San Jose looks to keep momentum, as Frank Yallop’s side heads across the country to take on New York and attempt to double up on their number of wins. But the Earthquakes will find the going tougher as the Red Bulls have been a better side at home than away. This will be a game that New York head coach Juan Carlos Osorio has circled on his calendar as a three-pointer. His team trails New England by six points, but do have three games in hand. Using this match as one of those, New York should find themselves right back in the middle of a crowded Eastern Conference.
New York gave away two points last week in allowing 10-manned New England to score a tying goal. Osorio has likely been on his team for that all week and they should come out feeling they have something to prove. To do so they will have to break down San Jose’s respectable defense, which has been aided by timely saves from goalkeeper Joe Cannon. They were unable to deny Landon Donovan and David Beckham, but nearly shutout Chicago’s deep offense and kept Colorado off of the scoreboard for the first time all year last week. In facing Juan Pablo Angel and Jozy Altidore, though, they have a more difficult task. Altidore showed why he is drawing interest from Europe with a beastly run through the New England defense before unleashing a thunderous shot that left Matt Reis immobile. San Jose centerbacks Nick Garcia, who frequently fouled Rapids forward Omar Cummings to break up attacks last week, and Ryan Cochrane will have to receive help from their midfield to prevent service to Altidore in dangerous areas. Ned Grabavoy was instrumental in disrupting Christian Gomez and will look to do the same against Claudio Reyna this week. Grabavoy also has to find his way forward into the offense, as he did last week with a perfect pass to Kei Kamara for the insurance goal against Colorado.
Ronnie O’Brien. The Irishman dominated the Rapids in the hour he played last weekend. He scored the first goal for the new San Jose team and was credited with an assist on the second, leading to their first points of the young season. O’Brien will have a new target to find in the box as Jean Philippe Peguero was signed and the former Red Bull forward should be available for Dominic Kinnear’s team this weekend. Whether he scores or acts as the playmaker, O’Brien will have to put his mark on the game for San Jose to be successful.
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