Category: San Jose Earthquakes

Third Time Not a Charm for Quakes to Capture Clasico Magic

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By Matthew Harrington

STANFORD, Calif. – There would be no customary rally for the San Jose eleven Saturday night at Stanford Stadium, snapping a streak of thrilling come-from-behind wins in the clash of California sides. Earthquakes supporters expecting the customary late California Clasico offensive burst instead had to settle for the explosions the of post-game fireworks with the Quakes long since retired to their locker room to dwell on the 1-0 defeat at the hands of the Los Angeles Galaxy.

For the first time in three years, the Earthquakes (4-6-4) had no answer for the Los Angeles Galaxy. San Jose didn’t need three second-half goals like in 2012, nor did they need stoppage time goals from Shea Salinas and Alan Gordon as they did last season. No, the Quakes needed a lone strike to salvage a point. Unfortunately for the men in blue, time ran out on this year’s comeback bid despite a valiant second half.

“We knew that our performance where it needed to be in the first half,” said Watson. “We had a few moments, we had a few chances. I thought LA dictated the play. We knew we’d have to come out with more energy and use the ball better.”

The two teams battled to a standstill after 45 minutes of play, matching each other move for move. Los Angeles attempted eight shots on goal to the Quakes’ seven, but neither side converted. The two sides appeared even in possession, though LA controlled the play for 55% of the opening half. It was San Jose striker Steven Lenhart however, that had the best chances of the half. Lenhart narrowly missed putting the ball into the back of the net on a pair of headers that beat LA keeper Jaime Penedo but trickled wide of the goalpost.

Gyasi Zardes erased the clean sheet in the 62nd minute, firing a point-blank rocket from dead center past a defenseless Jon Busch to give the Galaxy a 1-0 lead. The Galaxy forward was set up on his third goal of the season by Marcelo Sarvas who, with his back to the keeper, found Zardes squared up on goal for the strike. In total, Los Angeles had 17 attempts on net to 13 for the home squad. Five went on goal for Los Angeles, one for the Quakes.

“Our guys competed all night,” said Earthquakes coach Mark Watson. “I thought they just had a little bit more quality on the night. I think it was a game where there wasn’t that many chances. I think we had an equal number of scoring chances, we just couldn’t finish them.”

LA nearly double its advantage in the 72nd minute after midfielder Stefan Ishizaki lofted a shot on net from just outside the penalty box corner to the right of Busch. The ball beat Busch’s cross-body dive and rang off the back post. A Quakes defender swooped in to clear the ball from a hungry Zardes and allow the San Jose netminder to regain position.

Naturally, the man who coined the “Goonies” nickname for San Jose nearly gave the home side new life with a late equalizer. In the 88th minute, Lenhart once again used his head to advance on the Galaxy net. Penedo narrowly managed to get his left fingertips on the bid to preserve his shutout, while Los Angeles (5-3-5) weathered the final surge to nab the three points and hold San Jose off from the seventh spot in the Western Conference. The Galaxy entered play one point (17 total) ahead of the Quakes entering play Saturday. LA continued a five-game unbeaten streak.
San Jose received some bad news before even taking the pitch, as centerback Clarence Goodson was a late scratch after aggravating an injury in warm-ups.

“(Clarence) pulled his groin in the warm-up,” said Watson. “We had to make a late substitution, which was disappointing. We worked with Clarence, he’s a big part of our team. I thought Jason Hernandez came in and did a fantastic job. He had 10 or 15 minutes to get himself mentally prepared and he did what he always does. He battled hard and gave everything he had.”

The Quakes were also short Shea Salinas with an injury while Chris Wondolowski and Victor Bernardez performed World Cup duties. While Bernardez and Honduras were ousted from the preeminent tournament of soccer after group play, he wasn’t quite on a time table to return to MLS play just yet.

“It was going to be close,” said Watson on the status of Bernardez Saturday. “We knew that. He played Wednesday in Brazil. It’s a long flight. He just didn’t feel he could give one hundred percent. He’ll be ready for Wednesday.”

The Quakes may also have Salinas back in the line-up Wednesday at Buck Shaw Stadium when they welcome Chivas USA to the Bay Area. The Quakes previously snapped a season-opening five-game winless streak by topping Chivas 1-0 at Buck Shaw on April 26th.

Sounders advance to Quarterfinals on penalty kicks

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TONY OVERMAN — Staff photographer for The News Tribune?

By Pearl Allison Lo

Seattle goalie Marcus Hahnemann outshone the San Jose Earthquakes’ goalie David Bingham in the last part of the game, as the Quakes fell 4-1 in the U.S. Open Cup Tuesday.

Bingham, who made a number of outstanding saves, mostly in the second half and extra time, was unable to stop any of the penalty kicks he faced.

Hahnemann saved JJ Koval’s shot and the Sounders’ Lamar Neagle helped his team advance.

In the first half, a goal kick by Bingham went all the way to Atiba Harris. #24 Steven Lenhart then headed the ball and got his own ball back to score in the 24th minute against Hahnemann.

Seattle’s Kenny Cooper scored his 10th Open Cup goal by positioning himself on the left side of the field. Neagle, who received the ball from Leonardo Gonzalez, passed it to Cam Weaver and then received the ball back. The final play came as the ball went to Cooper who was closer to the goal now, as he scored in the 26th minute.

San Jose’s Clarence Goodson almost gave his team an own goal in the 43rd minute.

The Sounders had the majority of chances in the second half, outshooting the Quakes 21-9.

At one point, San Jose’s Khari Stephenson had a free kick attempt right outside of the box straightaway.

Seattle had at least 18 corners.

In the penalty round, Stephenson once again converted on a penalty kick, as he took the first shot. It was his second conversion in as many game as he scored against Sacramento Republic FC. The Quakes’ Alan Gordon’s shot hit the post and was saved.

Game notes: In the quarterfinals, the Sounders will face their nemesis Portland Timbers in the Cascadia Clash.

San Jose will still play also in another exciting match. For MLS, the California Clasico, against  rival Los Angeles Galaxy at Stanford Stadium, will be June 28 at 7:30pm.

Thats Amaury’s News and Commentary: U.S. Men trying to get the mind set not to lose to Germany on Thursday at game’s end

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by Daniel Dullum for Amaury Pi Gonzalez

PHOENIX–The U.S. Men’s team is still alive in this set of matches in Brazil. Who saw this coming with a 2-2 loss and a draw on Sunday night against Portugal. The U.S. is playing remarkably well and generally the U.S. doesn’t qualify for the World Cup to begin with and to see them enjoy this kind of success it’s a shame they lost.

Its a shame they lost the game in extra minutes but their not a favorite to begin with and to make it to that round 16 would be awesome. It’s very exciting especially for generations who have grown up playing soccer in the U.S. even causal fans are paying attention now and a lot more people are familiar with the game and as a result fans are pretty jazzed about what is going on.

Giants are back on track: After losing last Friday night for their sixth consecutive loss San Francisco Giants manager Bruce Bochy remarked saying “that’s baseball that happens all the time. It happens to every team good and bad, your going to go through a stretch where you lose five or six. Just like you can win five or six.”

For Bochy and the Giants clubhouse there was no sense of panic at at all and sure enough Saturday and Sunday the Giants were back on track. They got good starting pitching and it starts there. The key hitting fell into place accordingly.

The one Panic that the Giants don’t seem to mind on their team is rookie Joe Panik who made his big league debut on Sunday with some great defense and his first two hits in the show to take two souvenirs home. Panik has some flashy plays over at second base and if he was a nervous rookie he certainly didn’t act like one. Panik seemed very poised and it energizes a team a little bit when you call somebody up and they come up and get you going and it’s all positive.

Finally as far as pitcher Matt Cain in concerned he will get back on track eventually he had these stretches too where for some reason he can’t seem to get his pitches over the plate and that gets him in trouble and you’ll see him in the second half for the All-Star break straighten out.

NFL Cheerleaders starting to make some noise about getting paid: Cheerleaders in the NFL goes back to the 1970s when the Dallas Cowboys got it started off and for the most part over the years these ladies have taken these jobs knowing that they weren’t going to get paid very much.

These jobs were more for the status, more for getting their modeling or show business career going. Whatever that motivation is, should they be making a little more? Probably, the NFL is like a money printing machine and there is no reason why the cheerleaders can’t be compensated properly.

They make a lot of public appearances aside from games that people don’t know about. They definitely shoud be paid and there is no reason not to.

Daniel Dullum is filling in for Amaury Pi Gonzalez who is taking the day off, Daniel files A’s game reports for http://www.sportsradioservice.com every Thursday

Earthquakes Start U.S. Open Cup With a Win

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Photo Credit: San Jose Earthquakes
Photo Credit: San Jose Earthquakes

By: Joe Lami

SAN FRANCISCO–Calif.

The San Jose Earthquakes started their U.S. Open Cup run with a 2-1 victory over Sacramento Republic FC on Wednesday Night in front of 3,788 fans at Kezar Stadium.  The Quakes automatically earned a trip into the fourth round by playing in MLS, and hosted their USL affiliate in their first game of the U.S. Open Cup.

Republic FC got on the board first in the 42nd minute when a Justin Braun header from the 6-yard box found the back of the net to get past Quakes Keeper, David Bingham.

Just minutes later, San Jose was able to answer right back on a penalty kick from Kari Stephenson in the 45th minute.  San Jose earned the penalty kick on a weird situation, as Clarence Goodson found the net from a corner kick, however the goal was waived off and San Jose was granted the penalty kick.  “It was weird, usually the referee give advantage, but once he waived it off and gave us the corner, we had to take advantage, and we did,” Earthquakes’ Head Coach Mark Watson commented after the game.

Republic FC dominated much of the second half, but San Jose was able to find the game winner off of a counter attack in the 73rd minute. Cordell Cato found a ball just inside the 18-yard box and hit it low to find its way into the net for the game winner.

Sacramento forced Bingham to come up big at the end of the game, as he made a couple of amazing saves to keep the win and preventing the game go into extra time.

Sacramento was a lot hungrier and proved it by outshooting San Jose 14-9.  “They were motivated and they came out and pressed us right from the start.  After a slow start, we were able to get back into the game,” Watson added.

San Jose continues their U.S. Open Cup Run on June 24, and will take on the winner of Seattle Sounder and Elite PSA.  If Seattle wins, San Jose will travel to Seattle and if Elite PSA wins, San Jose will host the Round of 16 match.

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: Angels set to turn things around in chase of A’s and first

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by Amaury Pi Gonzalez

ANAHEIM–The Los Angeles Angels are playing great ball right now, their playing to win and the last few years the A’s have won the west. Everybody on the Angels is healthy, Albert Pujols, Mike Trout is back, Josh Hamilton and the Angels have a great line up.

I challenge anybody who knows baseball to compare the Angels position by position. The Angels are a better team than the A’s. The A’s at present are playing much better no doubt about that. Looking at the Angels you have Pujols at first, you have Howie Kendrick at second, Erick Aybar is a great shortstop with a gold glove.

The Angels have a great team with Hamilton, Trout, they have great pitching with Jerod Weaver and C.J. Wilson and on Monday night they had starter Garrett Richards who pitched a tremendous game. The Angels are going for it they have won four in a row beating Oakland for their fourth on Monday night.

NCAA players making move for pay: It’s very simple I got one opinion I don’t agree with it, I don’t think college athletes should be paid to play sports. You go to college for academics and if you excel in sports that’s great.

There are a small amount of players that become professionals, you have to work hard, you have to have some kind of God given talent. I don’t agree I don’t think the players in college should get paid. This country is huge and it’s the richest country on earth.

There are still plenty of opportunities, you got four terrific leagues here. you have the NFL, MLB, NHL and the NBA. There are so many outlets if your good at the sport. I don’t think we should be paying kids to be playing sports in college.

World Cup in Brazil: Brazil is a huge country territory wise and it’s larger than the United States and population wise it’s still a third world country and their still very poor. There is a lot of criticism about FIFA.

FIFA has been for three years loaded with corruption and scandals and they have a lot of beautiful stadiums in Brazil and the people there are kind of complaining about what is going to happen when World Cup ends?

They cannot eat those stadiums there, what are they going to do with those stadiums? There are still a lot of people there still suffering. The World Cup should help them though in their economy. Brazil still has a lot of problems, the Brazilians are so proud to have the World Cup.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Spanish TV voice for Angels baseball and does News and Commentary each week for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Quakes’ first loss at BMO Field

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Photo credit: The Canadian Press

By Pearl Allison Lo

The San Jose Earthquakes’ three-game win streak came to a halt as the Toronto FC Reds were victorious 1-0 Saturday.

Toronto FC’s Nick Hagglund did not show up on the score sheet, but had two looks on net in the 24th minute. In the 26th minute, after a corner, Hagglund, who was being guarded by Alan Gordon, was fouled in the box, leading to a penalty kick. Jermain Defoe slightly curved the ball to the left and scored to make it 1-0 in the 27th minute. It is the second penalty kick San Jose goalie Jon Busch has faced in as many games.

Hagglund also missed a header in the 29th minute and assisted on an attempt by Defoe in the same minute, that was blocked.

The Reds dominated the first half with shots on goal 4-0 and having an overall 11-1 shots margin.

Dominic Oduro made his debut for Toronto FC in the second half.

From the 74th to the 77th minutes, the Quakes had four different players attempt shots and had two corners.

The Reds’ Daniel Lovitz had to leave the game in the 79th minute due to an injury.

San Jose’s Tommy Thompson made his Major League Soccer debut in the 88th minute and is also the first homegrown player to play in a professional match .

The game ended in the 96th minute.

Game notes: Monday, the Quakes announced, that with both the team and the San Francisco 49ers getting new stadiums close by each other, they will be partnering to attract international soccer to the South Bay for the next five years. Thursday, San Jose announced they were expanding their youth development programs, creating Under-9 to Under-16 teams. The Quakes next play Sacramento Republic FC in the Open Cup Wednesday at 7:30p before the World Cup break. San Jose rounds out June with the California Clasico against the LA Galaxy at Stanford Stadium, June 28 at 7:30p

Jean-Baptiste Pierazzi’s goal a beauty

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By Pearl Allison Lo

It was another close match between the San Jose Earthquakes and FC Dallas Saturday, but Pierazzi’s goal was the difference in another 2-1 game between the two Saturday.

In the 45th minute, Pierazzi took a pass from Khari Stephenson, touched the ball innocently it seemed at first, then kicked it past two defenders almost straightaway as it curved away from goalie Chris Seitz into the net from 35 yards out. It was Pierazzi’s first goal with the team and the team’s first road win of the season.

FC Dallas’s Blas Perez scored first in the 16th minute, as the ball bounced over Ty Harden and Jordan Stewart. Fabian Castillo then chased the ball down to kick it back the way it came, directly to Perez as Perez collided with Harden.

Adam Moffat received a yellow card for pulling the Quakes’ Yannick Djalo in the 23rd minute when Djalo had the ball.

Off a corner to San Jose’s Steven Lenhart who received it on his chest after a bounce, who then kicked it to Atiba Harris, Harris scored past a diving Seitz to equalize the score in the 27th minute. It was Harris’s second goal in as many games.

Things became more interesting when Moffat received his second yellow in the 38th minute, which would leave his team down in the second half this time. Moffat tackled Djalo who had the ball, causing Djalo to tumble and roll. Harris gave Moffat a good game handshake and patted his head. Moffat then turned the other way heading towards the referee, but Harris ran back to take him off the field.

With one minute stoppage time in the first half, Pierazzi’s goal was followed by a penalty kick on the other end after an inadvertent collision between Stewart and Castillo, as Castillo headed towards the goal.

Quakes’ goalie Jon Busch predicted Castillo’s second chance at net correctly, to preserve the lead and the game as he made his first penalty save out of three attempts now this year.

In the 74th minute, Djalo pulled up either due to a cramp or his hamstring, but had to stay in because coach Mark Watson had already made three substitutions. Thus, with limited play and the way FC Dallas played in the second half, one could argue that there was no man missing from the game.

In the 90th minute, the wall saved a free kick by FC Dallas’s Ryan Hollingshead right outside the penalty area.

Game notes: San Jose is now even in May play with a record of 33-33-18. They next play Toronto at 1pm June 7th for their only away game of the month.

 

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary:Taste of the World Cup served up at Candlestick Tuesday night

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by Amaury Pi Gonzalez

OAKLAND–The soccer fans came in droves and they were pumped up about World Soccer on Tuesday night at Candlesick Park as the U.S. Men’s team welcomed visiting Azerbaijan and this was an event that can facilitate 50-60,000 fans. This game was the first of three exhibition games before both teams take off to Brazil for the real deal next month at the World Cup.

This was special on the local angle as this is the last year before they blow up Candlestick Park and this tournament was something that the World Cup wanted to show case being at the Stick. This was an opportunity to say goodbye to the park with a big event.

The Brazil controversy: The citizens of Brazil or a great number of them have been protesting about the building of these new stadiums and villages in Rio that will accommodate the players, coaches, team personnel, media and the fans and after they leave these stadiums they will no longer be needed and be virtually a shell kind of like the Silver Dome in Pontiac.

What people forget that Brazil is larger than the United States territorial wise but it’s still a third world country. There’s a lot of poverty there, the Brazilian goverment has been criticized and FIFA will be selling tickets and concessions at top dollar and getting a hotel and dinning will be at top prices something the average citizen cannot afford and I read an article a couple weeks ago that the government of Brazil doesn’t know what is going to happen to those stadiums once the World Cup is done.

They are spending billions of dollars, it’s always controversial and most of those events make money and people seem to forget it’s a huge country and still it’s a third world country with profits going towards TV, FIFA and the hotels. It’s not a rich industrialized nation.

Media still talking about the A’s getting swept in Toronto: The Jays are very hot right now, they’re playing great ball especially at the Skydome and baseball is 162 games and you can have a team that can lose five, six or ten games in a row. Look what happened to the Boston Red Sox, they just ended a ten game losing streak it was the first team since the 1998 Miami Marlins to lose nine or more games in a row after winning the World Series.

So this happens to all of the teams and the A’s just ran into a very hot team like the Jays but look what happened they took the Detroit Tigers in the opening game of the homestand with a whopping 10-0 shutout laugher. One of the best teams in the American League and in first place in the A.L. Central. That’s baseball and the Tigers I think are the best team in the American League some other people might disagree and the A’s came back on Monday and scored ten runs.

Tuesday night the A’s are throwing Sonny Gray against the Tigers and Gray could be a future Cy Young winner against a guy who won the Cy Young last year the Tigers Max Scherzer. The Blue Jays they had something to prove when the A’s came to Toronto last week and thats what happened and then on Monday night everything went the A’s way. When your not playing well things go wrong the line drives over third base are foul, the potential doubles turn into long singles, and home runs hit the top of the wall or are grabbed just above the fence by the outfielder.

Baseball is a game of opportunities and when you grab that opportunity you keep winning and the Jays have a great line up with Melky Cabrera hitting .322, Edwin Encarnacion leading the Jays with 15 homers,Jaun Batista with 37 runs scored. My friend wrote about them and called them the Dominican Jays because they’ve filled that line up with six or seven Dominicans.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Spanish radio voice of Oakland Athletics baseball and does News and Commentary weekly on http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Earthquakes Explode for Three Goals in Dominant Win Over Houston

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By: Joe Lami

SANTA CLARA, Calif.–The San Jose Earthquakes earned their second consecutive home win on Sunday Night with an impressive three goal win over the Houston Dynamo.  The win for San Jose also marks the fifth straight time the home team takes away at least one point from Buck Shaw Stadium.

The Earthquakes were able to do it without star, Chris Wondolowski, who is on leave for the United States National Team, in which he was named to the World Cup team earlier this week.  “The guys are trying to fill the void of not having Wondo, and it clearly worked tonight,” said Earthquakes Head Coach, Mark Watson.

Khari Stephenson lead the charge for the Quakes with two goals, his first two of the season.  The first came in the 37th minute after a miscue from the Dynamo lead to an indirect kick for San Jose.  After a tap of the ball from teammate, Shea Salinas,  Stephenson drilled it into the bottom left corner of the net to take the 1-0 lead.  It wouldn’t be until the Second Half until Stephenson scored his second goal.  Steven Lenhart created the opportunity by being a pest in the 18-yard box and drawing a foul.  Stephenson found the bottom left corner again on the penalty kick in the 58th minute.

Atiba Harris capped off the scoring with his first of the season that came off of a hustle play.  On a bouning ball to Houston Goalkeeper Tally Hall, Harris steeped up and applied pressure, beating the keeper to the ball with his head.  The ball took a home bounce of the post and found Harris for the tap in.

Houston forced Quakes Goalkeeper, Jon Busch, to come up huge to earn his clean sheet.  The Dynamo outshoot the Quakes 13-12 and 6-4 with shots on target.  Houston had their best chances come in the 30th and 33rd minutes, as Busch stopped three of the six on target in that span.  In the 30th minute, Warren Creavalle headed a cross inside the six-yard box forcing Busch to make the diving save to his right.  Only three minutes later, Houston found a header once again in the six-yard box off the head of Will Bruin.  Busch made the initial save, but the rebound found the foot of Bruin, where Busch somehow found a way to get in front of that shot as well.  “Those two stops kept us in the game,” added Watson.  Busch earns his fourth clean sheet of the season in the win.

San Jose earns three points in the win, however remains in sixth place in the Western Conference, only trailing the Colorado Rapids by two points.  The Quakes return to the pitch on Saturday, May 31 as they travel to take on FC Dallas.

Obafemi stuns Busch with rainbow shot

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Photo credit: @gcsounderfan

By Pearl Allison Lo

The San Jose Earthquakes vs Seattle Sounders game came down to one goal and it was one that even shocked the goalkeeper, as Seattle remained the top team in the league with the 1-0 win Saturday.

Using a forward pass from Gonzalo Pineda, Obafemi Martins, almost parallel to the goalline, arced his shot with his left foot so that it looked like a rainbow, and hit the net near the right post as Jon Busch’s bugged out in disbelief in the 8th minute.

It was similar to the teams’ last meeting in score but the Sounders won that game and the goal came near the end of the game.

The Quakes’ Shaun Francis, prevented another goal, when he got in front of Kenny Cooper, who was right in front of Busch in the 27th minute.

Busch got a shot at redemption in the 57th minute when this time, Martins was the one passing and Busch, extremely alert, blocked Lamar Neagle like a pinball machine.

Neagle was again denied in the 65th minute, and Busch blocked two more late shots in the 84th and 86th minutes

Game notes: San Jose was by far the team down more in terms of their usual players. Clarence Goodson, who celebrated his birthday May 17, and Chris Wondolowski, were called Monday to the U.S. World Cup camp. The Quakes were also without Victor Bernardez, who was called to the Honduran camp (also as a result of misconduct in the May 10th game, he was fined and suspended one game) and Shea Salinas, who was suspended one game. Alan Gordon and Steven Lenhart were out due to injury. The Sounders had three players called to the U.S. camp, DeAndre Yedlin, Brad Evans & Clint Dempsey. San Jose players wore black armbands during the game to support Jason Hernandez in memory of his father, who lost his battle with cancer May 16. The Quakes host Houston May 25 at 7:30pm for the next game.