sjearthquakes.com photo: San Jose goaltender David Bingham (right) congratulates Hall of Famer Joe Cannon (left) on Saturday night at Avaya Stadium
by-Ana Kieu
SAN JOSE — The San Jose Earthquakes settled for a 1-1 draw with the Seattle Sounders FC at Avaya Stadium Saturday.
Following a 2-1 loss to NYCFC at Yankee Stadium, the Earthquakes returned to San Jose to host the Sounders in a Saturday night game. Thus, home-field advantage was a positive thing. Also, in honor of Hall of Fame night, 5,000 fans received a free Joe Cannon t-shirt.
The Earthquakes had a couple of chances in the first half. Their first chance came at the 14th minute when Nick Lima set up Anibal Godoy, whose scoring attempt was cleared by Stefan Frei. Two minutes later, Simon Dawkins got a shot off at the edge of six-yard box, but his attempt trickled just past the far post.
“As far as the performance,” Lima recalled. “It was hard. The second half, we weren’t on top of our game, but it was a game where you’d expect toughness from both teams…There were a few moments, like when we went down and gave up a goal. It hurts and it’s hard to deal with, but we fought back and got a goal in return…I almost thought we had a chance to win it, but you know, it’s gotta be a full 90 minutes. It was their game, but we gotta move on and focus on Friday’s game.”
Godoy received a yellow card at the 33rd minute. He also made a promising kick from the left field, but was called offside at the 38th minute.
Krazy George rallied up the crowd at the 41st minute. The Earthquakes had another chance when Marco Urena kicked the ball into the net, but it was denied by Frei.
The match was scoreless after the first half. San Jose held a halftime ceremony to induct Cannon to the Hall of Fame. Cannon’s former teammates also took the time out to congratulate him on his induction.
Once again, the Earthquakes had some chances in the second half. Urena’s kick at the 51st minute had potential, but it was just a bit too high.
The Earthquakes made their first substitution of the match at the 66th minute. Cordell Cato made his first appearance of the season, replacing Dawkins.
Godoy executed a kick from outside of the box at the 71st minute, but it went just wide of the net.
The Earthquakes made another substitution at the 80th minute. Shea Salinas replaced Jahmir Hyka. Then, Fatai Alashe received a yellow card at the 83rd minute.
“There’s a lot of emotion that goes through your head,” Alashe said.
Sounders FC broke the scoreless deadlock in the 84th minute as Nicolas Lodeiro finished a play for a 1-0 lead.
However, the Seattle lead was short-lived. The Earthquakes tied the match 1-1 at the 90th minute after Chris Wondolowski scored his second goal of the season.
“It’s still a bit frustrating that we slipped and gave up two points,” Wondolowski said when asked about the final result. “But it’s nice to have that character and fight and come back and you don’t want to take that for granted.”
Three minutes of stoppage time were added to the clock after two, 45-minute halves. The Earthquakes (2-1-2) wanted to score the go-ahead goal to earn a 2-1 win, but they settled for one point after coming back for a late 1-1 draw with Sounders FC (1-3-1).
“We had a great game regardless,” Shaun Francis said. “We’ll do our best to learn from it and prepare for next Friday’s game.”
“There’s a lot of guys who had good performances tonight,” Earthquakes head coach Dominic Kinnear said. “I felt like both teams had it in them.”
Notes
Injured: OUT: F Quincy Amarikwa (knee surgery), D Marvell Wynne (heart abnormality), M Marc Pelosi (left knee injury), D Harold Cummings (leg surgery)
Suspended: Victor Bernardez (red card)
Int’l Duty: None
Up Next
The Earthquakes host Dallas FC (3-1-0) next Friday at 7:45 p.m. PST on UniMas. London Marq will have exclusive game coverage from Ayaya Stadium next Friday for http://www.sportsradioservice.com
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