San Jose Earthquakes 3, LA Galaxy 2 | 2017 US Open Cup Match Recap

Alicia Rodriguez

The San Jose Earthquakes reached the U.S. Open Cup semifinal for the first time since 2004 on Monday, as they defeated the LA Galaxy 3-2 at Avaya Stadium in the 2017 USOC quarterfinal round.

The visitors got started early, as Giovani dos Santos connected with Jelle Van Damme on a corner kick that the Belgian headed in to make it 1-0 in the fourth minute. San Jose answered 12 minutes later, as Chris Wondolowski hit a low shot from the edge of the box to tie up the game. Wondolowski then doubled his tally shortly after the break, and Danny Hoesen scored on a breakaway just past the hour mark. The Galaxy pulled to within a goal late, but it was not enough to tie up the game and send it to extra time.

Wondo rallies Earthquakes, on and off the field, in Open Cup win

Goals

4' – LA – Jelle Van Damme Watch
16' – SJ – Chris Wondolowski Watch
51' – SJ – Chris Wondolowski Watch
62' – SJ – Danny Hoesen Watch
84' – LA – Andrew Tarbell (OG) Watch

Three Things

THINKING OF MATHEUS:
Wondolowski broke with his usual routine on Monday, as he
wore No. 38
instead of his usual No. 8 in honor of teammate
Matheus Silva
, who recently emerged from a coma after a swimming accident. Wondo also patted the number on his shorts when celebrating his second goal tonight, no doubt aiming to show the 20-year-old Brazilian that he remains in the Earthquakes' thoughts as he recovers.

For Matheus. 💙 #ForwardAsOne pic.twitter.com/kyRTdiwOza
— San Jose Earthquakes (@SJEarthquakes) July 11, 2017

CUP QUEST? Clearly, any team that reaches the semifinal of a tournament is realistically aiming to win the whole thing, considering they have a 1-in-4 shot. San Jose have yet to win the Open Cup, and now that they've reached the final four, they may be able to go all the way and claim a trophy. There's still a lot of soccer to be played, but winning the U.S. Open Cup this year would be an impressive way to kick off the Chris Leitch era in San Jose in earnest.

GOOD AND BAD: The Galaxy won't be winning their third Open Cup title this time around, and coming off the demoralizing 6-2 loss in league play last week against RSL, this was a far more competent performance. That said, the Earthquakes controlled the run of play for most of the match and even if LA won this "less badly" the problems facing Curt Onalfo and his available players remain.

Lineups

San Jose (4-2-3-1, right to left): Andrew Tarbell (GK) -- Nick Lima, Florian Jungwirth, Andres Imperiale, Kofi Sarkodie -- Tommy Thompson, Jackson Yueill (Victor Bernardez, 88') -- Chris Wondolowski, Cordell Cato (Shea Salinas, 82'), Jahmir Hyka (Simon Dawkins, 84') -- Danny Hoesen

LA (4-2-3-1, right to left): Brian Rowe (GK) -- Bradley Diallo, Dave Romney, Jelle Van Damme, Ashley Cole -- Rafael Garcia, Jaime Villarreal (Ariel Lassiter, 82') -- Bradford Jamieson IV (Raul Mendiola, 67') Giovani dos Santos, Emmanuel Boateng -- Jack McBean (Jack McInerney, 68')