With one of the contenders for the Supporters Shield coming to town on a mission, Saturday’s game against the New York Red Bulls went about as well as it could for the last place San Jose Earthquakes. Chris Wondolowski gave the crowd what they wanted when he scored his 144th MLS goal, but it was merely a consolation on the scoreboard as the Red Bulls easily cruised to a 3-1 win over the Quakes on Saturday Night at Avaya Stadium.
“They are a very good team. They’re in the Supporters Shield race for a reason. They were better than us tonight, better on the field and better coaching” said Earthquakes Interim Coach Steve Ralson. “We shouldn’t have been surprised, talked about it all week that they were going to press and we played right into it.”
The Red Bulls came out firing from the get go, dominating possession and rattling the woodwork with several shots before Alex Muyl scored the inevitable breakthrough goal in the 30th minute off a rebound.
“It’s a great road win, any win this time of year is important,” said Red Bulls Head Coach Chris Armas. “What we feel best about is the way we came out and pushed the game from the start.”
New York doubled the lead just two minutes later when Bradley Wright-Phillips hit a header off the post, but spun around and blasted his rebound past a helpless JT Marcinkowki for his 20th goal of the season, making him the first MLS player to post 20 goals in three different seasons.
The Red Bulls added a third after the break when Tim Parker set up his fellow defender Aaron Long off a corner kick.
With the game already decided, Ralston brought in Wondolowski in the 54th minute. Determined to get the club legend one step closer to breaking Landon Donovan’s MLS goal scoring record, the Quakes had a renewed energy that paid off for the part of the announced 17,241 in attendance that stayed true to the end when Wondo got his head to a Florian Jungwirth free kick to pull with one goal of tying Donovan.
“What a ball by [Jungwirth], he served in a great ball,” said Wondolowski. “It was a great buildup to get there, me and Godoy had different runs and he helped me out and I was able to finish it.”
Aside from closing in on Donovan, that goal was also Wondolowski’s 10th of the season, extending his record of double digit goal scoring seasons to 9.
“There’s that big number that everyone keeps talking about, but this is the one I really wanted,” said Wondolowski.
With the Quakes hopeless out of the playoff chase, Wondo’s goal made the night feel like a success to many in attendance, but for the Red Bulls, their win was part of something much bigger as they remain neck in neck with Atlanta United for the Supporters Shield and the top spot in the East.
“We genuinely are taking it one game at a time. We watched Atlanta play earlier and we know they picked up three points and we knew that to keep pace we had to get a result,” said Armas. “The approach and the mentality were exactly what we had hoped for.”
New York will take the international break next week before taking on Philadelphia Union on October 21st, while the Quakes will take a break from MLS play when they welcome Liga MX side Cruz Azul to Avaya Stadium for a late season friendly. Their next MLS match will be a Wooden Spoon 6-pointer on the 21st when Colorado comes to town.
San Jose Earthquakes
