San Jose Earthquakes forward Chris Wondolowski (8) celebrates scoring in the 55th minute, during the game between the San Jose Earthquakes and the Columbus Crew at Avaya Stadium in San Jose, California, USA. The San Jose Earthquakes won 2-0. Photo by John Hefti
The Quakes returned home for the first time since April 11th and got a 2-0 win against Columbus Crew SC. San Jose got help early thanks to a second yellow to Mohammed Saeid in the 33’ and had a number of chances to break the deadlock but were unable to find the final scoring touch. It took 55 minutes for San Jose to find the breakthrough when Wondolowski redirected a cross with his face into the net.
Five minutes later Shea Salinas scored his first goal of the season to make it 2-0. From there San Jose minimized the Crew’s chances and kept pressure on their short handed opponent en route to a convincing win at home.
Ratings are based on a 1-10 scale:
- Horrible
- Awful
- Poor
- Flawed
- Adequate
- Good
- Very good
- Great
- Superb
- World Class
David Bingham: 7
Just before the red card to Columbus’ Justin Meram, Bingham made a massive save on Higuain that would have completely changed the direction of the match had it gone in. Another great game for Bingham.
Victor Bernardez: 6
The back four all did well to limit Higuain and Kamara in the attack and credit Bernardez with being a defensive force for the Quakes. Great clearances and very strong on the ball, not to mention much better passing.
Clarence Goodson: 7
Goodson had a quiet game other than his yellow. He does such a good job at keeping the defense in line and organized for the Quakes that David Bingham is probably a huge fan of him for making his life a lot easier.
Jordan Stewart: 8 MOTM
Having Jordan Stewart back in the lineup is huge for the Quakes. His speed is fantastic and his defensive awareness and communication are apart of what makes his game so good. Both were on display against the Crew as he assisted on the opening goal and made a number of key stops and blocks to keep Columbus off the board.
Marvell Wynne: 6
Again the whole back four had a great game and Marvell was a key part of that. His ability to aid in attack as well provided the offense to really click in the second half.
Matias Perez Garcia: 7
MPG had a fairly good game and got the assist on the Salinas goal. There was moments of brilliance for Matias but he also made some mistakes in the final third. I’d argue that he really should have scored in the match but chose not to take the shot. I’m not sure I’d call it his best game but it was a very good one.
Shea Salinas: 7
It’s good to see Salinas getting more starts and his performances have been well worthy of the extra minutes. He scored his first goal of the season thanks to a really nice short passing game in the box which is not something we usually see out of him. Hopefully its a sign of things to come for Salinas.
Chris Wondolowski: 6
Wondo played in his 172nd game for San Jose (good for second all time) and his 99th goal in his career tonight. He had a few miscommunications and a few mishits but altogether a good game for Wondo.
San Jose Earthquakes forward Chris Wondolowski (8) celebrates scoring in the 55th minute, with his daughter, Emersyn. Photo by John Hefti.
Sanna Nyassi: 5
The biggest moment for Nyassi was a 3 on 2 breakaway that should have been more dangerous than it was. In the end the Quakes didn’t even get a quality shot from it. Just a little disappointing from the man of many clubs.
Fatai Alashe: 7
Alashe has slotted into the lineup in his rookie season well . Yes he still has improvements to make but his role in this XI can’t be overlooked. His work in between the defense and midfield adds a lot of stability and his speed has been great for stifling opposing offenses.
Adam Jahn: 4
It really seemed like Jahn was a half step slow the entire match and it caused the attack to break down on a number of occasions. He has the skills but they need to all come together for a full 90.
Substitutions
Cordell Cato (for Nyassi 78’): Incomplete
Usually I can give a rating for 12 minutes of work but there wasn’t a lot for Cato to do.
Khari Stephenson (for Perez Garcia 81’): Incomplete
Really wasn’t enough time for Khari to do much.
JJ Koval (for Jahn 89’): Incomplete
Just a late sub by Kinnear to kill the clock.
