SAN JOSE, Calif. – The San Jose Earthquakes fell 1-0 to Orlando City SC on Saturday night at PayPal Park in front of 14,127 fans.
After a first half where San Jose dominated possession and took seven attempts, the second stanza was more even, as the visitors asserted themselves in the attacking third. Though the Quakes would come close to the breakthrough several times, Orlando City struck late in the 89th minute via a Jack Lynn goal for the final margin.
The Quakes will now prepare for a road match with Sacramento Republic FC on Tuesday, May 21, in the 2024 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Round of 16. Kickoff from Heart Health Park is set for 7 p.m. PT and will be streamed on USOpenCup.com, MLSsoccer.com and USLsoccer.com.
GAME NOTES
The Quakes are now 1-3-3 against Orlando City in MLS regular-season play and dropped to 1-1-2 at home.
Quakes head coach Luchi Gonzalez faced mentor Orlando City SC head coach Oscar Pareja, having worked with him as FC Dallas academy director when the latter was first-team head coach (2014-18). Gonzalez also succeeded Pareja as head coach in Dallas (2018-21).
The pair of coaches had only previously met once in official competition, a 0-0 draw between Gonzalez's FC Dallas and Pareja's Orlando City on Sept. 27, 2020, in Frisco, Texas.
MATCH INFORMATION
San Jose Earthquakes 0-1 Orlando City SC
Saturday, May 18, 2024 – PayPal Park; San Jose, Calif.
Weather: 65° Sunny
Attendance: 14,127
Match Officials:
Referee: Malik Badawi
AR1: Ryan Graves
AR2: Adam Garner
4th Official: Brandon Stevis
VAR: Kevin Stott
AVAR: Mike Kampmeinert
Scoring Summary:
ORL (0-1) – Jack Lynn (Martin Ojeda, Iván Angulo) 89’
Misconduct Summary:
SJ – Vítor Costa (caution) 70'
SJ – Cristian Espinoza (caution) 90+5'
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES: William Yarbrough; Vítor Costa (Paul Marie 83’), Rodrigues, Bruno Wilson, Carlos Akapo; Carlos Gruezo (Niko Tsakiris 63’), Jackson Yueill (C), Hernán López; (Jack Skahan 83’), Amahl Pellegrino (Benji Kikanović 63’), Cristian Espinoza, Jeremy Ebobisse (Preston Judd 63’).
Substitutes not used: Jacob Jackson (GK), Tanner Beason, Alfredo Morales, Daniel Munie.
POSS.: 50.8%; SHOTS: 11; SOG: 4; CORNERS: 6; OFFSIDES: 1; SAVES: 3; FOULS: 7; xG: 0.8
ORLANDO CITY SC: Pedro Gallese (C); David Brekalo, Rodrigo Schlegel, Dagur Thorhallsson (Martin Ojeda 79’); Felipe Martins, Nico Lodeiro, Wilder Cartagena, Iván Angulo; Luis Muriel (Kyle Smith 90+2’), Facundo Torres (Rafael Santos 79’), Duncan McGuire (Jack Lynn 16’) (Jeorgio Kocevski 90+2’).
Substitutes not used: Mason Stajduhar (GK), Favian Loyola, Abdi Salim, Yutaro Tsukada.
POSS.: 48.9%; SHOTS: 12; SOG: 4; CORNERS: 5; OFFSIDES: 2; SAVES: 4; FOULS: 8; xG: 1.5
EARTHQUAKES HEAD COACH LUCHI GONZALEZ
On the lingering effect of Wednesday’s controversy in Portland and Bruno Wilson’s red card being rescinded:
"We've moved on from the last game, but as you know that's easier said than done. We had an amazing 70 minutes at Portland. But they are human beings. We talked about moving on quickly from it. It was good to see Bruno back with the group.
“[The players] were fired up to play today. ... They wanted to get the three points back. I want to get back to winning here at PayPal Park, but Orlando is a good team. [Orlando City head coach] Oscar [Pareja] does a great job with his teams and they're savvy on defensive organization. They punched us today on transition.”
On conceding the game-winning goal late:
“We had the opportunity to take the points tonight, at the very least, one point. It was a disappointing goal to give away. Some innocence in terms of not putting the ball over immediately, getting back in the box, maybe fouling early to kind of kill the play. It’s a pretty disappointing one to give away. We know that.”
On transitioning to Tuesday’s quick turnaround:
“We have to move on quickly. We have a great opportunity in the Open Cup at Sacramento. It's going to be a challenging game. We've had a lot of games in a short amount of time.
EARTHQUAKES FORWARD CRISTIAN ESPINOZA
On attacking opportunities tonight:
“I think we created a couple chances in the second half. Not as many as we did in the first half, but I don’t think that Orlando found a way to stop that. I think that in the second half the game was more back and forth. We were trying to score, and they were trying to defend really hard. In the last moment of the game, they found the goal.”
On the sequence that led to the only goal of the match:
“I don’t want to talk about lucky or not lucky. It is what it is. They score on the last chance that they had and we don’t. That’s the only thing that made the difference today.”
On areas the team can improve heading into Tuesday’s Open Cup match against Sacramento Republic FC:
“I think that today, we need to learn about the last phase of the game. We need to try to send the ball to the 18 [-yard box] or kick it out. I think that is the only thing we can learn from today and try to apply in the next game. The next game I think is going to be the same way. I think Sacramento is going to try to wait for the right moment to attack us, and we have to be ready for that.”
