SAN JOSE, Calif. – The San Jose Earthquakes fell 2-1 to the Houston Dynamo Friday night in front of a sold-out crowd at Avaya Stadium. Darwin Ceren made his first Earthquakes start, Henok Goitom made his first MLS appearance and Victor Bernardez scored his first goal of the season.
The Houston Dynamo took the early lead after Ricardo Clark finished Cristian Maidana’s cross that took a deflection and trickled across the Quakes’ box in the sixth minute.
The Quakes looked for an equalizer and came close to getting it in the 22nd minute. Cordell Cato had a hard and low shot from the right-hand side of the goal, but Houston’s keeper Joe Willis made the save and sent the ball out of bounds for a corner kick. Anibal Godoy took the corner and the ball made its way to Ceren who had a shot, but it went over the cross bar.
In the 36th minute, San Jose forward Quincy Amarikwa acrobatically volleyed David Bingham’s long goal kick in Houston’s 18-yard box, but just missed the goal. The Quakes continued to fight, but the half ended with the visiting team going back to the locker room with a 1-0 advantage.
Five minutes into the second half, the Dynamo extended their lead to 2-0 when David Horst headed in Maidana’s free kick from the left flank.
The home side retaliated moments later in the 54th minute. Bernardez scored his first goal of the season, sending in Alberto Quintero’s cross to bring the score to a one-goal difference.
San Jose saw several chances during the second half, but Willis made vital saves to maintain the score to Houston’s advantage.
The Quakes play their second of back-to-back home matches on Wednesday, Aug. 24 against the New England Revolution, presented by TCL. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. and will be broadcast live on CSN California, 1590 KLIV and 1370 KZSF.
Notes:
- San Jose is now 7-7-10 on the season and 6-2-4 at Avaya Stadium.
- San Jose now has a 7-9-2 all-time record against Houston, including a 5-4-1 record at home and a 1-2-0 record at Avaya Stadium.
- Henok Goitom made his first appearance for the Quakes since being signed on Aug. 10, playing 21 minutes as a substitute.
- Darwin Ceren made his first start for San Jose since being acquired from Orlando City SC on Aug. 3.
- Chris Wondolowski made his 200th career start for the Earthquakes, becoming the second player in team history to reach the milestone.
- Marvell Wynne eclipsed 25,000 career minutes becoming the 10th active and 28th all-time player in MLS history to do so after playing the full 90 minutes against Houston.
- Victor Bernardez scored his first goal of the season and sixth in his MLS career.
- Alberto Quintero registered his fourth assist of the season.
- Friday’s match marked the third and final contest against Houston in the 2016 MLS regular season, concluding the series with an even 1-1-1 record.
MLS Regular Season
San Jose Earthquakes 1 – Houston Dynamo 2
Aug. 19, 2016 – Avaya Stadium in San Jose, CA
Attendance: 18,000
Scoring Summary: HOU – Ricardo Clark (unassisted) 6; HOU – David Horst (Cristian Maidana) 50; SJ – Victor Bernardez (Alberto Quintero) 54.
Misconduct Summary: HOU – Jalil Anibaba (caution) 18; SJ – Jordan Stewart (caution) 48; HOU – Joe Willis (caution) 54; SJ – Victor Bernardez (caution) 55; HOU – Boniek Garcia (caution) 86.
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES: David Bingham; Jordan Stewart, Victor Bernardez (Chad Barrett 82), Marvell Wynne, Cordell Cato; Shea Salinas (Henok Goitom 69), Anibal Godoy, Darwin Ceren, Alberto Quintero; Chris Wondolowski, Quincy Amarikwa.
SHOTS: 17, SHOTS ON GOAL: 5; SAVES: 2; FOULS: 11; CORNER KICKS: 12; OFFSIDES: 1.
HOUSTON DYNAMO: Joe Willis; Raul Rodriguez, Sheanon Williams, David Horst, Jalil Anibaba; Ricardo Clark, Collen Warner; Alex, Cristian Maidana (Andrew Wenger 59), Boniek Garcia (Eric Alexander 86); Mauro Manotas (Will Bruin 64).
SHOTS: 7; SHOTS ON GOAL: 4; SAVES: 4; FOULS: 22; CORNER KICKS: 3; OFFSIDES: 1.
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES HEAD COACH DOMINIC KINNEAR
On the game:
“Punished for our mistakes and punished for not finishing our chances. We had some good chances, we made some silly mistakes that led to opportunities for them on set pieces and we got punished for it.”
On the team’s morale after conceding an early goal:
“The morale was good. I thought the guys worked hard the entire game. Obviously you’re chasing the game. With an early goal like that, you have 85 minutes now to try to get back into it. I don’t think it shook us. We still pressed forward, we got a lot of chances. Like I said, the second goal makes it a little bit harder to get back into the game and get something out of it. Now there was Victor’s goal there, and we obviously had some other opportunities.”
On how damaging the loss is to playoff hopes:
“It’s an opportunity missed, and it’s a big one. Even though they’re at the bottom of our conference, they’re still a tough team to beat. They’re organized and they have closed lines where they try to sit deep and defend and catch you on the break. For us it’s an opportunity missed because you win this game, you jump Portland, you get a little bit closer to Kansas City, you still have some games in your pocket. So it puts pressure on teams when they wake up on Saturday morning to see what happened Friday night – unless they’ve watched the game, obviously. So it’s a big opportunity missed for us.”
On Henok Goitom’s debut:
“I’d love to see him score on that first touch he got. He put himself in a good spot. Good movement. He has a good attitude, he’s been finishing well in practice. You put him on, obviously it adds more scoring punch. A ball never fell perfectly for him or for us, and they defended well. He’s getting some more minutes here in the next couple weeks, a lot of games packed in, so hopefully he gets a good first goal for us and maybe some more.”
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES MIDFIELDER SHEA SALINAS
On the match:
“It’s frustrating. They got early goals in each half. We came out to play in the second half. I thought we were winning tackles and getting second chances. The ball just wasn’t going in the back of the net. The keeper made some great saves and we missed some chances. We really wanted the win tonight.”
On second half adjustments:
“Our energy in the second half was very different from the first half. We came out flying, We came out desperate at the first whistle in the second half. I think that is something we need to build off of.”
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES FORWARD HENOK GOITOM
On his debut:
“It’s frustrating. I hate losing. It seemed like we were half a meter here, and half a meter there from scoring. They get the 2-0 lead in the exact moment they had their opportunities. We didn’t give up. We made it 2-1 and kept attacking and almost tied it up. This is what happens. Sometimes soccer is not fair.”
On getting match fit:
“My physical adjustment will come with time. It felt good to be playing after a long time off. There is not much to say. We lost and that is the only thing that counts."
