Tag: San Jose Earthquakes

Wondo’s sub heroics help Earthquakes earn draw against Toronto FC 1-1

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Photo credit: @SJEarthquakes

By Marko Ukalovic and Alexandra Evans

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Just when the San Jose Earthquakes (3-13-8) were left for dead, the heroics of their captain Chris Wondolowski, who came off the bench as a sub rescued his team and prevented another home loss in a 1-1 draw with Toronto FC (6-12-6) at Avaya Stadium on Saturday evening. San Jose still only has one win at home on the season.

The first half would go scoreless. However, the Quakes had three great chances to break open the deadlock. In the 22nd minute, Vako dribbled between three defenders inside the box only to have his right foot shot blocked away by Toronto FC goalie Alex Bono.

Vako would create another chance three minutes later when he dribbled in to the right of the box, back flipped the ball to defenseman Joel Quiberg, who made a perfect cross over to Eriksson, whose rocket of a shot was thwarted by Bono.

“Feels like those chances reflect on (how) our season (has gone) so far,” said Eriksson. “We are playing better as a team, creating chances. But we still missed the three points, especially (here) at home.”

The best opportunity for the Quakes came at the 35th minute when Danny Hoesen received a ball from 12 yards out and centered a ball off the hands of Bono that trickled out to the middle of box where Eriksson had a wide-open net to shoot at. His attempt was deflected over the net on a desperation tackle by Justin Morrow.

“From my perspective, it was the best 45 minutes of the season,” said head coach Mikael Stahre. “We created five really big chances in the first half. If we score in the first half, we would win the game.”

Toronto FC’s best chance in the first half came when Marco Delgado centered ball into the middle of the box where Jordan Hamilton was one-on-one with Quakes goalie Andrew Tarbell, but Hamilton was whistled offside at the 17th minute.

Lukas Janson, who made his debut for the defending MLS champions, drew first blood for Toronto FC in the 59th minute after taking a pretty centering feed from Gregory van der Wiel, who came in as a substitution for Ashtone Morgan a minute earlier. Janson tapped the ball into an empty net for his first career MLS goal.

Wondolowski’s equalizer for the Quakes in the 77th minute came on his own rebound. His initial shot from eight yards out was stopped by Bono, but he was not able to hold on to the rebound. Wondolowski crashed the net and kicked the ball into an empty net for his seventh goal on the season.

“You want to prove that you deserve time out there,” said Wondolowski. “Earn minutes anyway you can. I try to make any impact I can. I do like starting though. But I don’t mind coming off the bench.”

San Jose had one last chance to escape with a win late in the match, but Kashia’s header off a Chris Wehan free kick in the second minute of stoppage time sailed wide of the net.

GAME NOTES: Defenseman Shea Salinas had to sit out the game due to a red card he received last week against the Colorado Rapids. Toronto FC was without forward Jozy Altidore and defenseman Chris Mavinga, who were both suspended.

WONDO COUNTDOWN! Wondolowski is now four goals away from the all-time lead in MLS history with 141 goals. Former Quake Landon Donovon is the leader with 145 goals.

Dominic Oduro made his debut for the quakes as a substitute for Eriksson in the 89th minute. Oduro was acquired in a trade on August 8th that sent Quincy Amarikwa to the Montreal Impact.

Guram Kashia received a yellow card in the 52 minute of the match when dragged down Janson.

The Earthquakes are in the midst of a 10-game home winless run (0-5-5), tied for their longest such streak in club history, June–August 2000.

Tarbell has conceded 10 goals from outside the box this season. Since 2010, only one keeper has allowed more such goals in a single season.

Toronto FC has one win in their last seven-league away games (0-3-3), allowing 2+ goals in five of the seven matches.

The overall series is now 5-5-5.

UP NEXT: The Quakes take on the Vancouver Whitecaps on Saturday, August 25 at Avaya Stadium at 7 pm PDT.

San Jose Earthquakes podcast with Ana Kieu: Quakes wrap up August with three matches; plus San Jose State football updates

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Photo credit: @SJEarthquakes

On the San Jose Earthquakes podcast with Ana:

1. The Quakes lost a heartbreaker to the Colorado Rapids 2-1 last Saturday at DSG Park. What went wrong?

2. Three Quakes Academy players are now CONCACAF Girls’ Under-15 Champions after shutting out Mexico 3-0 for a first-place finish.

3. Just a reminder, Chivas will take on Pumas at Levi’s Stadium on October 10th.

4. Do you think the Quakes can beat Toronto FC at Avaya Stadium this Saturday?

5. Quakes forward Dominic Oduro turned 33 on Monday.

6. Talk about what’s going on with the San Jose State Spartans at CEFCU Stadium.

Catch Ana on the San Jose Earthquakes podcast each Wednesday at SportsRadioService.com!

After red card, Earthquakes lose heartbreaker to Rapids 2-1

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Photo credit: @SJEarthquakes

By Pearl Allison Lo

The Colorado Rapids went double on the dramatics, scoring in the 93rd minute to take the match 2-1 over the San Jose Earthquakes at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park on Saturday.

Colorado would be the first one to go on a winning streak out of the two teams, as the Rapids won their last game in the 90th minute.

San Jose’s Shea Salinas received a red card in the 88th minute for an elbow to the face of Dillon Serna trailing behind him. This prompted the rest of the players to gather. Serna and Harold Cummings received yellow cards the next minute.

Kellyn Acosta passed forward and Édgar Castillo made the short pass to his right to Bismark Boateng in the box to set up the winner. Boateng then got the two defenders in front of him to fall as he kicked and also Quakes goalie Andrew Tarbell, as the ball rolled in for Boateng’s first career goal since he entered the MLS in 2017.

Game possession stayed at roughly 60% for Colorado and 40% for the Quakes for the match. Shots ended up pretty even, 16-15, respectively.

The Rapids struck first in the 24th minute. Acosta took the corner and Sam Nicholson raced in to receive it and give it back to Acosta, who put the ball in from outside the box, Tommy Smith then headed in the finish. It was Acosta’s first helper for his new team.

San Jose’s attempts by Jahmir Hyka and Vako in the first half went into the hands of Rapids captain Tim Howard.

For the first half, Colorado’s Jack McBean along with San Jose’s Castillo and Danny Hoesen had two shots apiece. A shot on goal apiece went to Smith, McBean, Vako and Salinas.

Vako had another shot on goal that did not make it through–along with a game-high five shots and three shots on goal–and Tarbell made a face-to-face save in the 53nd minute.

In the 58th minute, Guram Kashia drew a penalty and the Quakes finally got past the invisible wall that was connected to Howard, when Magnus Eriksson converted on a penalty kick.

San Jose temporarily had the lead in the 66th minute, but it was taken away for an offside after the ball seemingly deflect in from Vako off Hyka.

Wondolowski then replaced Hyka in the following minute.

Up Next: The Quakes go home to Avaya Stadium for a three-game homestand, starting with Toronto FC next Saturday at 7 pm PDT.

San Jose Earthquakes podcast with Ana Kieu: Quakes prepare to wrap up homestand vs. Colorado Rapids; plus San Jose State football updates

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Photo credit: @luisfelipe_7

On the San Jose Earthquakes podcast with Ana:

1. The Quakes will wrap up their brief, two-game homestand Saturday night at 6 pm PDT. They’ll welcome the Colorado Rapids to Avaya Stadium.

2. Tell us more about Vako’s creative play and how it has been helping the Quakes as of late.

3. The MLS showed some love to San Jose after their match vs. Colorado.

4. The Quakes publicized the America Frias’ hat trick Tuesday morning.

5. Speaking of noteworthy moments, Vako was also named as the MLS’ Player of the Week.

6. Quakes defender Joel Qwiberg will be at the SoccerKraze in Campbell next Thursday, August 16 from 2 pm PDT to 3:30 pm PDT.

7. College football is just around the corner, and the San Jose State Spartans have already started their Fall Camp last Wednesday. What’s the lowdown on the August schedule prior to the Spartans’ kickoff vs. UC Davis on the 30th?

8. Terry Malley began his 64th birthday Tuesday with another morning of San Jose State football.

9. Senior Jake Colman is doing whatever it takes to be the Spartans’ starting left guard for the 2018 season.

Catch Ana on the Quakes and SJSU podcast each Wednesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Vako’s brace helps the Earthquakes top FC Dallas 3-1

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Photo credit: @SJEarthquakes

By: Pearl Allison Lo

The cellar-dweller San Jose Earthquakes and first-place FC Dallas temporarily switched places in the Western Conference at the Toyota Stadium Saturday night.

Vako scored twice for the first time in his MLS career. FC Dallas, third in the league, suffered their first home loss this season. It was also their first home loss at Toyota Stadium in 18 games.

The Quakes scored in the 19th, 47th and 88th minutes and finally snapped a 12-game winless streak. It was a triumphant win for the cellar-dwellers.

Dallas and San Jose goalies Jesse Gonzalez and Andrew Tarbell were each forced to make five saves. Maximiliano Urruti and Vako had career-highs in shots, eight and nine, respectively.

Shea Salinas put a good ball ahead from midfield to set up Vako. Vako avoided Gonzalez, who slid outside the corner of his box, juked another defender along the goal line and kicked the ball past two more defenders to take the 1-0 lead.

FC Dallas tied it 1-1 a short while later in the 23rd minute. Reggie Cannon secured the ball and connected with Michael Barrios in the box. As Barrios shot, Roland Lamah put the ball into the net from Tarbell’s other side.  

Jahmir Hyka took an arced ball into the box from Anibal Godoy and scored with a kick in front of the defender.    

FC Dallas was not without their chances though. The following were just a few of them.

Tarbell showed skill in the 53rd minute, stopping two close saves in one second against Tesho Akindele and Barrios, the latter coming when Tarbell was down.

In the 63th minute, Tarbell was able to stop Barrios again. This led to a corner, which Urruti used to hit the crossbar.

The final goal came when Wondolowski was parallel to the goal line and passed to Vako, who converted. Wondo made his way past three defenders en route to the net.

Up Next: The Quakes will take on the Colorado Rapids next Saturday at 6 pm PDT at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park.

San Jose Earthquakes podcast with Ana Kieu: Latest news on the Black and Blue

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Photo credit: @SJEarthquakes

On the SJ Earthquakes podcast with Ana:

1. Before we get to your thoughts on the San Jose Earthquakes vs. Real Salt Lake match at Avaya Stadium last Saturday, let’s talk about the Quakes’ recent trade of Fatai Alashe to FC Cincinnati.

2. Now, let’s talk about the Quakes vs. Real Salt Lake match and how the Quakes should prepare to host FC Dallas, who’s first-place in the Western Conference, this coming Saturday.

3. Quakes captain Chris Wondolowski held a meet and greet with fans at the SoccerKraze in Campbell Monday.

4. For those of you who want a Quakes player to attend your next training session, you can enter the TeamSnap Celebrity Coach contest.

5. The news broke on Tuesday that Quakes’ rookie Gilbert Fuentes was called to the U.S. Under-17 Men’s National Team for a pair of matches against Mexico and Costa Rica during an 11-day international training camp from August 2 to 13.

Catch Ana on the SJ Earthquakes podcast each week at SportsRadioService.com!

Earthquakes and Real Salt Lake battle to scoreless draw

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Photo credit: @SJEarthquakes

By: London Donson

SAN JOSE, Calif. — It was a gorgeous evening in San Jose, California as the ever-reeling Earthquakes hosted the Real Salt Lake at Avaya Stadium Saturday night. With exactly three months until the Quakes’ final regular season match, San Jose is trying to salvage a season that is long lost to them at this point. With only two wins, they are the bottom feeders with 12 points, the least in all of Major League Soccer. Real Salt Lake sits at sixth in the Western Conference and looking to improve on their postseason position.

The beginning of the game was punctuated by injury as several fouls early contributed to stoppage time. In the seventh minute, Real Salt Lake’s Albert Rusnak was the game’s first substitution. Aggressive, chippy play would prove to be the story of the night. 34 fouls were committed, 16 by the Quakes, and 18 by Real Salt Lake with five yellow cards between both clubs. Both teams we consistently off balance and chances were squandered all match.

Credit should be given to the Quakes goalie Tarbell, who had a number of quality saves to keep the score at nil-nil. If he can continue to gain clean sheets with his level of play, the rest of the club will be able to figure it out offensively. The Quakes’ offense never gained any steam. No matter how many chances they had deep in the scoring third they failed to connect on key passes, were often out of position, and lacked synchronicity. Given their lack of offensive execution, they did a good job grinding out a draw against a team in Real Salt Lake, who is having a far better season.

Final: Quakes vs. Real Salt Lake match ends in scoreless draw.

Up Next: The Quakes will continue to look for answers on August 4 when they go on the road to face the No. 1 seed in the West–FC Dallas. Match time is set for 5:00 pm PDT.

Earthquakes fall to Sounders 1-0 as San Jose’s winless streak reaches 11

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Photo credit: @SJEarthquakes

By Marko Ukalovic

SAN JOSE — The Seattle Sounders (6-9-5) picked up an important three points to keep their slim playoff hopes alive, thanks to a birthday gift from one of their new forwards. Raul Riadiaz scored in his first MLS start to help the Sounders shutout the San Jose Earthquakes (2-12-6) 1-0 at Avaya Stadium on Wednesday night.

With the latest loss, San Jose is now on a season-long 11-game winless streak (13 overall if you count the U.S. Open Cup loss against Portland and the Manchester United match), which includes three consecutive shutouts. Seattle is currently on a five-game unbeaten streak.

The Sounders received the lone and game-winning goal in the 62nd minute when off a turnover at midfield, Cristian Roldan center a pass over to Rual Ruidiaz, who turned 28-years-old today, who gathered the ball and fired a shot past Quakes goalkeeper Andrew Tarbell into the lower left corner of the goal for the first MLS career goal of the Peruvian striker.

The first half possession of the ball was merely even with Seattle holding a slight edge of  51%-48% over San Jose. Both teams had scoring chances, but could not find the back of the net in the first 45 minutes. San Jose fired off seven shots (with two on target) while Seattle had five shots (with one on target).

Guram Kashia, making his MLS debut with the Quakes, fired off a header from a Nick Lima centering pass that was stopped by Sounders goalkeeper Stefan Frei in the 16th minute. He also had another header attempt just sail over the cross-bar in the 70th minute.

“He hadn’t played for a couple of months actually,” said Quakes head coach Mikael Stahre regarding Kashia’s debut. “He gave quite a solid performance and was one of the best players on the Earthquakes this evening.”

Luis Felipe Fernandez, also making his MLS debut with the Quakes, was issued a yellow card from referee Kevin Stott 38th minute for a sliding tackle.

“I don’t understand why I got carded,” said Fernandez regarding the call. “We both slid for the ball, I got the yellow card and he didn’t.”

Best chance for the Quakes came in the 80th minute. Quakes captain Chris Wondolowski shot from the left corner of the goal six yards out that just sailed wide of the net after taking a nice pass from Quincy Amarikwa, who came in as a substitute in the 69th minute for Danny Hoesen.

“We have to be ruthless and lethal when we’re in that final third (of the pitch) and we’re nowhere near that,” said Wondolowski. “We have guys we let them turn in the midfield and run right through us. Poor turnovers, these mistakes are the difference (in the game).”

Stahre called it a slow game between both teams and believed it was more of a 0-0 game from his perspective.

“In general the game was with out energy, I think it was quite a slow game,” said Starhe. “Both teams possessed the ball in a good way but there was hardly any high pressing. There were very few good chances.”

GAME NOTES: Quakes defender Anibal Godoy was suspended for the match due to receiving his second yellow card last week against Montreal.

Will Bruin substituted for Ruidiaz in the 66th minute.  This was Ruidiaz’s second game back from playing on the Peruvian World Cup team. Not a bad gift to give oneself scoring a goal on his 28th birthday.

Wondolowski is currently the all-time leading scorer against Seattle with 11 goals.

San Jose is now 10-9-5 versus Seattle and 5-2-4 at home.

Attendance for the match was 16,478.

UP NEXT: The Quakes host Real Salt Lake on Saturday, July 28 at 7:30 pm PDT at Avaya Stadium.

San Jose Earthquakes podcast with Ana Kieu: Pretty much a Manchester United special edition today

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Photo credit: theguardian.com

On the SJ Earthquakes podcast with Ana:

1. This Sunday’s friendly between the San Jose Earthquakes and Manchester United ended up in a scoreless draw. Give us a quick recap of the friendly.

2. After the friendly, Quakes captain Chris Wondolowski and Manchester United star Juan Mata Garcia swapped jerseys in one of the most epic postgame jersey swaps ever.

3. Quakes COO Jared Shawlee asked a question on the Quakes’ Twitter to see what bonus games the fans wanted to see next.

4. TeamSnap is offering Quakes fans a chance to have a Quakes player at their upcoming practice. What’s this all about?

5. For those of you who like to eat at Erik’s Deli Cafe, you don’t want to miss out on their current sweepstakes, where you can enter to win a chance to sit in on a Quakes practice with your soccer team and enjoy a catered meal on their behalf.

Ana does the SJ Earthquakes podcast each week for sportsradioservice.com

Earthquakes battle Manchester United to a 0-0 draw in friendly

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Photo credit: @SJEarthquakes

By Marko Ukalovic

SANTA CLARA — Manchester United’s second stop of their exhibition tour made its way to Santa Clara. Unfortunately for their fans in attendance, they were without some of their superstars, still coming back from the World Cup, and it showed in a lackluster 0-0 draw against the San Jose Earthquakes on a warm Sunday afternoon at Levi’s Stadium.

Manchester United was without the services of Paul Pogba, Romelu Lukaku and Ashley Young. However, they still had Alexis Sanchez, Anders Pereria and Anthony Marital in their starting lineup against the Quakes.

Manchester United looked like they were going to take control of the game early on when Eric Bailey’s header in the fourth minute hit the cross-bar. They also had chances from Martial in the 23rd minute, and just a minute later, Luke Shaw’s one-timer sailed just over the top of the net.

“I was more focused on us”, said Manchester United head coach Jose Mourinho when asked what he thought about playing against San Jose. “I think it’s nice for them to play a team like Manchester United. I thank them for that, it was (a) competitive (game).”

The first yellow card of the match went to the Quakes’ Florian Jungwirth, who performed a WWE style clothesline on Sanchez in the 17th minute. Sanchez used to speed to start a counter attack when Jungwirth made sure it didn’t go any further than midfield.

Quakes head coach Mikeal Stahre started the majority of his bench in the first half with Danny Hoesen, Jungwith and Guram Kashia, the Georgian center back, who made his Quakes debut since being acquired by the team last month with the targeted allocation money, as the only regular starters in the lineup to start the game.

Like most friendlies, the second half featured a different lineup substituted in for both teams and that seemed to open the game.

Ander Herrera was in all alone after a nice give-and-go, but his shot was stopped by Quakes goalie Matt Bersano, who came on in the second half replacing JT Marcinkowski, who started the game and made his debut appearance for San Jose.

The best chances for the Quakes came in the 70th and 71st minute of the match. Tommy Thompson sent in a shot that Manchester United goalkeeper Lee Grant had to jump high in the air to knock it over the net. A minute later after a corner kick, Vako’s shot attempt sailed over the cross-bar.

“For us it was really important to stay really sharp in this and not get smashed,” said Stahre. “Also to create some chances and we did that. I’m a quite a happy coach right now.”

The last chance for the Quakes came off a Yeferson Qunitana header off a corner kick at the 80th minute that deflected off the cross-bar.

GAME NOTES: Two 16-year olds made their debuts for San Jose late in the match. Gilbert Fuentes came into the match at the 86th minute and Jacob Akanyirige came in the 89 minute, respectively.

This was the second meeting between the two clubs. Manchester United defeated the Quakes 3-1 in the International Champions Cup back on July 21, 2015, at Avaya Stadium.

Manchester United’s Antonio Valencia suffered an injury in the first half and was replaced by Matteo Darmain.

The announced attendance was 32,549. There was an estimated 20 to 25 thousand in the actual stands with the majority of them cheering on the Red Devils.

San Jose defender Kevin Partida underwent ACL reconstruction surgery and a partial meniscectomy on his right knee on Thursday after suffering an injury in the July 7 match against the Portland Timbers. He is out for the rest of the season and is expected to be sidelined for nine months.

UP NEXT: The Quakes return to MLS action when they host the Seattle Sounders on Wednesday, July 25, at Avaya Stadium at 7:30 pm PDT.