SAN JOSE, Calif. – The San Jose Earthquakes’ revolving door at right midfield looks like it will continue to spin.
Coming off a badly unfocused 3-0 defeat at New York, Quakes coach Frank Yallop is understandably considering making changes to his lineup in advance of Saturday's home match against winless Chivas USA (4 pm ET, TeleFutura).
One such move could be the migration of midfielder Khari Stephenson – a staple in the middle of the field since joining the Quakes in August – to the right wing, which has given San Jose precious little in the way of production for much of this season.
Stephenson would be the third player to start in that role over six matches, after Joey Gjertsen opened the first three games there and Bobby Convey the next two. And that doesn’t even include the mid-game switches which put Stephenson, Chris Wondolowski and Chris Leitch wide right at various points during the last three matches.
“I’ve played there before,” Stephenson told MLSsoccer.com. “The coach sees qualities in me that he can use out there, so that’s what I’ll bring: I’m good on the ball, I’m a good passer of the ball. I have good vision, so I can always see what’s going on.”
The 30-year-old Stephenson has indeed played on the wing previously, yet not all that often. He spent some time on both the left and right wings for Aalesunds FK in Norway, but most often played in the center, as he has in San Jose.
[inline_node:333592]The Quakes have shown a preference for keeping Wondolowski off the wing, where he moved last season to make room for Geovanni, San Jose’s first Designated Player. With Simon Dawkins already a mainstay as an attacking center mid, that would leave Stephenson as the odd man out.
“If Khari does end up playing out there, he can play there, no problem,” Yallop said. “I think he looked decent out there. For me, he can use his athleticism a little more, maybe, because he is fast and strong. So we’ll see.”
Part of the reason the Quakes have had such a high rate of turnover at right mid and beyond has been the lack of results. Yallop likes to keep the same lineup intact when his team is coming off a win, but since that’s only happened once out of five matches, it hasn’t been very applicable.
Adding to that is the fact that San Jose’s top bench players are also rated highly by Yallop, along with a few guys coming back from injury, meaning the margin of error to lose a spot is smaller than normal.
For example, Scott Sealy, who played 26 minutes against New York, is back at full strength, and could start up top for the Quakes on Saturday. And target forward Steven Lenhart, who just started training this week after dealing with the death of his father, might make his Quakes debut.
“Because we have a lot of good players here, there are times when players have to play out of position,” Stephenson said. “So it is what it is. Because it’s not just one fixed 11; it’s 13, 14, 15 guys that are always interchangeable.”
Geoff Lepper covers the Earthquakes for MLSsoccer.com. He can be reached at sanjosequakes@gmail.com. On Twitter: @sjquakes
