Another game, new faces, a spirited effort, and the same result. That’s been the season for the San Jose Earthquakes, who once again fell short as Raul Ruidiaz’s 62nd minute goal held up for the Seattle Sounders as they gritted their way to their first ever win at Avaya Stadium with a 1-0 victory on Wednesday Night.
“Sometimes winning away from home, you can’t always win pretty,” said Sounders Coach Brian Schmetzer. “I think the players gutted it out, we got the timely goal and we were able to hang on at the end. We were hanging on for dear life at the end, San Jose was putting us under a lot of pressure.”
The Quakes came out on the front foot and were the better team on the night, but were unable to capitalize in the final third, despite a flurry of activity at the end of the match that forced Stefen Frei into action several times. Frei was particularly active on corner kicks, intercepting several mid air before any Quakes player could make a play on the ball.
“He didn’t come up with the one big save, but he made all the saves he needed to save and controlling the tempo of the game from his position was key.” said Schmetzer.
“It was a really slow game in general, there were a few chances for both teams, but this was a 0-0 game from my perspective,” said Earthquakes Coach Mikael Stahre. “We talked in the dressing room about speeding up the game with more intensity. We hardly created any chances, tonight we lacked quality in the final third of the field.”
If there’s any reason for optimism in San Jose, it was the play of the two guys making their MLS debuts in Luis Felipe and Georgian International Guram Kashia. Both looked solid on the ball and had a firm command of their positions.
“That was the best thing for us this evening,” said Stahre. “Guram helped us, he had a quite solid performace and he will be better and better when he gets totally fit. Luis Felipe was one of the best players in an Earthquakes shirt this evening. Quite good with the ball and great positioning in defense, a great debut from Luis.”
While San Jose isn’t going to be waving the white flag at any point this season, the frustration of two wins in 20 matches and an 11 match winless streak is no longer something that the team can hide.
“It’s not good enough all across the board,” said Chris Wondolowski. “Right now, we’re starting to play for jobs. We have two wins right now, we’ll be lucky if any of us are around next year. If that’s not motivation, I don’t know what is.”
Meanwhile, Seattle is now unbeaten in their last five since a demoralizing loss at home to Portland. Having strung back to back wins together for the first time this season and boasting a shiny new striker with a World Cup pedigree in Raul Ruidiaz, the Sounders look poised to make a run at a playoff spot in the rugged Western Conference.
“We have certainly talked about momentum, but it’s just about collecting points,” said Schmetzer. “Had we not got a result we need to collect points in the next game. It’s all about collecting as many points as we can to make the playoffs.”
Both teams are back in action on the weekend as the Sounders return home to face NYCFC on Sunday while the Earthquakes will have an opportunity to get a W against a Real Salt Lake side that has struggled mightily outside of Utah.
San Jose Earthquakes
Seattle Sounders
