~ Photo credit: San Jose Earthquakes

~ By Pearl Allison Lo

CARSON– Late goals in the California Clasico highlighted the already intense competition between San Jose and the Los Angeles Galaxy in a 1-1 draw.

It was the largest crowd of the year at the StubHub Center, a 27,167 standing-room-only sellout.

As Thuc Nhi Nguyen mentioned, another Sebastian Lletget cross turned into an own goal, after a deflection by Marvell Wynne in the 83rd minute.

The own goal came after a flurry of shots against goalie David Bingham, several handled directly by him. Robbie Keane had a breakaway in the 78th minute and Giovani dos Santos followed with another breakaway in the same minute. Robbie Rogers also missed with a close chance in the 81th minute.

For the second goal, Shea Salinas put the ball towards the net from the right side. Goalie Brian Rowe was able to get a hand on it and Chad Barrett got to the ball after it landed on the grass on the left side. Barrett hung on to the ball, was blocked, played with his defender and then sent the ball in from the left side. Fatai Alashe finished with an equalizing header past Row in the 87th minute.

It was the fewest goals for Los Angeles since April 2.

Bingham was called on to make three saves in his 50th start for the team.

The Earthquakes had the majority of the possession in the first half, even in the early minutes, including a sequence for a while, that involved two corner kicks by Matias Perez Garcia leading up to the 9th minute.

Then Keane bounced a header wide in the 10th minute, during the Galaxy’s next opportunity.

Alashe had San Jose’s first shot in the 11th minute and forced Rowe to make his first save.

Rowe made his second save when the Earthquakes’ Chris Wondolowski made a shot from right outside the goal box after a collision with his defender caused him to go parallel in the 14th minute.

San Jose’s Shaun Francis had a nice takeaway from Mike Magee in the 20th minute.

The Earthquakes’ Alberto Quintero & Rogers made contact twice in a row in the 22nd & 23rd minutes. The second one ended with the game’s only yellow card to Quintero.

San Jose’s Victor Bernardez left the field temporarily after a kick in the face by Jelle Van Damme in the 24th minute.

Van Damme was able to avoid a yellow when he tripped Simon Dawkins outside the box in the 34th minute, resulting in a free kick.

In the 38th minute, Wondolowski with Daniel Steres behind him, hit the crossbar kicking from a left corner angle.

The last attempts in the first half came in stoppage time. Bingham made his first save when dos Santos shot at 45:24 and Wondolowski shot in the 46th minute.

Keane was the only one with multiple shot attempts for Los Angeles in the first half. Alashe, Perez Garcia and Dawkins all had two shots apiece. Wondolowski led all with three.   

In the first half, the Earthquakes had more passes, passing accuracy and possession with the Galaxy winning duels. In the second half, it was the opposite.

There were several upsetting challenges on both sides.

Los Angeles had its own missed opportunity off the crossbar when dos Santos’ shot bounced off in the 72nd minute. Giovani had a crossbar shot

San Jose’s Cordell Cato came on for his first MLS action of the year in the 77th minute. After being injured in the preseason, Cato played in the Earthquakes’ previous friendly game against La Liga Side Real Sociedad.
Game notes: The Galaxy now have a nine-game unbeaten streak and San Jose now three. Los Angeles’ is now 3-0-3 versus the Quakes at Stubhub since the 2012 playoffs. The Galaxy’s Nigel de Jong returned to play 88 minutes. Teammate Alan Gordon came in during the 90th minute. San Jose next plays FC Dallas Saturday at 7:30pm.