SAN JOSE, Calif. — Clean sheets are back in vogue for the San Jose Earthquakes.
After finishing last season with just one shutout in their final 15 matches, the Quakes already have two in three games in 2012. San Jose’s goals-against average of 0.33 is tied with Sporting Kansas City for second-best in MLS, and the Quakes are still unblemished in terms of open play.
Adding Víctor Bernárdez (above, right) at center back has clearly been an upgrade – the Honduran international brings priceless experience and a steady hand – but the improvement goes far beyond the impact of a single personnel change.
Three matches is too small a sample size to know for sure if the Quakes have rediscovered the form of 2010, when they recorded a franchise-record 13 clean sheets.
But there’s been no indications of the kind of errors that plagued San Jose last year.
“We really have that confidence now, so we feel that we can see games out, where last year it was almost [a case of] waiting for something to happen,” Quakes forward Chris Wondolowski said. “You have so many things that go wrong throughout the whole season, you’re almost waiting for that. This year, we feel that we’re going to make our own luck. We’re going to see games out. We’re not going to make dumb mistakes.
WATCH: Quakes shut down Toronto FC, 3-0
“Last year, we defended well, but we’d have five or 10 mental lapses here and there that would cost us. And we got punished for our mistakes.”
Goalkeeper Jon Busch (above, left), who was peppered with shots last year, sees the change as a mental turnaround for the Quakes as a whole.
“When you see guys like Wondo coming back and heading balls out, and [holding midfielder] Sammy Cronin challenging for balls in the box and blocking shots, it gets addicting,” Busch told MLSsoccer.com.
For head coach Frank Yallop, the goals-allowed number doesn’t tell the whole story. He’s also very pleased with the fact that San Jose have limited teams to only 9.0 shots per match, which ranks third in the league – even though the Quakes have led early against New England (15th minute) and Toronto FC (ninth), forcing more action from the opposition.
“Obviously, we’re going to concede goals, because that’s the nature of our game, but we’ve not given up many chances,” Yallop said. “That’s the big thing for me. It’s not like we’ve been completely slaughtered in the game and we don’t have a goal go in [against us]. That would be like, “Well, is that good or bad?’”
So far, it’s been all good, even at the other end of the pitch. San Jose hung three goals on Toronto last weekend, including a couple of counterattack strikes to put the game away in the second half.
“The team is nicely balanced, we’ve used the ball well, we’ve looked dangerous on the break,” Yallop said. “And I think other teams are maybe a bit wary of that, and maybe don’t take as many chances going forward as they would have last year.”
Geoff Lepper covers the Earthquakes for MLSsoccer.com. He can be reached at sanjosequakes@gmail.com.
