Category: San Jose Earthquakes

Reserves pull through for Quakes

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Photo credit: (Godofredo Vasquez/SFBay)

By Pearl Allison Lo

The San Jose Earthquakes finally broke through in the end, persisting for a 2-0 win over the Republic FC in Tucson Wednesday, ending their preseason with their best match score.

It was Sacramento’s first loss in four practice matches, who were almost able to hold on until the end. Fans supported all the way from pre-game warmups to after the 2-0 score.

The Republic were playing with two members from a Portland Timbers loan, which included goalie Jake Gleeson.

The Quakes had a number of chances, about five excluding the ones that the referee counted. Adam Jahn was involved in two of them.

San Jose made all their substitutions except goalie in the 71st minute.

Jon Busch did leave though, after Sacramento had a chance that hit the crossbar in the 79th minute. Busch departed due to a cut above his eye, while defending the net.

The Earthquakes broke through in the 86th minute. Alan Gordon played for the first time in the preseason and after receiving a cross from Walter Martinez, headed the ball to rookie JJ Koval, who headed the ball into an empty net.

Both Billy Schuler and Sam Garza experienced redemption with San Jose’s doubling goal. Schuler scored a minute into stoppage on an assist from Garza. Earlier, Schuler had a goal taken away due to a foul and Garza just moments before his post-regulation assist, had almost scored.

Game notes: Koval and Schuler were both credited with their first goal of the preseason. The former signed with the team February 19, after being selected in the year’s SuperDraft. Schuler joined the team Jan 14 via lottery.  Earlier in the day, the Quakes added German Andreas Gorlitz to their roster, pending administrative receipts. There were over 1,100 attendees of the Republic’s first match in front of a home crowd. March 11 at 7p, San Jose will face an even stiffer challenge as 8th seed in the quarterfinal of the CONCACAF Champions League, as they host first-seed Deportivo Toluca FC.

Quakes leave Portland positive

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Photo credit: Craig Mitchelldyer-USA TODAY Sports

By Pearl Allison Lo

The San Jose Earthquakes finished the Rose City Invitational 2-1, as they won over the Jamaican club Portmore United 1-0 Saturday.

It was the same score by which San Jose won their first game as they were back in their red and white kit as well.

Portmore made an early move in the 16th minute. Adoah Nickels came in to replace Alonzo Adlam, who was injured.

In the 39th minute, Adam Jahn won a battle up front and passed to Cordell Cato. Cato received the ball on his body and got it to the back of the net as goalie Kenmar Foster slid and the ball went off his teammate.

Cato also had a lot of touches in the first half and passes into the box, especially in the 13th-14th minutes.

The Quakes dominated the stat board in the first half winning corner kicks 7-1 and shots 15-5.

Game notes: Regarding lineups, Foster was Portmore’s third starting goalie of the tournament. San Jose’s Steven Lenhart was absent but looks like he would have played if it was a regular season game. Instead of being done with the preseason at this point, the Quakes will play one additional game, added Wednesday. This following Wednesday, March 5 at 7p, San Jose will travel to Tucson to face the Sacramento Republic FC. Tucson will also be home to the Quakes’ Player Development League. San Jose will be without Victor Bernardez, who will be participating in a game for the Honduran National Team. Also Thursday, the San Antonio Scorpions received Sam Garza and David Bingham via loan.

 

Vancouver moves to final

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By Pearl Allison Lo

Photograph by: Craig Mitchelldyer-USA TODAY Sports

The Whitecaps FC will face the Portland Timbers Saturday after a 2-0 win over the San Jose Earthquakes Wednesday.

 The Quakes, who sported their blue and black kits this time, went with a slightly different starting lineup, while Vancouver went with an entirely new lineup.

San Jose’s Brandon Barklage had an opportunity to score in the 12th minute when he crossed the ball to Sam Garza at the endline. Garza prevented the ball from going beyond as fighting his defender, he kicked the ball back past teammate Adam Jahn to Barklage. Barklage’s subsequent kick was only stopped by Carlyle Mitchell at the goal line.

The winning goal came in the 27th minute. Omar Salgado passed the ball forward from midfield. Shaun Francis, racing Sam Adekugbe, who then lost his footing, passed the ball to Kenny Miller who was in a foot race again Barklage. Miller’s shot then went in over a rolled up Jon Busch.

San Jose goalie David Bingham came in for Busch in the 42nd minute.

San Jose’s Steven Lenhart and Chris Wondolowski were latecomers to the game, entering in the 72th minute.

At one point, the Quakes had a sequence which involved two throw-ins and two corner kicks.

Lenhart later had a wide header.

Off a goal kick by Bingham, Christian Dean got Lenhart who was going for the ball. Lenhart hobbled off the field and ended up out for the rest of the game. On the other end of the field, Bryce Alderson was penalized and Darren Mattocks took the ensuing penalty kick. The 2-0 score came as Bingham went the opposite way of the ball in the 88th minute.

Former Whitecap Shea Salinas came in as Lenhart’s replacement after the goal.

Game notes: San Jose will end the invitational facing Portmore United Saturday at 2:30pm.

Paparatto helps Quakes

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By Pearl Allison Lo

Two Portland Timbers went down in front of the net, and for Norberto Paparatto, it was from disbelief, as he headed the ball to give the San Jose Earthquakes a 1-0 win Sunday in both teams’ first Rose City Invitational game,

San Jose, while luckily and skillfully defending the multitude of chances in front of their net, were sporting their new red and white kit. It was their first win of the preseason.

Off a corner kick from Shea Salinas, Clarence Goodson took the pass from Sam Cronin, and headed the ball to Steven Lenhart in front of the net. Paparatto was trying to get the ball out in the 26th minute, as he collied with his goalie Donovan Ricketts. It would be the closest Ricketts would come to defending the ball during the game.

In the 7th minute, Portland’s Gaston Fernandez had a dangerous free kick. His teammates followed it by two more chances, the latter leading to a corner kick.

Though the Timbers controlled ball possession, once the ball got close enough to the box, it was stopped by Quakes players. Portland outshot San Jose 17-6 and Jon Busch made seven saves.

Both teams went from end to end at one point. Salinas nearly netted the ball, earning himself a corner kick. Victor Bernardez received a deflected ball, but Diego Chara blocked him. Maxilimiano Urruti got the ball up front and beat Busch who slid forward to defend, but a teammate got back and kicked the ball away before Urruti could get another chance.

Timbers’ Paul Kah nearly made it 2-0.

Busch, the other half of defensive equation, made crucial saves as well, in the final 15 minutes, including stoppage time. The quickness of Portland’s attack at one point, even stupefied Fernandez, who received the ball unknowingly, three times, spaced just a second apart.

After the 90th minute, the Timbers got the ball to a player right in front of the net twice, but they were unable to convert.

Game notes: The Quakes were without Jean-Baptiste Pierazzi and Portland without Will Johnson. It was the first time this preseason Busch played all game. It was a physical match, 27 fouls in all, with San Jose awarded four yellows. Last Thursday, the Quakes and San Jose Sharks played their own friendly of Olympic curling. The hockey team won 4-2. Wednesday at 5p, San Jose will next face Vancouver Whitecaps FC in Game 2 of the invitational.

Southern team wins Inaugural Central California Cup

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By Pearl Allison Lo

The Los Angeles Galaxy won 2-1 over the San Jose Earthquakes in Fresno’s pre-friendly Saturday.

San Jose remained winless in preseason despite the 1906 Ultras supporting them in person.

The game was a sellout with 12,659 fans. Chukchansi Park holds 12,500.

The Earthquakes’ reserve team lost 2-1 to the Fresno Fuego of the Premier Development League before the game. The Galaxy II beat the Fuego 2-1 Thursday.

Los Angeles goalie Brian Perk and San Jose’s Billy Schuler had an audible collision going for the ball in front of the net. Both were approached afterwards by their team members and play resumed.

The Galaxy’s Marcelo Savas scored the first half’s goal in the 31st minute. The Earthquakes’ Jon Busch stopped a chance from him in the 15th minute.

Teammate Gyasi Zardes took a scoring pass from Landon Donovan to double their lead in the 54th minute.

Zardes had another chance soon after that went just high. Busch dove to stop Zardes to open the second half.

San Jose’s goal came in the 67th minute, with Josh Morton aided by Sam Garza’s corner.

The Earthquakes came close to tying afterwards in the 75th minute and near the end.

Game notes: After San Jose’s Clarence Goodson and Chris Wondolowski returned to play last game, they were absent in this one. The Earthquakes’ next preseason friendly will be February 23 at 5p as they partake in the Rose City Invitational against the Portland Timbers first.

Dynamo win by two in Tucson

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By Pearl Allison Lo

Houston came back with three in the second half in a 2-1 win over the San Jose Earthquakes Saturday, to close San Jose’s friendly play in Arizona, 3-1.

The Earthquakes’ Chris Wondolowski, Clarence Goodson and the Dynamo’s Brad Davis returned from National Team duty.

In the 13th minute, San Jose’s Jordan Stewart and Shea Salinas led a counterattack across the field.

After teammate Steven Lenhart headed off Houston’s second corner kick and Wondo got the ball, in a similar matter to the 13th, Stewart and Salinas combined to lead to a kick. Tyler Deric saved the ball, but then Wondolowski saw an opportunity after Deric fell and lost the ball, as he quickly raced to finish the play with a goal in the 21st minute.

In the second half, the Earthquakes replacedall of their first half starters.

San Jose’s Mike Fucito nearly had another goal for the second game, in the 57th minute. A long ball by A.J. Corrado led to AJ Cochran being Fucito’s sole field defender and Fucito had to switch from his oft used foot to avoid the quickly approaching Deric.

Bryan Meredith came in as the Earthquakes’ goalkeeper for David Bingham in the 60th minute.

In the 65th minute, Corrado passed to Shaun Francis who passed to Fucito in front of the net again. Before Fucito could pull off a shot, however, Servando Carrasco came up from behind with a challenge.

On the same play going the other way, Omar Cummings leveled the score at one apiece. He was able to score from his left foot with the help of a deflected shot off San Jose.

Cummings nearly had another chance two minutes later, but the ball was offsides and wide.

An offsides call gave the Dynamo the ball back. Draft pick Mark Sherrod passed to trialist Sito Seoane who scored as his defender and Meredith collided in the 74th minute to give Houston the 2-1 lead.

Tony Cascio, on loan from the Colorado Rapids, scored the Dynamo’s third goal and put the game further out of reach in the 84th minute. As Meredith approached him, Cascio punched the ball the opposite way.

Game notes: The Earthquakes will travel to Fresno for their next preseason friendly, Saturday February 15 at 7p versus the LA Galaxy.

Martins braces Quakes

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By Pearl Allison Lo

The first preseason game for the San Jose Earthquakes and Seattle Sounders was a Desert Diamond friendly in Tucson, Arizona Wednesday morning, resulting in a win for the team whose city won the Super Bowl.

Sounders goalkeeper Stefan Frei’s activity and the timing of the three goals summarized the flow of the game from Seattle to San Jose.

The battle for most yellow cards went to the Quakes, who had three in the game, including one in the 2nd minute.

Frei only needed to make one save in the first half, and it came against newbie Jean-Baptiste Pierazzi in the 24th minute, in his debut.

Obafemi Martins set up a tough hurdle to overcome, scoring in the 27th and 29th minutes.

San Jose goalkeeper David Bingham’s knocking the ball away and then out of bounds after a free kick attempt, set up the scene for the first goal. After the ensuing corner throw Jalil Anibaba bounced in, Lamar Neagle headed it to Martins who kicked the ball into the net. Anibaba was acquired from the Chicago Fire January 15.

The artful play that led to the second goal came after Neagle kicked the ball. Dylan Remick followed running in from the sideline and sent the ball in an arc over to Andy Rose. Rose then headed the ball to Martins who duplicated right up front to make it 2-0. Bingham was caught going back from defending Rose.

Sounders’ draft pick Jimmy Ockford had two friendly fire collisions in the second half. One was with fellow draft pick Damion Lowe, the other later with Frei after Mike Fucito’s goal.

Fucito was able to get one in the net for the Quakes in the 86th minute. Teammate trialist Andreas Gorlitz kicked the ball into the center and it bounced around blue and green jerseys, Atiba Harris and Fucito for San Jose. When it got loose, Fucito crossed it into Frei’s open side.

Game notes: February 3, the Quakes reported they signed Shea Salinas and Jordan Stewart to new contracts. The second and last Desert Diamond friendly as San Jose tries to even out, is Friday, February 8, at 2pm PST against the Houston Dynamo.

 

Soccer on television doesn’t do well

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That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary

Back in 1994 during the World Cup USA ’94, I covered that event for Telemundo Bay Area. I had the privilege of interviewing the incomparable Edison Arantes do Nascimento (Pelé); considered the Babe Ruth of Fútbol in the world. Pelé was traveling as a an ambassador of soccer, with the Brazilian team, who won the cup that year. Among my many questions, I asked Pelé was the future of fútbol here in the United States? He told me: “In about twenty years, it will be one of the top sports in this country”.

It is true, a lot of kids are playing soccer nowadays in the United States, but that has not translated to world class talent in the world professional stage for the United States. No sport can succeed today in this country without a big television contract. I have talked about the MLS from the very beginning, the only thing it has that is “major”is the name, but the talent is not. They have tried, bringing great starts, like David Beckham and such.

Since my interview with Pelé in 1994, kids have played and are playing soccer in the US, but how many American born soccer stars do we have? We are knocking on the door of 2014, It has been twenty years since my interview with Pelé. Is Soccer/Fútbol, any competition in television ratings or revenues to the other professional leagues here in the US? No, not even close. The World Cup is it, but that happens every four years, and yes it is the second sporting event in the world, only second to the Summer Olympics.

Many, many words have been spent on other websites, forums and social media theorizing why MLS ratings were poor in the past. FOX Soccer was blamed for its poor production value. FOX upped their game but the ratings didn’t prosper. Many MLS fans argued that NBC would be the answer with its better production values and ability to show games on national television. However, despite better ratings than FOX Soccer (it couldn’t have gotten much worse), those vocal critics of the poor job that FOX did and how NBC would change everything are now silent.
The bottom line is that Major League Soccer is sub par to the other leagues that are available on television.

Even with a more consistent schedule, a night dedicated to a game of the week, and other changes, the fact is that it’s not going to make that much of a difference.
Based on TV ratings, the growth of soccer in the United States has been largely fueled by the US Men’s National Team, the US Women’s National Team, the Mexican national team and English Premier League. Major League Soccer is not on the map compared to the other pro-sports league in the US.

For Telemundo and Univisión it is a big deal, but although this country is becoming more bilingual by the minute, still MLS (Major League Soccer) is not even close to the NFL, MLB. NBA or NHL.

I still believe that for soccer to be a success and a rival to the other leagues here in the United States, this country has to produce American superstars in the world scene, even though it is not a sport in which Americans have been raised with, not a part of this culture, the public in this country wants to see stars. Does US soccer have a LeBron James? Soccer is not indigenous to the country, marketing and the American public do better when they have-home grown stars they can promote, otherwise it will continue to be an imported product. Now, I remember when I first arrived in California, back in 1969, California wines were good, but could not rival those of Europe, today California grows some of the best wines in the world, but that has taken over 40 years. Maybe soccer in the USA can catch up with Europe in ten or 40 years from now.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is in the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame and does News and Commentary each week for Sportstalk Radio

Quakes top Rapids to stay alive in MLS playoffs race

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San Jose Earthquakes Jordan Stewart celebrates on top of his teammates as Chris Wondolowski (in the center) scored against Colorado Rapids at Buck Shaw Stadium. Photo by Michael Bonocore Photography

By Ivan Makarov

SANTA CLARA, CA — A couple of months ago the odds of San Jose Earthquakes making MLS playoffs didn’t look good, as the team kept losing points while unable to produce offense. They even parted ways with their head coach Frank Yallop who led the team to 2012 Supporters Shield award only a year ago. But after tightening its defense with the signing of Clarence Goodson, and focusing on offense in training, the things finally started to come together for the Quakes and its interim head coach Mike Watson.

That improvement calumniated in a key victory against the divisional opponent Colorado Rapids on Wednesday night at Buck Shaw Stadium. The race for the five playoffs spots in the West is staying very close this year between seven teams, and to stay alive Quakes needed a victory against Colorado, one of the two teams right in front of them. With the big goal by its captain Chris Wondowski, the Quakes earned 1-0 win and kept themselves alive in this close race to the finish.

“That was probably a must-win game for us tonight,” said Mike Watson after the game. “We needed the three points. I don’t think one would have been enough. I don’t think you go into a game with that as your main thought, but you know the result you need to come away with. I thought our guys were excellent tonight. We were on top of the game from the start. We were sharp, moved the ball well and had a bunch of great chances.”

The key moment of the game happened on the 69th minute from two set pieces inside the Rapids territory. It all  started with a cross from a free kick taken by Rafael Baka from 40 or so yards out which found Wondolowski’s head inside the penalty box. Wondo put a shot on target, but Colorado’s goalkeeper Clinton Irwin made a great save, putting the ball above the goal, resulting in the Quakes’ corner kick.

Shea Salinas took that corner and sent the ball back to the Quakes top goalscorer Wondolowski. He once again beat his coverage, and put another header on goal, which went in this time. This was Wondo’s 10th goal of the season, and his league-leading seventh game winning goal. It’s also worth noting that it was a well deserved assist for Salinas, who was brilliant all night, orchestrating most of the attacks with his speed and creativity.

“Shea [Salinas’] service has been excellent,” said Mike Watson. “He’s somebody who thrives off running past defenders. He wants those one-on-one match-ups. He’s quick and has good control and his service is usually very good when he gets in dangerous spots. Tonight, I thought his service was great.”

Quakes had the chance to score other goals in the game, creating multiple chances from crosses inside the zone, where Rapids defense seemed to struggle. Alan Gordon had at least two great scoring chances from headers, as did Wondolowski who had a chance to score from a breakaway at the start of the second half. Quakes outshot the Rapids 8-0 with shots on target. At the same time, Quakes were excellent on their own back end, with Colorado earning only a couple of chances to score – mostly early  in the game. Jon Busch earned his eighth shutout of the season.

“As the season draws to an end, it feels like each game gets more emotional,” said Chris Wondolowski. “The guys were loose before the game and it helped ease the nerves because this match was a must-win situation here at home. We were so excited to play tonight; I was fired up all game and it’s always great to play in front of our home fans here at Buck Shaw [Stadium]. Now we are a point back of where we want to be and know that if we take care of business we will be rewarded.”

The game turned out to be a close to a complete performance by the home team in front of the sold out crowd of 10,525. The win improved the Quakes to 4-0-1 in their last five games. With two games remaining in the season, San Jose needs to continue winning, as they finish the season against LA and Dallas. But they’re keeping their hopes up and such performance should add to their confidence going into those final games.

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Wondo a late game hero for the Quakes

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By Ivan Makarov

At this point in the MLS season, and given their position in the standings, San Jose Earthquakes could not afford to lose any points in the remaining four games to still have a chance to make playoffs.

Sunday night game in Los Angeles against Chivas USA proved to be a thriller, as  it took the Quakes 87 minutes to break through and keep their playoffs chance  alive going into the final stretch of the season. They won the match 1-0, thanks to the late game heroics from their top goalscorer Chris Wondolowski.

After largely uneventful first half, with the only memorable moment being a yellow card to Stephen Lenhart, as he injured Steve Purdy in an airial challenge, things started to pick up in the second. Lenhart was in the middle of the action again after a corner kick taken by Shea Salinas. Lenhart ran into the box toward the cross, and put the header into the net. However, a quick whistle from the referee negated an apparent goal, as he indicated that Lenhart fouled on the play. A video replay did not show any point of contact or where the foul was committed, but the score remained 0-0.

Quakes continued to push the ball forward, and looking like a better team, but could not find that final touch they needed to put the ball into the net.

The earlier booking on Lenhart proved to be pricy later on the 81st minute as the Quakes forward went to challenge the high ball against Chivas goalkeeper Dan Kennedy, and instead of reaching the ball, he ran into the keeper. Referee showed no hesitation in booking Lenhart again with the second yellow, followed by the red card. That left the Quakes with one man down for the rest of the game. But it didn’t stop them from pushing forward, with their season on the line.

With only six minutes remaining in the regulation, the fortune finally turned to the Quakes. Alan Gordon had the ball just outside the Chivas box, and took a long shot. It wasn’t the strongest of kicks, but it dipped down, bounced off the grass and went up when it reached Dan Kennedy. Up to this point, Kennedy was nothing short of spectacular for his team, but he made a mistake this time, as the ball rebounded off his chest and back into the field. Quakes’ most dangerous man Chris Wondolowski was the first to the rebound, and he flicked the ball above Kennedy and into the net, breathing life into Quakes playoffs chances this season.

Quakes went on to defend their lead in the remaining minutes in the game, and improved their standing to 44 points with three games remaining and just one point outside the playoffs spot in the West. Their chances for post season keep improving, but the task is still hard, as they likely need at least two more victories in the remaining three games to qualify for playoffs.

The Quakes next host Colorado Rapids at home at Buck Shaw Stadium on Wednesday, October 9.