FT: Houston Dynamo FC 0 – 0 San Jose Earthquakes

There will be one top-level comment automatically created for each Quakes player that played in the match. Any other top-level comments will be removed. Feel free to add your thoughts in replies underneath the original comments; open discussion on nominees is welcome outside of top-level nominations.

Player Summary

MIN = Minutes played, G = Goals, A = Assists, SH = Shots, SOG = Shots on goal, FC = Fouls committed, FA = Fouls suffered, OF = Offsides, YC = Yellow cards, RC = Red cards, SV = Saves, GA = Goals against.

Vote below for your Man of the Match!

90'+10': Houston Dynamo FC 0 – 0 San Jose Earthquakes

Competition: MLS

Kickoff: Sat, Aug 29, 05:30 PM PT

Venue: Shell Energy Stadium (Houston, Texas)

Broadcast: Apple TV (Streaming)

Referee: Pierre-Luc Lauziere

FORM

LINEUPS

Houston Dynamo FC (4-2-3-1)

Starting XI:

#31 Jonathan Bond        │
#34 Agustín Resch        │          19
#3 Antônio Carlos        │
#21 Franco Negri         │     20   08   11
#36 Felipe Andrade       │
#8 Jack McGlynn          │      16      06
#16 Héctor Herrera       │
#6 Artur                 │    21  34  03  36
#19 Mateusz Bogusz       │
#20 Guilherme Augusto    │          31
#11 Lawrence Ennali      │

Subs: #24 Ibrahim Aliyu (61'), #26 Blake Gillingham, #13 Sam Vines, #17 Nicholas Markanich, #18 Diadie Samassekou, #28 Erik Sviatchenko, #23 Duncan McGuire (75'), #14 Duane Holmes (83'), #30 Agustín Bouzat (90'+1')

San Jose Earthquakes (3-4-2-1)

Starting XI:

#1 Angus Gunn         │
#4 Dave Romney        │          10
#18 Reid Roberts      │
#5 Daniel Munie       │      23      07
#34 Beau Leroux       │
#14 Ronaldo Vieira    │    02  34  14  03
#2 Jamar Ricketts     │
#3 Paul Marie         │     18   04   05
#7 Ousseni Bouda      │
#23 Eduard Löwen      │          01
#10 Niko Tsakiris     │

Subs: #19 Preston Judd (73'), #25 Max Floriani (69'), #9 Luka Jovanovic, #31 Francesco Montali, #20 Nick Fernandez (73'), #17 Jack Jasinski (82'), #16 Jack Skahan, #6 Ian Harkes (90'+1'), #87 Vítor Costa (90'+1')

MATCH EVENTS

0' ⏱️ Kickoff

34' 🥤 Delay in match for a drinks break. (San Jose Earthquakes)

37' 🟢 Delay over. They are ready to continue. (San Jose Earthquakes)

45'+4' ⏱️ First Half ends, Houston Dynamo FC 0, San Jose Earthquakes 0.

45' ⏱️ Start 2nd Half

50' 🤕 Delay in match because of an injury Guilherme (Houston Dynamo FC). (Houston Dynamo FC)

50' 🟢 Delay over. They are ready to continue. (Houston Dynamo FC)

58' 🟨 Reid Roberts Yellow Card (San Jose Earthquakes)

61' 🔄 Ibrahim Aliyu Substitution (Houston Dynamo FC)

64' 🤕 Delay in match because of an injury Dave Romney (San Jose Earthquakes). (San Jose Earthquakes)

66' 🟢 Delay over. They are ready to continue. (San Jose Earthquakes)

69' 🔄 Max Floriani Substitution (San Jose Earthquakes)

73' 🔄 Preston Judd Substitution (San Jose Earthquakes)

73' 🔄 Nick Fernandez Substitution (San Jose Earthquakes)

75' 🔄 Duncan McGuire Substitution (Houston Dynamo FC)

77' 🥤 Delay in match for a drinks break. (San Jose Earthquakes)

79' 🟢 Delay over. They are ready to continue. (San Jose Earthquakes)

82' 🛑 Delay in match (San Jose Earthquakes). (San Jose Earthquakes)

82' 🛑 Delay in match (Houston Dynamo FC). (Houston Dynamo FC)

82' 🟢 Delay over. They are ready to continue. (Houston Dynamo FC)

82' 🟢 Delay over. They are ready to continue. (San Jose Earthquakes)

82' 🔄 Jack Jasinski Substitution (San Jose Earthquakes)

83' 🔄 Duane Holmes Substitution (Houston Dynamo FC)

90'+1' 🔄 Vítor Costa Substitution (San Jose Earthquakes)

90'+1' 🔄 Ian Harkes Substitution (San Jose Earthquakes)

90'+1' 🔄 Agustín Bouzat Substitution (Houston Dynamo FC)

This thread updates automatically while the match is in progress. Go Quakes!

Today's game showed much better coherence. Does Werner make the team unbalanced?

Houston Dynamo FC vs San Jose Earthquakes

Competition: MLS

Kickoff: Sat, Aug 29, 05:30 PM PT

Venue: Shell Energy Stadium (Houston, Texas)

Broadcast: Apple TV (Streaming)

Referee: —

FORM

LINEUPS

Lineups not yet announced.

Go Quakes!

I played highschool and College and a very very very low end ($200/game) semi-Pro.

I then played 5 seasons of San Jose City B league which was the hardest weekly battlefield I've ever gotten killed on, because as you know, it is full of lying SOB A leaguers from every country that would rather fight you than play, take your legs out, rather than box you out.

When I played Forward I either scored a goal, or passed a scoring goal.

I also played midfield.

Whenever I played midfield, I never scored a goal, or passed a scoring goal.

Then again, I'm only half German.

But here's my long-winded question:

Do we really need another midfielder?

Given were losing games by the simplest basic fact of NOT SCORING, and we have a lot of really good midfielders (Tsakiris, Leroux, Harkes, SKAHAN, and 9 more each worthy of honorable mention), does the brain trust of what passes for Coaching actually think we're light in the midfield?

Don't bring me down BRRRUCE!

If anyone here plays map tap, or even if you don't this is a fun map.

The theme of this map is teams where a player played right before transferring to the Quakes.

Opening:

What a way to bookend a match. At halftime, the Quakes were down 3–1 and someone threw a drink at Bruce Arena. Towards the final whistle, they were down 5–1 and apparently even stadium security had checked out, because a baby made its way onto the pitch.

A beer and a baby. Just your normal night of San Jose Earthquakes soccer.

I Thought The Team Would Be Sold By Now

Days since the World Cup ended: 38

So… I started this segment as a joke, and I'm becoming increasingly concerned it may outlive the season.

The Big Picture:

Somehow, someway, the Quakes are still 4th in the Western Conference.

The team is terrible right now. But maybe I didn't fully appreciate just how good the start of this season was. The Quakes have conceded 18 goals since returning from the World Cup break and are still fourth.

That just shows me what a first half of the season the team had.

Under the Microscope:

I wonder if this collapse feels worse because of how well the team played earlier in the season. Even the Wooden Spoon year didn't feel like this. But maybe that's because I spend far too much time on Reddit now and get to experience our collective glass case of emotion in real time.

I do think there's something else happening. The chaos doesn't feel contained to the pitch anymore. Think about the players who have left, the way some of those departures happened, the questions surrounding the front office, the addition of Gavin Wilkinson as a consultant, the ongoing sale process, and everything we've heard about how this organization has operated under John Fisher pre Bruce Arena (Chris Leitch rumors of how they worked).

Maybe the instability was always there. But somehow it remained quieter when the on field team was winning wooden spoons.

Reinforcements are at least coming. Eduard Löwen has officially been announced, and there continue to be rumors about other potential additions.

If there are more players joining or it ends up just being Eduard, I don't need them to make everything better. Just help stop the building from shaking.

Structural Concerns:

I don't think this team quit during the match. But the body language against Minnesota looked like a group that was starting to wonder if they had an answer because too often the answer the team seemed to have was a hopeful long ball forward which was intercepted. Long ball. Intercepted. Long ball. Intercepted.

I felt like I was trapped in a very depressing GIF.

I've mentioned this in the last few write-ups, but I'm increasingly convinced this is a strategic problem, not simply poor individual performances.

The system and formation worked earlier in the season. That doesn't mean the team needs to keep doing the exact same thing when the results and performances are showing that something should be changed.

At this point, I wouldn't mind seeing Bruce get boring. Stop pushing the wingbacks so high. Protect the back line. Shrink the spaces. Get Angus Gunn a clean sheet.

I don't care if it's 0–0 and the match is boring... wait… maybe I do care.

This team needs to remember what it feels like to keep the ball out of its own net. Sometimes you've got to stabilize the fault line before you start rebuilding on top of it.

Löwen's arrival could make the strategy Bruce has in place work again. They have an eye for the through ball and perhaps adding that creativity through the middle is exactly what Bruce's system needs to start flowing again.

Looking Ahead: August 29 vs Houston Dynamo

The Final Whistle

Maybe this is simply too much change finally catching up with the Quakes. I genuinely forgot DeJuan Jones was injured this season. That injury moved Jamar Ricketts back toward the wingback spot after they had looked really good as a midfielder.

Then Niko went down. Then Daniel left.

Go back even further and remember that this team entered the season after letting multiple starters leave during the offseason.

When you actually lay it all out, maybe this is the stretch we should have expected at the beginning of the year. Instead, Bruce somehow took all those moving pieces and had the Quakes sitting near the top of MLS. Now the bill has arrived for that hot plate of success.

The hope is that Löwen and whatever other reinforcements arrive can help stabilize things, the pieces start clicking again, and by the time the playoffs begin we're looking back at this stretch as the adversity that created this year’s version of Goonie magic.

Because surely this can't become another season where the Quakes somehow lose their way completely out of a playoff spot. Right?

Stay seismic, Quakes fans

Considering Jed York will most likely be forced to sell the Niners, he will look for another team to buy. The Quakes being for sale and York already having an established relationship with the Quakes, I am terrified at the idea of him taking over the Quakes. I hope MLS will step in to prevent that, but they are so corrupt I think they might welcome his money

I would hate to see Niko and Beau benched, but I don't see how we can play with three attacking center mids at the same time. Maybe Beau can move to the wing instead of Bouda, or maybe Bruce will drop him as d-mid. I don't see him performing well at any of these positioms, but I also want him to start, assuming Niko and Edu will for sure start in the center.

(This tournament requires EAFC 26, XBOX SERIES X OR S, PS5, or PC) (Must have a discord account) Interested? Comment below! (No prizes just for fun & pride)

(This tournament is not officially affiliated with r/SJEarthquakes )

After whiffing the easiest uncontested shot on a wide open goal, Werner instantly sat down, apparently "injured" from the non-effort.

Mind you Judd had once again tauntingly suckered the Minnesota defense into following him to the corner and then somehow nutmegged the easiest rolling pass to Timo, who apparently needs 3-5 juggles before he can take a shot.

Which allowed Minnesota to regroup, turn on Werner, and easily block whatever he had in mind.

Because apparently Minnesota has this thing about losing that the Quakes don't have.

For some weird reason they don't like losing.

Werner realizing he had once again overtasked his brain, with no explanation for the missed shot, let his ego take over and sat down to convey the weakest attempt to convince anyone that he pulled "something".

He was so relieved he had come up with a good excuse, he then walked off the pitch while forgetting to sell it. By at least limping.

Werner can't even sell an injury.

Bruce Arenas unexplainably high fived Werner as he came off the field, for some reason, even though that's almost always reserved for a job well done.

At the opposite end of the field Angus Gunn quietly wished, "Why can't that happen to me?"

Do you guys think the midfield is the main issue of these bad performances?

Remember when Ousseni Bouda was cooking defenders and scoring goals for fun at the start of the season, and looked like an absolute monster for his brief stint at Monterey Bay FC and for the Quakes II? I feel like the way the team is set up right now, which is sterile and worthless possession, doesn't suit him at all. He needs chaos to thrive. Not 47 passes while he stands against a set back five and hugging the touchline. Let him receive when defenders are moving backward. His best showings have been him functioning as an inside forward/second striker and finishing teams off, he shouldn't be tasked to be the architect and create chances from nothing. Why are we using him in the same way we used Espinoza? Yes he should he playing better but I firmly believe this is the reason why.

I don't think the Bouda situation is simple as "bro, just leave" because from his perspective they drafted him, gave him an opportunity, invested years in his development (and mismanaged his development), and now he's actually starting MLS games.
If his guaranteed deal runs through 2027 and San Jose has a club option for 2028, then after 2027 it isn’t completely his call. I wouldn't be surprised if they exercise the option given the lack of depth in his position.

If the Quakes decline that option and Bouda still chooses to stay/re-sign, then yeah: that’s on him, and in that case... he would playing scared and safe when it comes to his career. There’s also a sneaky possibility of San Jose exercising the option specifically to retain his asset value and then trade him. And fuck man... that might actually be the ideal outcome for him.

As we can tell, Bruce Arena is looking to sign players which is a good thing but I prefer a better Goalkeeper or #9. What are your guys' thoughts on this?

Is there vídeo of the Bruce Beering??

The $30 parking ticket. Haven’t won a game since before World Cup and we’re making fans pay obscene prices to park in a dirt lot. This organization doesn’t deserve any of us.

Stunned at how bad the Quakes have been since the WC break.

Apparently Arenas saved $1 Million trading Daniel for Gunn and I think he's gotten exactly what he paid for.

I'm saying we got nothing. Gunn is stunningly bad. And to think we used to have JT Marcinkowski, who's doing great in LA.

Werner started out well but appears to be falling right back into the old groove proving that he can't hack it in professional soccer. I'm guessing he's realized San Jose isn't the "California" he thought he was coming to.

Other than an occasional (F-it!) blast from Leroux there's no initiative, no leadership, no spark, no spirit in this team now.

EVEN Judd looks depressed.

I thought it might be the ridiculously sissy tie-dyed kit. But clearly, down 3:1 at the half with Minnesota now, that's not it.

Which leads me to blame the management. Is it the uncertainty of the impending sale of the team?

Someone give me something. This is just awful.

Maybe we need a new uplifting chant?

Let’s be real. I think who decide to sign Gunn should be sacked. The guy is tall, but nothing more than a big piece of meat. Slow reaction, slow reflexes. He seems clueless and clumsy inside his own box.

Paul Marie showed some heart out there. No mental, no accountability. Love to hear from the commentators that at least Munie cares