San Jose needs a win. Here’s how they can do it

There are coaches in soccer who only practice transition: switching quickly from the attack to putting together a defense, or from winning the ball to pressing the attack. It seems clear, seven games in, that San Jose is not one of those teams.

For the second straight game, San Jose kept it close on the road only to be devastated by counter-attacking soccer. Last week, an errant pass by Jackson Yueill ended a 10-pass sequence.

You can see what he was trying to do. If the ball gets through to Quincy Amarikwa, then he and Vako have a 2v1 on Harrison Afful on the left side. The other option wasn't bad either though: getting the ball to Nick Lima out wide and letting him either restart or get a cross into Vako at the far post was lower- stakes but likely a wiser play.

Unfortunately, the errant pass went into Jonathan Mensah. Columbus quickly got the ball up to Pedro Santos (the right-most player in the picture) – with the whole midfield up, there was nobody to mark him – and the counter for the game-losing goal was on.

SJ goes into this weekend absolutely needing a win. Fortunately, Portland might be the sort of team that can make that happen. Under new coach Gio Savarese, the Timbers had an awful start to the season but have won their past two (which were also their only home games so far). It has had a lot to do with getting healthy -- Diego Chara and Fanendo Adi have both returned to the lineup -- and a bit to do with finding a formation that gets attackers Diego Valeri and Sebastian Blanco into space without opening up too many gaps on Portland’s defensive end.

Who are the Earthquakes so far?

The Earthquakes are immensely frustrating so far, that much is for sure. Despite being better at seemingly every position than they were in years past, they appear a step slower and less confident than everyone they’ve played so far.

Part of that may be the opposition: Sporting KC, NYC and Orlando are expected to be three of the better teams this year, and East Coast trips are never easy. If this is your answer, it may be comforting to Quakes fans but it also demands that they take a ton of points from their May slate against a bunch of Western Conference bottom dwellers as well as moribund DC United.

Part of the slow start may be that this team is still gelling, but then again San Jose was not the only team to go through an offseason overhaul.

And another part – or what I think is most of it – is San Jose’s overall slowness. This team may miss Marco Ureña more than they think: see how his runs open up acres of space for Diego Rossi and Carlos Vela down I-5. Ureña is hardly a goalscorer, but he opens up channels for those who are. LAFC is going to miss him. San Jose does, and without him or the perhaps-sick Tommy Thompson and the increasingly-unplayable Shea Salinas, San Jose is opting for a methodical approach.

Neither Vako nor Magnus Eriksson are traditional wingers, but they have been by far San Jose’s most effective players so far: the only two with expected goals + assists (xG+xA) of over 3. Magnus leads the team in key passes and assists, and is also winning aerials and fouls. He had a couple of great looks against Columbus last week and should only get more as the season goes on. But he won’t be leading any breaks in the transition, and Vako won’t either.

The biggest change last week was moving Florian Jungwirth to left back. And while it resulted in the most multi-dimensional San Jose attack so far this season (Flo had by far the most touches and most passes of any LB so far, as well as the prettiest cross any Quakes play has put on offer), Flo didn’t always look like a natural-born left back.

This also meant less grit in center defense. Jackson Yueill only had one tackle on the night. Both Wil Trapp and Federico Higuain -- the two players San Jose absolutely did not want on the ball -- nearly set career highs in successful passes.

This is San Jose so far. Their best defender is Flo Jungwirth, but he may be their best defender at three different positions. Their best passer is Anibal Godoy, but he needs players to make runs for him. Three of their best attackers – Jackson Yueill, Magnus Eriksson and Chris Wondolowski – all settle into the same spot on the field. The result is passing maps that look like this:

Is Portland the solution?

The Portland Timbers have been doing the same thing for a few years now: Diego Chara breaks your attackers’ shins, Fanendo Adi breaks your defenders’ shoulders, and Diego Valeri breaks your supporters’ hearts. It’s a reliable formula that’s been expanded by Sebastian Blanco acting like a waterbug and allowing Valeri to sneak into space.

That said, they simply are not as good this year. The back line has been patchy, and if Danny Hoesen can move side-to-side as well as he did against Columbus, he should be able to lead the attack and make gaps for everyone else to run through. Neither Zarek Valentin nor Alvas Powell are the sort of fullbacks that have given San Jose fits all year. In fact, the team is largely lacking the wing play that have been the cause of half of the Earthquakes’ defensive crises.

The other half, though, is open looks in Zone 14. Diego Valeri can kill San Jose if they give him the space they’ve given Kevin Molino, Maxi Moralez, and Federico Higuain.

One answer here is to move Jungwirth back to defensive midfield and see if he can keep Portland locked down. Another is to put Fatai Alashe back there doing his best Diego Chara impersonation. A third is to give that responsibility to Anibal Godoy and let Jackson Yueill start the attack.

San Jose still has not figured out who their best personnel is, and how to best situate them. In a game they need in order to begin an ascent from the bottom of the table, that’s a bit worrying.

If they can find the right defensive solution to clamp down on Valeri, and use Vako and Magnus to keep Chara moving side-to-side instead of vertically through the San Jose attack, there is no reason they can’t lead a victory chant at the end of Saturday night, without even requiring heroic Quincy Amarikwa chips. San Jose needs a win, and they need to figure out who is best suited to delivering one.