Five Draws Inside San Jose’s Unbeaten Run Leave an Attacking Question

San Jose has three wins and five draws across its eight-match unbeaten run. The Earthquakes are accumulating points, but the distribution deserves as much attention as the word “unbeaten.” Five evenings have ended with one point rather than three.

Wednesday added another of those draws, 1-1 at Real Salt Lake. Jack Jasinski scored four minutes into stoppage time after Luc de Fougerolles had put RSL ahead in the 79th minute. San Jose’s persistence was rewarded. Its attacking performance was less convincing: 16 attempts produced only two on target.

Sixteen attempts is enough volume to resist a claim that San Jose never attacked. It is also a reason to examine what those attacks became. With only two on target, the Earthquakes forced Cabral into one save and scored with the other recorded effort.

That leaves very little room for an inaccurate final touch. Jasinski handled one of those rare opportunities beautifully, but an attack cannot expect every late volley to have the same return.

That is the profile of a side that can survive a match. It is not yet the profile of one consistently taking command of it.

De Fougerolles finished from the right side of the box after Juan Manuel Sanabria and Aiden Hezarkhani helped create the opening. San Jose had been unable to make its own attacks consistently trouble Cabral, so the goal seemed likely to settle the night.

Then, deep into added time, a Salt Lake attempt to get the ball away from danger instead sent it upward in front of the area. Jasinski read the loose ball, waited for it to drop and struck a first-time right-footed volley into the bottom-left corner. The finish was excellent, especially given the little time available to set himself.

It was also a moment that required more than San Jose’s attacking plan. The bounce helped, the defensive sequence unraveled and Jasinski supplied the technique. That combination is a reason to credit the substitute and the team’s persistence. It is not proof that the Earthquakes had spent the evening steadily building toward an equalizer.

That distinction matters because the unbeaten record can obscure the distribution of its results. Five draws in eight matches means San Jose has often been sturdy without being decisive. Wednesday added another point to the total, but it did so while RSL held the edge in total shots, shots on target and goalkeeper workload.

Gunn provided the strongest case for appreciating the point. His six saves kept San Jose close enough to equalize. He denied Morgan Guilavogui’s effort late in the first half, then dealt with a particularly busy opening after halftime.

His performance deserves more attention than the final score usually permits. Those saves prevented RSL’s greater number of chances from producing a comfortable lead. Rafael Cabral needed only one save at the other end. The difference is not automatically a verdict on every Earthquakes possession, yet it is too pronounced to dismiss as a statistical quirk.

There is genuine strength in avoiding defeat under that kind of pressure. A road point against a team that generated eight attempts on target is useful, and a 13-8-8 record with 47 points reflects more than a lucky bounce in Utah. San Jose has developed enough defensive resistance and late-game alertness to keep difficult matches from becoming losses.

The next improvement is to give the late substitute less rescuing to do. Two shots on target ask a great deal of finishing and even more of the goalkeeper when the opponent has eight. San Jose earned this point through Gunn’s saves and Jasinski’s technique.

Producing more chances that actually reach the opposing goal would make the pursuit of three less dependent on the final bounce.

Sources

ESPN: box score and play-by-play

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