Coach Dominic Kinnear returns to Houston to face his former team.
After playing to a wild 1-1 tie against Real Salt Lake, the San Jose Earthquakes travel to Houston to face a Dynamo team who will be looking for a different result after losing 4-1 at home against FC Dallas. With both teams on 10 points and sitting on a 4 way tie for 6th in the West, the Quakes and Dynamo will be fighting to stay on top in Dominic Kinnear’s first competitive match against his former club.
San Jose experienced both sides of lady luck on Friday as a missed offside call let a goal for Wondolowski stand only to have the game tied up on an own goal by Victor Bernardez.
Truly the Quakes were the lesser team in Sandy, Utah as they only completed 60% of their passes and were out possessed 61%-39%. They can hang their hat on the defensive performance they put in though, holding RSL to zero shots on goal and only 7 shots in total. Aside from the misplayed ball by Bernardez, San Jose would be thrilled to get another performance like that out of their back 4.
On the flip side of that coin is a Houston squad who won the possession battle 65%-35%, outshot Dallas, and completed 85% of her passes yet had their back 4 picked apart by the Toro’s attack. The porous Dynamo defense has now given up 8 goals in their last 2 games and could be in trouble against the speed of the Earthquakes if they can’t remedy the issue. Returning David Horst to the lineup over Raul Rodriguez could be the fix they need to seal up the holes as well as improve on their counter-attack defense.
See: Brad Davis: We have to get ready to play on Tuesday and win a damn game.
If Kinnear applies the same tactics as he did against RSL, we could see the Quakes looking to take advantage of Houston’s weakness to the counter-attack. Following a similar blueprint as Dallas might not be as effective for San Jose simply because they lack the same attacking prowess. Dallas has almost twice as many goals, scoring 15 so far to San Jose’s 8. Kinnear needs players such as Matias Perez Garcia and Adam Jahn, who are both scoreless this year, to step up in the attack and help take some of the load off of Wondolowski.
One of the biggest stories in this game though will be the return of Dominic Kinnear to Houston, the club where he spent his last 9 years as head coach. Kinnear left in the offseason to return to his former club and has made changes on the field that have gotten San Jose back on the long path to their former glory.
When Kinnear and his Earthquakes relocated to Houston after the 2005 season in which they won the Supporters’ Shield, he brought a powerhouse squad that won back to back MLS Cups in 2006 and 2007. The way Houston’s first season without Kinnear has gone, they may be lamenting letting the coach leave as they have only won 2 of their first 9 games this season.
The match will be broadcast at 5:30 PT on ROOT-SW in Houston and CSN-Bay Area Plus in San Jose.
