SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Given their expansion status, the San Jose Earthquakes' journey to respectability has been swift. Even as the calendar ventures deeper into October, the reborn Quakes still find themselves part of the playoff conversation, something that the three prior expansion sides didn't come close to accomplishing.
Yet time is running out on San Jose, and unless they can fashion a victory in Houston on Wednesday night, its postseason hopes will be all but extinguished.
Of course, even if San Jose somehow escapes Houston with a win, a perfect convergence of results would still have to occur for the Quakes to make the MLS Cup Playoffs. But manager Frank Yallop is intent on buttressing the confidence in his side, even as a four-game winless streak has brought the team's momentum to a halt.
"We're not afraid to go out and play anybody," said Yallop. "It's not like we've sat back in the last four games and got hammered. We've played fine. ... We've just got to let it go and forget about all that other stuff."
San Jose certainly felt like they did enough in last Saturday's 1-0 loss to Chivas USA to get a draw, if not the full three points. The Quakes were much more energetic in attack than they had been in their two previous games against Real Salt Lake and FC Dallas, yet they were unable to translate their territorial dominance into goals.
"I just think our play in the final third hasn't been good in the last three games," said Yallop. "That's what is missing from our game at the moment. Goals come in bunches, and sometimes teams dry up."
One way of getting the goals flowing again is for the Quakes to get better service to midfielder Darren Huckerby. In previous games, San Jose had plenty of success finding the Englishman with long cross-field passes that caught opposition defenses napping. But Chivas was able to either slow down or cut out San Jose's attempts to switch the point of attack, and Huckerby found himself more starved of service than he had been in previous games.
"We've got to play well and not just switch it to Darren, but slip him in with good passes also," said Yallop.
That goes for the Quakes forward line as well, who have largely been kept in check over the last several weeks, and with Ryan Johnson still likely to be sidelined by a hamstring injury, more pressure will be put on Arturo Alvarez and Scott Sealy to shoulder more of the goalscoring burden.
Finding the requisite breakthrough could prove difficult given the dynamics of the Western Conference table. When combined with Houston's 0-0 draw with D.C. United, San Jose's result allowed Chivas to creep within two points of the first-place Dynamo, although Houston has a game in hand. Now, rather than use Wednesday's match as a chance to rest some of his players, it's likely that Houston head coach Dominic Kinnear will employ most of his first-choice lineup.
Not that Houston needs any more motivation heading into the game. San Jose has managed a 1-0-1 record against the Dynamo so far this season, and emotions ran high in both matches. Case in point was Brian Ching's goal celebration following his equalizer in San Jose on Sept. 13, when he gestured at the Quakes fans for some taunts directed at Houston bench earlier in the match. Yallop is expecting Houston to have their game faces firmly in place on Wednesday.
"They're not coasting at all," said Yallop of Houston. "That team is very competitive; they want to win every game."
Given the dire straits the Quakes find themselves in, it will be interesting to see just how much risk Yallop is willing to take if he finds his team tied late in the match. But the Quakes head coach indicated that the team's level of aggressiveness is something he'll manage as the game goes on.
"We won't become desperate," said Yallop. "You can't. You've still got to play the game; you can't play two at the back and have everyone else go forward from the start. We'll see how the game goes."
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