by Marko Ukalovic and London Marq
STANFORD, Calif- The San Jose Earthquakes put on a show in front of a record setting crowd in defeating the Los Angeles Galaxy 3-0 in the first round of the annual California Classico on Saturday evening at Stanford Stadium.
With the win, San Jose is currently on a six game unbeaten streak (5-0-1) and for the moment jumped ahead of Minnesota FC and the Houson Dynamo for fifth place in the Western Conference with 25 points. Los Angeles is still in second place with 31 points.
It didn’t take long for San Jose (7-6-5) to draw first blood and send the 50,850 in attendance, the most to ever attend a Classico game, into a frenzy. In the 11th minute, Jackson Yueill’s free kick from 30 yards out found Magnus Eriksson. He fed a pass over to Vako who took one dribble to the right and fired a shot past Galaxy goalkeeper (and former Quake) David Bingham into the far left corner for his fourth goal of the season and third in the past two games.
The Quakes controlled the play from the beginning and all the way up to the end of the first half despite the possession being even at 50%. They had six shots on goal compared to only two for the Galaxy.
“It was a great spectacle”, said Quakes head coach Matias Almeyda, coaching in his first Cali Classico. “It’s always important to win. We know we have to keep on this path. We have improved and we should keep on improving.”
Los Angeles (10-7-1) was finally able to get a couple of scoring chances near the end of the first 45 minutes. Dave Romney’s shot from 10 yards out was saved by Quakes goalkeeper Daniel Vega in the 38th minute. Galaxy leading goal scorer Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s header off a set piece from 6 yards out was also thrawted away by Vega.
“We had a few good chances”, said Galaxy midfielder Perry Kitchen. “But the broke us on the counter twice.”
The Quakes back line did well to collapse in the middle of the box to keep Ibrahimovic and the rest of the Galaxy’s offense from creating quality chances.
San Jose put the game away in the 83rd minute as Vako led a counter attack. He crossed the ball going from left to right over to Shea Salians, who entered as a substitute in the 75th minute, and he rifled a shot into the upper left corner to beat Bingham for his fifth goal of the season.
“I’ve just been blessed to be put in good situations in this game”, said Salians who played his first game back from an injury. “It’s always fun to play well and score in front of 50,000 people. I think we could’ve scored more goals. It was a good game for us.”
San Jose added on another goal just two minutes later in the 85th minute when Tommy Thompson carried the ball in from the right slot, dribbled around a Galaxy defender and then fired a shot that deflected off a Galaxy defender into the back of the net for an own goal that gave the Quakes a commanding 3-0 lead.
“I told him (Almeyda) ‘quiero esta en la concha’ I want to be on the field”, said Thompson regarding how he has been able to adapt to switching to play as a defender. “If one of the best coaches in the world says you can play this position, in your mind you gotta think I can play this position as well. It’s been new for me but it’s been a special year for me as well.”
Vega was huge in the net stopping all five shots on goal for his second consecutive shutout in just three days.
GAME NOTES: Los Angeles midfielder Flavio Alvarez was issued a yellow card in the 67th minute for an illegal tackle attempt.
Salians was isssued a yellow card for taking off his jersey in his post goal celebration.
Since 2003 San Jose is now 13-8-3 at home versus Los Angeles.
UP NEXT: The Quakes take on Minnesota FC on Wednesday 7/3 at 5:00pm at Allianz Field.
