Brad Evans and Seattle as whole had a night to forget.

By Toby Dunkelberg

By now you’re probably aware that a 10 man San Jose Earthquakes side ended their 16 game winless stretch by coming back from behind to defeat the Seattle Sounders at CenturyLink field. Let that sink in.

The question on everyone’s mind is, how did that happen? How did a San Jose team that finished in the cellar of the Western Conference last year come into CenturyLink field and rob the Sounders of any momentum they gained from their 3-0 win against New England last week? The answer is complicated as always but relies on a few incorrect assumptions as well as a couple of breaks for the Earthquakes.

Right off the bat, let’s get one thing straight, San Jose didn’t steal the three points, they looked the better side for most of the ninety. GM John Doyle stated during the middle of the 2014 season that he wanted to move away from the physical style that led San Jose to the 2012 Supporters’ Shield. Matias Perez Garcia was the first signing under that new prerogative and had a good night yesterday. Doyle went on to finish the revamp with the additions of new designated player Innocent Emeghara and the speedy Sanna Nyassi. He then entrusted those new signings and this drastically different mindset to Earthquakes legend Dominic Kinnear. The veteran coach fulfilled his expectations and has started to morph the side into a solid team.

Kinnear also brought tactics to the table last night against Seattle. He instructed 2015 No. 4 overall SuperDraft pick Fatai Alashe to sit in front of the center backs all night and keep and eye on Clint Dempsey and Obafemi Martins. Alashe delivered on his promise for the most part and kept them relatively silent. Alashe clogged up the center of the park, right where Dempsey and Martins like to combine. Dempsey’s 1’ goal – a record for the fastest goal in Sounder history – was more a result of luck than skill. From then on it took a man advantage for the Sounders as well, as an all out attacking switch to a 3-4-3, in order for them to get their second. Credit must also be given to keeper David Bingham who came up with a couple big saves and successfully commanded a back line with only three natural defenders in it for the better part of 40 minutes.

San Jose has a bevy of speedy attacking talent, and the attention they draw from defenses is only going to make Wondolowski better.

After conceding in the first minute Kinnear instructed his attacking players to pressure Seattle’s new-look back four. That pressure directly led to the next two goals and cut off the time and space that was essential for Seattle’s goals and attack in general last week. The Earthquakes executed their game plan well and were able to use their speed to cash in on the many mistakes the Sounders back line made. This isn’t anything close to the team we saw last year. Take note everyone, when people were saying the Western Conference was going to be tough this year, it’s because of these exact metamorphoses.

That isn’t to say that the win was entirely due to San Jose playing fantastically. The Sounders came off very flat. Sure, there was the first minute heroics but in the past, the Sounders have struggled when going ahead so early. San Jose also seems to have the Sounders number. In their last three match ups, the Earthquakes have gone 2-0-1. In fact, the last team the Quakes won against was coincidentally the Sounders on August 2nd of last year.

The issue for Seattle was that they looked uninspired in the attack due to poor performances across the board in midfield. On the defensive side of the ball they were abysmal. Most of the blame lies with Evans, who consistently gave up the ball in dangerous locations and was directly involved in conceding all three goals. Mears and Marshall were as solid as last week. Gonzalez somehow managed not to be completely exposed by the pacey San Jose wing play, but he required a lot of cover in order to make that happen. As a unit, though, the back line was abysmal.

Seattle’s midfield duo of Pineda and Azira wasn’t all that much better. They came out of the gate dominant and dispossessed anyone in their sights. But after the 30^th minute or so they stopped and the game naturally started to sway towards San Jose. That’s not to say they made mistakes, but they didn’t contribute at the caliber that Sounders fans have come to expect.

This game was once again decided by defense and unfortunately the loss can be largely blamed on one man. After last week there was hope that Brad Evans had proven himself a quick study of the center back position. San Jose, and Wondolowski in particular, showed everyone that there will be more growing pains to come in the Evans to center back experiment. Hopefully the Sounders captain can shake it off and get back to his studies. With Tyrone Mears picking up a slight tear in his hamstring, it seems likely that Evans will be pushed out to right back for at least a week or two. He may not get another look at center back in the month of March. When it rains, it pours; the best thing for Evans would be to try again right away, but that’s not an option anymore.

This was a game Seattle will want to forget but one that the rest of the Western Conference needs to pay attention to. San Jose is no joke, and they’re only going to get better as time goes on.