Behind Enemy Lines: Scouting San Jose Earthquakes 🔎

As the season is upon us, it is time to break down FC Dallas opponents again each week. This Saturday, FC Dallas will begin their 2024 season with an old MLS rival coming into town as they welcome the San Jose Earthquakes to Toyota Stadium.

After barely making the playoffs in year one, Luchi Gonzalez enters his second season in charge of the Quakes. According to most experts, the Quakes appear in a bit of a transition moment going into the new season. They sold young Homegrown striker Cade Cowell to Chivas while bringing in winger Amahl Pellegrino from Bodø/Glimt to help offset the loss of Cowell.

Key Player: Cristian Espinoza

Espinoza may be the most underrated attacker in all of MLS these days. He’s incredibly dangerous around goal and you can bet San Jose will want to target FC Dallas’ new defensive structure with him in space as much as possible.

Key Matchup: Carlos Gruezo vs Asier Illarramendi

The two veteran midfielders will go toe-to-toe in this one, and whoever comes out on top will likely help determine which team is able to set the pace in this one.

Availability Report1:

Suspended: none
Out: Niko Tsakiris (groin), Amahl Pellegrino (visa issues), Bruno Wilson (visa issues)2
Questionable: Alfredo Morales (abductor)
On Loan: none
International duty: none

Quick Notes:

Recent run against FC Dallas: Seven of the last nine meetings between FC Dallas and San Jose have ended in draws (W1 each). Going back to the beginning of the 2017 season, the Earthquakes have lost only one of 13 meetings with FC Dallas, a 4-1 home win for Dallas in August 2022.

Potential Lineup:

Gonzalez appears to have landed the plane on a formation going into this season with a 4-2-3-1 look that he used a lot while he was in Dallas.

Daniel; Costa, Rodrigues, Wilson, Akapo; Yueill, Gruezo; Pellegrino, Tsakiris, Espinoza; Ebobisse

Keys To Three Points over San Jose

1. Settle the nerves early - It is the first game of the new season, after all, jitters and nerves will be high on both sides. FC Dallas needs to settle into the game as quickly as possible. They did well at this in some preseason games by scoring early.
2. Be aggressive in the middle third - We know from the years of LuchiBall that San Jose will want possession. That isn’t a terrible thing to concede that possession, as long as it is their third of the field. Last weekend, in the preseason finale, FC Dallas wasn’t as aggressive in the middle third of the field as Nico Estevez wanted them to be. The two goals scored against DCU in that game resulted from counters and being more aggressive with the ball in the midfield.
3. Be smart defensively - This new formation does have some limitations for FC Dallas. We saw at times in the preseason that guys like Sebastien Ibeagha could get stretched out too far in the open field and have to recover quickly if a team played a good ball through the wings. San Jose has some speed on the outside, so it will be vital that Dante Sealy and Herbert Endeley aren’t caught forward too much in this one.