Quakes Quickie: How to Make a Howler

Photo credit: ISI Photos / San Jose Earthquakes

There were many turning points in San Jose’s first victory of 2022 on April 23rd, when they defeated Seattle Sounders 4-3. At a high level, it was rewarding to see the Earthquakes not be the team handing away points: when Joao Paulo switches off, when there’s a stoppage-time penalty, when the goalkeeper commits a howler – it is nice to be the team taking points from other folks’ mistakes, instead of the other way around.

But more about that howler:

First off, it’s not in that clip but there was a great buildup to get the ball to Cristian Espinoza isolated on the wing. Francisco Calvo, who I rag on quite a bit, did a great job moving the ball around with Eric Remedi and then slicing an entry ball to Jamiro Monteiro. I’d be unfair if I didn’t give dap for that.

Second, Jeremy Ebobisse’s run makes this goal. One of the marks of a top-level striker is making thankless runs like this. There is a near-zero chance that Ebobisse’s going to get a goal, but he takes the entire backline with him, runs around Yeimar’s back forcing Stefan Frei to step up, and makes a ton of room for Cade Cowell’s run across the 18 (which, is maybe where Espinoza ought to have gone with this one):

Third and finally, the Earthquakes might have done their research? Marcos Lopez scored on a similar dead ball a couple of years ago, catching Frei near post (at 3:16 in the video below):

In both situations, Stefan Frei is way too square to the ball, conceding the near post in order to defend the cross. It’s the sort of thing a goalkeeper does if they’re more concerned about the fox in the box (Ebobisse, or Chris Wondolowski) than the man with the ball. Espinoza capitalized on that disrespect: aiming at that near shoulder basically guarantees that the ball will spill in the net. If not the net, then Jebo’s feet.

A low, mean, driven ball (which is basically Espinoza’s specialty) into that spot is gonna give a goalkeeper fits. Even one of Frei’s stature.

So that’s how you defeat a good team: eat up their mistakes, play exhaustively, and be smart at the margins. It is not rocket science, but it has also evaded this team over the past few years. There is still a lot of improvement left to make, but “doing it well if you know you can do it” is a great step to take.