Photos courtesy of LAFC.
Mark-Anthony Kaye, center, scored LAFC’s goal against San Jose on Sunday night.
Talk about a lost opportunity for LAFC.
After a slow start to the restart of the regular season, LAFC had started to right the ship with two wins in its last three matches. That run had put LAFC back into playoff position and another three points on Sunday night at the expense of the San Jose Earthquakes could have moved LAFC into the top four in the Western Conference.
However, in a short but budding rivalry between LAFC and the Quakes, a rivalry that has already seen its fair share of memorable moments and wild endings, Sunday’s match turned out to be no different, and unfortunately for LAFC, they were on the wrong side of a wild finish. First, the Quakes Shea Salinas leveled the match in the 80th minute, then Jackson Yueill stunned the home side with a stoppage time goal at the death, and just like that, San Jose scored two unanswered goals and delivered the upset 2-1 over LAFC at Banc of California Stadium.
“They just fought hard,” LAFC head coach Bob Bradley said of San Jose’s comeback. “They kept going until the end. It’s just hard work on their end.”
As the second half wore on and the Quakes trailed 1-0, all increasingly looked lost for San Jose heading into the final stretch. However, Salinas made the most of one opportunity, and it worked. Salinas dribbled from the left side into the penalty area, made a cutting move inside before firing a left-footed volley that beat Keeper Pablo Sisniega far post to tie the match.
The came the winner. Cade Cowell took a throw-in from Nick Lima and dribbled at the corner of the right side of the field deep in LAFC territory. Cowell fought off several LAFC defenders, played a pass that was deflected, but went to Cristian Espinoza inside the penalty area. Espinoza took the ball towards the end line before crossing a ball into the six-yard box and Yueill swooped in and buried the point-blank shot for the game-winner.
“We lost this game, simple as that,” LAFC Midfielder Mark-Anthony Kaye said. “Our standard is very high and I think we let ourselves down today, whether that be, like I said, winning certain balls, or running back harder, running forward harder.”
The first half looked like it would be a scoreless half, but LAFC’s Mark-Anthony Kaye had other ideas. Brian Rodriguez maneuvered past a trio of Quakes defenders and played a ball for Eddie Segura inside the penalty area. Segura secured the ball, played a back pass that was deflected, but Bradley Wright-Phillips beat Chris Wondolowski to the ball, played a shot pass to Kaye, who one-timed a shot off his left foot that beat James Marcinkowski near post to send LAFC into the locker room with the lead.
