In front of 10,525 fans and Lew Wolff who spent the first half standing and chanting with the 1906 Ultras, the San Jose Earthquakes won with a clean sheet despite losing the 2 players who started in the central defense.
Lew Wolff, the team owner and first supporter - Photo: Nap/theprojectfc
The Quakes scored from a penlty kick taken by Ryan Johnson after Arturo Alvarez, the best Earthquake tonight, slalomed in the box, forcing Jeremy Hall to tackle him from behind 1-0 (24')
"I haven't seen it", Yallop said when asked after the game about the penalty kick, "but we've had a few against us that were not deserved so what comes around comes around sometimes". He's absolutely right on this point.
More surprising was his (and his players') optimism. Winning a second game in a row is always a good thing, especially after loosing Jason Hernandez during the week and Andre Luiz (left knee sprain, season ending injury) and Brandon McDonald (right leg contusion) after a few minutes tonight, but it would be a lie to say that the Quakes had a great game tonight.
They dominated most of the time, but, against one of the worst MLS teams ever, were never really in position to kill the game.
Instead, New York even had a few chances in the final minutes, when Ryan Johnson and Arturo Alvarez were both looking tired after and were not able to do the defensive part of their job anymore.
Ryan Johnson and Arturo Alvarez gave the victory to the Quakes - Photo: Nap/theprojectfc
Arturo Alvarez and Bobby Convey both had a few good runs bringing the ball in the box, Ryan Johnson did a great job, as usual, harrassing New York's defenders, Ramon Sanchez and Ramiro Corrales probably both had their best game of the season, but every offensive move seemed to result from a good individual effort and an apparent lack of coordination between offensive players prevented them to make this game an easy win.
If it was not for Alvarez, who seemed able to make a difference on his own at least 5 or 6 times, it would even have been a boring 0-0.
"We showed the commitment and the charater that any team should show", Yallop said. It is true, at least for the defensive part, but this will not be enough for next wednesday's game against Dallas. Without a better collective cohesion in the offensive phases, San Jose will find it very difficult to score and win their last home game of the season.
Please come back later for post-game video interviews
