San Jose Earthquakes Dominate But Fall to Seattle | OneFootball

The San Jose Earthquakes proved a number of things yesterday at PayPal Park. They can still pack in the crowds. They can play some creative attacking soccer. And they can still lose, which they did by a narrow 1-0 score to the Seattle Sounders.

Great Expectations

Supporters in the unseasonably warm mid-March afternoon rocked their shorts and favorite kits, whether it be the new tie-dyed lavender, last season’s (regrettable in my opinion) throwback white, traditional black and blue, or, for the occasional Sounders fan, an Orca top. The match was a total sellout.

Coming into the fixture with a 3-0 record, all shutouts, expectations were high for supporters and players alike. The warmups seemed snappier, buoyed with urgency but not fueled by desperation. They showed a bit of swagger. It was a welcome change.

But Are They Any Good?

Among pundits, the Quakes are a bit of a headscratcher. To say anyone expected such strong a start from them would be an understatement. After all, the team parted ways with their three biggest offensive threats, Espinoza, Martínez and Arango, who were responsible for 74% of the goal contributions in 2025.

Of course, savvy folks noticed that in that three game stretch, the opposition wasn’t what anyone would deem “top notch.” In fact, Sporting Kansas City, Atlanta United and Philadelphia are among the league’s weakest sides.

So Seattle was a “get real” moment. And it certainly got real.

Off the bat, I want to be clear: San Jose did not play poorly today.

On the contrary, they had many excellent moments. Overall, they showed good resilience, moved the ball well across the pitch, had some creative spark and did not lack energy. They utterly dominated in every offensive category, as you can see in the FotMob statistics.

Offensive Game Stats. Source: FotMob

But there’s a flip side to every positive. And that was Seattle’s defense. I haven’t seen such a stalwart effort in a long while.

Defensive Game Stats. Source: FotMob

The inevitability of Seattle’s defending was demoralizing. Every time Quakes got more creative, Seattle  just found another way to stymie them. The Sounders protected the box with the tenacity of a wolverine and the ferocity of a mother bear.

Post-Match Thoughts

Timo Werner made his first start for the team after two appearances as a second half sub. I was convinced he would be pulled somewhere after the hour mark, but the Quakes marquee signing played the full 90 plus extra, putting to bed questions about his fitness. But, he still has a ways to go before he hits peak form.

There were moments where his zip was missing, particularly when he started from a dead stop. He only won 2 of 10 ground duels and had 1 of 3 successful dribbles. The majority of his play was on the outside (13 of 81 touches were inside the box). He made a LOT of effort and delivered a LOT of balls, but mostly unsuccessfully. Only 13% of his crosses found a target (2 of 16), and 25% of long balls (1 of 4). He took one shot that sailed high, but created 3 chances and 1 big chance. Tellingly, he had zero defensive stats, outside of a single recovery.

Arena praised Werner in his post-match interview (“He was good the entire game”). The German winger certainly fired up the crowd and provided a boost to the team. But now it’s about making him more effective. Werner and his teammates still need to work on the chemistry. Set pieces need to be more dangerous. 

In the end, Bruce Arena summed it up with his usual directness. “In any sport, at a good level, you gotta make plays. They [Seattle] made the plays that made a difference. Rothrock catching our defender asleep for the goal in the first half, their goalkeeper making two saves on breakaways and their defense saving a ball off the line… those are guys that made plays.” 

Arena did close out on an optimistic note, however. “Today’s game shows we’re making progress as a team.”