2009 Aug 2

Own goal and red card pave way to Sounders' worst loss of the season

San Jose Earthquakes  4 - 0  Seattle Sounders FC

Buck Shaw Stadium, San Jose, CA

Goals:
2' SJ: Own goal (Osvaldo Alonso)
54' SJ: Cornell Glen (Shea Salinas, Ramon Sanchez)
78' SJ: Darren Huckerby
84' SJ: Chris Wondolowski (Salinas)

San Jose: Joe Cannon; Bobby Convey, Jason Hernandez, Brandon McDonald, Chris Leitch; Darren Huckerby, Andre Luiz, Ramon Sanchez, Shea Salinas; Ryan Johnson (Chris Wondolowski 59'), Cornell Glen (Quincy Amarikwa 75'). Substitutes not used: Andrew Weber, Ryan Cochrane, Simon Elliott, Antonio Ribeiro, Michael Zaher.

Seattle: Kasey Keller; Tyson Wahl, Tyrone Marshall (Jhon Kennedy Hurtado 87'), Patrick Ianni, James Riley (sent off 33'); Steve Zakuani, Osvaldo Alonso, Brad Evans, Sebastien Le Toux; Nate Jaqua (Sanna Nyassi 57'), Fredy Montero (Stephen King 57'). Substitutes not used: Terry Boss, Nathan Sturgis, Peter Vagenas, Roger Levesque.


Match report from Ron Stickney

The Seattle Sounders got off to a bad start and never recovered, giving up four goals to make this their worst loss of the season. After Osvaldo Alonso gave up an own goal in the second minute and James Riley was sent off at 33', the Sounders escaped the first half down just a goal. But in the second half San Jose iced the win with goals from Cornell Glen, Darren Huckerby and Chris Wondolowski.

The inaugural Heritage Cup was won by San Jose, who overcame their 2-1 loss in Seattle in the first leg. This Cup was created by fans and is for former NASL teams who are playing in MLS with their NASL names.

The performance was rather surprising because Seattle had won the two previous matches when they hosted San Jose, and the Earthquakes were in last place in the West.

2' San Jose: Own goal (Alonso). After Glen forced a save from Kasey Keller in the first minute, San Jose threatened again when Ryan Johnson sent in a square cross from near the left corner. Keller was there to take the cross comfortably, but the retreating Alonso flew in with his boot to deflect the ball past Keller and into the net. Keller had apparently not communicated with Alonso on the play. San Jose 1-0.

Seattle failed to manage a shot in the first half, although Sebastien Le Toux nearly had a goal in the 26th minute when Joe Cannon missed the ball trying to clear a back pass. Le Toux nearly got a shot at the open net but Cannon was able to shield the ball that he could not pick up and Le Toux was whistled for fouling Cannon while trying to get around him.

Keller made five saves in the half as San Jose put their first five shots on goal. At 14' Shea Salinas had a good chance when a cross bounced through Seattle's defense -- the near-post shot was covered by Keller. At 24' Glen beat two defenders for a shot from the top of the arc, and Keller made a fine save. At 32' Glen's leaping header from close to goal on a corner kick play required a reaction save from Keller as he parrried the ball up and over.

The critical blow came at 33' when Riley was sent off for a cleats-first challenge on Bobby Convey. Convey managed to jump out of the way and there was little if any contact made, and then Convey feigned an ankle injury. Referee Paul Ward apparently thought that Riley got Convey good and produced the red card.

Salinas came close at 45' when he beat Tyson Wahl for a shot from the right that rolled a foot wide of the far post.

Halftime: San Jose 1 - 0 Seattle

Seattle looked better at the start of the second half, getting into San Jose's penalty area a few times with promising attacks. But San Jose weathered the pressure and soon found Seattle's net again.

54' San Jose: Glen (Salinas, Sanchez). Salinas worked up the field on the right to send a square cross along the 18-yard line. Glen took the pass, beat Brad Evans on the turn, and beat Keller to the lower left corner. San Jose 2-0.

The sides traded chances for the next 20 minutes. For San Jose, Darren Huckerby's cross to Glen on the hour mark was headed nicely at the top far corner, but Keller got a hand to it to slap it wide.

Two minutes later for Seattle Le Toux created his chance in the middle of the box with a nice turn and his shot was deflected an inch wide of the post. He tried a long shot from the right touch line and it went inches over the top near corner.

At 73' it was San Jose's turn when Glen beat the offside trap to cross from close to the left post, but Salinas wasted the chance over the bar from ten yards.

At 75' Le Toux's diving header from Wahl's cross wasn't hit with enough power to trouble Cannon. A minute later Alonso stole the ball just left of the penalty area and chipped a shot that bounced off the top of the crossbar.

77' San Jose: Huckerby. From a corner kick play, the ball was rolled in front of goal for Huckerby. His first shot deflected off Stephen King, then off Keller. The rebound ended up sitting a yard from goal for an easy tap by Huckerby. San Jose 3-0.

84' San Jose: Wondolowski (Salinas). On a quick counterattack, Salinas crossed to a wide open Wondolowski as Seattle's defense had given up the chase. Wondolowski finished easily from near the penalty spot. San Jose 4-0.

The last chance gave Keller his tenth save, this one from Quincy Amarikwa after he was served on a run up the middle.

Final: San Jose 4 - 0 Seattle


Statistics:
           SJ  SEA
Shots:     16    6
Saves:      2   10
Corners:    7    5
Fouls:      9   15
Offsides:   3    5

Misconduct:
22' SEA: Ianni cautioned for running into Glen
27' SJ: Hernandez cautioned for jumping into Jaqua
33' SEA: Riley sent off for a cleats-first stab at the ball that seemed to completely miss Convey, who feigned an injury to his ankle
35' SEA: Montero cautioned for throwing an arm into Huckerby's neck
37' SJ: Huckerby cautioned for hitting Montero's head with his hand out of bounds
85' SJ: Wondolowski cautioned for unsporting behavior

Referees: Paul Ward; Fabio Tovar, David Bragg; Yader Reyes

Attendance: 9,919


Post-Match Quotes

Seattle coach Sigi Schmid

On game: "We didn't play well today. We got down early and then we got the red card and it was too big a mountain to climb. I don't want to take anything away from San Jose. They finished their chances well, but we kind of gave some of the goals to them."

On midfield play: "We didn't hold the ball in midfield today and we were not strong enough up top with it. I don't think that Brad and Osvaldo played a ball to each other all day. San Jose outfought us early and controlled the midfield."

On fatigue: "I don't think that was a factor today. We had some good chances early in the second half that could have changed things. We just didn't control the ball enough and kept giving it back to them. That forced us to chase the game."

Seattle goalkeeper Kasey Keller

On the loss: "We just need to digest what happened today, and learn from it. Obviously from the first minute of the game, we weren't ready to play today. I know that this was a game where Frank told his guys it was a must win. They showed up and competed from the first minute and finished the game better than we did."

On being outplayed: "I can't say it too often this season that we just got beat. The balls that we won in the air, we lost on the second challenge and got beat to the ball. The ones we didn't win in the air, we were just beaten to. We were just second best on the whole field today."

Seattle midfielder Brad Evans

On the result: "We are definitely going to dissect it. It was a terrible game to be honest. I know for me, whether it was not playing a lot over the last month, or whatever, it wasn't good enough. I didn't do as well as I thought I was going to. We would like to think this was a fluke."

On the tough start: "We came out and weren't getting the calls I think we should have been getting, and then we take an own goal early, and it kind of deflates the sails. It takes a resilient team to come back from that alone. Then we take a red card, and another goal, and it's tough to come back from that. I think everyone in this locker room would say they would like to say that we would like this game back. Everyone in here would like to go out and play this one again in 30 minutes or so. It was an embarrassment, we are absolutely embarrassed."

San Jose coach Frank Yallop

On winning this afternoon: "This is obviously a much needed three points for us, being in our situation in the table. It was a good performance, and it was what we talked about this week in training. It was a good follow-up to our second half against D.C. United last week. This all came today from our fight, our endeavor and being scrappy, which is something that has been missing this year. Hopefully, we can have that same standard for every game."

On Cornell Glen's good run of play: "Cornell, we had been trying to get him for a while, and over the last three or four years he has really matured. I'll tell you what, he is dangerous. He had a couple of very good opportunities today, and put one away. He has the pace to get past defenders and it certainly showed today."

San Jose Midfielder Darren Huckerby

On the team performance: "It was a very good team performance. We got the goal early and we were creating chances and our shots on goal were on target. The guys in the back worked very hard and for the last few weeks we have been working very hard collectively, and I think we deserved it today."

On moving forward: "It's only one win, but it's nice to beat a decent team, and we were the better team all the way through and deserved it. We created a lot chances and pushed on top of their defense most of the game. We look forward to another important game next week."

San Jose forward Cornell Glen

On his goal: "With my goal, I was just trying to get a shot on target, and in the first half I was kind of rushing myself. So with the chance that I scored, I was just trying to pick a corner and I'm glad it went in."

On the importance of the win: "We needed the win, and we did exactly that. Wondolowski came on and had a big impact, Shea played very well today and everyone contributed to this important victory and we are looking forward to next week."

San Jose Midfielder Andre Luiz

On his debut: "I am happy because the team won. I think that we have a good group here and we are going to get better every game. For me personally, I am glad that I was able to make it through 90 minutes, especially after hurting my elbow early in the game. I feel comfortable with the group, but with another week of practice I will be able to integrate into the team even more.


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