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SJ Earthquakes 2-1 Chicago Fire: Quakes rock in home opener

By on March 22, 2015

The San Jose Earthquakes’ might have found themselves caught up in the moment: just twenty minutes into the regular-season opener of Avaya Stadium, they were two goals up over the Chicago Fire. The Quakes’ long-term dream of a new stadium has finally been realized — as well as their most recent wish for a strong team. Even MLS Commissioner Don Garber expressed some surprise with how far the new Quakes franchise has come since reentering the league in 2007. Today, the Chicago Fire could do naught to bring the Quakes’ party back down the earth.

The Ultras sang from minute one, right after debuting their brilliant, massive tifo, to well past the final whistle, even after fans were booted out of the stadium. Their chants hardly wavered when Chicago got one back and didn’t falter at all after an hour of fairly slow-paced play after a robust opening. The Quakes remain on cloud nine, and there is no telling when they may come down.

Even Chicago coach Frank Yallop, who coached San Jose when the stadium was proposed — he admitted to having seen the plans — said he had goosebumps in the new stadium. The atmosphere was electric, although with the number of people that flooded the outdoor bar at the East End, the stands were somewhat less full than the sell-out attendance suggested. Nonetheless, Quakes coach Kinnear could only describe the stadium using the adjectives “fantastic” and “wonderful”.

“They (the Quakes) built it (the stadium) smart, they were very efficient in how they spent their money. Some of the design elements are best-in-class, so it was a happy day for everybody in Major League Soccer.” — MLS Commissioner Don Garber

They weren’t overwhelmingly impressive on the pitch today — indeed, they wrestled for control of the game with a Chicago side whom they beat 5-1 last season.  While the result was the same, their performance was stronger against the Seattle Sounders last weekend and the LA Galaxy a few weeks ago in preseason. In the second half they struggled at times to get out of their own half and JJ Koval and Fatai Alashe had trouble controlling the game from the midfield; Matias Perez Garcia once again impressed with the quality of his set piece services (Kinnear salivated over the Argentines’ ability to “deliver a great ball”, which he claimed was “up there with the best”) — indeed, the Quakes’ two goals both came from such — but had trouble connecting with Chris Wondolowski up front. Often times their defense looked a little disjointed, though that can be attributed to a new backline of Marvell Wynne, Ty Harden, Shaun Francis, and Clarence Goodson, who was playing his first game in months after injury.

“As a unit we suffered from set-pieces.” — Chicago coach Frank Yallop

Of course, most of this was forgotten by the home fans when the Quakes held on for the three points at the final whistle. As a roaring cheer swept over the sparkling stadium upon the final whistle, every member of the home side will leave satisfied with the result and even more impressed with the stadium.

“The stadium exceeded (my expectations). It was fantastic; it was incredible to me how loud it was in there. It just seemed like the supporters section swept over the entire stadium. Everyone was very alive and that’s an atmosphere you want at home. It’s something that I think we certainly had (only) half of at Buck Shaw.” — San Jose center-back Clarence Goodson speaking to Football Every Day

Chris Wondolowski was in the stands at Spartan Stadium when the Quakes kicked off MLS and scored the first MLS goal in 1995. Today, he was on the pitch to open the newest chapter of the Quakes’ history, and it was only sweeter with a win.

The Quakes’ couldn’t have begun better: before Chicago could have possibly settled into the game, Fatai Alashe broke in the $100 million arena with a goal. Chicago goalkeeper Sean Johnson came out to catch Garcia’s corner in the fifth minute but flapped at air as Wondolowski got there first to head the ball back across goal, where Goodson flicked it on for Alashe to head home from close range. Chicago were shellshocked and Koval volleyed over soon afterwards; then, Johnson’s horrid start got worse, spilling Goodson’s left-footed volley from Garcia’s deep free-kick right in front of Ty Harden, who poked the ball into the back of the net. Memories of Chicago’s 5-1 loss to the Quakes last season began to creep through the giddy fans at Avaya. Per Wondolowski, it was “all a blur” after the two goals.

“It (the atmosphere) was awesome — it was just electric inside. After the goals, with all the fans going crazy and all the players right there in the box, it was sweet.” — Quakes defender and goalscorer Ty Harden

Kinnear’s men found ample space down the left, with both Innocent Emeghara and Francis getting in behind the Chicago back-line to pull near-post saves out of Johnson.

When Chicago got one back in the thirty-first minute — Harrison Shipp clipped a neat finish from Joevin Jones’ through-ball over David Bingham and into the bottom left corner — the atmosphere hardly wavered. Frank Yallop’s Chicago side challenged the Quakes for control of the match and buoyed their hopes again when David Accam came on at the start of the second period, immediately providing the spark that Chicago he lacked. Quincy Amarikwa burst in on goal down the right in the fiftieth minute, but Bingham came up big having been quick off his line.

Wondolowski would twice come close in the final stages; first, he saw his effort deflect over after a corner deflected down into the mixer, before flicking a near-post header wide from another free-kick. However, the Quakes absorbed the pressure well as the game wore on. It was scrappy, but they held onto a golden win.
Man of the Match: Matias Perez Garcia

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.