San Jose Earns First Road Win Of The Year Against Vancouver

The San Jose Earthquakes earned their first road win of the season Friday as the squad traveled to face the Vancouver Whitecaps in what was a pivotal match for both teams.

Before the match San Jose and Vancouver were ranked right next to each other in the Western Conference standings as the Earthquakes were in eighth and the Whitecaps were in seventh.

San Jose started off the first half extremely well as they were putting high pressure on the Vancouver back-line. Fatai Alashe almost opened up the game early in the first half as he connected with the ball from a cross but only managed to hit the crossbar on the header. San Jose continued putting on the attacking pressure as they opened up the score-sheet on a header from striker Quincy Amarikwa in the 14th minute. The header was looked to be saved by Vancouver goalkeeper David Ousted but Ousted couldn’t handle the header properly as he fell back into the goal and was unable to keep the ball out as he was falling in.

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San Jose’s defense did well in the first half also. They did well to contain the Whitecap’s attack and also did well to make sure they were first to every ball that was crossed into the box. The only real chance Vancouver had of scoring in the first half came off of a quick free kick that then resulted in a 4 on 2 but Vancouver did poorly when looking to take advantage of the opportunity as Vancouver midfielder Christian Bolanos refused to pass the ball to his teammates in the box and he took a weak shot that went wide.

The second half started off slowly for both teams as both could not get any sort of attack going. This was the case until the 60th minute when Simon Dawkins got by the defender that was marking him and fired a shot into the back of the net which gave San Jose a 2-0 lead in the match.

San Jose did well to protect their lead for the rest of the match for the most part. Vancouver scored a goal in the 94th minute of the match but luckily that was it for San Jose. The Earthquakes finished the match winning by a score of 2-1.

Tactically they did what they wanted the entire match.

This was an impressively played match by the Earthquakes. Tactically they did what they wanted the entire match. The midfield did well to control the flow of the match, the defenders made clearances and tackles when needed, and the attackers put the ball into the back of the net. This was a complete team win. This match was big for San Jose as it not only gave them their first road win, San Jose also jumped Vancouver in the Western Conference standings as San Jose now sits in seventh place.

The Quakes’  next match will take place back in San Jose on Friday as the they take on the Houston Dynamo for the final time this season.