In his first month back coaching in Major League Soccer, Bruce Arena’s latest team, the San Jose Earthquakes, have played each of their opponents pretty evenly.
The opening two games in which his side ceded nearly 70% possession, they won. The last two, in which that stat has flipped, they lost. Six points out of four games.
It’s an oversimplified (and flawed) view of the situation — because on the balance of play, the Quakes deserved at least a draw in each loss — but it’s still telling in what lies in the road ahead.
The MLS season is long. And while the dazzling 4-0 win against Real Salt Lake was a feel-good moment, there will be more nights like the 2-1 loss to the Colorado Rapids at home on Saturday night.
San Jose controlled much of the match but never once had the lead. With star playmaker Hernan Lopez sidelined for the next three to four months, Arena re-oriented his team from a 3-5-2 to a 4-2-3-1, with striker Chicho Arango dropping into the midfield.
The results were dazzling for a 35 minute spell, as fullbacks Jamar Ricketts and Nick Lima pushed up high. With the front four tucked inside, the attacking ideas were simple and clear. Create overloads and cut the ball back to someone arriving late into the box.
The Rapids were on their heels as the hosts peppered Zack Steffen with nearly a dozen shots in the first half. The U.S. National Team goalkeeper made some nice saves, but the Quakes too often struggled to find the right final ball.
No where was this more evident than in the 64th minute, when Arango and Josef Martinez found themselves sprinting with the ball two-on-one against a backpedaling Rapids defender on a breakaway. The game was tied 1-1.
Had this been five years ago, perhaps the duo would have finished the play off with their pace, but on this night, the younger Rapids were able to recover and surround Arango before he could receive a poor cutback pass from Martinez.
Six minutes later, the visitors unbuttoned what had been a disciplined Quakes’ backline with a simple through ball that led to a simple tap-in for second half substitute Calvin Harris. 2-1 Rapids.
“There’s just no excuses for that to be honest with you,” Arena said after the game.
Even as the atmosphere has lifted around him at PayPal Park (where fans actually chanted his name during the home opener), the oldest coach in MLS has maintained a steady demeanor. Never too up. Never too down. He often likes to remind everyone that the season “doesn’t start to really get into action until about August every year.”
The Quakes have yet to test themselves against any of the league’s elite, but in the four contests they’ve played so far, they’ve at least proven that they are no longer broken like last year’s team, which dug itself into an early hole and never recovered — eventually setting the dubious record of most goals ever conceded in a season.
Arena said he would be pragmatic with his tactics, and he has kept his word for the most part outside of a few moments where his team was out of position, hunting a goal. What’s immediately noticeable is that they defend well as an entire team, with a midfielder or fullback always dropping in to make back three or five.
San Jose fans should be hopeful that the days of conceding four, five, six goals in a game are gone.
But especially without Lopez, this team is also not as physically imposing as say, the LA Galaxy, Atlanta United, or next week’s opponent Charlotte FC, which can overwhelm teams with athleticism and talent. Instead, think of the Quakes as a solid team with 20 or so competent squad players.
The truth is, as great of a storyline they are, the likes of Arango and Martinez arrived in San Jose as somewhat fading stars. The former struggled mightily during the second half of Real Salt Lake’s campaign last year and the latter is seven years removed from his MVP campaign.
On the bright side, Arena has made good on his promise to trust youth. Ricketts, midfielder Beau Leroux and forward Ousseni Bouda have all emerged from training camp obscurity into cemented roles in the starting XI.
“With Bruce’s tactics, I think we’re a confident group going into every game,” said midfielder Ian Harkes, who has started every game since arriving in an offseason trade with Arena’s former team New England. “That’s why we’re so disappointed right now.”
About the Author: Kevin V. Nguyen is a business and sports journalist based in the Bay Area. Follow him on X/Twitter @KevinNguyen_89 or on Bluesky @kevinvnguyen.bsky.social
