Home   >   Previews   >   San Jose Earthquakes’ playoff battle culminates in Decision Day visit to Dallas

San Jose Earthquakes’ playoff battle culminates in Decision Day visit to Dallas

By on October 23, 2015

The Quakes prepare for a crucial playoff meeting with SKC.

I’m a bit OCD about leaving stadiums early. Ever since “beating the traffic” before the end of the 2013 California Clasico at Stanford Stadium, I’ve been reluctant to leave the action even for bathroom breaks. This season, I missed just one goal at the San Jose Earthquakes’ new Avaya Stadium, in the Seattle Sounders’ mid-August visit, when the Quakes were attempting to resurrect their fabulous run of form following a prior dip against the Philadelphia Union.

The Seattle contest was a tight, nervy affair and as such, my pre-match water-bottle was empty before the first half was over. In the seventy-ninth minute, Fatai Alashe broke Seattle’s defensive dam and the Quakes’ playoff hopes looked back on track. However, nature called and insisted on my first in-game restroom break of the season, during which the Sounders bagged their equalizer.

In hindsight, that goal may be the one to deny the Quakes a playoff berth this season, or so it appears as we head into the final day of the regular season on Sunday. One point below the red line, though just three off of third place, every goal and every point matters for the Quakes. Lose to FC Dallas and their season, though a big improvement on last year, will become a collage of what-ifs and deflated hopes, somewhat familiar sensations for The Goonies.

“Every year I’ve played in the league except for 2012 I can look back at five or six games and say, ‘oh we’ve dropped points here, we’ve dropped points there,'” Quakes winger Shea Salinas said at training last week. “I don’t there are many teams that go a year without being able to say that.  It’s something you can’t control at this point.”

However, heading into Dallas the Quakes cannot afford to get caught up in their past mistakes. “Dropping points is never fun but we’ve also picked up some points here and there,” Salinas added. “It goes both ways, you can’t always look back and be frustrated at every game.”

Dominic Kinnear’s men are looking in on the playoffs from just outside, but things haven’t been more optimistic for weeks. Last weekend, they beat Sporting Kansas City, who lost to the Colorado Rapids in turn. This leaves SKC just one point above the Quakes heading into their crucial meeting with the LA Galaxy.  The Quakes will likely be wary to place their trust in the hands of their bitter rivals, who inconveniently lost 5-2 to playoff rivals Portland Timbers, and were all too aware of the implications for the Quakes.

Seattle also sit just one point above the Quakes and need a win over Real Salt Lake to seal a spot in the playoffs. The Quakes could also catch Portland or Seattle if either lose to the Rapids or the Houston Dynamo, respectively. Here’s a snapshot of the Western Conference playoff battle (the tie-breaker is goal differential):

[table id=5 /]

Of course, none of this matters if the Quakes lose to Dallas.  The Texan side narrowly beat a defensively-minded Quakes 1-0 with a late winner on the opening day of the season and the pair etched out a scoreless draw in early July.  This time around, however, Kinnear’s side looks dramatically different with the introduction of Anibal Godoy, Marc Pelosi and Quincy Amarikwa over the summer transfer window.  This weekend, they’ll have all guns blazing with Victor Bernardez and Pelosi back from suspension and whilst Godoy will miss out after joining the Quakes’ ongoing circus of suspensions, his absence won’t cause any structural damage to the Quakes.  Either Matias Perez Garcia will drop into the middle alongside Alashe and Cordell Cato will start on the right, or Pelosi will start and Garcia will be shoved out wide, the more attacking option.

Dallas, however, won’t fall easily given they’re level on points with the New York Red Bulls in the Supporters’ Shield title race.  Though the Red Bulls have vastly superior six-goal differential, Dallas will keep an eye out to see if the Red Bulls slip up on Sunday.  Dallas themselves have won three of their last four and have the best home record in the league at the moment.  With a Supporters’ Shield up for grabs and the Western Conference playoff seedings in the balance, the Quakes’ visit to Dallas will have potentially bigger implications than anywhere else on Decision Day.

The match kicks of at 4:00 p.m. PT on Sunday, October 25th and will be broadcast live in the SFO Bay Area on CSNCA, 1590 KLIV and 1370 KZSF from Toyota Stadium in Dallas.

 

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.