Avaya Stadium: The San Jose Earthquakes 3-2 victory over Minnesota United FC in the 2018 MLS Season opener.
The story line for the first 80 minutes of the season opener for the San Jose Earthquakes was their complete dominance of Minnesota United FC and the excitement surrounding the attacking players the Quakes have assembled under Mikael Stahre. But two quick goals from Kevin Molino changed the narrative a bit as the Earthquakes held on for a 3-2 victory Saturday Night at Avaya Stadium.
“In general I’m really happy with the performance and that’s the most important thing. We must analyze this and talk about the last 10 minutes of the game.” said Earthquakes Manager Mikael Stahre following his MLS debut.
The Earthquakes got the ball rolling in quick succession in the 27th minute when Danny Hoesen non chalantly one touched a pass from Vako into the upper left corner of the goal from the top of the 18 yard box. The celebration at Avaya Stadium had barely died down when Hoesen repayed Vako a minute later, flicking a Chris Wondolowski cross off to a streaking Vako who put the ball past a helpless Matt Lampson to double the lead.
The Earthquakes continued to probe and created several more chances to add a third, including Yeferson Quintana’s deflection of a corner kick that went off the post in the 35th minute.
San Jose did eventually add a third in the second half when Vako and Hoesen linked up again in the 58th minute with Hoesen being on the receiving end of the give and go to find the back of the net for his second of the night.
Even without scoring the brace, Hoesen was definitely the Man of the Match for the Earthquakes as he created several more chances and showed a willingness to pull the trigger on a shot anytime he had an opportunity.
“We played with a lot of confidence and we know we can create chances and score goals.” said Hoesen. “As a striker, people look at numbers. You want to score a lot of goals and help the team, and when you start off with two, it’s very promising.”
“He’s really dangerous one on one.” said Manager Mikael Stahre. “I’m really pleased with him, every single second he is working so hard and he’s so professional and he came in really fit for the season.”
The narrative through the game was that the Earthquakes attack has them poised to make some noise this season in the Western Conference and the Minnesota looked like they would once again challenge for the Wooden Spoon. But then Kevin Molino put the Loons on his back, collecting a loose ball in the box and slotting it past Andrew Tarbell for what appeared to be a nice consolation goal, only to find the back of the net from the top of the box just three minutes later to send a shock through Avaya Stadium. The nervous moments were short lived as the Quakes held on, but the Molino brace was enough to hang a small cloud over what should have been a dominating victory that would serve notice to the rest of the league.
“We totally controlled the game and to make it this nervous when you’re up three goals, it feels so unnecessary.” said Midfielder Magnus Eriksson.
Minnesota returns to the pitch next Saturday at Orlando City SC, while the Earthquakes have an off week before heading out on the road to take on Sporting Kansas City on March 17th.
San Jose Earthquakes
Minnesota United FC
