Photo Credit San Jose Earthquakes
It just wasn’t to be for San Jose as the Quakes fell 1-0 to visiting Los Angeles. The Galaxy took advantage of a slow start and 6 minutes in, they punished the Quakes for it. Villarreal’s goal wasn’t a goal that will make any top 10 reels. Simply put he just out worked JJ Koval and got to the ball first and it was that effort that would keep the Galaxy in front for the rest of the match.
It was a game that on paper looked great for the home side; San Jose had 15 shots to LA’s 7, 9 corners to LA’s 0. Coach Dominic Kinnear was pleased with the effort shown on the field by his players, but felt that the mentality before the match was just to play well and not to win. San Jose lacked a killer instinct in the first half and in the second they couldn’t put it all together.
Kinnear played his first card coming out of halftime, subbing on Mike Fucito for Khari Stephenson, in an effort to improve the attack.
“We went a little more direct with Mike Fucito coming on to kinda stretch the field a little bit,” said Kinnear when asked about the change.
“Ultimately we were more aggressive, we passed the ball better, our movement off the ball was better, and second balls were ours.”
It was the lack of that mentality in the first half that allowed Villarreal to score and had the Quakes chasing for the rest of the match.
San Jose would get chances throughout the match to level the score, the best a Mark Sherrod header deemed offside, but nothing would fall for the Quakes who are now knocked out of the US Open Cup. JJ Koval and Sherrod both put headed attempts on goal but right at Galaxy Keeper, Brian Rowe and several other San Jose shots went just wide. In the end it was the accuracy, or lack thereof, of San Jose who only put 3 of their 15 shots on target and had only 1 blocked.
Just days after beating their rivals 3-1, this 1-0 loss visibly disappointed the Quakes, their locker room as quiet and somber as ever. Many of the starters tonight are regularly reserves who know games like the Open Cup matches are some of the few chances to get serious minutes and earn starts in future games.
Kinnear felt especially bad for Keeper Brian Meredith who he said was to be the starter for the entirety of the US Open Cup run. Meredith has proven he is a quality keeper capable of getting starts, but he would likely need current starter David Bingham to be injured to get more minutes.
The Quakes will have to set aside their disappointment quickly as they travel to Portland to face the Timbers on Sunday at 8 pm PDT.
