SAN JOSE, Calif. – The San Jose Earthquakes suffered a 4-3 loss to Los Angeles Football Club Saturday night at Avaya Stadium. Earthquakes forward Chris Wondolowski notched a brace and now has 138 career goals. He is just seven goals shy of the MLS all-time scoring record held by Landon Donovan (145). All but four of Wondolowski’s goals have been with the Quakes.
The Quakes took the lead 11 minutes into the match through Vako’s strike, but were trailing at halftime after Adama Diomande and Steven Beitashour each tallied for the visitors. Wondolowski’s brace put the Quakes ahead heading into the final minutes of the game. Diomande scored in the 90th minute to level the score, and João Moutinho scored in the seventh minute of stoppage time to make the final score 4-3.
Earthquakes forward Danny Hoesen provided two assists during the game, and is now tied with Vako as the assists leader for the Quakes with four on the season. Kevin Partida, acquired on a season-long loan from San Jose’s USL affiliate Reno 1868 FC, started and made his MLS debut.
The Quakes will play again on Wednesday, June 13 when they host the New England Revolution at 7:15 p.m. PT, presented by 7UP. The match will be broadcast via NBC Sports Bay Area, KNBR 1050 and 1370 KZSF.
MLS Regular Season
San Jose Earthquakes 3-4 Los Angeles Football Club
June 9, 2018 – Avaya Stadium in San Jose, Calif.
Attendance: 17,650
Scoring Summary: SJ – Vako (Danny Hoesen, Jackson Yueill) 11; LAFC – Adama Diomande (unassisted) 15; LAFC – Steven Beitashour (unassisted) 19; SJ – Chris Wondolowski (Danny Hoesen) 52; LAFC – Adama Diomande (Walker Zimmerman, Steven Beitashour) 90; LAFC – João Moutinho (Latif Blessing, Lee Nguyen) 90+7.
Misconduct Summary: SJ – Kevin Partida (caution) 22; LAFC – Walker Zimmerman (caution) 26; SJ – Kevin Partida (ejection) 90+6; LAFC – João Moutinho (caution) 90+7.
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES: Andrew Tarbell; Kevin Partida, Jimmy Ockford, Yeferson Quintana, Nick Lima; Florian Jungwirth, Magnus Eriksson, Jackson Yueill (Tommy Thompson 53), Vako: Chris Wondolowski (Fatai Alashe 72), Danny Hoesen.
SHOTS: 10; SHOTS ON GOAL: 7; SAVES: 1; FOULS: 14; CORNER KICKS: 2, OFFSIDES: 3.
LOS ANGELES FOOTBALL CLUB: Tyler Miller; Walker Zimmerman, João Moutinho, Steven Beitashour, Dejan Jakovic; Benny Feilhaber, Mark-Anthony Kaye (Aaron Kovar 80), Eduard Atuesta (Latif Blessing 58); Adama Diomande, Lee Nguyen, Diego Rossi.
SHOTS: 14; SHOTS ON GOAL: 5; SAVES: 4; FOULS: 19; CORNER KICKS: 3, OFFSIDES: 1.
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES HEAD COACH MIKAEL STAHRE
Overall thoughts on the match:
“I think we came out well. We followed the plan. We scored an early goal and instead of keeping the momentum and continue the pressing, we slowed down the game and we let LAFC control the game and the possession and they equalized 1-1 and they took over the game. We were better in the end of the first half. We made some small adjustments for the second half and I must say that I’m really pleased with the execution of the game plan in the second half. We scored two goals and even in the end of the game, we pressed them really high and aggressively and we followed the plan. Sometimes for example, you’re one goal up and at the end of the game, you start to stay back and you’re a little bit afraid to lose the game, but that was not the case this evening. We followed the plan and actually I’m really proud of our players’ performance tonight. I must say that, especially in the second half, they showed character, they followed the plan, we played like a home team, we put on the pressure. So for me, this was absolutely the hardest defeat so far in my MLS career. With just one minute left in the 90 minutes, we’re up 3-2 and two minutes later we’re losing the game. For me that is absolutely crazy, but I’m proud of the players’ commitment and energy. We followed the game plan, especially in the second half.”
On Chris Wondolowski’s performance and having to be subbed:
“His performance tonight was absolutely fantastic. It was his call. If Chris Wondolowski wants to change when there is 10 minutes left, there is something wrong, right? He’s a fighter. Tonight he played like you guys are used to seeing him play, especially here at Avaya. He had a great performance for sure.”
On how he plans to improve the team following a tough loss:
“Of course it’s hard after a defeat to get on the right track again, but I must say that so far, look at the energy and commitment tonight. Of course we are struggling a lot and we need points, but look at the team tonight. With lots of energy and commitment, we looked like a team. I told them that after the game and I will tell them that tomorrow as well. The only thing we can do is keep it up and bring the energy to each other and prepare for the next game. The players, the owners and the fans deserve better than this.”
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES FORWARD CHRIS WONDOLOWSKI
On the team’s strong effort:
“It means a lot and I do appreciate it, but it’s coming to the part of the season, though, where silver linings don’t really count for much. It’s time to pick up points.”
On a lack of consistency from one game to the next:
“That’s on us. That’s on myself, being the captain of this locker room. Not getting our team prepared, that’s on myself. I thought we came out well today. I still think we punish ourselves at times and put ourselves behind the eight ball.”
On scoring twice and then having to be subbed off for illness:
“I think the hardest part, for myself, was having to come off. Just wasn’t a good situation. Bummed about that because, believe me, I love scoring goals more than many people here, but winning – nothing beats that. I will score zero goals all year if we win. So that just compounded it.”
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES FORWARD DANNY HOESEN
On the loss:
“It’s painful. It’s unbelievable. I don’t think we played anywhere near good football or anything, but as I mentioned before you have to fight and keep going. I think the attitude from the other locker room was ‘we have to score, we have to win this game.’ Credit to Wondo for the two nice goals. If we didn’t concede in the 90 and 97th minutes. It’s unbelievable.”
On Chris Wondolowski leaving the match:
“It was tough. When you are forward and you already have two goals, you feel confident that maybe you will get the third one. It was unfortunate, but I thought those goals were enough today.”
On the team’s sentiment as they took the 3-2 lead:
“At that moment we could not be confident enough because we have a tough season and we have to keep going. I don’t think any one of us thought we could relax and just walk away with three points. You saw that they kept going. You have to give a lot of credit to them as well. I think they were very organized and played very nice football. Also credit to them to keep fighting and get the win.”
