San Jose
Earthquakes 1-0
Toronto F.C.
Toronto
overcome by Earthquakes and Tornado
Saturday
March 15th, 2008 - 3 p.m.
Carolina Challenge Cup - Match 1
Blackbaud Stadium, Charleston, South Carolina
Saturday, March 15, 2008
After the Earthquakes stroke at the 21st minute, the idea of
seeing Toronto's experimental team coming back in this match already
seemed challenging. The annoucement that a tornado was threatening
Charleston definitely stopped
their attempts to equalize! At the 77th minute, after a bolt of
lightning cracked just above Blackbaud Stadium, the referee,
aware of the weather forecast, decided not to take any risk and sent
the 22 payers back to the locker room. 30 minutes later, the officials,
seeing that the situation was not getting safier, announced that the
match was definitely stopped and that 1-0 in favor of the Earthquakes
would be the final score.
Toronto FC, supported by about 20 "Red Patch Boys" who came all the way
from Toronto, started the match with a
few players on trial while Frank Yallop decided to line-up his 1st team
resulting in the Erthquakes looking, for the first time in the
pre-season, the most experienced and organized team on the field! It
was not an
outrageous domination but a definitely better quality of possession,
concluded by Jason Hernandez at the 22nd minute.
The goal
came after Ivan guerrero obtained a corner kick on the left wing. The
kick was taken by Ronnie O'Brien who found the head of Gavin Glinton at
the far post. The ball was saved on the line by two Toronto defenders,
came to Kei Kamara's head at the penalty spot. Kamara passed the ball
back to Glinton whose second header was saved again (by Greg Sutton,
Toronto's goalkeeper), but not cleared by the defenders who let the
ball float in the six yards box...Jason Hernandez was there to push
it in the back of the net
At half time, only one substitution was made on the SJE side: Shea
Salinas replaced Gavin Glinton. Ned Grabavoy moved upfront, O'Brien
moved from his right wing to take Gravbavoy's place as a center mid.
and Shalinas took the right wing...
At the 53rd minute, James Rileywith
a long ball along the line (on the right wing) perfectly found Salinas,
left alone by Toronto's defenders who thought he was offsides. Salinas
had enough time to control the ball and bring it in the box to face
Sutton in a One-on-One situation. The goalkeeper won the challenge and
deflected the ball. The following corner kick didn't bring any danger.
This was the best opportunity in the second half before the
match was stopped. Even though Toronto may feel they have been denied
their chances to fight until the end, San Jose was
closer to score a second goal than the T.F.C. to equalize.
Frank
Yallop wanted to see his first team tonight. The MLS season is coming
soon and the staff is said to be still looking for a first team
striker. Apparently, none of the players on trial managed to
convince them for this spot, but those who have not been sent home are
probably in a good position to get a contract, as the staff will also
need to add depth to the squad with reliable substitutes.
T.H.
Misconduct Summary:
TFC - Carl Robinson - Yellow Card (reckless foul) 46th
SJE - Ryan Cochrane - Yellow Card (reckless foul) 66th
Goal: Jason Hernandez (22nd)
Lineups:
Toronto F.C. (4-4-2): Greg
Sutton - Jim Brennan, Tyrone
Marshall, Julius James, Marco Vélez - Todd Dunivant, Victor Pacheco
(Kevin Harmse, 46th),
Carl Robinson, Martin Brittain - Jeff Cuningham, Danny Dichio (Collin
Samuel, 46th)
San Jose Earthquakes (4-4-2): Joe
Cannon - Jason Hernandez, Ryan
Cochrane, Nick Garcia, James Riley - Ivan Guerrero, Ned Grabavoy,
Ramiro
Corrales, Ronnie O'Brien (Joe Vide, 70th) - Kei Kamara, Gavin
Glinton (Shea Salinas, 46th).
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