David Bingham was able to keep a clean sheet for the Earthquakes but his offense failed to score in a 0-0 draw. San Jose, CA — August 24, 2016. San Jose Earthquakes vs. New England Revolution.
On a night where the San Jose Earthquakes could have leapt into the sixth and final Western Conference playoff position with a win, the home side failed to score against the New England Revolution as the teams played to a lackluster 0-0 draw. Instead the Quakes now sit tied with Portland Timbers on points with 32 but are behind in the first tiebreaker: number of wins. The Revolution would have also been above the redline with a win but instead remain in eighth place in the Eastern Conference.
The Quakes were aggressive to start the match, putting early pressure on New England and earning a corner in the first three minutes of the match.
The set piece play for the Quakes failed to create any danger for the Revolution defense but San Jose was able to find some success with some short passing at the top of the box. Each time though the defense was able to scramble to the ball and get a clearance.
It wasn’t until the 15th minute that New England were able to test David Bingham and the Quakes keeper did well to calmly collect a very dangerous cross from Scott Caldwell with Juan Agudelo lurking right in front of goal.
Wondolowski was able to get freedom in front of goal for the Quakes in the 21st minute and took a well timed cross from Simon Dawkins with his head but from 6 yards out he put the shot wide of the post much to the frustration of the home crowd.
Moments before the cross from Dawkins, Quincy Amarikwa went down with an injury after leaping to try and deflect a clearance by Revs keeper Brad Knighton. Amarikwa would try to continue playing but would eventually have to be replaced by Chad Barrett in the 34th minute.
Quincy Amarikwa walks off the field after suffering an injury early in the match. San Jose, CA — August 24, 2016. San Jose Earthquakes vs. New England Revolution.
The Quakes could have lost another starter by the 25th minute when Anibal Godoy committed to a reckless slide tackle on Caldwell after failing to control an intercepted pass. Godoy went into Caldwell with studs showing and was probably lucky to only walk away with a yellow, although he will miss next match because of accumulation.
In the 36th minute Wondolowski had another chance to score with his head albeit from a much more difficult angle. His header from the far post went back toward the opposite side of goal and almost caught Knighton wrong footed but he was able to change direction and make a diving, fingertip save.
New England was able to get a chance of their own moments later after sloppy play from San Jose caused them to turn the ball over about 40 yards from the Quakes goal. Kellen Rowe ripped a shot from outside the box but his attempt would go just high of the crossbar.
With the half winding down New England almost capitalized on some sloppy play again by San Jose this time in the box as the Quakes struggled to clear a somewhat lazy corner and allowed Caldwell to get a shot on target but Bingham was able to make the save through traffic.
The first chance of the second half came in the 50th minute for San Jose as Godoy was able to find space in the box with a nice pass from Barrett to the center of the box but he slipped as he went to take the shot and the ball was calmly recovered by Knighton.
New England’s Kai Kamara should have scored in the 60th minute, getting a breakaway chance after poor defending from the Quakes and got around Bingham but had a tough angle and his shot bounced off the post and out off the back of Bingham.
Kai Kamara vents his frustration after missing an opportunity to put New England up 1-0. San Jose, CA — August 24, 2016. San Jose Earthquakes vs. New England Revolution.
Barrett had maybe the closest chance on goal for the Quakes, whipping a shot towards the far corner in the 70th minute but having the shot just sail high.
Coach Dominic Kinnear went to the bench in the 76th minute to bring on Henok Goitom for Barrett, and immediately the newest signing made an impact, notching the first shot on target for San Jose. Darwin Ceren was able to intercept a deflected pass and immediately turned and lobbed a ball over the top of the Revolution defense to a sprinting Goitom. The shot from Goitom wasn’t enough to beat Knighton though as he took it on the half volley from just inside the box and couldn’t get enough power on it.
Goitom continued to create trouble for the Revolution defense with his ability to hold possession deep in his offensive end and challenge for lofted balls in the box but the Quakes could not convert the positive play into a goal.
New England was able to create some late chances of their own but nothing that would really trouble Bingham. Their best chance would come in the 86th minute as the Revs played a short corner to Lee Nguyen at the top corner of the box who then found Fagundez with some space in the box but his shot was right at the keeper.
Kellen Rowe almost topped that in the 92nd minute when he volleyed a ball that was intended to be a cross towards the back post. The cross almost found the inside of the post instead as Bingham was beat if it was on target but the ball would end up a yard wide of the net.
San Jose would get one last chance in the dying seconds of the match as Wondolowski received a cross into the box and had space but couldn’t get a shot off before the defense could recover. His shot looked to have been going wide but Andrew Farrell was there to clear the ball away.
Summary
San Jose: Bingham; Cato, Wynne, Bernardez, Stewart; Godoy, Quintero (Salinas 76’), Ceren, Dawkins, Amarikwa (Barrett 34’)(Goitom 76’), Wondolowski
New England: Knighton; Watson, Koffie, Tierney, Farrell, Caldwell; Nguyen, Caldwell; Kamara, Agudelo (Bunbury 55’), Rowe; Fagundez (Kobayashi 94’)
Goals
San Jose: None
New England: None
Discipline
San Jose: Godoy (25’ Caution), Ceren (54’ Caution), Dawkins (75’ Caution)
New England: Koffie (Caution 82’), Bunbury (Caution 87’)
