Photo credit: @SJEarthquakes

By: London Marq

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The San Jose Earthquakes returned to Avaya Stadium after two road matches. After a rocky start, he Quakes have officially turned their season around and found a sense of consistency. Sitting in the middle of the Western Conference table entering play on Saturday afternoon, they would host FC Dallas on Pride Day presented by Wells Fargo.

The beginning of the match was not easy on the eyes for San Jose after a huge mistake from their goalie Daniel Vega. Vega should have received a routine pass from Florian Jungwirth. Instead he let the ball pass through his legs and over the goal line into the net. The own goal was assessed to Vega in the 27th minute.

After a demoralizing first half, Chris Wondolowski came back onto the pitch with a vengeance, scoring almost immediately after play resumed, bring the score even, 1-1. Magnus Eriksson would follow Wondo’s example, scoring just eight minutes later. Eriksson was particularly effective in this match, as he also assisted Wondolwski’s goal. Eriksson’s goal gave the San Jose the lead for the first time, despite scoring all three goals of the match.

Despite Vega’s early blunder, San Jose looked to be the better team and on their way to three points. That all changed when Francis Atuahene subbed in for FC Dallas in the 64th minute. Playing on his birthday, he scored a goal 48 seconds after stepping on the pitch. Tying the game at 2-2, and the score would hold for the remainder of the match.

San Jose will feel that this match slipped away and all eyes will be on Vega, who has made mistakes earlier in the season as well. This was a golden opportunity for San Jose as Dallas was missing key players who are out with International Duty.  A bright spot for Dallas is that they we able to pick up a point despite being short-handed. Conversely, the silver lining for San Jose is that they know that if they can limit their mistakes, they can play well enough to get three points against playoff level opponents. 

Final: San Jose vs. Dallas, 2-2 draw. 

Up Next: San Jose play the Sacramento Republic in the fourth round of the U.S. Open Cup on Tuesday, June 11th at 7:30 pm.