Fireworks Went Off as San Jose and New York Tie 2-2

By: Chris | July 4th, 2011

While Palo Alto and Stanford Stadium hosted an impressive 4th of July fireworks show, albeit on July 2nd, the match itself also had its share of fireworks. The Quakes came off as a bit more feisty and had the majority of fouls on the night, resulting in Bobby Burling picking up 2 yellows and being forced out of the game. Burling was also unfortunate to help New York tie up the game 2-2. However Khari Stephenson and Steven Lenhart notched their 4th and 5th goals of the season respectively.

The first half was a bit back forth, with neither team really being more dominant than the other. Joel Lindpere’s goal in the 7th minute was a bit of bad luck for the Quakes. The cross from Roy Miller came into the box and Lindpere was there with both Jason Hernandez and Ramiro Corrales covering Lindpere. Neither Quakes defender could get a good foot on the ball, and Corrales slipped, which looked like it also unbalanced Hernandez. Both players went down and Lindpere was able to collect the ball and slot it past Jon Busch.

Stephenson’s goal came off a goalkeeper error from Bouna Coundoul. The Red Bulls have been unfortunate on two fronts; they have not had very strong goalkeeping in the past few matches and they have not been playing well against West Coast teams. Coundoul couldn’t keep a hold on a Simon Dawkins’ corner kick and the ball dropped in front of Stephenson who calmly powered home a left footed line drive.

The Quakes played a lot better in the second half and they had two really good shots on goal, one of which was Lenhart’s goal. Steven Beitashour again found Lenhart with a long cross from midfield for a headed goal. Lenhart was able to split New York’s center backs and with a diving header put the Quakes up 2-1. Minutes earlier Chris Wondolowski had a great attempt at goal. Wondo was set free with a long ball up the field by Burling, but after driving to the near post, Wondo put his shot against that near post and there was no one there for the rebound. Watching on replay I though Wondo would have had an easier chance going to the far post but he would have still beaten Conudoul at the near post if not for the actual post.

Lindpere’s second goal came in the 85th minute and was quite a shocker, especially for Burling. New York was pressing on San Jose’s left and Mehdi Ballouchy was able to save a ball on the endline. He sent the ball to the top of the 18 where Lindpere collected it and sent in a bending shot to the far post. From replays it looked like Busch would have had the shot under control, but Burling tried to head the ball to safety and ended up putting it past Busch and into his own net.

The Quakes pushed for a game winning goal but they were unable to find anything for the remaining minutes of the game.

San Jose started slow again, like they have been doing for most of the season. For some reason the club just cannot come out of the gates firing on a consistent basis. I think I’ve only see it twice so far, against Philadelphia and Los Angeles. I was also unhappy with Frank Yallop’s decisions, or lack thereof, when it came to substitutions. He made one sub the entire game and it was Sam Cronin for Dawkins in the 89th minute. When your team drops their lead in the 85th minute, shouldn’t you put on a sub so you can get at least 7 or 8 good minutes out of him? But why wait until the game was tied up? Brad Ring and Cronin are not the same type of player. Ring is more offensive minded while Cronin is more defensive. Why not bring in Cronin after Lenhart’s goal to help lock down the back line and provide some support for moving the ball around in the back of midfield? Needless to say I don’t think Yallop used his subs very effectively last game.

Stanford Stadium
San Jose Earthquakes Lew Wolff was in attendance at the match on Saturday, and what a great match to be at. The match was the highest attended game in club history, baring some double headers the team hosted in the past, with just over 41,000 people in the seats. Now granted the Quakes front office had been pimping out this game for months beforehand, and I’d wager about 15-20 thousand of those people were there for the fireworks show. But when you get a large crowd like that chanting along with the Ultras, it made me happy to think that we could have something similar with our own stadium soon. Since Seattle played in Los Angeles tonight, I think this match will be the winner of the week for attendance.

With the exception of the seats, the lower ring of that stadium would make a great environment for a Quakes stadium. The seats along the sidelines were close to the field, the sighting was great, and the giant TV screens made it easy to follow the action on the other side of the field. Hopefully Mr. Wolff saw the atmosphere and the crowd chanting and got a better idea for what kind of stadium the team needs for the future.

Up Next
The blue and black travel to Los Angeles to take on Chivas USA on Wednesday night. The Quakes are still in good form, having only lost once in their last 9 games; but Chivas has lost some of their confidence and swagger form earlier in the season. I would imagine the come from behind victory against the Quakes at home still burns some of the players, so they will look to make that right with a win at the Home Depot Center. The game will be on one of the local Bay Area channels, I forget which one exactly.

After Wednesday the Quakes take on Philadelphia at Buck Shaw on Saturday night against another team the Quakes are looking for some payback. San Jose lost to Philadelphia in Philadelphia while having a one man advantage for the entire second half. The Quakes play the best team in the West, and the top two in the East within 4 games of each other and halfway through they have drawn with Los Angeles and New York. You get the feeling the club is hungry to pick up more than just another point from a draw against the Eastern Conference leaders right now. Considering Chivas and Philadelphia have not been playing their best recently, 6 points is very realistic for this team.

GO QUAKES!