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

Ninety minutes, when translated into soccer terms, is an eternity. And truly our mood and emotions endured a journey of epic proportions before we could finally experience release once again. The first few minutes looked sketchy and the Quakes outmatched. My worst fears of a repeat of the performance against L.A. seemed to be on the verge of being realized. But the Quakes settled into the game and began to assert themselves, maintaining possession and creating chances like they had against Chicago. I was losing hope that we would ever score, however, as chance after chance conspired to hit the crossbar or veer just wide. It seemed obvious that we had been cursed. There was no other explanation. When Glinton’s goal (or so we thought) sent us into premature ecstasy, only to be called back for handball, it was the height of cruelty. I remarked out loud that Gavin Glinton was the leading cause of my high blood pressure (I don’t know if I have high blood pressure, but I was pretty certain at that moment). It wasn’t quite fair as a remark. With a bit more luck, the ball would not have hit Glinton’s arm and he would have been immortalized in Quakes lore as the first goal scorer of the new era. But my statement was not so much a demonization of Glinton, who I have actually been rooting for to succeed, but an expression of how this seeming inability to score, not by any fault of the players, but more so because of the cruelties of chance and destiny, was driving me, and all the other Quakes fans, crazy. When I exclaimed “I can’t take it anymore” after Kamara’s shot was denied by the crossbar, I really meant it. We were doomed to expansion futility.

Luckily, I was wrong. Ronnie O’Brien scored the first goal for the new Quakes after it seemed that yet another chance would go begging, saved by Coundoul. Yet Ronnie took matter into his own hands, followed up the deflection, and told the curse to go to hell. We jumped from our seats, high-fived and cheered. I can only wonder what passer-bys strolling through downtown San Jose thought as they walked by and heard our cries of joy (”Hey, there isn’t a Sharks game today”). Now we were in the new position of having to defend a lead, but I was still so overjoyed that I forgot to be anxious. Besides, this had to be our day. We would not be denied. When Kamara scored after a nice run and follow through (wow, we haven’t seen one of those in a while), curling it around the keeper, it seemed like it was all a beautiful dream. This time fortune smiled on us, Kamara’s shot rebounding just inside the far post into the net. The message was clear: our luck had turned. No one doubted we would be victorious at this point.

A new chapter in Quakes mythology has begun. We were treated to the kind of display we were used to in the past, good one-touch, possession soccer with lots of movement. Most importantly, we were reminded how it feels to get a win. I think the old ghosts have been relegated to the past once and for all. We will always love our heroes of the past, but we’ve got new warriors now. Ronnie, Kei, and the rest of the boys. This one’s for you!

Quakes/Rapids Post-game Analysis

Goalkeepers: Joe Cannon didn’t have too much work to do, but he did have one massive save. LaBrocca’s powerful strike on first glance appeared to have been saved only by the crossbar, but on closer examination Cannon somehow managed to get a fingertip to it and deflect it onto the crossbar. Cannon is amazing. Always has been, always will be. End of story. Coundoul did well, all things considered. He actually minimized the damage, and can’t be faulted much for the two goals that he did let in.

Rapids Forwards vs. Quakes Defense: What can you say? The Quakes defense earned their first clean sheet. Cummings (and Herculez when he came on) were contained for the most part, and the back line looked less shaky and vulnerable than in past outings. Still, improvement is needed in this area. The main problem seems to be a lack of communication among the backline and with Cannon. The skills are there, there’s no question of that. Its just a matter of continuing to develop as a cohesive unit that acts as one.

Quakes Forwards vs. Rapids Defense: A solid outing from Glinton and Kamara. Kamara scored his first goal of the season, and for those of you who have been reading my reports regularly, you know that I have been putting my faith in him since the season began. I believe that with the monkey now off his back, the goals will come for Kamara. Unfortunately for Glinton, I believe that he will be replaced by Peguero. Then again, Yallop is all about chemistry and stability, very much from the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” school, so don’t be surprised if Peguero doesn’t start right away unless he really impresses the coaches in training with his ability to fit into the existing squad. I still would have liked to see Glinton and Kamara get into dangerous positions on a more consistent basis. Glinton has speed and works hard, but his touch could definitely be improved in order to create those opportunities and space for himself to score.

Midfield: Another impressive performance from the Quakes midfield. Here is where they won the battle last week, and were able to dominate the game because of it (despite the loss). The same was true of Saturday’s game. Did I say that the Quakes would have trouble against the Rapids five man midfield? I am glad to eat my words. Maybe I’m carried away with the post-win high, but I believe that this Quakes midfield can match up against any other MLS midfield when they are performing to their potential. Ronnie O’Brien had another good game, and seems to have banished the bad judgement and rust we saw in his first game against L.A. Most importantly, he has demonstrated the willingness to work hard and buy into the team ethic (a question mark when he first arrived). Guerrero had his best outing of the season so far, constantly working his way up the flanks and delivering good balls in. Corrales seemed to stay back a bit more in this match, which I think was a good adjustment, as it allowed him to win more balls and dictate the flow from the midfield, and, vitally, prevented the Quakes from being caught in attack which has been a big problem the past two games. When he feels like he has to do it all, then the midfield suffers. This wasn’t a problem, because Grabavoy had his best game yet as well, getting involved in attacks and distributing the ball (including more forward balls which was my critique of him last week). The Rapids shouldn’t worry, they still have a solid midfield with some youngsters that are still learning. But on the night, they were bested by a Yallop-schooled unit that is perfecting his brand of one-touch, movement soccer. Once they get it fully, this team will be tough to beat.

Coaches: Clearly Yallop had his team prepared and confident for this match. They looked like no one told them that they were on the road. The most impressive thing about this squad is how quickly they are gelling as a team, and how their work-rate has improved to the level Quakes fans expect. Clavijo stuck with what works, which was probably the best decision despite the loss, but his team may have been a bit complacent coming into this match.

Intangibles: The road, altitude, and potentially confidence-depleting lack of a win or goal did not slow the Quakes down in the least. They simply went about their business and focused on the game at hand. That is a good sign for the future.

Man of the Match: Ronnie O’Brien

Hard one to call this week, with so many Quakes player turning in stellar performances. If anything, I have to give the whole team this award, because it truly was a team effort. But I will give it to Ronnie for scoring the first goal, showing true grit and determination to pull the team out of their scoring funk. Its not too early to say that O’Brien will be key for this team, as long as he can stay healthy (fingers crossed), both because of his skills and his, dare I say it, leadership. Honorable mention goes to Ivan Guerrero.

Verdict: Its hard not to feel good about the rest of the season after this win. Is that just the rosy glow of victory or a true indicator of what’s to come? Next week’s game against the Red Bulls will answer this question. The Quakes don’t necessarily have to win, but they do have to show that they can keep putting on these performances week in, and week out. I believe they can, because this team is clearly adopting the Yallop system and ethic with gusto.

Player Ratings:

Joe Cannon - 7 [Made the saves he had to, including an impressive fingertip denial.]

Jason Hernandez - 7 [Solid. Continue to show his potential for getting into attack.]

James Riley - 7 [Good performance.]

Ryan Cochrane - 7 [Continues to improve.]

Nick Garcia - 7 [His hard-nosed reputation is well-earned. But so was E. Rob's.]

Ivan Guerrero - 8 [Best performance yet. Key contributions to the attack.]

Ronnie O’Brien - 8 [Scored first goal for the new Quakes. Worked hard.]

Ramiro Corrales - 8 [Deep-lying adjustment is a good one.]

Ned Grabavoy - 8 [Did his best work so far. Energetic. Better attacking balls.]

Gavin Glinton - 7 [Played hard, but still needs to work on his touch.]

Kei Kamara - 8 [Got his first goal of the season. Continues to improve.]