The San Jose Earthquakes will be traveling to Salt Lake City Friday to take on Real Salt Lake in the two teams’ final match before the MLS All Star break.
San Jose is coming off an incredible win against Toronto FC.
With that win San Jose was able to snap a 7 game winless streak. San Jose will now look to keep the momentum going against Real Salt Lake and below I highlight three keys that San Jose will need to do in order to come out with another win before the break.
1.Get Chris Wondolowski more involved in the attack
It’s no secret that the Earthquakes’ attack has been mediocre this season. Chris Wondolowski doesn’t look like his usual self for San Jose. We are used to seeing Wondolowski wreaking havoc on MLS defenses but in his last few matches, Wondolowski has been a non-factor. In his last three matches Wondolowski has had 0 shots on goal and only 1 dribble attempt.
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The dribble attempt stat does not mean Wondolowski isn’t getting the ball but rather when he gets it, he does nothing with it. The Earthquakes need to find a way to get Wondolowski into open spaces near the box so he can do what we all know he can. If Wondolowski can somehow get out of the funk he’s in then the Earthquakes could cause trouble for Real Salt Lake.
2.Find a way to control the midfield
If San Jose wants their attack to be successful Friday they’ll need to make sure they hold down the midfield. Fatai Alashe and co. will most likely be up against a three man midfield consisting of Kyle Beckerman, Javier Morales, and Luke Mulholland. This three man midfield will look to feed the ball to the outside wingers and striker as they did well in their last match providing five key passes combined.
Fatai Alashe has done well in his center midfield position this season. Alashe plays well as a defensive midfielder as he is able to read and react well to what’s going on around him. Alashe will benefit with having Alberto Quintero and Anibal Godoy along side him as the two players had their two red cards from the last match rescinded. The Earthquakes will need to space out the midfield and get the ball into the middle of the box to succeed.
3.Pressure Real Salt Lake from the start of the match
Real Salt Lake does not have an attack that scares anyone so the Earthquakes need to take advantage of that by putting pressure on Real Salt Lake from the start of the match. If San Jose can manage to score a goal or two in the first half then I like their chances to come out of this game with three points. The problem with the Earthquakes recently has been with their attack and not their defense. The defense has held up well only allowing 8 goals in their last 8 matches.
Last week they did well to contain Toronto FC striker Sebastian Giovinco. With the Earthquakes defense holding up well as of late, that gives their attack a good chance to put pressure on early. All they need to make this happen is to have Chris Wondolowski find open spaces to cause trouble and have Quincy Amarikwa build off of his performance from last week.
This is a match-up that I like a lot for the Earthquakes as their style of play is suited for matches like the one they’ll be playing Friday night. A win against Real Salt Lake would benefit the squad greatly as they’ll be heading into the All Star break only one point behind sixth place.