As far as first impressions go, Joseph Paintsil has left little doubt that he will be a force in Major League Soccer for years to come. The LA Galaxy’s newest $9 million star, by way of Genk, spent last week tormenting Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami on the flank with his blistering pace and sheer power.
This week, in front of a sold out crowd at PayPal Park on Saturday, the 26-year-old made an even better impression, burying the home team San Jose Earthquakes with a goal and an assist in a 3-1 romp that felt less like a Clasico, and more of a reminder—that there are levels to this game, still.
Playing predominantly on the right hand side, the Ghanaian international routinely found himself running at a backline that couldn’t cope with his athleticism. By the time the Quakes’ midfield realized what was happening, the ball was already in the back of the net. One from a screamer off his left foot in the 18th minute, and the other a simple tap-in for Dejan Joveljić, created out of the winger’s movement.
Juxtapose that to the Quakes’ biggest signing this offseason: 33-year-old Amahl Pellegrino from Bodø/Glimt, who was brought in on a non-designated player deal to replace starlet Cade Cowell. Despite coming to the U.S. with impressive credentials—like back-to-back golden boots in the Norwegian top-flight—the left winger’s first moments in MLS haven’t elicited anything outside of a shrug.
Unfortunately, even with Pellegrino in it, San Jose’s front three still looks a lot like last year’s version, which outside of Christian Espinoza—who himself was uncharacteristically wasteful on this night—became more and more inefficient in front of goal as the season went on.
The Quakes, nearly unbeatable at home last year, were picked apart by the Galaxy on the counter this time, leaving them with zero points to show for their much ballyhooed about patterns of play after two games. Former Galaxy product Preston Judd pulled back a goal for the Quakes in the 69th.
“Upon reflection, maybe we showed them too much respect,” Earthquakes head coach Luchi Gonzalez said after the game. “Maybe the better way to respect would have been to be more aggressive and physical with them. Those things are more important than any other tactics you can have.”
While the San Jose brass will argue they have enough to win on any given night, the elephant in the room remains the last designated player spot on the roster, which remains unfilled after attacking midfielder Jamiro Monteiro was allowed to leave.
A day before the Cali Clasico kickoff, reports began circulating in Mexican and U.S. media that 35-year-old Carlos Vela, the Galaxy killer himself, was in negotiations to join the team. However, those familiar with the situation say Vela’s former team, LAFC, remain in pole position to re-sign the Mexican star and former league MVP.
Would a creative number 10 prevented the team from getting sliced through like softened butter though? Probably not. Rather, those questions should be posed to Jackson Yueill and Carlos Gruezo, who were supposed to assert control in the middle of the field but instead ceded it.
Instead of them, it was the Galaxy’s Riqui Puig—now donning the number 10 shirt—who was determined to influence the game everywhere he could, going so far as to pick up the ball near his own backline on multiple occasions. Paintsil and record-signing Gabriel Pec are the dangerous goal threats out wide, but the team so clearly runs through the 24-year-old Spaniard now.
For all the talk of Messi, the Galaxy’s trio represent the new era of MLS, where European cornerstones are recruited to play their best years in the U.S. New GM Will Kuntz is implementing that philosophical shift after a decade in which the team leaned on aging stars with little success to show for it.
Outside of grazing Vela’s hand last week, the Quakes, for the most part, have never had that luxury. GM Chris Leitch should be applauded for getting the team back on a positive trajectory but his biggest challenge will be making this team a dangerous side with limited funds.
The good news is that it is still too early to draw massive conclusions out of this group. Pellegrino, who just got his visa sorted out last week, still has an entire season to establish himself as a true threat opposite of club talisman Espinoza.
But first, PayPal Park will have to become a fortress again. Last year, the team collected 8 wins, 7 draws and only 2 losses at home. Many of those draws could have easily been wins, had the team found a way to be more clinical in front of goal.
And we can snark at their playoff berth last year as only being a glorified play-in game, but take a peek up the table. A team like Houston, which is arguably less talented or at least comparable to the Quakes, finished in the 4th seed and hosted a playoff game—something Leitch and Gonzalez have said is the team’s goal this year.
They had an almost identical home versus away form as San Jose, but the main difference being they found three more wins at home. Had the Quakes done that, we’d be talking about them in an entirely different light. But what have you done for me lately?
Notebook Dump:
*Journalism 101: Keep an eye on the ongoing referee lockout, which is very different from a strike—where organized workers leverage their collective power and withhold their labor. Here, MLS pushed out its own referees in arguably its most important season to date. A leaked memo came out last week showing MLS executives were reportedly “pleased with the performance” of the replacement refs so far this year despite having to replace one ahead of the Inter Miami and Orlando City clash because of a potential conflict of interest. Yikes.
*US Open Cup: And so much for “growing the game.” Last week, it was announced that only eight out of possible 26 MLS teams will have first teams participate in the nation’s oldest tournament. For their part, San Jose are committed to the competition. “It’s a tournament we take seriously,” Gonzales said. “We haven’t won it before and it’s something we want to do.”
*Last summer, Galaxy head coach Greg Vanney and I talked briefly at Stanford Stadium about the struggles of playing without two DPs, then Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez and Douglas Costa. Now a season removed from that time, here is where he sees his team now:
“We’re able to control games in the middle of the field now and then we have so much pace on the outside. You saw with Dejan’s goals these past two weeks—those were possible because we were able to get behind the opposition. We have more layers to our team, more ways to be dangerous. We’ve become a harder team to play against. It becomes about what you are going to try and take away from us and how we get to respond to that. That’s just not something we had last year.”
About the Author: Kevin V. Nguyen is a business and sports journalist. He has covered soccer for The Guardian, The Sacramento Bee, and The San Francisco Standard. Follow him on Twitter @KevinNguyen_89
