As the season nears the All-Star Game midpoint, the middle of the Major League Soccer standings is a muddle of many teams. Yet there's a clear top and bottom, with the San Jose Earthquakes bringing up the final spot.
After conceding a late goal Saturday in a disheartening loss to Chivas USA, team members assessed their performance. There were some encouraging moments, such as a much-improved second 45 minutes.
"We adjusted and did better in the second half," said coach Frank Yallop. "I felt we should have got something out of the game tonight. They're very disappointed tonight."
It was, in some ways, a microcosm of a frustrating season for the Quakes.
"Some of the games that we've had, we should have got more points," said Yallop. "But we're bottom of the league. The table doesn't lie, so obviously we're doing something wrong in not winning more games."
To goalkeeper Joe Cannon, the team's biggest problem was agonizingly obvious, in the latest match versus Chivas USA as well as many other games for the Quakes this year.
"We didn't score (Saturday)," Cannon pointed out. "That's the thing. We're not giving up many goals, but we're not scoring any a lot of the time."
San Jose's strength has been their solid defensive effort -- which has kept them in many games this season, even if they ultimately fall short.
Cannon pointed to a startling statistic. "We have individual players in this league who are outscoring us as a team," Cannon said. The Quakes have 10 goals on the season, which would rank them tied for second in the MLS Golden Boot, behind LA's Landon Donovan (11 goals), level with Luciano Emilio (D.C. United) and Edson Buddle (LA).
Help is on the way, though, as Yallop and the coaching staff look to bring in other players. Though he wouldn't comment specifically on the possibility of Carlos Ruiz, Yallop did confirm the team's interest in Brazilian midfielder Francisco Lima.
"When you have a chance of adding someone like that to your team, you do it," said Yallop. "He's come in for a couple of days of training and he's looked good and fit."
It was hard for the team to look ahead too far, having just suffered a bitter loss.
"The 87th (minute) is a brutal time," said Cannon of giving up a goal at that point.
Another thing that upset the San Jose players was the manner in which the goal was set up. Chivas USA's Atiba Harris ignored the injury of Ramiro Corrales, and then earned the foul that let to the free kick goal by Ante Razov.
"If a team's attacking, they don't have to put it out, but I think that in the spirit of the game, he could have done it," said Yallop.
John Cunliffe, a former Chivas USA player now with the Quakes, said that's what he would have done in the same situation.
"Generally speaking, yes," said the English forward. "At the same time, we had a couple of chances that we didn't take, so that's on us as much as much as the ref or them not putting the ball out."
The inability of the forwards to produce puts pressure on the team's defensive effort. San Jose has scored just one goal total in its last five games.
"Guys in the back are thinking they can't make a mistake," said Cannon. "The thought in our heads is that if we give up a goal, that's the game. I can't go up front and score goals. We're not creating enough. We're not scoring enough."
Cunliffe put the both the credit for the defensive effort and the blame for the attack on everyone.
"It's a team game," Cunliffe said. "You defend as a team and attack as a team. Obviously, the emphasis is on the forwards when you're not scoring. It's tough. We'll just keep working on it in practice. We need a couple of things to fall our way, really."
The bright spot for San Jose this season might still lie ahead, as the Earthquakes kick off a run of seven home games in a nine-match stretch over two months, beginning with Saturday's game against the Colorado Rapids at Buck Shaw Stadium.
"We're looking forward to getting home now and getting a stretch of games," said Yallop.
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