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SJ Earthquakes shine in 1-0 win over Vancouver

By on April 11, 2015

In the San Jose Earthquakes’ first game under the lights at Avaya Stadium, they shined brightly. The home side were dominant against a Vancouver Whitecaps team that tops the Western Conference, keeping the visitors from a single shot on target, to the pleasure of Quakes keeper David Bingham, who noted: “Each game we’ve taken steps to improve defensively — our all around game, mainly — but Clarence (Goodson) and Victor (Bernandez) tonight were outstanding.  They were by far the MVP’s of our team.”

Innocent Emeghara was suspended and full-back Shaun Francis injured for the Quakes, but both replacements — Cordell Cato and Shea Salinas — also performed excellently. Salinas seemed to be everywhere at once and played at times on both flanks, rotating with Sanna Nyassi.  He told Football Every Day after the match that he felt his energy levels were outstanding (adding, “it was something I prayed about a lot before the game”), but despite playing behind Emeghara and at times Nyassi, didn’t feel like he had to prove himself.

“I thought (Shea) was very good. He was picking his spots to cut inside really well…he’s good when he is running at players.” — Quakes coach Dominic Kinnear

The Quakes had a high energy level early on but struggled to break through Vancouver. Although Adam Jahn poked Matias Perez-Garia’s cross past David Ousted early on, he was judged offside. Victor Bernandez came close with a looping header from Garcia’s corner, as well; indeed, his bulk helped the Quakes mark Octavio Rivero out of the game. The single occasion in which Rivero got in behind Bernandez was one of Vancouver’s most promising moments all match.

Vancouver attempted to leverage a natural tactical advantage: with attacking-oriented players Chris Wondolowski and Matias Perez-Garcia sitting atop a midfield diamond, Fatai Alashe was all too often left exposed in the midfield, where Vancouver held a numerical advantage — Kinnear was thankful for Alashe’s “great” performance amid this pressure. The Whitecaps began to slowly wrest control, and with their aerial prowess looked for Rivero to knock down long balls to their attacking midfielders. But the Quakes defense held their own, and the visitors ended the half with just one shot. For the most part, it was a labored, tactical first half.  Salinas said: “At halftime we said, ‘we’re playing well, we’ve just got connect in the final third a bit more, which I thought we were able to do.”  Kinnear also noted that the Quakes’ final pass was just slightly off.

But thankfully, it was a game of two halves. The Quakes burst out of the gates and Wondolowski volleyed Salinas’ cross inches over the crossbar just moments into the half.  Salinas felt that the stability of their defense “allowed for (the Quakes) to have a little more freedom going forward.”  The Whitecaps, on the other hand, were uncharacteristically sloppy both at the back and up front (perhaps as a result from playing midweek), struggling to break out of their own half. Throughout the second half, Carl Robinson’s side hardly had a single chance of note.

Cato dragged a low effort wide from the edge of the box in he fifty-sixth minute, and Clarence Goodson came tantalizingly close at the far post from Salinas’ cross soon afterwards, poking just wide. The Quakes dominated and were constantly knocking on the door. They began to get impatient, and when Wondolowski was substituted off, he admitted to being very “frustrated,” not only with the scoreline but also with his substitution, beating the pitch in anger before succumbing to reason and walking off. Twice the Quakes were denied in quick succession in the seventy-fourth minute — Salinas cut in from the left and saw his low effort blocked, as did Garcia from the rebound — but finally, the ball rebounded to Nyassi, who sliced a clean side-volley into the top left corner.

The Quakes’ advantage was slender, yet such the defensive prowess of the home side the Whitecaps could hardly muster any response. Their own frustration boiled and peaked when Pedro Morales appeared to instigate some afters following a challenge with Adam Jahn, which earned both players their marching orders. Jahn, however, was relaxed after the game and said: “we’ll just have to wait and see (with the disciplinary committee), it’s not in my power anymore.” He had reason to be calm: his team had just completed a wholly deserved win over Vancouver to take them third in the MLS Western Conference.

(Update: a previous version of this article said that the Vancouver Whitecaps were undefeated when they had lost their first game of the season)

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.