SAN JOSE, Calif. – The San Jose Earthquakes fell to Sporting Kansas City 3-1 on Saturday night at PayPal Park.
San Jose took the lead in the fifth minute when Cristian Espinoza sent a corner kick to Chofis, who curled his shot to the top-left corner of Tim Melia’s goal.
Sporting KC found the equalizer 10 minutes later when Alan Pulido sent a through ball to Jaylin Lindsey, who took a low shot just inside the far post.
Sporting KC then took the lead in the 60th minute. Pulido sent a shot from the edge of the penalty area off the crossbar and in. SKC then scored their third and final goal of the night 15 minutes later. Quakes defender Oswaldo Alanis poked the ball away from an onrushing Pulido but only as far as Daniel Salloi, who curled his shot around Marcinkowski and inside the far post.
The Earthquakes will now travel to Carson to face the LA Galaxy in the first California Clasico of the season next Saturday, May 29. The match kicks off from Dignity Health Sports Park at 4:00 p.m. and will be broadcast nationally on UniMás, KNBR 1050 and 1370 KZSF.
GAME NOTES
The Earthquakes now hold a 3-4-0 record (9 pts.) during the 2021 MLS regular season and are currently in seventh place in the Western Conference.
Midfielder Chofis scored his second goal of the season and the second of his MLS career. Both of his goals this season have come within the first five minutes of a match.
Midfielder Cristian Espinoza tallied his second assist of the season and 24th of his MLS career.
Forward Chris Wondolowski made his 350th Earthquakes appearance, becoming the first player in club history to reach that milestone.
MLS Regular Season
San Jose Earthquakes 1 – 3 Sporting Kansas City
May 22, 2021 – PayPal Park in San Jose, Calif.
Scoring Summary: SJ – Chofis (Cristian Espinoza) 5; SKC – Jaylin Lindsey (Alan Pulido) 15; SKC – Alan Pulido (Daniel Salloi) 60; SKC – Daniel Salloi (unassisted) 75.
Misconduct Summary: SJ – Cristian Espinoza (caution) 9; SJ – Andy Rios (caution) 49; SKC – Jaylin Lindsey (caution) 90.
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES: JT Marcinkowski; Paul Marie (Luciano Abecasis 74), Oswaldo Alanis, Florian Jungwirth, Tommy Thompson (Shea Salinas 66); Eric Remedi, Jackson Yueill, Cristian Espinoza, Chofis (Carlos Fierro 65); Andy Rios (Chris Wondolowski 66), Cade Cowell (Benji Kikanovic 82).
Substitutes not used: Tanner Beason, Judson, Jack Skahan, Daniel Vega.
SHOTS: 16; SHOTS ON GOAL: 5; FOULS: 8; CORNER KICKS: 8.
SPORTING KC: Tim Melia; Jaylin Lindsey, Luis Martins, Kaveh Rad; Ilie Sanchez, Gianluca Busio, Roger Espinoza (Remi Walter 63), Gadi Kinda; Khiry Shelton, Daniel Salloi, Alan Pulido (Johnny Russell 90+2).
Substitutes not used: Amadou Dia, Cameron Duke, Wilson Harris, Felipe Hernandez, John Pulskamp, Roberto Punčec, Graham Smith.
SHOTS: 15, SHOTS ON GOAL: 7; FOULS: 8; CORNER KICKS: 2.
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES HEAD COACH MATIAS ALMEYDA
On the team’s energy and responsiveness:
“I ask the players every day how they are feeling. I believe what they tell me. The first thing I ask is if they have any issues or are feeling tired. Our game is dynamic. There were a lot of spaces in today’s match so there were openings on both sides. There were opportunities to score for both teams, which happens every time we play Sporting Kansas City. There are always many goals. The games become open, and there is a lot of space. When you are not with your mark, it is noticeable.”
On the team’s finishing needing to improve:
“Today we saw how things are, and we need to get the most out of every player. We believe in every single one of them. It becomes a problem for me when opportunities are not being created, and that’s when you realize we are making too many mistakes. It’s a part of the game and part of being human to make mistakes sometimes. When you make mistakes up top, you don’t convert. To have the opportunity to try and convert results from a buildup. I will have to make a deep analysis on that. We played two big teams in our last two matches in which they had few chances and still scored. We had many opportunities but did not score. Over the last three weeks, we were scoring three goals, four goals and two goals. That will return. We had an excellent start but after these losses, we need to quickly make changes.”
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES DEFENDER TOMMY THOMPSON
On what went wrong tonight:
“It’s really frustrating for us. After starting the season so well, to drop three games at home is unacceptable. It feels like we’re just coming up short. After starting tonight’s game so well, we have to be able to put teams away, especially at home. I think we took our foot off the gas pedal. I think we dominated throughout the majority of the first half, and like I said, we took our foot off the gas pedal. And credit to Kansas City, they’re a clinical team and they took advantage of the few chances they had, and they made us pay. I think we’re doing well to put teams on the back foot and we’re creating chances, we just need to put them away.”
On how the team can use past experiences to get themselves out of this losing streak:
“Yeah, I think that’s a benefit that we have in this group. We’ve been through a lot together, whether it was 2019 or 2020, and now what we’re experiencing right now. This team’s dealt with adversity. We know how to get through it. I’m still feeling confident. I think losses like tonight, they hurt because we know we can do better, and you can feel that we had the ability to win that game. It feels like it was right there for us and we just didn’t take advantage of it. Our locker room isn’t getting our heads down. We’re not down on ourselves at all. We’re just frustrated that we didn’t execute in the way that we wanted to. But I think next weekend is the perfect opportunity to bounce back in the derby game in LA.”
