SAN JOSE, Calif. – San Jose Earthquakes forward Jeremy Ebobisse has been selected to Major League Soccer’s Team of the Week for Week 7 after scoring two goals in the Quakes’ 2-2 draw with Nashville SC last Saturday. He now ranks tied for first in MLS with five goals this season, all of which have come in the last three matches.
Ebobisse is also one of four finalists for the MLS Player of the Week and one of four finalists for MLS Goal of the Week.
After trailing Nashville SC 1-0, Ebobisse scored a curling free kick seven minutes into the second half to tie the match. Nashville regained the lead in the 63rd minute but Ebobisse equalized for the Quakes nine minutes later from an assist by Jan Gregus that originated from a corner kick by Jamiro Monteiro. Ebobisse has now scored two goals in consecutive matches. Three Earthquakes have accomplished that feat since 2019 (Ebobisse, Chofis, Wondolowski), the most in MLS over that span. His brace marks the fourth of his MLS career.
Ebobisse has now been selected to the MLS Team of the Week in consecutive weeks, and three times total since joining San Jose. The Earthquakes have now had one player selected in the last three weeks (Cade Cowell, Week 5; Ebobisse, Week 6).
MLS TEAM OF THE WEEK FOR WEEK 7
F: Taty Castellanos (NYC), Jeremy Ebobisse (SJ)
M: Facundo Torres (ORL), Alejandro Pozuelo (TOR), Djordje Mihailovic (MTL), Hany Mukhtar (NSH), Robin Lod (MIN)
D: Aime Mabika (MIA), Ruben Gabrielsen (ATX), Mamadou Fall (LAFC)
GK: Aljaz Ivacic (POR)
Coach: Bob Bradley (TOR)
Bench: Alec Kann (CIN), Chris Mavinga (TOR), Matt Polster (NE), Emanuel Reynoso (MIN), Diego Fagundez (ATX), Ismael Tajouri-Shradi (LAFC), Thiago Andrade (NYC)
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES FORWARD JEREMY EBOBISSE (4/16)
On his thoughts on scoring his free kick goal:
“Well for starters, Jackson [Yueill] came over to me as soon as the foul happened, and he saw me move towards the ball and he told me to take it. He insisted and told the other guys that were coming up that Jeremy should take it. To get confidence from a friend and our captain, that he trusted me to step up in that moment, I wanted to repay that and also validate some of the work that I have been putting in as it related to certain free kicks. As I was looking at the wall and the goalie’s positioning, I felt that it was more advantageous to go back post based on where the goalie was aligned, where some of my teammates placed themselves to block his line of sight and understanding the difficulty and the angle that was needed to get up and over the wall at that moment. I felt pretty strongly about going back post, taking my time, being patient, and it came off. It wasn’t perfectly in the corner, but at the end of the day the guys that were blocking the goalie’s line of sight did as good of a job as I did striking the ball.”
On how to carry this momentum into the next match vs. Seattle:
“I think it’s about taking it one day at a time and understanding that yes, results, in this case personal results, are important and are a sign of validation but they’re not the be-all, end-all. You want to help your team in more ways than just finding the back of the net because the last thing I want to do as a striker is to be that guy that is useless in everything that our team does but scores a goal every now and then. I want to be in the fight with my teammates all the time and finding ways to make myself and them better, put them in better situations where they can score goals too because we need everyone. When I was down, a guy would pick me up, and if guys are down now then it’s my job to be picking them up as well. Day by day, I think we are understanding each other better in the attacking third, and it’s on us to be clinical when we do get chances because as tight as this league and these games are, we know that missing a chance often comes back and hurts you. We’re going to be ready for whoever is in front of us.”
