By: Joe Lami

San Jose, Calif.—The San Jose Earthquakes picked up three crucial points on Sunday evening, as they beat Real Salt Lake 1-0 in a must win match.  With the playoffs looming, San Jose is on the outside looking in, but the three points put them on the brink of the playoffs with a huge game next Saturday against Vancouver with only three games remaining.

The Quakes owned RSL all 90-minutes in shots but were just unlucky with finishing.  San Jose had many chances, as they outshot Salt Lake 20-6. 

“We had a lot of chances; that’s the good thing. Give Nick Rimando some credit. The one thing was we didn’t stop pushing forward. We didn’t get frustrated and put our heads down,” Quakes’ head coach, Dominic Kinnear said.

RSL keeper, Rimando, stoned the Earthquakes until the 87th minute when Matias Perez Garcia was finally able to find the back of the net.  He received a ball from Quincy Amarikwa and kicked it with his left foot right into a defender. The ball bounced off the defender to the right side of the net for the winner.

Garcia celebrated the game-winner by taking his shirt off and earned a yellow card on the play. It would mean the end of Garcia’s day, as it was his second yellow card of the match. Garcia was booked in the 77th minute on a play involving RSL star, Kyle Beckerman. Unfortunately for Garcia and the Quakes, the red card means that he will be unable to play in next’s Saturday’s match.

“It’s secondary for what was going on. Looking back on it now, it wasn’t the smartest thing to do. He probably at the moment didn’t realize he had a card. In the end, I’m glad we won the game, and that’s the most important thing.” Kenner added.

Garcia mentioned, “in the moment, the joy, I wasn’t thinking about the other yellow card.” Quakes captain, Chris Wondolowski, added, “sometimes the passion gets the best of you. It was a huge goal, late, the game winner. I wish we could have him Saturday, but I’m glad the ball went in the net right now”.