A great performance one night can easily wash away the thoughts from a miserable one, no matter how recent it was. The visiting Quakes washed away the thoughts of a mid-week “drubbing” at Real Salt Lake by defeating the La Galaxy, 3-0, last weekend. Valet Qazaishvili (45'), Marco Urena (80') and Chris Wondolow (90'+) were the goalscorers for San Jose Earthquakes. With this loss, LA Galaxy is now tenth in the Western Conference standings, while San Jose Earthquakes are in the sixth spot on 36 points. Here's a quick look at the Match:
LA Galaxy outlook
Starting XI and individual performance points: Goalkeeper — Jon Kempin (6).
Defenders — Pele van Anholt (5), Dave Romney (5), Daniel Steres (5 points), Bradley Diallo (6). Midfielder — Jonathan dos Santos (6), Joao Pedro (5), Bradford Jamieson (5), Giovani dos Santos (6), Emmanuel Boateng (5 points). Forward — Gyasi Zardes (6 points).
Team's strength and weakness: The LA Galaxy were solid at setting up goal scoring chances from set pieces. However, they were poor at finishing those chances and were aggressive.
Team style of play in the match: The Galaxy favored crossing the ball often and attacked down the right side. They had a large quantity of ball possession in the Earthquakes' half and mostly played with width.
San Jose Earthquakes
Starting XI and individual performance points: Goalkeeper — Andrew Tarbell (7).
Defenders — Andrés Imperiale (7), Fatai Alashe (7), Kofi Sarkodie (six points), Valeri Qazaishvili (7), Shea Salinas (8 points). Midfielder — Darwin Cerén (7), Jackson Yueill (6). Forward — Tommy Thompson (7), Chris Wondolowski (7), Marco Ureña (8).
Team's strength and weakness: The Earthquakes were strong at converting goal bound chances and were effective at creating goal scoring chances from set pieces.
They were solid at setting up goal bound opportunities from counter-attacks, were good at setting up goal chances from through balls and stole the ball often from the LA Galaxy. The visitors, however, gave away a lot of free kicks around their box.
Team style of play in the match: The San Jose Earthquakes favored through balls, mostly attacked down the left side, and they had a high shot frequency when in possession.
Man of the match
Earthquake defender Shea Salinas was the man of the match. Salinas made one clear tackle, created four key passes and won one Aerial ball contest. He completed seventy-four successful touches in the match.
What's next for the both teams?
The LA Galaxy will play host to Colorado Rapids on Saturday 2 September, while San Jose Earthquakes hits the road again as they face Toronto FC on Saturday, Sept. 9.
