SAN JOSE, Calif. – By virtue of Anibal Godoy’s arrival late in the summer transfer window and injuries necessitating the use of Fatai Alashe as an emergency center back, the San Jose Earthquakes have only twice this season been able to use that duo as the midfield base of a 4-2-3-1 formation.
Tantalizingly, those two matches were a couple of San Jose’s best performances of 2015.
Alashe and Godoy teamed up in the center of midfield to key the Quakes’ four-day August road trip, one that opened with a 5-0 victory against Sporting Kansas City and closed with a 2-0 decision against D.C. United. The pair will likely be re-formed Friday night when SKC comes to Avaya Stadium (11 pm ET; UniMás) with seventh-place San Jose (12-12-8) – three points adrift of Portland and Seattle with just two games remaining – trying to shoehorn themselves into the Western Conference playoff field.
A pair of victories for the Quakes – who finish the regular season at FC Dallas on Oct. 25 – combined with a slip or two from the Sounders and Timbers would put San Jose back in the postseason for the first time since 2012.
“I feel good,” Alashe said Thursday after returning from Olympic qualifying duty with the US U-23 national team. “I’m excited to come back here and play at home one more time this season, just play with this group of guys again. Obviously, I enjoy going on those trips, but it’s tough missing games back home. You want to play in all the games for San Jose; sometimes that can’t happen.”
Alashe appeared in three games out of five for the American squad, starting twice, as the team swept to the top of their group – only to fall to Honduras in the semifinals. A third-place victory over Canada put the US in a home-and-home playoff with Colombia with a spot in the 2016 Rio Olympics at stake.
“I think we performed well, if you look at the total collective effort from everyone,” Alashe told reporters. “But … we wanted to come out of there already qualified for the Olympics, and now we’ve got a lot more work to do. We’ll look to figure some of that stuff out over the offseason, if we have any camps, and just make sure we’re prepared for the Colombia games.”
Alashe said the U-23 experience helped him hone his versatility, both in terms of working alongside unfamiliar teammates and being stationed in different areas of the field. Alashe was used on the right side of a diamond midfield one game, then in another match was pushed further up the pitch than his usual spot with the Quakes.
San Jose coach Dominic Kinnear – while disappointed at the notion that Alashe could have international duty next March, when the Colombia playoff is expected to be scheduled – sees value in the experience for Alashe and Marc Pelosi, who also represented the U-23s but is suspended for the Kansas City match due to yellow-card accumulation.
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“I look at Stuart Holden, Geoff Cameron, Tally Hall, Corey Ashe – they weren’t getting regular first-team minutes, and we weren’t involved in the CONCACAF [Champions League] at that time,” Kinnear said of a cadre of Houston youth internationals he previously coaches who moved on from those ranks. “I think it makes you grow up. It’s a different competition. It’s not similar to here. It’s a bit edgier, and I think once you get a taste of it, you hunger for more. And I think [Alashe’s] attitude for us and the U-23s has been spot on.”
That attitude, combined with Alashe’s performances, could help carry the 21-year-old through these final two games, when he and Godoy will be asked to bottle up SKC playmaker Benny Feilhaber, who sits just one assist behind league leaders Sebastian Giovinco of Toronto FC and Cristian Maidana of Philadelphia.
“He worked himself into the team and he’s worked to keep himself in the team,” Kinnear said of Alashe. “I think he’s been consistent. If he were to be involved in the Rookie of the Year conversation – I understand [Orlando City SC’s Cyle Larin] is probably going to run away with it because he’s got the stats and he’s had a great year. If Fatai’s involved in that conversation, I 100 percent agree. He’s been good, he’s been competitive, he’s drawn difficult assignments, week-in and week-out with some of the better attacking players in the league. As far as first years go, you can definitely give him a thumbs-up.”
