San Jose Earthquakes scrape a 1-0 win from Sporting Kansas City to shake up playoff race

By on October 16, 2015

Marvell Wynne challenges Kansas City forward Dom Dywer © Football Every Day and Aaron Morgan

It’s not in the San Jose Earthquakes’ blood to know when it’s over; when they’ve lost a game or when they’re playoff hopes are done and dusted.  This mentality extends from the front line to the front office – for example, exiting Avaya Stadium tonight, Quakes President Dave Kaval reassured me that this wouldn’t be the club’s last home match this season.  Tonight, the Quakes dragged themselves back into playoff contention with a key 1-0 win over Sporting Kansas City.

Before the game, David Bingham and Marvell Wynne likened themselves to a cheetahs, Mark Sherrod said his spirit animal was a sea otter and Chris Wondolowski said he would be a lion in his next life; but be it a cheetah, sea otter (er, sea otter?), or lion, it takes resilience to absorb all the hits that the Earthquakes have taken this season yet still cling to hopes of a playoff spot with one match left to play. New stadium, new coach, and a renovated lineup, but the same spirit. “Everyone is fighting for everything,” said Quakes coach Dominic Kinnear.

Tonight, the club’s ongoing circus of suspensions stood in their way again as Victor Bernardez accumulated his fifth yellow card against the Vancouver Whitecaps two weeks ago. Paulo Renato, Jordan Stewart and Fatai Alashe have all filled in as centerbacks this season, but tonight Kinnear opted for Marvell Wynne, given Marc Pelosi – Alashe’s natural back-up in the midfield – was also suspended. “I didn’t lose a lot of sleep over [the decision],” Kinnear admitted after the match, and his decision proved a good one as the Quakes’ back line neutralized Kansas City’s attacking threats, Dom Dwyer, Benny Feilhaber and Graham Zusi.

The Quakes, knowing they needed the win, set the pace early with an intense opening. With Garcia out wide, Cordell Cato frequently pushed forward down the right wing, providing another attacking angle. Kinnear didn’t even have to tell Cato to get forward – “I do what I do,” the winger said. In the seventh minute, Amarikwa fed Cato’s overlapping run and the twenty-three-year-old whipped a far post cross into the box, but Salinas couldn’t get enough power on his header.

The ball filtered back out to Cato, who opted to cut it back to Garcia, the Argentine midfielder then curling a tame fifteen-yard-effort right into the hands of Tim Melia. The twenty-nine-year-old keeper quickly booted it down the other end, where the ball was fed to Dom Dwyer. The forward got past Wynne, only to drag a low effort straight to Bingham.

Garcia naturally drifted into the middle (he’s “good in tight spaces” and “rarely wastes the ball,” Kinnear added), allowing Fatai Alashe and Anibal Godoy the freedom to release forward more often; twelve minutes in, Alashe peeled off from his marker at the far-post to flick a quickly-taken free-kick from Garcia onto the roof of the net.

The Quakes pushed forward on drunken adrenaline. Quincy Amarikwa appeared even more pumped than usual, if possible, though his bullishness perhaps blind-sighted him to slipping Cato in down the right in the nineteenth minute. Instead, he opted for a shot himself, which he slammed right at Melia, who parried. Soon after, Goodson met Garcia’s deep free-kick with a towering-header straight at Melia and Alashe poked Salinas’ cut-back following a short free-kick wide.

Kansas City’s’ best chances in the first half came from a speculative volley off the boot of Feilhaber and Erik Palmer-Brown’s early header.

Quincy Amarikwa doing what Quincy Amarikwa does best. © Football Every Day and Aaron Morgan

At halftime, the message from Kinnear was: “We’ve done everything except score a goal. So let’s not be satisfied with that effort, because it’s going to take something a little bit extra.”

Indeed, the Quakes burst out of the blocks again in the second period and their energy, more specifically Amarikwa’s work rate, delivered just two minutes into the half. Amarikwa chased down a loose ball and poked it wide left to Salinas, who lofted a pin-point cross to Wondo at the far post. The US international brought the ball down with his first-touch for Anibal Godoy to finish at the far post.

The home side surged forward and Amarikwa perhaps should have doubled their lead, performing a slick Maradona spin around Matt Besler before looping a tame effort straight at an oncoming Melia. Wondo also had a chance to add another to the Quakes’ tally, bringing down Amarikwa’s driven ball meant for Salinas on the other side of the pitch with the loveliest of flicks and setting up a volley, which he sent straight at Melia.

The Quakes’ slim margin made for a nervous home crowd, indeed the nerves were warranted given several recent second-half performances, and indeed Kansas City did surge forward towards the end, needing just a point to assure their spot in the playoffs.  Yet the balance of play favored the Quakes throughout the night, with goalkeeper David Bingham noting, “When we defend like we did tonight, we will get three points.”

With the nerves already jangling, a chorus of boos met the announcement of four minutes of stoppage time. On one of SKC’s multiple late chances, Anor clipped a cross over the top for Lopez to flick onto the roof of the net. “I was [holding my breath],” said Kinnear. “There has been a lot of that this season.”

Correction: This article was updated to correct the fact that Matias Perez Garcia is Argentine (thanks to TomRhodesMusic on Reddit)

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.