SAN JOSE, Calif. – The San Jose Earthquakes earned three points at Avaya Stadium Saturday night with a 2-1 win against Columbus Crew SC. Earthquakes forwards Marco Ureña and Chris Wondolowski both tallied goals to secure the victory. The Quakes have now lost only one of their last 14 MLS matches at home dating back to October of last year (8-1-5).
Wondolowski scored his ninth goal of the season and is now just one shy of extending his league record of scoring at least 10 goals in a season to an eighth consecutive. Earthquakes Homegrown midfielder Tommy Thompson earned his third MLS assist on the tally. Salinas earned his 40th assist with the Earthquakes on Ureña’s goal.
The Quakes will now face Sporting Kansas City on Wednesday, Aug. 9 at 5:30 p.m. PT at Children’s Mercy Park in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Semifinal. The match marks just the second time in club history that the Quakes have played in the Semifinals of the U.S. Open Cup, previously facing Kansas City on Aug. 24, 2004.
MLS Regular Season
San Jose Earthquakes 2 – 1 Columbus Crew SC
Aug. 5, 2017 – Avaya Stadium in San Jose, CA.
Attendance: 18,000
Scoring Summary: SJ – Marco Ureña (Shea Salinas) 42; SJ – Chris Wondolowski (Tommy Thompson) 56; CLB – Adam Jahn (Jonathan Mensah, Justin Meram) 76.
Misconduct Summary: CLB – Jonathan Mensah (caution) 26; SJ – Shea Salinas (caution) 90+1.
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES: David Bingham; Andres Imperiale, Victor Bernardez, Florian Jungwirth; Shea Salinas, Jackson Yueill (Fatai Alashe 90), Nick Lima, Tommy Thompson, Darwin Ceren; Chris Wondolowski, Marco Ureña (Vako 80).
SHOTS: 20,SHOTS ON GOAL: 7; SAVES: 3; FOULS: 13; CORNER KICKS: 14; OFFSIDES: 4.
COLUMBUS CREW SC: Zack Steffen; Alex Crognale (Adam Jahn 74), Jonathan Mensah, Nicolai Naess; Jukka Raitala (Waylon Francis 86), Hector Jimenez, Artur, Wil Trapp; Kekuta Manneh (Cristian Martinez 56), Justin Meram, Ola Kamara.
SHOTS: 10;SHOTS ON GOAL: 4; SAVES: 5; FOULS: 10; CORNER KICKS: 7; OFFSIDES: 1.
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES HEAD COACH CHRIS LEITCH
On whether the late first-half goal helped steal the momentum:
“That goal was big. I would agree, I think probably at larger times in the first half Columbus enjoyed the ball a lot more for sure and gave us some problems, especially, almost a math problem between their back line and their midfield line and what we were committing to pressing there. So it took us about 32 minutes or so to really figure out what we wanted to do there. But yeah, getting that goal – goals change games, whether or not they’re against the run of play or with the better of the play, that’s for sure. Every goal is big.”
On Marco Urena’s goal and the competition for playing time:
“It’s a pretty talented group of attacking players. I think you can say that about a lot of positions on this team if I’m honest. But I think Marco puts so much into it every game he plays. Not just scoring the goals, but defensively and the runs he makes. The guy makes eight or nine runs for every ball he gets. I think that’s what a good forward does. It’s great to see him have something as a result of that good hard work. I’m glad he got that goal, and obviously teamwise it really gave us a lift. It’s going to be competitive within the team all over the field, for sure.”
On Tommy Thompson’s overall play and hard work:
“I thought he had a great game. I thought he had a fantastic game. It’s not the only well above-average game I’ve seen him play here in the last month or so.”
On how to carry momentum forward:
“It’s not easy. Let’s know what we’re up against. Obviously before this game started we knew we had three games in a week and all three of them are really important. One of them was a home game, the next is a Cup semifinal which you better believe we’re going to take serious. And then the last is an away game at a really tough place to play against a really tough team at their home. So it’s a good little gut-check time for us, knowing that it’s an important part of the season where there’s a lot on the line. That’s why I think tonight was so important to keep our focus in this game, to dig into a game that from the onset maybe we weren’t as assertive as we’d like to be and to turn the tide and make the adjustments and come out in the second half with the right mentality and be able to close it out, even though conceding, was really important. So we’re going to take this momentum into Wednesday’s big game.”
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES FORWARD CHRIS WONDOLOWSKI
On whether the team not scoring a third goal was just bad luck:
“I think that we’re starting to connect. I think we need to do a little better job of it to be honest. I think if we get that third one it’s not as much of a sweat-er at the end, but it was still good to see it almost clicking.
On how to carry winning form onto road:
“Each game is different, each road trip is a different task each game. It’s going to be definitely difficult going to Kansas City and Houston and I think it’s going to test our depth. One of the things that I feel that is one of our strengths is our depth this year. I think that it’s going to come to light hopefully this week.”
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES MIDFIELDER TOMMY THOMPSON
On whether he recently has gained more confidence:
“Darwin [Ceren] does a great job of holding down the center midfield defensively and Jesse [Fioranelli] and Chris [Leitch] have given me the license to go forward and be brave and to take guys on. So I approach the game a little bit differently, and I think it has paid off so far.”
On the bear hug from Chris Wondolowski after the goal:
“By now I should have known that he’d be doing that. It felt good, it was a great moment for the team and a great moment for Wondo and I.”
On whether he has more freedom to attack:
“I think Darwin [Ceren] has been given a lot of responsibility defensively and he’s stepped into that role and done a great job. So that allows me and Jackson [Yueill] to be a little bit more free and to put teams on their back foot with forward passing and dribbling at defenders. I think it’s entertaining to watch and I think the whole team enjoyed the way we played tonight.”
