San Jose Earthquakes 2-1 Houston Dynamo

Thursday May 22nd, 2008
MLS - Match 8


Buck Shaw Stadium, Santa Clara, CA

Attendance: 10,046

Thursday May 22, 2008

It's hard to believe that the team that beat the Houston Dynamo tonight was the same that the one who played so poorly in New England 5 days earlier! It was actually not exactly the same team, and that may be a part of the explanation of the difference between the two performances.

After three games, two without Cochrane and one without Garcia, the 2 central defenders were finally both available at the same time. Denton, who took Hernandez' place on the left side during those three games, profited of the situation to prove he was good enough to be a regular starter and was maintained in his position. Hernandez, who started the season on the left side of the defense and replaced Cochrane and Garcia in central defense in the last three games, moved to a new position: right full back. With Denton's new status, there needed to be a victim, and it was James Riley who probably pays a high price for his own goal last week.

After having tried Grabavoy as a forward last week (with no success), Yallop came back to his traditional formation in the midfield (Guerrero, Corrales, Grabavoy and O'Brien) and Johnson, for the first time this season, started the match upfront along with Kei Kamara.

As usual, it took a while to the Quakes to get into the game. Unlike last week against New England, this slow start was not fatal and the Dynamo had a slow start too. When they woke up after 15 minutes, the Quakes had the best chances in the first half with a very good Ryan Johnson upfront, moving a lot and creating the best opportunities. The Quakes almost scored in the 33rd minute when Johnson received a ball in his run from Guerrero and crossed it perfectly to Kamara at the far post. Kamara's shot was deflected and hit the post.

Houston had their first shot on target at the 37th minute, but Stuart Holden's header was too weak to threaten Joe Cannon who easily caught the ball.

The first half was clearly dominated by the Quakes, but the score at the break was still 0-0.

The Dynamo came back with much better intentions and held the ball much better than in the first half.. Unfortunately for the visitors, 2 of their players had to leave on injuries: Franco Carracio was replaced by Kyle Brown (55th) and, more importantly, Eddie Robinson had to leave (replaced by Patrick Ianni, 64th).

Ianni was immediately in action. On a corner kick taken from the right by Richard Mulrooney, he headed the ball right above Cannon's goal. But the substitution also seemed to disorganize Houston's back line and after a good situation involving Hernandez and Johnson, O'Brien crossed a ball from the right which was deflected by a defender. Grabavoy managed with his head to flick the ball to Kamara who just had to beat Pat Onstad from the 6-yard line (1-0, 65th)

With many substitutions and the Dynamo unable to really threaten the Quakes, the locals didn't seem to have too much difficulty keeping the score unchanged. They did even better when Guerrero, who ran a lot and won a lot of balls tonight, intercepted a back pass from Brian Ching and immediately transmitted the ball toRyan Johnson on the right, at the to of the box. Johnson controlled the ball, approached the goal and took a low shot but he did not have agreat angle and Pat Onstad managed to save it...But he could do nothing when Guerrero, who had continued his run, was on the rebound and pushed the ball in the back of the net! (2-0, 81st)

San Jose seemed to control the situation now, but a late goal scored by Ching on a cross from Brad Davis (88th) made the crowd (and the Earthquakes defenders) nervous for the 2+4 minutes that remained to be played.

Houston had a last chance to steal one point on a header in the stoppage time but the score didn't change and Nick Garcia (who collapsed at the penalty spot and stayed down for 10 to 15 seconds) could feel relieved!

The performance of the Earthquakes tonight confirmed one thing and revealed another one:

It confirms that Garcia and Cochrane together are able to bring the great defensive stability that had disappeared in the last 3 matches. They had a hard time finding their midfielders when they tried to clear the ball, but their defensive performance has almost been perfect.

It revealed the potential of Ryan Johnson who may well be the second forward Yallop was looking for. He started the game for the first time of the season and was, at least in the first half, the best player tonight.

Thierry Heumann (email)

Asked about his preparation for this game, Johnson said: "I learnt I was going to play the day before. I tried not to get too excited. Obviously it was a big game for myself but I knew all I had to do was do my best and see what happens."

San Jose Ecstatic After Win Over Houston

It was a glorious victory for the new San Jose Earthquakes over the team that had won two championships for the city before being forced to relocate, the former Quakes and current Houston Dynamo. De Rosario, Mulrooney, Ching, Onstad, Mullan, and Waibel were all on the field for San Jose the last time the Earthquakes won the MLS Cup back in 2003.  Then in 2006 AEG moved the team to Houston where they have won two championships in a row.

Thursday night they returned for their first competitive match back in San Jose, this time wearing the orange and white of the Dynamo, and the atmosphere in Buck Shaw was electric. The supporters groups let loose with some not so friendly chants. The stands were packed with fans clad in blue and black that went crazy throughout the game. Even the neutrals that were watching the telecast on ESPN must have been thoroughly entertained.

The current Quakes also have some heroes with the team from that 2003 championship side. Yallop, Russell, Ekelund and Corrales. The first three are now coaches while Corrales has returned from Europe to patrol the midfield but on paper this match looked like one that the Dynamo would win. After all they are the defending champs playing against a new team with an anemic offense. An offense that had produced only four goals in seven matches and that has been hit with injuries to two of its strikers. Houston had been playing well after a slow start and San Jose had just suffered their second loss in a row. No one would have been shocked by another Earthquakes loss.

Luckily, the team knew the game was to be played on the field and they never lost their confidence. They came out and controlled the match creating numerous chances and preventing Houston from having many dangerous shots. The Quakes played with a confidence and passion that belied their poor record. They out hustled the Dynamo, they out worked them, they knocked them down, they took them on, they attacked down the flanks, they attacked over the top and at the end of the night they stood victorious by a justly deserved scoreline of 2-1.

Euphoric Quake fans hope that this result will turn the season in the right direction and that it will only be the first of many wins for San Jose here at Buck Shaw Stadium.

“It feels really, really good to give the home fans a win, it feels awesome,” said the man who scored the first goal of the match, Kei Kamara. “We were pumped up, we knew it was a special game, not just for us but for the city of San Jose. Today was one of those days where we worked hard and the hard work paid off .”

“Coach Yallop told me I was going to start up top the day before the game,” said Ryan Johnson who seized his opportunity and turned in a confident, aggressive performance. “Ned was finding me pretty good with the through balls. I was making runs and the ball was there.”

“It was a long time coming,” said Captain and centerback Nick Garcia about the first win at Santa Clara. “To do it against Houston, the old hometown favorite, and for us to do it in a fashion where we score two goals and everybody from top to bottom played well. It was a good win all around,” he continued. “We knew they were going to have a barrage of bullets coming towards us there at the end and really I think the only stuff we gave them was some careless free kicks that we shouldn’t have given away. I thought we took the game to them and made it difficult for them to play here.”

On the Dynamo side, Bay Area native and coach Dominic Kinnear was clearly discontent. “We decided to start playing after it was 2-0,” he stated bluntly. “We were sluggish, we were a little bit hesitant going for the first and second balls and when we got it we weren’t clearing our lines quick enough. We made some mistakes, they punished us.”

When asked if the emotions of the return to San Jose affected the Dynamo’s performance Kinnear had some strong comments. “For me no, I wanted to win. Losing this game hurts but the one thing I can say is that I’m pretty surprised to hear some of the things that were said to our players and staff by people in the crowd.  A lot of these players put a lot of effort to put those stars on those jerseys. Anywhere around the world when players have had good careers at other places, when they come back they get a good reception. The players didn’t ask to leave. I understand the fans have to vent their frustrations somewhere but to vent it at the players who were here and won championships and went out in the community and made friends, it’s really disappointing and very unfair.”

“The fans said some funny stuff but it’s kind of disappointing. It wasn’t our choice to leave but at the end of the day you have to cheer for your home team so its understandable,” Houston midfielder and former Quake Rico Clark said.

Judging by the all out pace of the game, the atmosphere and the physical play there appears to be a rivalry developing between the sides. Nick Garcia received a yellow card when he kicked Clark in the knee during the first half and there was some pushing and shoving between the teams at the final whistle. “I thought it was a dirty tackle but I guess that’s part of the game.” Clark replied when asked about Garcia’s hard foul. “I try not to lose my cool, I don’t want any incidents like last year.”

Both teams will be circling the dates of their next matches against each other that will come back-to-back on September 13th and 20th. The Quakes hope to be in playoff contention at that time while Houston must plan to be finishing the regular season strong as they head towards a return to the MLS Cup. Anything less for either team would be a massive let down.

View updated statistics

Goals:

SJE: Kamara (67th, Assist: Grabavoy), Guerrero (81st, Assist: Johnson)

HD: Brian Ching (88th, Assist: Richard Mulrooney)

Officials:

Referee: Jair Marrufo - Assistants: Chris Strickland, Peter Manikowski - 4th official: Hidajet Tica.

Attendance: 10,046 (Capacity, 10,500)

Yellow cards: 

SJE: Nick Garcia (Reckless Foul, 35th), Ryan Cochrane (Reckless Foul, 4àth)

HD:

Lineups:

San Jose Earthquakes: Joe Cannon - Eric Denton, Nick Garcia (C.),  Ryan Cochrane, Jason Hernandez -  Ivan Guerrero, Ramiro Corrales, Ned Grabavoy, Ronnie O'Brien (Shea Salinas, 78th)- Ryan Johnson, Kei Kamara (Jovan Kirovski, 80th).

Houston Dynamo: Pat Onstad - Wade Barrett (C.), Eddie Robinson (Patrick Ianni, 64th), Bobby Boswell, Richard Mulrooney - Ricardo Clark, Stuart Holden (Brad Davis, 75th), Dwayne De Rosario, Brian Mullan - Brian Ching, Franco Caraccio (Kyle Brown, 55th).