Tag: soccer

Road woes: Earthquakes lose to WhiteCaps 2-1 at BC Place

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Photo credit: @SJEarthquakes

By: London Marq

The San Jose Earthquakes took a trip to the Great White North and were welcomed by the eighth-seeded Vancouver Whitecaps at BC Place on Saturday night. It would prove to be physically challenging match for San Jose as they drew 22 fouls from Vancouver.

The opening score came from WhiteCaps midfielder Alphonso Davies at the 22nd minute. The Quakes remained off-balance, despite controlling the possession for the majority of the game, as well as passing with 82% accuracy for the match.

San Jose found themselves in themselves in the scoring third often enough, with 11 shots taken. However, as it has been all season, opportunities continue to slip through the Quakes’ fingers. Only 2 of 11 shots required goalie intervention.

The WhiteCaps found more success, and founds that they could work the opposing keeper more often, with 5 of 16 shots on target. In the 78th minute, Vancouver’s Nicolas Mezquida effectively shut the door on the Quakes’ hopes of winning the match, when he scored to make it a 2-0 game.

These two teams played a full 90 minutes of soccer plus three minutes of stoppage time. Vako helped the Quakes avoid getting shutout by the WhiteCaps by scoring his ninth goal of the season at the 90th minute.

The WhiteCaps defeated the Quakes 2-1.

Since it’s late in the season and with a negative cellar-dweller image in place, San Jose needs to reevaluate for the team’s future. If they can’t find a way to build a more consistent team with better chemistry, they will be bottom feeders again next year.

The Quakes return home to Avaya Stadium, where they’ll host Sporting KC on Saturday, September 19 at 7:30 pm PDT.

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

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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.

That’s Amaury News and Commentary: World Cup 2018: Viva La France! Fox and Telemundo lost

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World Cup 2018: Viva LA France! Fox and Telemundo lost

That’s Amaury News and Commentary

By: Amaury Pi-González

France beat a very good and inspired Croatia team who played with a lot of heart, 4-2, to win the 2018 World Cup. This is the second time that France has won a World Cup since 1998 when they shutout Brazil 3-0. France also made it to the finals in 2006, but lost to Italy. France team manager Didier Deschamps was the captain in 1998 when his team shocked Brazil in Paris, and on Sunday he became the third to ever win the World Cup as a player and coach.

The great city of Paris celebrates as French flags and chants of Champions du monde, Champions du monde, World Champs World Champs! are heard in Paris and all over the country. France has changed throughout the years, but the French people have been as nationalistic as anybody on the face of this planet for hundreds of years.

Croatia was trying for the biggest upset in World Cup Soccer history. Croatia is a Eastern European country with a population of around four million people. Croatia, trailing every knockout stage match this Cup, had to do something to try and comeback but it could not, and so went the hopes of the small nation with almost 100% of their four million people glued to their televisions.

This past week, the Wall Street Journal, Joe Flint and Suzanne Vranica authored a concise written summary of how Fox and Telemundo have lost ratings and money on the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

For example, they indicate that traditional TV ratings are down 7-10% compared to the 2014 event in Brazil, and as of July 7th, Fox’s World Cup TV ad revenue was roughly $107 million and Telemundo’s about $127 million, based on in-game ads.

Comparatively, the ad revenue from the 2014 tournament was roughly $336 million for Univisión and $187 million for Disney. Oh well, like the French would say, “C’est la vie.” In English, “That is life.” In Spanish, “Asi es la vida.”

Amaury Pi-Gonzalez is the Spanish radio voice for the Oakland A’s and does News and Commentary each week at SportsRadioService.com.

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

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Photo credit: @SJEarthquakes

On the SJ Earthquakes podcast with Ana:

1. What are your three takeaways from the Quakes vs.  Portland Timbers match at Providence Park last Saturday?

2. How’s everything going at the FIFA World Cup viewing parties at Avaya Stadium?

3. It’s cool seeing Quakes fans representing their home team at the FIFA World Cup in Russia.

4. Talk about Quakes captain Chris Wondolowski in greater detail.

5. Just wondering, which three players have stood out to you the most during the FIFA World Cup?

6. What are your three keys to the Quakes’ upcoming road match against the Montreal Impact at Saputo Stadium?

Catch Ana on the weekly SJ Earthquakes podcast at sportsradioservice.com

 

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. A man with a red t-shirt, Quakes tank top, navy blue basketball shorts, and a red wig stood out as the “Best Dressed” viewer on Day 1 of Avaya Stadium’s FIFA World Cup viewing party.

2. There’s so much soccer going on in the West Coast this summer!

3. Danny Hoesen’s two goals from the Quakes vs. Revolution match brought the Wells Fargo Goals for Education total to $12,000.

4. Speaking of Hoesen, do you think he’ll keep up with his rapid pace in Salt Lake City this Saturday?

5. Eric Santiago is probably the Quakes’ most dedicated fan.

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: World Cup Russia 2018 and USA 1994

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Photo credit: @DailyMirror

By: Amaury Pi Gonzalez

The United States did not qualify for this upcoming World Cup. However, I did have the privilege of covering the 1994 USA World Cup for Telemundo Bay Area–the only World Cup ever in the USA–and had great memories of that event.

Like, for example, my exclusive one-on-one interview with the great Edson Arantes do Nascimiento, who’s better known as Pelé. The Brazilian forward is also known as the greatest fútbol player of all time. He came to the USA as an ambassador to FIFA and I recall that he was wearing a sports jacket with the MasterCard logo, one of the biggest worldwide sponsors at that time. I have a photo with him and he even autographed his photo for me. You could not ask for a better person to represent his country of Brazil or the sport in general. I was lucky and privileged to cover the Brazilian team that won the 1994 US World Cup since their plane arrived at San José International Airport. That year (1994), Brazil had the great Bora Milutinovic as their head coach. Milutinovic was born in Serbia and previously coached México, Costa Rica, USA, Nigeria and China.

Brazil also had great players, whom I interviewed as a sports anchor for CH 48 San José, like Bebeto and Romario. It was truly a pleasure to cover that 1994 World Cup in person. A truly unforgettable experience.

The World Cup is arguably the greatest sporting event in the world. Billions of people watch on television and listen on radio all around the world. This World Cup in Russia is just around the corner as it starts on 14 June and ends on 15 July.

From our continent, these are the teams that qualified for the event: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, México, Panamá, Perú and Uruguay.

Brazil has won the World Cup five times in 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994 and 2002. Argentina has won two in 1978 and 1986. Uruguay has won two in 1930 and 1950. Colombia, Costa Rica,México,Panamá and Perú have never won. The official languages of the World Cup are English and French.

How come the USA did not qualify? Back in October 2017, the US men’s national team was embarrassed as they lost 2-1 to Trinidad and Tobago. The USA only needed a win or a tie, to qualify for the World Cup. Trinidad and Tobago is a small island in the Caribbean with a population of 1.3 million people. It’s incredible to believe that a small island with very limited resources would beat the USA with all the money and resources in the world. But it happened.

But FIFA is not free of scandals. In November 2017, they were found guilty of millions of dollars in “inducements” to secure contracts to televise matches in a New York City courtroom. This includes the bribes sought by FIFA executives with the power to determine World Cup hosts. There were a number of death threats for cooperating with investigators. Also, dozens of individuals along with two corporations have been indicted, including nine FIFA officials and five businessmen. Anyway, the corruption has been well-documented around the world in many courts of law.

In less than two weeks, Russia will host the 64 matches that spread over 1,800 miles in 12 stadiums in the 2018 World Cup. Their largest venue, Luzhniki Stadium (Moscow), is one of the newest ones with a 81,000 capacity. The stadium reopened this year and it is here that the first game on June 14 will take place as well as the last game and final 31 days later.

Luzhniki Stadium was also the main venue for the 1980 Summer Olympic Games and had a capacity of 103,000 at that time. In 1992, the stadium was renamed Luzhniki Stadium. In 1996, extensive renovation saw the construction of a roof over the stands, and the refurbishment of the seating areas, which resulted in a decrease in a capacity to 81,000.

Germany was the last World Cup Champion. I do not have a favorite on this World Cup, but I wish you all the very best and may the best team win.

In the United States, FOX and Telemundo have the rights for this World Cup.

San Jose Earthquakes podcast with Ana Kieu: Quakes have another test in Columbus; plus more Quakes news

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On the San Jose Earthquakes podcast with Ana:

1. After a 2-2 draw with the Houston Dynamo, the San Jose Earthquakes fell short 3-2 to Orlando City SC this past weekend.

2. Thanks to Florian Jungwirth’s two goals in the San Jose at Orlando match, the team has now raised $5,500 for the Goals for Education program presented by Wells Fargo.

3. Quakes Academy’s Sophie Jones scored her first international goal for the US Soccer Youth National Team U-17’s this weekend.

4. The Quakes announced their first ever Partner Summit on Monday.

5. The Quakes will induct Chris Dangerfield to the Earthquakes Hall of Fame on May 5th against the Portland Timbers.

Ana does the San Jose Earthquakes podcasts each week at sportsradioservice.com