By: Joe Lami
SANTA CLARA, Calif–For the second straight match between the Colorado Rapids and the San Jose Earthquakes it ends scoreless, as the April 20th match also ended in a 0-0 draw.
Chances were seen from both squads with 31 total shots taken. The Rapids outshot the home side 16-15. However, the Quakes had the upper hand in shots on target 7-4, forcing Colorado Goal Keeper Clint Irwin to play an outstanding game.
The Quakes had a couple of outstanding chances, the first one coming in the tenth minute when a cross sent into the box by Midfielder, Atiba Harris found Striker, Chris Wondolowski. However, Wondolowski misplayed the ball, which prevented him from scoring his team leading sixth goal of the campaign.
Another chance came for San Jose in the 23rd minute off of a corner kick set up by Shea Salinas. Salinas decided to play the corner short. He ended up with the ball of the left side of the box then striking it right at Rapid’s Keeper, Irwin. Irwin was able to come up with the easy save.
Quakes’ Defender, Andreas Gorlitz, was substituted at the 45th minute with a right knee injury after a risky challenge by Colorado Midfielder, Charles Eloundou. The challenege handed Eloundou the first yellow card of the game. “It doesn’t look good, it could be the end of the season type of thing,” explained Earthquakes Head Coach, Mark Watson. Wondolowski added “it makes stomachs turn seeing injuries like that happen. It doesn’t matter which team the player was on.”
The Quakes came out firing in the second half as well, with good chances coming from Alan Gordon and Wondolowski in the first 15 minutes of the half. San Jose’s best chance of the game came off of the boot of Harris as he struck one towards net. The ball was sure to find the back of the net until Irwin made a sprawling save to his right to keep the game even keel.
It wouldn’t be Earthquakes soccer if they hadn’t tried to get one late to win the game, and it almost came to fruition when a ball of the foot of Wondolowski found the right post and kicked right and away from the goal.
An impressive performance from the Quakes ends in disappointment once again, as they are unable to get on the board to earn a much needed 3-point game. “We faced a great goal keeper tonight and of course it’s frustrating when you can’t get one by him, but we have to keep plugging away and can’t get ourselves down,” commented Wondolowski. “I believe we did well, we created a lot more chances, and it was a good stepping stone,” added Harris.
The Earthquakes don’t have much time to rest as they are back to action at Buck Shaw Stadium this Saturday hosting FC Dallas.
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