SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES vs. KANSAS CITY WIZARDS
BUCK SHAW STADIUM, Santa Clara, Calif.
Aug. 30, 2008 | 7 p.m. PT (CSN-W; MetroSports)
WEEK # 23 | GAME # 152
Now with a place in the MLS Cup Playoffs in their expansion season firmly within their sights, the San Jose Earthquakes kick off a three-game homestand against the Kansas City Wizards in a huge match for both teams. The Quakes are still at the foot of the Western Conference, but third place and an automatic playoff spot is just four points away with nine games to play. The Wizards also need the full three points to pull themselves back into the hunt, sitting at the bottom of the Eastern Conference with Toronto FC with third place some nine points away.
REFEREE: Paul Ward. SAR (bench): Darren Clark; JAR (opposite): Emiliano Monje; 4th: Yader Reyes
MLS Career: 3 games; FC/gm: 20.0; Y/gm: 3.0; R: 0; pens: 1
INJURY REPORT: SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES - OUT: MF Ramiro Corrales (L knee MCL sprain); FW Gavin Glinton (R adductor release surgery) ... KANSAS CITY WIZARDS - QUESTIONABLE: MF Sasha Victorine (hip flexor strain); PROBABLE: DF Michael Harrington (shoulder sprain)
INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES: none
SUSPENDED: none
WARNINGS:
SUSPENDED NEXT YELLOW CARD: SJ: Ramiro Corrales, Eric Denton, Jason Hernandez ... KC: Jack Jewsbury, Kurt Morsink
SUSPENDED AFTER TWO YELLOW CARDS: SJ: Nick Garcia, James Riley ... KC: Davy Arnaud, Jimmy Conrad, Michael Harrington, Claudio Lopez, Carlos Marinelli, Sasha Victorine, Kerry Zavagnin
HEAD-TO-HEAD
ALL-TIME (38 meetings): Earthquakes 17 wins (3 shootout), 48 goals ... Wizards 15 wins (4 shootout), 44 goals ... Ties 6
AT SAN JOSE (19 meetings): Earthquakes 10 wins (3 shootout), 29 goals ... Wizards 4 win (3 shootout), 17 goals ... Ties 3
• This is the first of two meetings this season, the first one ever between the clubs at Buck Shaw Stadium. The teams will meet for the first time ever at CommunityAmerica Ballpark on Oct. 18.
LAST YEAR (MLS):
Did not meet.
• When the teams last met in 2005, they split their two meetings, each winning at home that season.
• Kansas City's last win against the Earthquakes in California came on Aug. 16, 2000 - but when the Quakes defeated the Wizards at home on April 23, 2005, it was their first home win in the series in three years. For four consecutive league meetings, in 2003 and 2004, the teams played to draws in San Jose.
• In 2004, the teams met on seven occasions - in four league meetings (each winning one, at home, with two draws), and also in the Western Conference Semifinals (each winning at home, the Wizards advancing 3-2 on aggregate). They met in a U.S. Open Cup semifinal as well, the Wizards winning 1-0 at home.
• Coaches record: Curt Onalfo v SJ: first game... Frank Yallop vs. KC: P16 W9 L3 D4
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES
The San Jose Earthquakes kept their unbeaten streak rolling, now at six games after a scoreless draw with Chivas USA on Saturday evening at The Home Depot Center. The Earthquakes have 22 points from 21 matches, still in seventh place in the Western Conference, two points behind a three-way tie including Colorado, Chivas USA and the LA Galaxy.
LAST MATCH
• A pair of teams heading in opposite directions met in a vital game at the foot of the West. The Earthquakes had been unbeaten in their last five matches, while Chivas USA had not won a game in their last five tries. Chivas USA's last win came against the Earthquakes on July 5.
• Both goalkeepers stood tall. Chivas USA seemed to have taken the lead in the 73rd minute, but an apparent goal from Alecko Eskandarian was ruled out for offside.
• Then five minutes from the end, Ronnie O'Brien had a terrific chance to give the Quakes a dramatic winner, but Zach Thornton made a superb save to preserve the scoreless draw.
• Earthquakes head coach Frank Yallop made no changes to the team that defeated the New England 4-0 at Buck Shaw Stadium the previous weekend.
• Here's Yallop's team (4-4-2): Joe Cannon - James Riley, Jason Hernandez, Nick Garcia, Eric Denton - Ronnie O'Brien, Ramiro Corrales (Kelly Gray 14), Francisco Lima, Darren Huckerby - Scott Sealy (Ned Grabavoy 84), Arturo Alvarez (Ryan Johnson 59). Substitutes Not Used: Ryan Cochrane, John Cunliffe, Michael Gustavson, Jovan Kirovski
• "To be honest, on the chances it was pretty even, on the play, I think Chivas played better than us, probably. We could have stolen it at the end and for long spells we were not at our best," Yallop said. "But what I liked about our night tonight: we didn't crumble, and we stayed in there, and we actually came back in the end and we could have stolen it. So that was encouraging."
TEAM NEWS
• For the Earthquakes, perhaps as important as taking a point on the road was keeping Chivas USA from getting the full three points. With the right mix of results and a victory against the Wizards, the Quakes could find themselves in fourth place in the Western Conference at the end of the weekend.
• "We stopped Chivas getting three points at home, we have three home games now in a row, so we got to take the best we can out of that. If we can earn two wins out of those three games, we have a terrific chance of doing pretty well at the end of the year," Yallop said. "But we know it's tough, because every game we play is hard."
• It was the fourth shutout in the last eight games for the San Jose defense, and the Quakes have conceded just five goals in that time, since a 3-0 loss at D.C. United on June 22, which was the third time in five games they allowed three goals in a game.
• "Whenever you are on the road it's important to try to defensively be solid, be tight. We left with a clean sheet, we left with a shutout. At the end of the day, as a defender, that's the most important to me," said Jason Hernandez. "I don't think I had my best game tonight, but it wasn't my worst. We came out with a zero on our end and to me that's all that matters. That was a great result for us on the road in a game that we didn't play our best."
• If there was a downside to the loss, it was the loss of Ramiro Corrales to a sprained left knee after just 14 minutes.
• "He had been playing very well, we kind of missed him a little bit to start the game up, and Kelly [Gray] did fine," Yallop said. "At the end there, I told them, let's try and nick the game rather than try to go for it by putting two to three forwards on. I didn't feel it was our night tonight, but in the end we did have the chances."
• For San Jose, six of their last nine games will be played at Buck Shaw Stadium, beginning with the upcoming three-game homestand against Kansas City, D.C. United and Houston.
• "We're two games off second place and we have six games left at home," said Yallop. "We feel great. What you've got to do is grind results out. It's really in our hand if we can pull ourselves together." Added Ronnie O'Brien: "Our goal is the playoffs. The expansion tag doesn't wash with us anymore. Realistically the playoffs are within reach now and it comes down to us."
KANSAS CITY WIZARDS
The Kansas City Wizards left it late, but still managed to come back and grab a dramatic equalizer for a 1-1 draw with FC Dallas last Saturday evening at CommunityAmerica Ballpark. The Wizards have 26 points from 21 matches, sitting in a tie for sixth place in the Eastern Conference, level with Toronto FC, five points behind D.C. United and the New York Red Bulls.
LAST MATCH
• The Wizards returned home with just one win in their last five games, while FC Dallas had seen a five-game unbeaten run come to an end the weekend before.
• Andre Rocha gave FC Dallas a dream start with a remarkable strike. Collecting a pass all of 30 yards from goal on the right, he laced a ripping blast that dipped and knuckled on its way to goal, before finally sailing into the upper left-hand corner for his first MLS goal.
• It took to the dying seconds, but the Wizards finally pulled level in the second minute of stoppage time. Just before going to ground, Jack Jewsbury poked the ball forward to Josh Wolff in the right side of the area. He stroked a square pass into the goalmouth where Jimmy Conrad crashed in to side-foot the ball high into the goal for his team-leading fifth goal on the season and a share of the points.
• Wizards head coach Curt Onalfo kept his team the same for a third consecutive match.
• Here's Onalfo's team (4-4-2): Kevin Hartman - Jack Jewsbury, Jimmy Conrad, Aaron Hohlbein, Matt Marquess (Roger Espinoza 66) - Michael Harrington (Carlos Marinelli 54), Sasha Victorine (Ivan Trujillo 75), Kerry Zavagnin, Claudio Lopez - Davy Arnaud, Josh Wolff. Substitutes Not Used: Eric Kronberg, Kurt Morsink, Chance Myers, Tyson Wahl
TEAM NEWS
• While the Wizards found themselves a little bit further behind in the Eastern Conference standings following the draw, they were still happy to have come away with a point when all seemed lost,
• "I thought we put in a very good performance. We won almost every 50-50 ball. I thought we showed that we backed each other up as a team. I actually take a lot out of this game that I think is a big step moving forward," Onalfo said. "I'm very proud of the effort. I certainly would have wanted three points, but we can't worry about it - we're moving on to the next game."
• The Wizards outshot FC Dallas 21-9 on the night and forced Dario Sala into five saves, finally breaking through with the vital leveler.
• "It's really hard to break down 10 guys when they're all committed to doing the same thing. They knew at that point they just needed to bunker down, and they did a pretty good job of that until we started pushing a lot of numbers forward and making it hard for them to mark everybody," said Jimmy Conrad, who spent the final minutes of the contest as a forward. "We broke through, and I was on the end and just muscled it in from close range."
• It was the third time this season the Wizards scored a goal in the 87th minute or later to snatch a result. A Scott Sealy goal in the 87th minute provided a 3-2 win against Colorado on April 5; an 89th-minute own goal gave Kansas City a 1-0 win against Real Salt Lake on June 28.
• "It was a good effort. I thought we played very well. They didn't have a lot of chances but unfortunately they had a very big goal in the seventh minute. We constantly put them under pressure and we had a number of good chances," said Josh Wolff. "It was a solid game. It was somewhat disappointing to get a tie, but I'm also happy to get a tie since we scored in the 92nd minute."
• The Wizards have five of their final nine games at home. But first comes what could be a season-defining road swing to California, with games at San Jose and the Los Angeles Galaxy.
• "I thought we created enough chances to win the game, there's no doubt. It's something to build on and a good momentum swing as we head into a two-game road trip," said Conrad.
