As the final whistle blew on Sunday afternoon, the Earthquakes supporters celebrated the seeming end to a drought. The Earthquake’s win seemed symbolic, as the rain soaked pitch signified the Golden State turning a page on the difficulties of the five-year-long drought that has had the state of California on the ropes. As the rain poured from the heavens, and the wind gusted, the San Jose Earthquakes fought hard to pick up their second win in as many matches. Taking three points Sunday ended the drought of wins against Portland that dated back to 2013. The Earthquakes win on Sunday will give a lot of hope and optimism to the supporters of San Jose. We’re going to take a look at 3 major factors in San Jose’s win.
Posession With A Purpose
The San Jose Earthquakes held the majority of possession yesterday. Holding 53% possession yesterday was a nice improvement from the match a week prior, where San Jose held a measly 45% possession against Colorado. Portland isn’t known for dominating possession, but they tend to control really well where the possession came from. San Jose dictated where their possession was, and dictated the game the way they wanted it to be played. Another thing that separated the Earthquakes was their pass completion percentage was just a few ticks higher than Portland’s. The Earthquakes completed nearly 100 more passes than Portland according to statistical website whoscored.com. While Portland had more “key passes,” San Jose’s patience paid off as they completed more “accurate passes” than Portland. Their patience resulted in double the amount of shots on goal, and to no shock, double the goals.
Shot Quality
Another major factor in the Earthquake’s win was shot location. The Earthquake’s shot chart showed they actually got a shot or two away from inside the six yard box. Not did they have a few close chances, all but one of their shots from outside the 18 hit the target. Portland didn’t have one chance within the six yard box, but carried most of their shots inside the 18 yard box. While they got off about 16 shots, half of them were off target, and another 6 were blocked. Portland simply was not accurate enough in finishing shots, which is a common criticism of the Timbers. Outside of Fanendo Adi, they don’t really have another finisher. The Earthquakes have one of the top five goal scorers in MLS history in Chris Wondolowski, and his quality in and around the 18 was noticed yesterday.
Fatai Alashe’s Return
I’m not sure how much more I can emphasize the importance of Fatai Alashe to the San Jose Earthquakes. He goes incredibly unnoticed for being a difference maker on this team. Alashe’s return doesn’t necessarily equate to what he does statistically, although he was brilliant. He had a perfect tackling success rate and completed 85% of his passes. His role in the midfield is much different from the typical holding midfielder. Alashe tends to sit deep and provide cover for the back line. His heat map shows that he isn’t the roaming box to box midfielder most people expect him to be. That job belongs to Anibal Godoy. What Fatai Alashe does is free Anibal Godoy to roam the center of the field and put in tackle after tackle. Godoy’s heatmap from yesterday showed just that. Godoy’s player rating actually won him MOTM on whoscored.com, despite Quincy Amarikwa’s stunning goal. Godoy completed nearly double the amount of passes that Alashe did, and made four times the amount of tackles as Alashe as well. The return of Fatai Alashe truly frees Anibal Godoy to do what he does best, and that played a significant factor in the Earthquakes ability to break up and hold onto possession.
A look ahead:
The next 5 matches for the San Jose Earthquakes: Away v. LA Galaxy 3/19, Home v. DC United 4/3, Away v. FC Dallas 4/10, Home v RBNY 4/14, Away v. Portland 4/17.
