks, its a long season, so let’s get some enjoyment out of it and look towards the future. Yes, someone messed up big time on the Peguero deal. Yes, some of the picks from the expansion draft were underwhelming. But it ain’t a straight shot to the top (well, unless you get a championship caliber squad moved to your city). We had to put up with years of soccer so painful to watch that the youth soccer at halftime looked Premiership quality by comparison, all so that on the scales of karma we earned two championships. So…we’re on our way!

Quakes/Columbus Pregame Analysis

Goalkeepers: Same as I said last time pretty much. Hesmer is solid but can be beaten. Cannon is having an ok season, but nothing spectacular.

Advantage - Even

Crew Forwards vs. Quakes Defense: Center Line Soccer is reporting that Garcia picked up an injury in training and will probably miss Saturday’s game. Bad, bad news for the Quakes. Without him our defensive quality drops from about a B to a C-. Cochrane and Hernandez both do decently, but are prone to mistakes (Cochrane more so). Needless to say, Moreno will look to battle for balls and win fouls, drawing attention away from other Crew attackers making runs. If the Quakes can’t shut down Robbie Rogers and let him run free as they did last game, it will be over much quicker.

Advantage - Crew

Quakes Forwards vs. Crew Defense: Look for Ryan Johnson to do his thing again on Saturday. He’s more valuable for his ability to beat up defenders, win balls, and launch runs that make things difficult for the opposition than for actually scoring goals. If only Kirovski was valuable for something. If he starts, we’re looking at easy money for the Crew defenders. If its Cunliffe who starts, then it’s tough to call. The Crew have gone through a bit of a slump, as has their defense. Ultimately they have a solid, but not spectacular unit in the back.

Advantage - Crew

Midfield: The Crew’s strength and currently the Quakes’ weakness. Schelotto knows how to pick apart defenses (wow, the obvious statement of the weak). Rogers is the main danger man, and should be concentrated on heavily. Ronnie O’Brien needs to play on the right as he has more of a defensive presence, and I would put someone like Gray on the right side of the defense who will stay back and focus on marking Rogers. Gaven is blah most of the time and can be taken out of the game if he doesn’t take himself out. I am not a big fan of Vide in the middle at all, at least not until he develops his game more. Every time it has been tried, we have gotten savaged through the middle. I would keep Corrales there and try someone like Riley out left (or even Salinas, since we won’t need as much defense on that side). I would prefer as solid a middle as possible and experiment on the flank if anything in the absence of Guerrero.

Advantage - Crew

Coaching: Here is the real test for Sigi. He’s had a good start to the season, but he needs to break his boys out of their slump. If they crash to yet another disappointing finale to the season, he’ll be out of a job. Has Frank lost his magic? Some have asked the question given the acquisition of people like Peguero and Kirovski, as well as some of the draft choices (Goodson, Pozniak, etc.). Still way too early to make such claims I think. It will take a lot of wrongs to erase two championships in my book.

Advantage - Even

Intangibles: The Crew have lost some of their initial momentum and are in a mini-slump. Then again, a slump has to end at some point, and the Crew must see San Jose as the perfect tonic. The last result between these two teams will certainly give them confidence, but will they be over-confident? San Jose has to prove it can win on the road (yes, there was Colorado, but that seems ages ago now) soon, otherwise this road trip will become a long nightmare and a hole that it’s impossible to escape from. They must become true road warriors, and I think they know that at this point.

Advantage - Even

Key Man: Ronnie O’Brien

This of course assumes that he will be playing on Saturday, which is not 100% certain yet. If so, he will have an absolutely vital role. First, he must hustle all game long and help out the defense with Rogers. Second, he needs to be a key channel for the attack (something that we haven’t seen for a few games), which not only is necessary in the absence of Guerrero but will also force Rogers to track back and take him out of the game offensively.

If I Were Manager:

                 Cunliffe-Johnson

Salinas-Corrales-Grabavoy-O’Brien

Denton-Garcia-Hernandez-Gray

                       Cannon

Last week’s 0-0 draw against Dallas was incredibly frustrating because it was another match, like our previous “home” game against Chicago, which the Quakes dominated and should have won. What was worrying was not just the lack of goals but the lack of shots on goal, and the lack of quality chances. The wing players (as well as Riley) did wonderful work to beat defenders and put in some good crosses, but it was always a Dallas player on the receiving end. Seemingly, all teams have to do is stay in the box and clear out our crosses and they can blank us. What is true since the beginning of the season is still true. We are lacking good attack-minded service through the middle of the field. The game where we did have some success in that department was against Colorado, by no coincidence also the one game this season that we won and scored goals in. Yes, the finishing of Kamara and Glinton has left something to be desired, with Kamara making a mess of a couple of good chances, but when’s the last time you saw a Quakes player sprung through for a one-on-one (oh yeah, Colorado again, Kamara’s goal from a Grabavoy through ball). Our finishing needs to be improved, but our service even more so. Attack through the middle as well as the flanks (there were many times when such passes were possible but instead the ball was shifted to the outside), take some shots from outside the box when possible, and then both the middle and flanks will open up. Easier said than done, right? Do Grabavoy and Corrales have the skills to make this happen? We shall see.

Not all was doom and gloom last week. Buck Shaw Stadium in Santa Clara is a beautiful place to take in some soccer. Don’t get me wrong, not all is perfect, with the pathways being crowded at times and blocking some people’s vision, but all in all, it is nice to feel so close to the field and achieve an intimacy that even Spartan can’t match. I thought Spartan brought us close to the players, but from my seat the keeper and any players in the box could hear every word you chose to shout, an opportunity my fellow Quakes supporters definitely made the most of, and will certainly do so in the future as well. It’s going to be tough to play in Buck Shaw for opposing teams, at least as far as the atmosphere goes. Also, we may have only one win and one draw, but we are only five points out of first place in the Western Conference with a game in hand! Fortunately for us, the West is relatively dreadful this season, and will make our quest for a play-off spot not be a complete delusion.

Onto Columbus, one of the hottest teams in the league right now (along with Chicago), looking to get a win and move back onto the top of the standings. Can the Quakes get a win against such competition?

Quakes/Crew Pregame Analysis 04/09/08

Goalkeepers: Will Hesmer is a rising star in MLS, able to make quality saves and shut out the opposition. But as is true with all young keepers, he will make mistakes and can be beat. Cannon definitely has the experience advantage, and after having a mistake-free game against Dallas, looks to have overcome his earlier mental lapses.

Advantage - Quakes

Crew Forwards vs. Quakes Defense: Yet another familiar face returns to face the reborn Quakes - Alejandro Moreno. Part of the 2005 squad, Moreno had a great season for us that year, drawing fouls, opening up space, winning balls, and scoring some goals. I was actually pulling for him to be one of the former Quakes we brought back at the beginning of this season, because he works hard to make goals happen, even if its in the most scrappy way. He looks to be on the road to having his best season yet with the Crew this year, and complements their defensive-minded, workman-like style of play well. What can you say about Schelotto? An old, wily veteran of many battles who can still place a ball on the head of a pin. It’s a dangerous combo because Moreno draws fouls left and right, and Schelotto is a master at set pieces. Fortunately, both do not possess pace in abundance, and the Quakes defense seems to only fall apart either when the midfield makes a mistake and loses possession in a dangerous position, or when the defense itself makes a mistake. They rarely seem to simply get beat by the opposition. The question is: can those mistakes be avoided? I was impressed with Hernandez’s performance filling in for Cochrane. We will probably see that same defensive line-up on Saturday.

Advantage - Even

Quakes Forwards vs. Crew Defense: Saturday looks to be Peguero’s first start with Glinton suffering from a hernia. So for the first time we will see what a Kamara-Peguero tandem can do. Yes, Peguero did not score or really have a quality chance coming off the bench last week, but from what I saw of him, I think he will be quality. He has an ability and willingness to use his power to blow past defenders, and brings a flair that no other Quakes player possesses (there was a moment when he was pinned in the corner and put on a show of fancy footwork that was quite impressive, yes all it did was get him out of that spot and he passed it off after that, but its a sign of his mentality). Still, I’ve been easier on the Quakes forwards than most until now. From this moment I stand with the rest in saying: guilty until proven innocent. As for the Crew defense, it has been and can be beat. Chad Marshall is solid, but O’Rourke (another familiar face) is not convincing in central defense. Let’s attack him at every opportunity. Hejduk is the Energizer Bunny, and is always tough to match up against, but I’ve never been convinced by Ezra Hendrickson on the other side.

Advantage - Even

Midfield: Robbie Rogers has pace and can score. He is definitely a danger man, able to stretch defenses and open up space for the slower Moreno and Schelotto. We traded away Carroll for Kamara, and he has done well for the Crew so far this season. Who got the better end of that deal? Time will tell. Eddie Gaven is another attack-minded player, similar to Rogers, but is vulnerable to inconsistency. For the Quakes, Guerrero is getting better every game, and is probably our best midfield player at the moment. O’Brien has fallen off a bit since the Colorado game, but continues to push the attack up that right flank every game. Grabavoy needs to come up big against his old team, and bring us more of that through ball goodness that gave us a goal against the Rapids. The Crew midfield is talented but the wing players are a bit suspect on defense, and if the Quakes can maintain possession, they have a good shot of cutting off service for the forwards. Moffatt, who has done well for the Crew so far, will miss this game. Good news for the Quakes, as there is a dip in quality from the starting core of the Crew midfield. Final note: Salinas is THE super-sub in MLS this season (yes, I said it).

Advantage - Even

Coaches: Sigi Schmid gets no love. As a Quakes fan, it tickled me to see Schmid get the sack from the Galaxy when he had the team in first place. It seemed like just another example of the Galaxy’s pretensions and lack of sense (hey guys, i know this comes as a shock, but you are not Real Madrid, firing Capello after a championship season). In Columbus, he has had a rough couple of seasons, failing to make the play-offs, but it always seemed like the team was just on the verge. This season, he may have the parts he needs to make that final push. His teams do not play the prettiest soccer, more focused on defense and working hard, but it is often effective. Its not too different from Yallop’s style , though Yallop emphasizes one-touch and possession more.

Advantage - Even

Intangibles: If anything, the Quakes will be even more pumped up for round 2 in Buck Shaw, knowing what kind of atmosphere to expect. But is the lack of scoring getting into their heads? The Crew have achieved an admirable record to begin the season, but only two of those games have been on the road, one being a loss. They still have to prove that they are not simply a home team, and can win on the road. Grabavoy and Kamara play against their old team, but so do Moreno and O’Rourke. Home advantage will be big for San Jose, as they aim to see how loud the crowd can be when a goal is finally put into the back of the net.

Advantage - Quakes

Key Man: Ned Grabavoy

Its time for Grabavoy to step it up or call it in. He’s had a couple of solid games, but needs to do more if the Quakes are going to get some victories. With attacks fizzling in the middle of the park, and balls being directed towards the flanks and not through the middle, it is no mystery why the Quakes cannot score (hint: its not just the forwards). Grabavoy needs to make runs and not be afraid to play some balls forward. Its not always going to work, but I’d like to believe he has the skills and vision to make it happen.

Projected Lineup:

                Kamara-Peguero

Guerrero-Corrales-Grabavoy-O’Brien

Denton-Garcia-Hernandez-Riley

                       Cannon

Question of the Week: (Comment on this article to give your answers)

If you could replace one current Quakes player with a former Quake, who would you replace and who would the replacement be?