The San Jose Earthquakes fell to Sporting Kansas City 2-1 on Saturday night, despite rallying after allowing a seventh-minute goal to forward Dom Dwyer. The Quakes desperately needed three points and the loss further dampens the team’s hope for playoff soccer in 2016, although the team remains mathematically alive heading into Wednesday’s showdown with Montreal.
The Earthquakes were dealt an early blow when forward Quincy Amarikwa, one of the team’s high-energy, all-out players, suffered a right knee injury less than 30 seconds into the match upon colliding with Sporting goalkeeper Tim Melia. Henok Goitom entered the game three minutes later and delivered a solid 87-minute performance, his longest at Avaya Stadium.
The air was taken out of the stadium early due to Amarikwa’s injury and the early Kansas City goal, but San Jose rebounded and scored a much-needed equalizer before halftime. Goitom battled defender Nuno Coelho in the six-yard box, won possession and delivered a cheeky back-heel pass right onto the foot of Simon Dawkins for the easy tap-in.
Goitom and Dawkins seemed to link-up well for most of the night, causing havoc among the Sporting KC defense. Shaun Francis also contributed on the left flank after he was forced into the match following Jordan Stewart’s 33rd-minute departure to injury.
But the stinging blow was felt when Kevin Ellis pushed a corner kick home in the 81st minute. The goal left little-to-no choice for Quakes head coach Dom Kinnear, who urged his team forward in search of an equalizer, even going as far as sending goalkeeper David Bingham into the box for a last-second corner kick.
The unfortunate score-line will be one that is hard to recover from as the club must now erase a seven-point deficit in their last five games – three of which are on the road. The Quakes will get their first crack at it on Wednesday when the club takes on the Impact at Stade Saputo, likely without Amarikwa or Stewart. Expect Francis and Goitom to be contributors once again in Montreal.
