Give This Man a Medal, or Quakes 2 Dynamo 1

Game Summary:
Stephenson 6′ Goal
Hernandez 41′ Yellow Card
Glen 45+1′ Yellow Card
Davis 45+2′ Goal
Robinson 66′ Yellow Card
Geovanni 64′ Goal
Cronin 84′ Red Card

So the Quakes pulled out a victory in Texas Sunday night. The Man of the Match award goes to Geovanni for getting the assist on Stpehenson’s 6th minute goal as well as netting himself. He was up for goal of the week too but lost to Omar Cummings of the Colorado Rapids for his 2 goals in their game. But Geovanni still gets the love of the home crowd for his heroic efforts Sunday night.

I went to the Brit in downtown San Jose to watch the game and there were about 40 people there watching the game. Alas I did not win a signed picture of the team, but I did get a stress ball with their logo on it! We watched the Fox Sports Houston TV feed of the game. It’s always interesting watching games on different channels because while the commentators are obviously biased to their own local team, they usually mention things about the visiting team that you may not hear much on local channels. One thing that stood out from the commentators was how after Stephenson scored, the team decided to play defense in their third of the field. This isn’t really a great tactic for a team that is weak defensively. While Davis’ goal in extra time of the first half looked like a looping header that could have been stopped, there were many more shots by the Dynamo that should have been on goal and potentially in the back of the net.

The Quakes came out strong and once again scored in the early minutes of the game. They should have continued this energy but instead chose to defend and counter. Ultimately they were successful as Geovanni scored his first goal. The build up to that goal was very, very nice. It was the kind of crisp, one touch passing that you see a lot of in European leagues. The build up went like this: Wondo passed back to McDonald, who passed up to Cronin, who passed over to Wondo, who passed back to McDonald who was streaking up the field. McDonald put out a ground cross and found Glen, who settled the ball. It gets a bit dicey here and the TV replay didn’t help. Glen’s second touch was either too strong and pushed the ball too far away from his left foot, or the Dynamo defender got his foot on it and put it out of Glen’s reach. But either way, it was in the perfect spot for Geovanni’s right footed strike. It was great to see Geovanni start and play a majority of the match. Stephenson and Geovanni will hopefully make the last of the season eventful and help the team get back to the playoffs.

Sam Cronin. What a shitty call that was on his tackle. He deserved a yellow card, not a red. With the audience’s ability to see replays it’s clear he came in high on Mullan, but he barely touched his leg. And you could see it in Cronin’s reactions after. He was clearly expecting a yellow, but seemed flabbergasted when he saw the red card. A bad break for another defender for the Quakes. I keep saying it, but hopefully Corrales and Opara can get back soon to help out. At least next week we’ll have Convey back from suspension.

Category: Post-Game