Eleven minutes that came at a cost
August 1, Cincinnati. San Jose led 2-1 with 11 minutes left. The Earthquakes then shipped three goals and lost 4-2. From potential Western Conference leaders, they dropped to third, a point behind Vancouver and LAFC.
Bruce Arena made no excuses. “We have to be a smarter team, communicate better, defend as a unit,” the head coach said. “I don’t think we should have won that match, but we could have. We made too many mistakes.”
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Nine wins in 10, then one in eight
San Jose opened the season with nine wins from their first 10 league games. Across their last eight: one win, four defeats, three draws. Since the restart after the World Cup, winless in three.
The defense is where it has gone wrong. Eighteen conceded and 12 scored during that run. Thirty-three points still looks healthy on the table, and almost all of it was banked in the spring.
The fixture list offers no relief. St. Louis come to PayPal Park with 26 points and, more to the point, six wins and two draws from their last eight. They have not lost in two months, their most recent result a 1-1 draw with Real Salt Lake on August 1.
Damet is 36, and it is working
Yoann Damet is in his first season as head coach. Fifteen scored, six conceded across the unbeaten stretch. The work speaks for itself.
One question hangs over it. Marcel Hartel, the club’s top scorer with six goals and three assists, has just left for Hannover 96 in the Bundesliga. “He’s a player I really enjoyed working with,” Damet said. “He’ll leave a gap, on and off the pitch. He’s had a big influence this year, so it’ll be a period of transition.”
The head-to-head favors the visitors: six wins in seven meetings with San Jose. The one exception came on April 25, when Timo Werner struck in the 83rd minute for a 3-2 Earthquakes win.
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