all against conference opposition -- with a dominating performance, scoring three goals in the opening 34 minutes to ease to victory.
Mark Chung gave the Quakes the lead after just two minutes, a neat one-two on the left leading to a perfect low cross from Brad Davis, and Chung swooped in to turn it home from close range.
Kelly Gray - the San Jose native in his Earthquakes debut after being acquired from the Chicago Fire - then doubled the lead when he finished off a big one-two with Ronald Cerritos, racing forward from his right back position to collect the return pass and clipping it home from inside the area (13).
Left back Wade Barrett then made it 3-0 with a similar goal, racing forward to collect the return ball on yet another long-distance give-and-go, acrobatically getting onto the end a Cerritos early cross hooked into the area (34).
Real head coach John Ellinger made two changes to the team that lost 1-0 to the Los Angeles Galaxy the previous weekend at The Home Depot Center, both in his back line as he changed tactical schemes. Brian Dunseth (injured) and Nelson Akwari (suspended) were both out, Eddie Pope coming back into the team in the center of a reconstituted back three and Leighton O'Brien making his first RSL start.
Here's Ellinger's team (3-4-1-2): D.J. Countess - Brian Kamler, Eddie Pope, Matt Behncke - Chris Brown, Leighton O'Brien (Leslie Fitzpatrick 46), Kenny Cutler, Andy Williams (Seth Trembly 46) - Jason Kreis - Clint Mathis, Dante Washington (Jamie Watson 62)
"When the two outside backs score on you, you're not having a good game defensively,'' Ellinger said. " ... There's no way to explain it. We just didn't come out to play. We didn't track players. When you don't do that, they get easy chances and they score a goal." TEAM NEWS
Real's futility in front of goal has now reached record proportions. Having gone 511 minutes without a goal on their travels, Real set a new record in that category. The previous mark was 495 minutes, set by the Los Angeles Galaxy.
In addition, Real's current 501 minutes without a goal is the second-longest streak in MLS history. Against San Jose, RSL moved past four teams on the longest all-time goalless streaks, and they will set a league record if they do not score in the first 35 minutes against the Galaxy. Real's last goal came in the 37th minute of the 2-0 victory against Chivas USA on May 18 at home, from Seth Trembly.
Real has unfortunately made a habit out of allowing goals early in games. Six times now in their 13 games RSL has given up a goal in the opening quarter-hour of a game - in all, seven of their 21 goals allowed have come in the first 15 minutes.
"Things need to be sorted out. We sorted them out last week, and then you come out and give up a goal a minute and 18 seconds into the game," Ellinger said. "I mean that should never happen. You have to get stuck in, you have to have an impact in the game. You can't just stand around waiting for it to come to you."
Already suffering from an ankle injury, center back Brian Dunseth suffered a groin injury in training on Friday which left him unavailable for the Earthquakes match.
Forward Dipsy Selolwane scored for Botswana in its 3-1 win against Malawi on Saturday in CAF World Cup qualifying. Selolwane started and played the full 90 minutes. Botswana is fifth of six teams in Group 5, with nine points from eight games, seven behind leaders Morocco with two to play.LOS ANGELES GALAXY
The Los Angeles Galaxy saw their road difficulties continue, falling 1-0 to FC Dallas in a marquee matchup of the two top teams in Western Conference on Saturday night at the Cotton Bowl. The Galaxy remain in second place in the West despite the loss but now trail FCD by four points, with 23 points from 13 matches, still five ahead of the San Jose Earthquakes.
FC Dallas lengthened their lead in the the marquee matchup between the top teams in the Western Conference as Colin Clarke moved into pole position to guide the MLS All-Stars against Fulham FC in the Sierra Mist MLS All-Star Game.
The Hoops rode an early goal from Roberto Mina to victory, as both goalkeepers provided heroics of their own late. Mina was opportunistic in claiming the only goal of the contest, stripping Galaxy defender Tyrone Marshall of the ball before racing in on goal, cutting past a retreating defender before slotting home inside the left-hand post (32).
The Galaxy still have not won away from the Home Depot Center on the season, starting their current four-game road swing with a pair of losses.
Galaxy boss Steve Sampson made two changes to the team that lost 1-0 to the Colorado Rapids three nights earlier in Denver. Michael Umaña came in as the holding midfielder for Paulo Nagamura while Herculez Gomez came in on the left side of midfield for Naldo da Conceicao as Guillermo Ramirez was still injured.
Here's Sampson's team (4-4-2): Kevin Hartman - Ugo Ihemelu, Pablo Chinchilla (Ednaldo da Conceicao 46), Tyrone Marshall, Todd Dunivant - Cobi Jones, Michael Umana (Michael Enfield 82), Peter Vagenas, Herculez Gomez (Mubarike Chisoni 76) - Landon Donovan, Jovan Kirovski.
"It's been a disappointing week for us. There are still some things that we need to take care of. In the second half, we were a lot more proud of the way we played," Hartman said. "We moved the ball well and made a few good practical changes in the lineup and I thought the second half was better."TEAM NEWS
The Galaxy continued their struggled away from Carson. They defeated Chivas USA earlier this year in what was considered a road match, in the match of the two Home Depot Center inhabitants. Not including that match, the last away victory for the Galaxy was a 1-0 victory at Soldier Field against the Chicago Fire on June 27, 2004.
Over that 12-game stretch, the Galaxy have lost eight games and scored just five goals on their travels. Steve Sampson has won a game outside of southern California while in charge of the Galaxy, and since the start of 2003 (when the Home Depot Center opened), the Galaxy have won just three games (drawing 11) in 35 games outside of Carson.
"I think we're dealing with this as well as we can," Sampson said. "We haven't lost hope in ourselves, nor have we lost confidence."
Said goalkeeper Kevin Hartman: "I think before the game they announced that Dallas was 3-2-2 on their road swing that they just got back from. Everybody considers that very impressive and we're going to have to do similar things if we want to stick with them."
