SAN JOSE, Calif. — During a typical week, the San Jose Earthquakes train their hardest on Tuesdays and Thursdays. To Ike Opara, those sessions have become almost more important than Saturdays and the matches that fall on weekend evenings.
For the first time since his freshman year at Wake Forest, Opara has been forced to accept a reserve role at center back. After starring as a sophomore and junior with the Demon Deacons – winning ACC Defensive Player of the Year honors both seasons – Opara immediately moved into the Earthquakes’ starting lineup last year before a broken foot cut his season prematurely short.
That injury helped push Jason Hernandez and Brandon McDonald together as a centerback pairing, one that coach Frank Yallop has been loath to break up this season. And Opara, the No. 3 overall pick in last year’s SuperDraft, has come off the bench in the second half of the Quakes’ last two matches.
In the meantime, he’s been attacking those Tuesday and Thursday sessions with renewed vigor.
“I think you take it even more seriously,” Opara told MLSsoccer.com. “You always probably judge yourself a little harder. You’re just trying to stay fit as well, so hopefully when you get in a game it’s a little easier. But it’s so hard to simulate game speed in practice. You’ve just got to be ready, keep working.”
That work may pay off. Yallop said Tuesday that he was thinking of giving Opara his first start of the year when San Jose host Toronto on Saturday.
[inline_node:314882]“It’s not easy for any defender [to come in as a reserve] because you’re thrown right in the fire,” Yallop said. “But at some point, you look at Ike, he’s looking sharp, looking pretty good. We’ve conceded a couple goals at home that I wasn’t overly pleased with. We’ve got to do better than that, so we may make a change and start Ike.”
Even in his limited time so far, Opara has had an impact. Thrown in against Dallas on March 26, he made a couple of critical interceptions to help preserve San Jose’s 2-0 road victory.
Opara almost had a game-winner at either end of the field against the Sounders. His header sizzled wide off a Bobby Convey corner in the 74th minute. In the 81st, he could only get a glancing header on a cross, leaving the ball at the feet of Seattle forward Nate Jaqua inside the penalty box. A diving Opara just deflected Jaqua’s shot wide.
WATCH: Opara's tip-toe deflection on Jaqua
“I think I did well with the time I had,” said Opara, who felt the Seattle game was more difficult to step into midstream because San Jose was still searching for a go-ahead score rather than simply defending a lead. “But at the same time, the one to Jaqua was the one mistake and it hurts. You just keep going at it and stay sharp as much as possible.”
Since the Quakes are armed with four center backs – Bobby Burling rounds out the quartet – who could start in MLS, wouldn’t it be better for Opara if he was on a team as an unquestioned No. 1 option?
“It depends on who you are, really,” Opara said. “I don’t prefer the easy way out. You always want to work for what you earn. At least that’s what I’ve been taught. I think it’s great competition for the team as well, and I think everyone’s feeding off of it.”
Geoff Lepper covers the Earthquakes for MLSsoccer.com. He can be reached at sanjosequakes@gmail.com. On Twitter: @sjquakes
