One more from the road

If you don’t have them already, we’ll say it now: buy your tickets now for next Sunday’s Buck Shaw Stadium match between the Earthquakes and Los Toros Rojos de Nueva York, because you’re going to want to be there, at least if our own anticipation is any sort of barometer of life on planet Earthquakes. The Quakes brought home a point from Toronto’s BMO Field yesterday, the toughest venue in MLS, but they are also bringing back a lot of reasons to look forward to next week’s match, the first in a three-game homestand.

We’ll start with the play of the team’s trio of newcomers: Darren Huckerby, Francisco Lima, and Scott Sealy. None of them have had more than a handful of practice sessions with their new teammates and despite that, all of them made significant contributions yesterday.

We’ll go alphabetically and start with Huckerby. Despite the fact that he has had a total of three training sessions since leaving Norwich City in May, he got behind the Toronto defense twice, forcing a diving save and panicked collision between goalkeeper Greg Sutton and defender Tyrone Marshall with the first opportunity and winning a dangerous free kick on the second, when Marvell Wynne had to chase him down from behind. Not bad for a guy who is probably still trying to memorize his teammates’ names. It’s also worth noting that Huckerby made an impact despite the fact that BMO Field’s artificial turf, dampened by a rainstorm earlier in the day, made it impossible to play balls into the corner for him to run onto — the field was so slick that nothing hit hard enough to get to those spots remained in play. That’s a big weapon in the arsenal of any speedy winger, and we’re looking forward to seeing it in action on the grassy, billiard table-flat surface at Buck Shaw.

Lima’s primary contribution yesterday was mental, with the utterly unflappable confidence he brought to the team’s midfield. We’re not sure how to describe it, actually, but the man has a presence out there that inspires confidence, an aura that says, “You can depend on me.” Considering the lack of confidence that the team has shown at times this year, this is exactly the kind of influence that is needed. We look forward to seeing him really taking charge out there once he’s more familiar with the team and the league, because he looked solid yesterday even though he was playing very cautiously.

As for Sealy, he also played with confidence, which is something the team has been missing. That’s no slight on Kei Kamara or Ryan Johnson, by the way — neither one of them are proven quantities in MLS. Sealy has scored 28 goals in this league, led his team in scoring, and was a finalist for rookie of the year back in 2005. He’s not going out on the field wondering if he’s good enough — that question has been answered — he’s going out there to score. Were it not for a deflection by Marco Velez, he may well have done that in the dying moments of the match yesterday. Given a bit of time to get to know his teammates, he’s going to score some goals for San Jose.

What else is there to look forward to? We noticed yesterday that the Quakes’ attack has added several dimensions. Previously, teams could key on Ronnie O’Brien and pretty much ignore everyone else. Yesterday, with Lima locking down the defensive midfield, Ramiro Corrales was able to get forward a bit more, and it was his through balls that set up Huckerby’s chances. With O’Brien and Huckerby attacking on either wing, defenses will have a lot more to think about from here on out. (And we’re willing to bet Lima has some attacking skills we haven’t seen yet, too.)

The defense was solid, as has typically been the case this year. Kudos to Joe Cannon once again for saving a PK that resulted from one of the worst decisions we’ve seen by a referee all year.

The big question, of course, is whether or not the team can put together a run that wins them a playoff berth. They’ve taken nine points in 11 matches on the road, a pretty solid record, and teams in the Western Conference continue to leave the door open for a late-season surge by San Jose — Colorado, Salt Lake, Dallas, and L.A. all tied yesterday, too. A win next week will start to make things very interesting.

On to the post-game press wrap-up:

-  Match reports, match reports, git yer match reports: MLSnet.com, Mercury News, Toronto Star, Toronto Sun, CBC Sports, National Post.

- Post-game color can be found on MLSnet.com,  from Toronto Globe and Mail columnist Ben Knight, from sportsnet.ca columnist Ryan Johnston, from the CBC, and in the National Post.

- Video highlights are here.