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SJ Earthquakes keep out Kei Kamara and Columbus Crew

By on May 16, 2015

“It’s good to be home,” Dominic Kinnear said to the surprise of no one, as the Quakes are continuing to build Avaya Stadium into their fortress.  From four home matches at Avaya, they’ve won three. Chris Wondolowski said that, quite simply, the Quakes’ mentality is different at home. MLS’ second highest scorer, Kei Kamara, and his Columbus Crew visited San Jose with the intention of playing on their own terms, but the Earthquakes managed to shut down Kamara and Federico Higuain. For only the fourth time this season, Columbus, the top scorers in the Eastern Conference, were shut out, and moreover, the Quakes completely dominated large portions of the game.

After a mentally brutal road-trip, touring Salt Lake City, Houston, and Denver in the space of eight days, Quakes midfielder Matias Perez-Garcia said that his team arrived home to Avaya encouraged after earning five points from nine on the road, and ready to revenge the two points they lost in the final minute of their match at the Colorado Rapids. Chris Wondolowski said the Quakes were “rejuvenated” and “refreshed,” almost making the match like “a fresh start.”

From the very beginning, it was clear that the Quakes were prepared, both mentally and physically, after a week’s rest. The team set up as exactly as expected, with Adam Jahn up front and Wondolowski in the midfield, playing a 4-1-4-1.  Garcia said that he was encouraged to shoot before the match, and put extra effort into attacking in the first half. The end result did the talking.

Columbus came into San Jose and started to achieve what they set out to do in the opening half hour — take the upper hand and force the Quakes back. Between the fifth and tenth minute, Columbus saw 70% of possession; yet the Quakes, having adopted a counter-attacking style of play on the road, absorbed the pressure well, pressing high up the pitch and forcing Columbus into multiple errors early on. Federico Higuain’s impact was limited, as well as that of MLS’ second highest scorer so far this season, Kei Kamara.

In fact, the Quakes saw the better of their chances on the break, where their attacking play was sharp. Perez-Garcia was the focal point of the attack, with Chris Wondolowski taking more of a center-forward role alongside Adam Jahn. Most of the Quakes’ play was funneled down the left, where Shea Salinas’ constant work-rate and creative interplay paid dividends. Early on, he was on the receiving end of a neat one-two with Garcia down the left, putting him in behind Columbus’ midfield, drawing a yellow card from Mohammad Saeid, who pulled Garcia back.

Five minutes in, Marvell Wynne cut in from the right and curled a twenty yard effort on goal, forcing Steve Clark into a relatively routine save.  Ten minutes later, Sanna Nyassi lead the Quakes on the break, but was forced wide and took two crossing attempts finally found Chris Wondolowski, whose weak first-time effort was blocked off the line. Garcia again tested Clark from the edge of the area, twenty-four minutes in.

The single occasion Higuain and Kamara managed to combine, however, Columbus nearly found the back of the net. Higuain played a one-two with Kamara, who posted onto Clarence Goodson, and was in on goal just six yards out; but Bingham was quick off his line and managed to get behind Higuain’s effort.

In the thirty-third minute, though, everything changed: Saeid went in for a reckless, late, two-footed challenge on Salinas and saw his second yellow from Kevin Stott, who was quick to pull out his cards all night. Saeid had lost his mind, if he was thinking at all, and whereas his first yellow a “professional foul,” the second most undoubtedly unprofessional.  The red changed the complexion of the game, forcing Columbus to shift into a 4-4-1, losing any momentum they previously had. In five minutes following the red, the Quakes saw 77% of the ball. They originally struggled to take advantage of their possession and break down Columbus, forcing Garcia to drop deeper to distribute the ball.  Eventually, the Quakes got going and near the end of the half, Garcia’s fifteen yard effort forced Clark into a save at full stretch after Salinas, who had ran the distance on the break, fed it into the midfielder.

“As soon as they went down to 10 men, Shea [Salinas] and I were having a lot of joy down the left sideline as we just tried to exploit it. Me going forward and Shea with his pace caused some problems for them. It all came to a head on my pass to [Chris Wondolowski] to open up the scoring. It’s not going to be like that every game, so when you do get the space you want to try to push forward and create chances.” — Quakes defender Jordan Stewart

On the other side of the half, the domination continued — if anything, it increased, with the Quakes’ possession consistently around 75% in the five minute intervals during the second period, peaking at 85% between the sixtieth and sixty-fifth minutes. Wondolowski scuffed Salinas’ cut-back over from fifteen yards, while Adam Jahn struggled throughout the game. Although Columbus sat deep, Wondo said that the Quakes were prepared, and took shots from distance to draw Columbus out, before playing through them.

“I said be patient (and) when we do get a chance to go lets go with good pace. Usually when you play against 10 men, the middle bottles up sometimes, so sometimes the path to get behind them is on the outside. That’s how the first goal started. The first goal was what we talked about. Take your time and be patient and get guys going forward. It was a nice goal and a great finish by Chris [Wondolowski].” — Dominic Kinnear on the second half

Clark held onto Garcia’s twenty-five yard effort in the fiftieth minute, and finally the opener came when Wondolowski headed home Jordan Stewart’s cross from the left, fifty-five minutes in (Wondo credited Stewart for “putting it on a platter”). It was Wondo’s ninety-ninth MLS goal, a mark which he said, “Is only a number, but a number associated with a group of the best players in the league.”

Just a few minutes later, Salinas so nearly made it two, putting a ten yard effort over the crossbar from Jahn’s layoff, under pressure from Columbus. But he rectified himself on the hour mark, playing a one-two with Wondolowski right through Columbus’ penalty area, then tucking a shot over Clark — exemplifying Wondo’s aforementioned tactic. Kinnear said he was happy for Salinas to be rewarded for his current run of form.

“To win, sometimes you have to dig deep and sometimes play pretty,” said Wondolowski. This was one of the latter for the Quakes — ruthlessly effective but at the same time playing a possession-based “pretty” game.

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.