STANFORD, Calif. – The San Jose Earthquakes earned a point in a thrilling 3-3 comeback draw against the rival LA Galaxy Saturday night at Stanford Stadium in front of 50,743 fans, the second largest attendance in California Clasico history. The Quakes now have a 4-1-2 record against the Galaxy in California Clasico matches played at Stanford.
Earthquakes forward Chris Wondolowski notched a brace in the match, scoring his 139th and 140th career goals. He is now just five away from tying Landon Donovan’s record for all-time MLS goals (145). Wondolowski is also now tied for third for goals against LA in MLS history with 12 (Ante Razov), and third for penalty-kick goals with 24 (Landon Donovan 31, Jaime Moreno 44).
Quakes Designated Player Vako scored his fourth goal of the season and has now notched nine goals and provided six assists in just 30 appearances since joining the club midseason in 2017.
The Quakes will now travel to Oregon to take on the Portland Timbers on Saturday, July 7 with kickoff set for 8 p.m. PT. The match will be broadcast live on NBC Sports California, KNBR 1050 and 1370 KZSF.
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Click here for postgame quotes
MLS Regular Season
San Jose Earthquakes 3-3 LA Galaxy
June 30, 2018 – Stanford Stadium in Stanford, Calif.
Attendance: 50,743
Scoring Summary: LA – Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Chris Pontius) 1; SJ – Chris Wondolowski (unassisted) 15; LA – Romain Alessandrini (unassisted) 20; LA – Zlatan Ibrahimovic (unassisted) 25; SJ – Vako (unassisted) 39; SJ – Chris Wondolowski (penalty) 69.
Misconduct Summary: SJ – Jimmy Ockford (caution) 48; LA – Bradford Jamieson (caution) 78; LA – Romain Alessandrini (caution) 82; LA – Zlatan Ibrahimovic (caution) 90.
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES: Andrew Tarbell; Kevin Partida, Francois Affolter (Yeferson Quintana HT), Jimmy Ockford, Nick Lima (Shea Salinas 79); Vako, Fatai Alashe (Jackson Yueill 90), Florian Jungwirth, Magnus Eriksson; Chris Wondolowski, Danny Hoesen.
SHOTS: 12; SHOTS ON GOAL: 6; SAVES: 1; FOULS: 12; CORNER KICKS: 4, OFFSIDES: 1.
LA GALAXY: David Bingham; Jorgen Skjelvik, Ashley Cole, Michael Ciani, Dave Romney; João Pedro (Baggio Husidic 67), Perry Kitchen, Romain Alessandrini (Sheanon Williams 84), Chris Pontius (Ariel Lassiter 87); Bradford Jamieson, Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
SHOTS: 10; SHOTS ON GOAL: 4; SAVES: 2; FOULS: 24; CORNER KICKS: 4, OFFSIDES: 0.
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES HEAD COACH MIKAEL STAHRE
On if the Galaxy’s first two goals was a wakeup call for the Quakes:
“We were lucky that we made it 1-1 before they got their second goal so it was kind of a restart but then we made mistakes again. Of course they had two nice free kicks, but ultimately we conceded them too easily. It was a wakeup call for the second half. I was quite direct in my instructions at halftime if I’m frank. We came out much better in the second half. More aggressive, more compact. I think we lost too many duels in the first half, especially in the first 25 minutes.”
On how the team executed the game plan in the second half:
“We came out much more aggressive, more compact and more solid in general. We changed one center back and Quintana helped a lot in the second half; he helped us a lot in the air. We were much better in the second half actually. They had some chances also but we were better in the second half.”
On how he felt about the atmosphere of the match at Stanford Stadium:
“The atmosphere in the stands was absolutely fantastic. We wanted to give something back to our fantastic fans and reward them with three points but we were just missing one goal.
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES FORWARD DANNY HOESEN
Overall thoughts on the game:
“It was definitely an emotional night. We showed a lot of fight, but it’s going to be hard if you concede after one minute. We know Zlatan Ibrahimovic is a quality player and he can punish you in these situations. We need to watch it back and learn from these things.”
On fighting back from a two-goal deficit:
“We never thought about giving up, especially tonight in front of 50,000 people. We wanted to show some heart, show some character and get back into the game. That was the message as well at halftime. We had a feeling that we could score goals against this team and come back, and luckily we did.”
On the second half:
“The second half was a lot better. We were more dangerous. With the players that they have, you can never be too sure, but Chris Wondolowski hit the post in the last minute and we felt like we missed a little bit, but overall 3-3 is a point. It’s still not a win, but it’s positive.”
On Chris Wondolowski:
“He’s an excellent penalty-taker. He does it in training all the time. He’s the penalty-taker of this team, so there’s no question who should take it. Wondo’s always in the box and always on the move, also after his penalty. It was a bouncy rebound and he stayed calm. With the second one, you saw how badly he wanted it. He put it away with a lot of power.”
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES DEFENDER FLORIAN JUNGWIRTH
On the excitement of the Cali Clasico rivalry:
“That’s the season highlight of everyone. I think everyone was excited to play, the fans were excited and both teams gave great show. Six goals. Unfortunately, two for the big superstar, but all-in-all it was a very exciting game on both sides.”
On the reaction after the LA Galaxy goal in the first minute:
“It’s hard this year. It has happened a lot of times, so we’re at a point where we can’t get angry about it because it happens almost every game. We know that we have to continue, and we know that we have a lot of good players, especially on the offense, so we knew we could score. We knew we could turn the game. If you’re down 3-1 after 25 minutes or something, you should be very happy to get a point. The second half was very good. We played better on defense and were more ruthless.”
On adjustments after going down 3-1:
“If you’re 3-1 down after 25 minutes with this crowd when you’re expected to do a lot, it obviously hurts a lot. Vako had great dribbling and a great goal that gave us life, and we had two or three good chances. We went in the locker room with a pretty OK feeling. We came out and had a very good second half and all-in-all we earned the point.”
On Chris Wondolowski:
“We all know it’s important that he makes the records, but that’s the good thing. He’s so humble that he really doesn’t care about his records. He wants to win the games. You saw that in his celebration. He’s suffering a lot right now, so you can believe he’s not thinking about his record.”
