The San Jose Earthquakes dropped the first leg of their Eastern Conference Semifinal series 1-0 to the New York Red Bulls Saturday night in front of a sellout crowd of 10,525 at Buck Shaw Stadium.
The lone goal came in the 56th minute courtesy of Red Bulls midfielder Joel Lindpere, who collected a loose ball and finished smartly to Earthquakes goalkeeper Jon Busch’s left at the far post.
San Jose heads to Red Bull Arena in Harrison, N.J. for the second leg on Thursday, Nov. 4 at 5 p.m. PT. The game will be broadcast nationally on ESPN2, ESPN Deportes and ESPN3. With New York leading 1-0, San Jose will need two or more goals and a win in order to advance to the Eastern Conference Final.
PHOTO GALLERY: RED BULLS 1, QUAKES 0
San Jose Earthquakes (0-1-0) at New York Red Bulls (1-0-0)
Aggregate Goals: NY: 1 SJ: 0
October 30, 2010 – Buck Shaw Stadium
Attendance: 10,525
Scoring Summary: NY – Joel Lindpere (unassisted) 56.
Misconduct Summary: NY – Mehdi Ballouchy (caution) 47+; SJ – Chris Wondolowski (caution) 65; NY – Roy Miller (caution) 71; NY – Bouna Coundoul (caution) 83.
San Jose Earthquakes – Jon Busch, Tim Ward, Brandon McDonald, Jason Hernandez, Ramiro Corrales, Geovanni (Khari Stephenson 82), Sam Cronin (Arturo Alvarez 69), Scott Sealy (Eduardo 62), Bobby Convey, Chris Wondolowski, Ryan Johnson.
Statistics: Shots: 12; Shots on Goal: 3; Saves: 6; Fouls: 12; Offsides: 5; Corners: 6.
New York Red Bulls – Bouna Coundoul, Chris Albright, Carlos Mendes, Tim Ream, Roy Miller, Dane Richards, Mehdi Balllouchy (Jeremy Hall 92+), Rafael Marquez, Joel Lindpere (Carl Robinson 91+), Juan Agudelo, Juan Pablo Angel.
Statistics: Shots: 13; Shots on Goal: 8; Saves: 3; Fouls: 21; Offsides: 3; Corners: 4.
QUOTES
WATCH: POST-GAME INTERVIEWS WITH FRANK YALLOP, JASON HERNANDEZ
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES HEAD COACH FRANK YALLOP
On the result:
“I think it was an even game, I thought we played well tonight. We had our chances to score, but it felt like one of those games where you’re going to get one. A couple fell to (Chris Wondolowski) Wondo in the second half where he is usually going to bury that, but he didn’t. I think a draw would have been a fair result, I don’t feel we deserved to lose.”
On the second leg in New York:
“New York are happy to come away with the win, but at least it’s only one goal down. We can head into New York and come away with a two-nil win and go through, so at least it’s not way out of reach, and we have that to hang on to. Right now, we are one-nil down at halftime.”
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES DEFENDER JASON HERNANDEZ
On tonight’s result:
“I thought first of all, that the crowd was fantastic tonight, they really got behind us. We came out on top of them, and they’re a good team. We had some good opportunities, they had some good opportunities, and what it comes down to with who moves on are plays in front of goal. They got one, and we were chasing and looking for a goal, but we couldn’t find it. I think we can take a lot of positives out of the game. It came down to efficiency in the final third.”
On the second leg:
“We have played well on the road all season, so we will just go do it. I’ve never come in during halftime of a game and started celebrating like the game is won, so it’s just a break right now, it’s halftime. We will come out in New York with the same mentality and hopefully the ball will bounce our way a bit and we will get the result over there.”
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES GOALKEEPER JON BUSCH
On the 1-0 result:
“They’re a dangerous team and have a lot of dangerous weapons. They had a lot of opportunities and we had a few where we could have tied it up, but unfortunately we didn’t. We know what we have to do now and luckily, it’s only one.”
Looking Ahead:
“We said when we walked out, (Ramiro Corrales) Rams and I were talking, saying remember, it’s a two-game series. You don’t want to kill yourself in game two. You need to give yourself an opportunity in game two. Would we like to go to New York with a lead? Absolutely, but it didn’t happen. There’s a whole ninety minutes left to play. We have to go for it, it’s the playoffs and we have to go for it. We will never give up, battle to the end and see what happens in New York now.”
