Photo credit: @SJEarthquakes
~ By Pearl Allison Lo
~ IRVINE — Both San Jose Earthquakes’ Tommy Thompson and Los Angeles Galaxy’s Ola Kamara scored braces, but the Earthquakes prevailed with a 4-2 California Clasico win over the Galaxy at Orange County Great Park Saturday.
It was a new location for the preseason exhibition between the teams.
Thompson scored his first two goals of the preseason in the 54th and 90th minutes, while Kamara scored his second and third goal of the preseason in the 36th and 74th minutes.
San Jose saw familiar faces at the opposite end of the field, in former goalie David Bingham and trialist Cordell Cato. Thompson replied, “Bingham and Cordell are my good friends. They’re great players, so it’s always fun to line up against somebody you have history with, so I enjoyed it out there.”
The four goals for the Quakes were a preseason high for this year, their previous being two. The Galaxy had scored three goals apiece in all their preseason games up until this one.
Los Angeles outshot San Jose in both halves, 10-8 and 12-7 for a total of 22-15.
Quakes’ head coach Mikael Stahre commented, “I’m happy to score four away goals for sure. I think the performance, especially in the second half was good, but in general, I think we conceded too many chances actually. It was an equal game. We were a little bit more effective obviously…I’m okay with this performance, but we have to be better in defense.”
San Jose goalkeeper Andrew Tarbell made five saves in the first half.
One of them included a head on chest save against Romain Alessandrini right before Alessandrini had to jump over Tarbell, followed by another Galaxy attempt off the rebound. Tarbell got his hands on it before the ball went back and was cleared by Shea Salinas in the 31st minute.
Pressure versus the Quakes continued to mount and finally paid dividends. Kamara took a pass from Emmanuel Boateng in front of the San Jose defenders and struck first in the game between Tarbell’s right leg and the near post.
The Quakes came up with a quick response though. After a throw-in to Giovani dos Santos, his pass was intercepted and the kick went to Chris Wondolowski who made a bit of a straightaway shot past a diving Bingham. Ashley Cole tried going into the net to save the ball, but it was too late.
San Jose continued scoring with two swift goals when the first half players combined with second half substitutes, those two being Alashe and Thompson who entered at halftime.
First, Bingham made an initial save as he slid to stop Wondolowski, but the rebound went to Thompson who headed the ball into the net to give their first lead in the 54th minute.
The Quakes then extended their advantage in the 55th minute. Thompson had the initial run to get into Los Angeles’ zone. Danny Hoesen made the shot and the ensuing rebounds ended off Faita Alashe’s head into the net to make it 4-2.
The Galaxy edged closer when G. dos Santos crossed the ball to Ashley Cole and Tarbell followed to defend Cole. With the net open, Cole kicked the ball across the net, San Jose’s Yeferson Quintana got a touch on it and Kamara found net at the right side for his brace.
Alessandrini nearly tied the game up as he went just wide in the 87th minute.
Thompson tallied his second when Chris Wehan, who entered in the 78th minute, slid the ball from the left as Thompson received and moved the ball forward for the 4-2 score, followed by a celebration. Thompson laughed, “I saw they danced a little bit when they scored, so after I scored the first one I thought ‘man why didn’t I dance’ and so once I got the second one I’m like, ‘Alright. I guess I have to now.’”
Up Next: San Jose conclude their preseason with a closed-door matchup versus their Reno USL affiliate again on February 22 at Avaya Stadium.
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