Tag: San Jose Earthquakes

Photo credit: @SJEarthquakes

By Marko Ukalovic and Alexandra Evans

SAN JOSE — The San Jose Earthquakes (2-9-4) are becoming a second half team as of late. Danny Hoesen scored two goals to help San Jose to a 2-2 draw with the New England Revolution (6-4-6) at Avaya Stadium on Wednesday evening. San Jose is now winless in their past six games.

The Quakes drew first blood in the 19th minute when Danny Hoesen was able to take possession of a ball off a deflection. He dribbled in from 20 yards out and fired a shot past Revolution goalkeeper Matt Turner into the left corner of the net. It was Hoesen’s team leading ninth goal of the season.

Diego Fagundez got the equalizer for the Revolution in the 31st minute off a free kick from 18 yards out. Fagundez, a Uruguayan midfielder, was able to bend his shot inside the left corner of the goal beating Quakes goalie Andrew Tarbell for his fifth goal of the season.

Vako had two scoring chances to give San Jose the lead two minutes apart. In the 35th minute, he received a pretty centering feed from Magnus Eriksson from 15 yards out only to have his shot hit the right post. Then, in the 37th minute, he made a nice move dribbling between two New England defenders, but Turner made a great save on his shot that was headed for the right corner.

The Revolution would take the lead on a nice counter attack that started with Kristian Nemeth finding Fagundez in the middle of the pitch who then sent a pass over to the left side to Cristian Penilla who raced in and rifled a shot past Tarbell in the upper right corner of the goal for his sixth goal of the season.

“Mental mistakes,” said Quakes captain Chris Wondolowski on his team’s defensive lapses. “We keep shooting ourselves in the foot. When we’re organized it’s hard to break us down defensively. When we don’t track runners, get too passive, we get punished and rightfully so.”

The Quakes would answer back right out of the gate in the second half when Nick Lima chased down a ball into the right corner and was able to cross the ball into the center of the box were Hoesen was in perfect position to one-time a header past Turner into the lower left corner of the net for his 10th goal of the season and second of the match in the 51st minute.

“When things are not going well, players (can) get selfish,” said Hoesen. “But we want to get out of this thing (winless streak), it doesn’t matter who scores or gets the assists we want to help each other and be happy together.”

The Quakes had a golden opportunity for the game winning goal in the third minute of stoppage time when Hoesen dribbled down the left side of the pitch just inside the defensive box, stopped and crossed the ball into the middle that was just beyond the reach of Jackson Yueill, who just came into the game a minute earlier as a substitution for Eriksson.

Teal Bunbury, whose four-game goal scoring streak came to an end, had a point-blank shot stopped in 59th minute by Tarbell.

Quakes head coach Mikael Stahre didn’t like how his team gave up what he coined “easy goals” to New England near the end of the first half but like the fight his team showed in the second half to come back to tie to the game.

“We came out in the second half like against LAFC,” said Stahre. “We created lots of chances. I think we were better than the opponent, but (the end result) was still a tie. A step in the right direction I think.”

GAME NOTES: Quakes defenseman Shea Salinas missed his second game due to an hamstring injury. Kevin Partida was suspended for the match after earning two yellow cards in the match against LAFC this past Saturday.

Revolution defenseman Antonio Milnar Delamea earned a yellow card in the 71st minute on a sliding tackle on Magnus Eriksson. Quakes defenseman also earn a yellow marker in the 35th minute for unsportsmanlike conduct.

San Jose had 10 corner kicks as opposed to New England’s 9.

Teal Bunbury’s four-game goal streak ended.

Fatai Alashe substituted in for Yefferson Quintana in the 61st minute as Quintana was kicked in the thigh during a sliding tackle attempt earlier in the second half.

New England is now unbeaten in their last five games and their streak is now at six games (3-0-3) against San Jose. This was the third consecutive draw in the last three meetings. San Jose is 10-6-5 at home and leads the overall season 20-14-8 against New England.

UP NEXT: The Quakes travel to Salt Lake City to take on Real Salt Lake on Saturday on June 23 at 7 pm PDT at Rio Tinto Stadium.

Photo credit: @SJEarthquakes

By Marko Ukalovic and Alexandra Evans

SAN JOSE — In a season where the San Jose Earthquakes (2-9-3) have often been donkey kicked in the gut losing on late goals, it was LAFC’s turn to add their name to the list of heartbreaking losses. LAFC (7-4-3) scored two goals past the 90th minute for a 4-3 comeback victory on Saturday evening at Avaya Stadium.

The Quakes would draw first blood in the 11th minute when captain Chris Wondolowski, who would be involved in three Quakes’ goals, fed a ball over to forward Danny Hoesen along the right corner. Hoesen then crossed the ball right into the center of the box where Vako would one timed the ball past LAFC goalie Tyler Miller into the back of the net for his third goal of the season.

Adama “Dio” Diomande would answer back for the expansion LAFC just four minutes later at the 15th minute. Quakes defenseman Kevin Partida made a bad clearing attempt with a header that went right over to Dio and he wasted no time heading the ball into the back of the net past Quakes goalie Andrew Tarbell for his second goal of the season.

LAFC kept pouring on the pressure as San Jose would be haunted once again by an ex-player. This time Steven Beitashour was the recipient off a ball played in that was deflected off Quakes defenseman Nick Lima that went right on to his foot and scored into an empty net on the far right corner in the 19th minute for his second goal on the season.

In the 39th minute, it looked like the Quakes would get the equalizer when Vako received a ball 25 yards out from goal. In one motion, he turned around and fired a shot on goal that Miller made a brilliant save knocking the ball over the goal to preserve the 2-1 lead heading into halftime.

In the second half, the Quakes gained the momentum back just seven minutes in when Wondolowski received a long ball from Florian Jungwirth just past midfield and dribbled down the left side of the pitch before stopping, putting a deke on LAFC midfielder Benny Feilhaber and chipped a perfect ball into the lower right corner for the equalizer in the 52nd minute for his third goal of the season.

Wondo wasn’t done scoring when Miller had a mental blunder and dribbled the ball past the defensive box instead of picking up the ball. Wondo was able to pickpocket the ball off of Miller’s foot and shot the ball into a wide empty net to give the Quakes a 3-2 lead in the 63rd minute. The gift from Miller was Wondo’s fourth goal of the season and his 138th career MLS goal. He is now just seven back of Landon Donovan, the all-time leading goal scorer in MLS history with 145.

“I love scoring goals more than many people here,” said Wondo. “But winning, nothing beats that. I will score zero goals all year if we win.”

Wondo would be forced to come out of the game at the 72nd minute due to a stomach illness that was bothering him throughout the game. He was replaced by Fatai Alashe.

“I was feeling a little under the weather and all of a sudden my lunch came up,” said Wondo. “Almost all over Walker Zimmerman’s shoes. Especially after the third time it came up, I decided it was better (to come out of the game).”

LAFC would not go gently into that good night. In the 90th minute they kept the pressure inside the Quakes zone. Beitashour crossed a ball in from 30 yards out over to a sliding Zimmerman where his initial shot was saved by Tarbell. However Dio was able to crash the net and tap in the equalizer.

LAFC would break the hearts at Avaya Stadium in the seventh minute of stoppage time when Latif Blessing took a ball just to the left of the goal. He crossed the ball back into the middle of the box where Joao Moutinho’s one-timer deflected off Quakes defenseman Jimmy Ockford and past Tarbell into the right corner of the net for the game-winner. It was Moutinho’s first goal of the season.

“This is the hardest defeat of my MLS career,” said Quakes head coach Mikael Stahre, who was obviously frustrated. “It was absolutely crazy (of an ending).”

Despite the Quakes winless in their past five games, Stahre said he was proud of the effort and execution on the offensive side of the ball his team displayed throughout the game.

“I’m really proud of the players commitment and energy,” said Stahre. “They really followed the game plan, especially in the second half.”

GAME NOTES: The Quakes were down a man in the final minute of stoppage play when Partida would earn his second yellow card of the match, resulting in a red card and automatic ejection. He will miss the next match.

Zimmerman and Moutinho earned yellow cards for LAFC.

This was the first ever match between the two clubs as LAFC is playing their inaugural season in the MLS.

The win snapped a four-game winless streak for LAFC. They now have 24 points and are currently in 3rd place in the Western Conference.

The Quakes are in 11th place with only nine points on the season.

Quakes players Anibal Godoy and Harold Cummings missed the game as they are getting ready to play in the World Cup next week in Russia for their native Panama.

LAFC was also were missing four players due to international duty at the World Cup. Omar Gaber, Marco Urena, Carlos Vela, and Laurent Ciman are in Russia playing for their respective countries.

UP NEXT: The Quakes face off against the New England Revolution on Wednesday, June 13th at 7:15 pm PDT at Avaya Stadium.