One point, three chasers
San Diego FC hold ninth place in the Western Conference and the final playoff spot that comes with it. The cushion is a single point over three clubs. They host San Jose on Wednesday knowing a slip hands that place to somebody else.
Mikey Varas refuses to run the numbers out loud. “We’ve been talking about every game being a final and it’s about accumulating points right now,” the San Diego coach said. “When you start counting the points is a little down the road, but we are very close to it.”
San Diego (8-9-6, 30 points) arrive off a 1-0 defeat at Orlando City on Saturday that ended a two-match winning run built on home victories over Colorado and the LA Galaxy. Marcus Ingvartsen carries the attack with 11 goals and five assists.
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San Jose keep giving points away
The Earthquakes sit sixth on 35 points and look nothing like a team in that position. San Jose have not won since the World Cup break, a run of 0-5-3 across eight matches, and have drawn the last two.
Saturday summed it up. Beau Leroux put them ahead in the eighth minute at Austin, then Guilherme Biro equalised in the sixth minute of second-half stoppage time. Bruce Arena did not soften it afterwards. “We’ve wasted too many games this year at the end,” the Quakes coach said. “The lesson to learn is how to close a game.”
Niko Tsakiris set up the goal for his team-leading eighth assist. The midfielder had groin surgery on May 12 and only returned to the lineup on Aug. 15, so the sharpness is still arriving. “Game by game, that connection is going to continue to grow,” he said. Preston Judd remains the main threat with 11 goals and three assists.
What Wednesday settles
Nothing mathematically, and a great deal practically. San Diego still control their own qualification, which is more than several of the clubs breathing on them can say. Varas is selling calm to a dressing room that has ten weeks of pressure left in front of it. “I want to be calm for these guys, because everything is within our grasp.”
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