A nearly complete San Jose Earthquakes had little difficulty defeating the D.C. United reserves 2-0 in the opening match for both teams in the Carolina Challenge Cup on Saturday night at Blackbaud Stadium. Former Dallas Burn midfielder Brad Davis scored both goals for the Earthquakes.
Though San Jose controlled the match, it was D.C. who nearly got on the board first. In the second minute Freddy Adu, filling the playmaker's role, found a streaking Santino Quaranta with a long pass from midfield. Quaranta beat his defender to the ball and forced San Jose goalkeeper Pat Onstad to the ground to tip the shot wide.
Davis found the back of the net for the first time 14 minutes in off a low driven Alejandro Moreno cross from the right side. Ronald Cerritos took two defenders with him to the near post, leaving Davis alone to slam the ball past Troy Perkins.
His second goal came just four minutes later after Moreno was fouled on the near corner of the penalty area. With daylight between the outside of the wall and the near post, Davis capitalized, neatly placing the freekick in on Perkins' near post.
"I was just going to send it across, but I saw it was on and I just hit it," Davis said. "All I needed to do was get it up over the wall."
The game got scrappy in the second half. Nana Kuffour was given a straight red card for a two-footed tackle on Davis in the 57th minute. But the Earthquakes were not able to take advantage of their brief one-man advantage before rookie Danny O'Rourke was sent off for his second caution of the night. United were then again left a man down when David Stokes was sent off with nine minutes to play.
Despite the result, D.C. United coach Peter Nowak was pleased with the performance of his younger players, and contended that the side he fielded was not a reserve side.
"I have 28 players. You cannot say they are starters or reserves. Everyone is important. We just have to make sure everyone is ready to play," Nowak said.
Both teams are in action again on Tuesday, the second day of the three-match tournament. San Jose faces Columbus and D.C. plays tournament host Charleston Battery.
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES 2, D.C. UNITED 0
SJ -- Brad Davis 14 SJ -- Brad Davis 18
D.C. United: Troy Perkins, David Stokes, Tim Merritt, Bobby Boswell, Nick Van Sicklen (Nana Kuffour 46), Steve Guppy (Captain, Eliseo Quintanilla 46), Freddy Adu, Clyde Simms, Tim Lawson (Shawn Kuykendall 46), Santino Quaranta, Jamil Walker (Jason Thompson 46).
San Jose: Pat Onstad, Troy Dayak, Craig Waibel, Wade Barrett (Captain), Wes Hart (Chris Wondolowski 86), Eddie Robinson (Chris Aloisi 86), Ricardo Clark (Ryan Cochrane 76) Brad Davis, Danny O'Rourke, Ronald Cerritos (Tighe Dombrowski 74), Alejandro Moreno (Roger Levesque 89).
Referee: Roni Canales
Andrew Mosier is a contributor to MLSNet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
