Bruce Arena did not wait for the result to tell the story. Ahead of San Jose Vs LA Galaxy, he said the San Jose Earthquakes have been very poor defensively, a blunt assessment that landed as his side prepares for a California Clasico between two Western Conference teams in trouble.
“Collectively, we’ve been very poor at the defensive end of the field,” Arena said, adding, “No question about that.” He pointed to the recent collapse in detail, saying that against St. Louis City SC the first goal came when San Jose were not tracking players, the second could have been dealt with by a goalkeeper or defender, and the third was “an absolute miss” by the back line and goalkeeper. San Jose have won just one of their last nine MLS matches and have conceded 12 goals in their last four matches, even though they remain fourth in the Western Conference, four points behind the Vancouver Whitecaps.
That standing is what makes the slide harder to ignore. San Jose lost only one of their first 10 games this season, so the drop-off has come fast, and Arena said, “We deserved a good beating.” He also tried to draw a line under the alarm around the table, saying, “We’re not panicking [about the standings] yet.”
The LA Galaxy arrive with their own problems. They are 13th in the Western Conference with 22 points after 20 games and are winless in six matches, including a 1-0 loss to Houston Dynamo last time out when they did not hit the target with any of their nine shots. Greg Vanney said the issue was efficiency in the final action and noted that his team had “some good early spots” without making enough of them, before adding that going down a man made things even harder.
There is still another layer to this meeting. The LA Galaxy have lost only one of the last 11 editions of the California Clasico, while San Jose are unbeaten in the last three. For Arena, though, the immediate question is simpler than any historical edge: whether a defense that has already given up too much can hold together long enough to protect a strong start to the season from turning into a chase.
