A goal by Ryan Cochrane in the 90th minute broke a 2-2 tie and gave the San Jose Earthquakes a 3-2 victory–their first win in nearly two months.
With so many new faces on the front line for San Jose, players might not have even noticed the difference between McAfee Coliseum and last week’s host Buck Shaw Stadium. Four of the six midfielders and forwards had less McAfee Coliseum experience than the entire Los Angeles squad, including Arturo Alvarez who was making his Earthquake premier. Alvarez did not disappoint as his goal in the 8th minute gave the Quakes a quick lead. Goals by Darren Huckerby and Cochrane followed, giving San Jose their highest offense output of the season. Scores by the Galaxy’s Edson Buddle and Landon Donovan kept the game close, but the day belonged to the Earthquakes.
“It feels good to win in front of our fans,” San Jose coach Frank Yallop said after the game. “We had some good chances to score some more goals. All in all, it was a terrific game for us. We were obviously not happy for the two goals that LA scored, but sometimes you’re a little bit vulnerable. We had a terrific comeback in the last couple of minutes of the game, and it showed character in the team.”
The Quakes came out aggressively and made the most of their opportunities. Forward Scott Sealy, in his third game with San Jose, provided a high energy style reminiscent of Ryan Johnson who was sitting on the bench. After a Galaxy turnover near midfield, Sealy received a lofted pass with space on the left side. Penetrating towards the heart of the LA defense, he was able to slot the ball to an open Arturo Alvarez. Alvarez maneuvered around one defender, and slid the ball just past the diving keeper Steve Cronin. He did not waste time in providing an impact, becoming the second Earthquake in as many weeks to score a goal in his SJ debut.
“It felt really good to get the goal,” Alvarez said. “Obviously it’s my first game in three years with the Earthquakes. It’s not a bad way to start. Hopefully I can bring in more goals.”
Moments later the Galaxy mounted a counter attack, pouncing on the Earthquake’s and the crowd’s celebration. A cross provided Edson Buddle, the hero of the last Clasico meeting, with an open touch shot at the goal. The ball was sent high off the forward’s right foot, lofting into the small group of “Galaxians” behind the goal.
The Earthquakes kept up their pressure. In the 16th minute Ronnie O’Brien found a bit of separation on the right flank that gave him a clear path down the sideline, but his cross couldn’t find a recipient and was knocked away from danger.
A minute later a SJ turnover gave David Beckham acres of land on the right side. As Beckham charged towards the goal, no defender was near enough to challenge a potential shot on goal. Luckily for the Earthquakes, Beckham tried to slide the ball to a trailing teammate, but the Earthquake defenders diffused the effort.
When asked after the game if he chooses to pass too quickly because he’s so good at it, Beckham said, “I do what I see. I saw Alan Gordon in the middle with a better opportunity than me to score. I tried to find him, and it just wasn’t a good pass.”
In the 29th minute Alvarez had the opportunity to score his second goal of the game, a header off of an O’Brien cross. Even with good placement, the header was snagged by Cronin to keep the game close.
LA almost equalized on an Ante Jazic cross from the left, but the header was sent past a diving Joe Cannon and just wide of the post.
The Earthquakes responded quickly in the 40th minute as Eric Denton advanced the ball up the left side. A pass to Huckerby left him with just one defender to beat–Chris Klein who slipped. Huckerby continued into the LA penalty box near the end line. Even with the tricky angle, Huckerby was able to fire the shot past the diving keeper and clip the inside of the far post. With his second goal in as many games with San Jose, Huckerby pulled to within one of Ryan Johnson for the team lead.
“It was a good ball from Eric (Denton),” Huckerby said. “and I knew it was one-on-one, and I just got by them. I was looking to pass it to Scott (Sealy), but he got blocked off so I took the ball to the corner, and it worked.”
A 2-0 deficit may have been the proverbial shot in the arm for the LA attack. Two minutes after Huckerby’s goal, Beckham found himself with an indirect kick from the right channel. His chip was headed high by a member of the LA goal-mouth mob, which was punched away by Cannon. Beckham again found himself with separation on the side. His cross was perfectly placed to the head of co-star Donovan, who re-positioned the cross past a diving Cannon for the goal.
Donovan was followed by a constant stream of boos every time he touched the ball, but his 42nd minute goal momentarily silenced the crowd.
San Jose two goals going into halftime were the first they had scored against their SoCal rivals all season.
The second half would begin much like the first, with the Earthquakes relentlessly attacking and setting the tempo. Sealy had possession deep in the box, but was unable to get off a clean kick as he was hounded by the Galaxy defense. His shot was directly at the keeper, but Cronin bobbled the ball. With Alvarez in the vicinity, the Galaxy defense had no option but to clear the ball quickly.
Galaxy defender Chris Klein had trouble all afternoon with the Earthquake’s attackers, almost getting beat for a goal again by Sealy. After a few moments of possession with his back to the goal, Sealy spun left evading Kline, but rifled his shot off of the cross bar and out of play.
The Galaxy continued to struggle against the stringent SJ back line, but almost found another goal off a Beckham indirect kick. In almost the same position as his first, Beckham bent a pass that was barely deflected by a leaping Cannon. With the ball squirting out towards the center of play, and Cannon still sprawled on the field from his effort, the Earthquakes were fortunate to come out with possession.
After a prolonged period of unsuccessful advances on the SJ defense, the Galaxy was able to break through with Mike Randolph handling the ball just outside the penalty box. Weaving in and out of defenders, Randolph was just in front of the goal hounded by defenders. He flung a shot at the goal, which was again stopped by a diving Joe Cannon.
The same sort of blasé passing at midfield earned Ronnie O’Brien an open shot on goal, as a cross-field pass coupled with an O’Brien ball fake game him an open lane at the goal. His shot in the 72nd minute trickled just wide of the post and past a diving Cronin.
The highest scoring team in the MLS would not be held to one goal for long. Earthquake nemesis Edson Buddle dribbled through three SJ defenders and slipped a low shot just under Cannon’s outstretched arm for an unassisted score in the 76th minute.
In the 89th minute Ryan Cochrane broke through. Cronin knocked away a Corrales cross right to Huckerby who drove it right back to Cronin. This time, Cochrane recovered the rebound eight yards out and drilled the shot into the back of the net for the game winning goal.
Cochrane was as stunned by his goal as the Galaxy. “I really don’t know what happened,” he said. “The ball was just loose, and I was hanging around the area. I almost gave up on it, but thought I would stay down there and hopefully something would come up.”
A few last-minute Galaxy attempts drew the crowd to their edge of their seats, but the last moments of the clock melted away quickly.
Alvarez discussed returning the Quakes after a three year hiatus with FC Dallas. “It feels good to be back. I forgot how nice the weather was here. I’ve been in Dallas for three years, and I’m also from Houston, and it’s pretty hot there. But I’m happy to be back in the beautiful California weather.”
{democracy:17}
Match Facts
Los Angeles Galaxy (6-8-5) vs. San Jose Earthquakes (4-9-6)
August 03, 2008 — McAfee Coliseum
Scoring Summary:
SJ — Arturo Alvarez 4 (Scott Sealy 1, Darren Huckerby 1) 8
SJ — Darren Huckerby 2 (Eric Denton 1) 40
LA — Landon Donovan 13 (David Beckham 8) 42
LA — Edson Buddle 12 (unassisted) 76
SJ — Ryan Cochrane 1 (unassisted) 90
Lineups:
Los Angeles Galaxy — Steve Cronin, Chris Klein (Carlos Ruiz 76), Sean Franklin, Greg Vanney, Ante Jazic, David Beckham, Landon Donovan, Peter Vagenas, Ely Allen (Mike Randolph 46), Edson Buddle, Alan Gordon,
Substitutes Not Used: Alvaro Pires, Eduardo Dominguez, Mike Munoz, Josh Wicks
San Jose Earthquakes — Joe Cannon, Jason Hernandez, Ryan Cochrane, Nick Garcia, Eric Denton, Arturo Alvarez, Ronnie O’Brien (Ryan Johnson 82), Ramiro Corrales, Francisco Lima, Darren Huckerby, Scott Sealy (Jovan Kirovski 92+),
Substitutes Not Used: John Cunliffe, Kelly Gray, Michael Gustavson, James Riley, Shea Salinas
Misconduct Summary:
SJ — Ryan Cochrane (caution; Reckless Foul) 46
LA — Landon Donovan (caution; Tackle from Behind) 73
Referee: Abiodun Okulaja
Referee’s Assistants: Paul Scott; Greg Boles
4th official: Yader Reyes
time of game: 1:55
attendance: 26,071
weather: Clear -and- 70 degrees
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