SAN JOSE, Calif. – The San Jose Earthquakes defeated the LA Galaxy 3-2 Monday night at Avaya Stadium in the Quarterfinals of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. Earthquakes forwards Chris Wondolowski (2) and Danny Hoesen both found the back of the net to secure the Quakes’ place in the Semifinals.
Despite conceding an early goal, the Quakes earned a comeback win with Wondolowski notching a brace from two Tommy Thompson assists. Wondolowski is now tied with Ronald Cerritos as the Quakes’ leading goal scorer in the U.S. Open Cup with four goals in six games.
The result marks the second time the Quakes have defeated the Galaxy in a 10-day span, having defeated the rival club 2-1 at Stanford Stadium on July 1.
The Quakes’ opponent in the Semifinals will be determined tomorrow when Sporting Kansas City and FC Dallas face-off in another Quarterfinal match. The Semifinal will take place on either Aug. 8 or Aug. 9 at a location determined by a draw.
The Earthquakes will take on Bundesliga side Eintracht Frankfurt in a friendly at Avaya Stadium on Friday, July 14. The match will kick off at 7:15 p.m. PT.
Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Quarterfinals
San Jose Earthquakes 3 – 2 LA Galaxy
July 10, 2017 – Avaya Stadium in San Jose, CA.
Attendance: 14,056
Scoring Summary: LA – Jelle Van Damme (Giovani dos Santos) 3; SJ – Chris Wondolowski (Tommy Thompson) 16; SJ – Chris Wondolowski (Tommy Thompson) 51; SJ – Danny Hoesen (Jahmir Hyka) 62; LA – Andrew Tarbell (own goal) 84.
Misconduct Summary: LA – Jaime Villarreal (caution) 28; LA – Jack McBean (caution) 64; LA – Rafael Garcia (caution) 70; SJ – Kofi Sarkodie (caution) 90+2.
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES: Andrew Tarbell; Florian Jungwirth, Andres Imperiale, Kofi Sarkodie; Nick Lima; Jahmir Hyka (Simon Dawkins 84), Jackson Yueill (Victor Bernardez 88), Tommy Thompson, Cordell Cato (Shea Salinas 82); Danny Hoesen; Chris Wondolowski.
SHOTS: 20,SHOTS ON GOAL: 7; SAVES: 2; FOULS: 6; CORNER KICKS: 9; OFFSIDES: 0.
LA GALAXY: Brian Rowe; Jelle Van Damme, Ashley Cole, Dave Romney, Bradley Diallo; Bradford Jamieson (Raul Mendiola 67), Jaime Villarreal (Ariel Lassiter 82), Rafael Garcia, Emmanuel Boateng; Giovani dos Santos, Jack McBean (Jack McInerney 68).
SHOTS: 3;SHOTS ON GOAL: 3; SAVES: 4; FOULS: 9; CORNER KICKS: 4; OFFSIDES: 0.
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES HEAD COACH CHRIS LEITCH
On the match:
“It wasn’t maybe the best of starts, maybe the first three minutes, obviously conceding a goal. And it maybe wasn’t the best finish, the last three minutes, getting a little helter-skelter. But 86-plus minutes in between those two three-minute periods I thought was pretty good. I thought the movement was pretty good, we stayed committed to the way we want to play and moving the ball. That’s really good to see. I think the effort, which has been consistent and constant, was again there.”
On Chris Wondolowski’s performance and wearing #38 as tribute to Matheus Silva:
“I’ll say it every time about Chris: When your best player is the one that works the hardest and shows up every game, it’s a sign of a really good team. He scored two goals tonight, could have had more probably. He was trying to be unselfish in a couple of instances I think where a guy could have made a little bit different run or if maybe he took another opportunity or two he could have had more. But two goals, that’s what the guy does. The first one he puts on frame, which he does almost every single time, goes in, but the second one was class too. And then wearing the 38, again, it’s really good to see your club captain be a leader on the field and get it done, but then off the field, in the locker room, in the community, for the organization, you can’t ask for a thing more out of what Chris Wondolowski brings.”
On whether the team has made style adjustments for U.S. Open Cup play:
“I think it’s the same. We’re trying to play similar ways. We’ll make tweaks here and there, but I think similar from the U.S. Open Cup to regular season MLS play. We’ve won a couple of these U.S. Open Cup games and they’re important. It’s an opportunity to win a trophy for this organization. It’s an opportunity to play Champions League. There’s other benefits to it as well. But I think the biggest one that these guys feed off of and feel is just that it’s something that they could bring to their organization, something they can contribute, something they can win. I don’t know many athletes – and especially I don’t know a single guy in that locker room that doesn’t enjoy winning and doesn’t enjoy the idea of winning a trophy, and we’re two games away from that.”
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES FORWARD CHRIS WONDOLOWSKI
On his two-goal performance:
“It’s a fun tournament. We still have a strong belief in this locker room. Whether it’s Open Cup or MLS play, whenever we step out there we feel that we want to impose our play and also enjoy ourselves out there. Tonight we had a good balance of the two.”
On his decision to wear No. 38 in honor of teammate Matheus Silva:
“It was one of those things where Matheus means a lot to this team and to myself. He’s such a genuinely happy person and a good person. Yesterday I spoke with Andy Dunbar, our equipment guy, and Sean Mearns to make sure everything went through the right channels to do it. I thought it was a good thing and special. To be honest, a left-footed goal outside of the ’18, I don’t think I’ve ever done that, so credit to Matheus for that left foot.”
On starting two young midfielders in Tommy Thompson and Jackson Yueill:
“I thought that those two ran that middle, especially against a very tough team in the Galaxy who use the middle very well and loves to throw numbers to overload sides. Jackson Yueill is more of a number 10 but played a number six today and did a great job. I thought he was the Man of the Match. Tommy Thompson I thought was everywhere. Every time I looked up he was back there or overlapping and got two assists. I thought he had even better things that didn’t go in the stat book tonight. I thought Tommy and Jackson were excellent.”
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES MIDFIELDER TOMMY THOMPSON
On him and Jackson Yueill starting in the midfield against the LA Galaxy:
“I knew it was going to be a difficult game with Giovani dos Santos dropping in the pockets in the midfield, but Jackson and I spoke before the game and wanted to make sure that we stayed connected as a unit. The number one thing for us was to communicate. I thought he did a really good job with the number six spot tonight.”
On San Jose’s first goal:
“Jackson is a great passer, especially when he’s receiving the ball in deeper parts of the field. He’s got great range. I knew he had the ability to make the 30 to 40-yard pass, so I dropped into a pocket up the field. I was going to look to take Jelle Van Damme on, but I saw Wondo at the top of the box and knew there was no one better to pass it to in those situations. I was happy to see it go into the back of the net.”
On the strong start to the second half:
“We didn’t want to let our foot off of the gas pedal. Jahmir Hyka had a great chance right before the half ended. The message at the team talk was to continue applying pressure and make sure that we put the game away.”
On team confidence:
“I think the coaching staff has a lot of confidence in us offensively. They know that if one of us might lose the ball, another teammate will make up for the mistake. The team has a lot of confidence right now, and we’ve had a lot of good results in the past couple of weeks. I’m looking forward to continuing in the coming weeks.”
