Photo: Dani (www.danivernonphoto.com) for TheBaySoccer
Tonight's game against the New York Red Bulls was supposed to be both a good test against the best performing team in the East so far in 2010 (5 wins, 1 loss before tonight's game) and an important turn in the season for the Quakes who had an opportunity to move up in the standings with a fourth win in 6 games.
They did earn three precious points. The test however was distorted by the red card received by Luke Sassano after only 13 minutes in the game. His tackle on Bobby Convey's ankle was not nice and deserved a card, but the color surprised the delighted Earthquakes fans.
This made the game easier for the Quakes, and if they had to wait until the 44th minute to take the lead, they didn't miss the opportunity, took control of the game from A to Z and confirmed their domination on the scoreboard.
It wouldn't be fair not to mention the fact that the home team was already largely dominating and created the best chances before Luke Sassano's ejection.
"Obviously the red card made a difference in the match but sometimes you tend not to play well when that happens", said Frank Yallop after the game. "I think [...] tonight, the ball movement and the desire to win it back was terrific".
The Quakes were aggressive defensively and managed to move the ball forward fluently and quickly from the first to the last minute and even after scoring a third and a fourth goal, they never released the pressure and kept trying to increase the score.
Luke Sassano sent off after only 13 minutes - Photo: Dani (www.danivernonphoto.com) for TheBaySoccer
Asked about the influence of a better competition at every position this year on the fact that the players kept giving 100% until the last minute, Frank Yallop said "Sometimes you win 3 or 4 nothing and some players want to come off. Nobody wanted to come off tonight. I think Ryan (Johnson) and "Wondo" were pretty disappointed to come off. That's because they don't want anybody else to get the chance...that's a good sign."
Obviously very happy about the result, he was also pleased with the performance and attitude of his players: "I think tonight was exactly how i want us to play, especially at home".
With this result, the Quakes are now 3rd in the Western conference (4th overall), just one point behind Houston Dynamo (2nd) who played 2 more games. They will now travel twice in the next 2 weeks to New England and Seattle before coming back home to host Toronto FC at Buck Shaw stadium on May 29 at 7 pm.
About Joe Vide:
Joe Vide (ex New York Red Bulls, San Jose Earthquakes and DC United midfielder) has been recently diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease (a form of cancer) requiring heavy and expensive treatment. Joe is in a difficult financial situation as his health insurance told him it will not be covering any more treatments. A web site has been created to support him. To learn more, please visit thefriendsofjoevide.org.
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