SAN JOSE, Calif. - The San Jose Earthquakes pulled out a 1-1 tie with Spanish First Division club Deportivo Alavés on Monday night in an international exhibition match at Spartan Stadium. San Leandro native Julian Nash scored on a header in the 65th minute to even the match for the Quakes in a game marred by a first half fight that left both teams to play the final 80 minutes with just ten men after San Jose's Jon Conway and Alavés' Oscar Tellez were ejected.
Deportivo Alavés had the first good scoring chance of the match in the fifth minute when Rodolfo Bodipo tested Jon Conway with a long range shot from outside the box on the right side. Conway was able to touch Bodipo's shot just over the crossbar and out of danger.
The game picked up intensity in just the 10th minute, with both teams going down to ten men following a scuffle and two ejections. The altercation started when Ian Russell went up for a high cross at the top of the penalty area with Alavés' Eduardo Alonso. With both players in the air, Russell bumped Alonso into the path of diving goalkeeper Roberto Bonano, resulting in a collision that left Alonso bleeding. Deportivo's Oscar Tellez immediately started shoving Russell, and soon a scrum developed with all players on the field and off the bench involved in the pushing. Tellez received a red card and was ejected, as was Earthquakes goalkeeper Conway, forcing Wade Barrett off the field and allowing Robby Fulton to make his debut for the Quakes in goal.
As the game settled down, the Earthquakes had a chance to score in the 21st minute following a free kick that found Julian Nash on the left side of the Alavés penalty area. Nash crossed the ball to Brett Rodriguez in the middle of the box, but his header went wide and to the right of the goal.
In his first appearance, Fulton made a tough stop in the 31st minute on Bodipo. Alejandro Castro slipped a nice pass into the Quakes area through the defense to Bodipo, putting him in a one-on-one situation with Fulton. Fulton ran out and slid in front of him, knocking the ball away. Deportivo's Nene gathered the rebound, but his shot at the open goal soared wide right.
Deportivo Alavés took a 1-0 lead in the 43rd minute on a Nene penalty kick. Nene was awarded the penalty after Tighe Dombrowski brought him down in the right side of the area. With Nene dribbling toward goal, Dombrowski attempted to kick the ball away from behind, but Nene went down to set up the kick. A minute later, Nene put Alavés on the board when his kick powered to the left of a diving Fulton.
The Earthquakes opened the second half attempting to even the score, as Julian Nash ran onto a nice pass into the box by Roger Levesque but substitute goalkeeper Nicolas Ardouin gathered up his low shot.
The Earthquakes tied the match at 1-1 in the 65th minute on an excellent free kick goal by Nash. Chris Wondolowski whipped a perfect free kick into the box from the left side, where Nash was able to flick the ball backward with his head and into the far corner of the net for the 1-1 tie.
The Earthquakes return to MLS action on Saturday, August 13 when they host Western Conference rival the Colorado Rapids on at 7:00 p.m. PT at Spartan Stadium. The game will be broadcast live on the radio on 1590 AM KLIV (English) and 1370 AM KZSF (Spanish).
Quotes:
Earthquakes head coach Dominic Kinnear, on game: "I was happy with the result tonight. The guys that played kept going for 90 minutes, which is an aspect of this team that you see every time we step on the field. A lot of guys who played tonight haven't played many minutes for us, and it is nice to see them play well when they get the opportunity against what I thought was a good opponent. I thought we thoroughly deserved a point and I was happy for Julian [Nash] to get a goal on a good ball by Wondo [Chris Wondolowski]."
Kinnear, on game: "I thought the guys did well tonight. For me, what is important is that we are unbeaten at home this year - still. I told the team at halftime, let's not get beat here. The effort was great, we were still going forward up until the end and we had opportunities to win and score, which is all that you can ask for."
Roger Levesque, on re-joining the Quakes and playing against Deportivo: "It wasn't too bad, we had two games this weekend in Seattle that we didn't get very good results in, so coming here tonight and actually getting a good result, coming back like we did after being down 1-0 in the first half was good. It was a positive experience."
Julian Nash, on goal: "It was a really good cross by Chris [Wondolowski] and I was able to get in front of my man. I got the flick on it. I had to turn around and make sure it actually went in because I was facing the other direction after it left my head, but I was really happy to be able to do that against a team like this for my first goal at Spartan Stadium."
Robby Fulton, on game: "Obviously, I hadn't played in any real games or that many reserve games, so to get time was awesome and a great experience. We played well, it was an inexperienced group out there, but we did very well against a top caliber team."
International Exhibition
San Jose Earthquakes 1, Deportivo Alavés 1
Spartan Stadium; San Jose, CA; Attendance: 4,522
Scoring Summary: DA-Nene (PK) 43; SJ--Nash (Wondolowski) 65
Deportivo Alavés - Roberto Bonano (Nicolas Ardouin 45), Eduardo Alonso (Iosu Sarriegi 17), Lluis Carreras (Hipolite Fernandez 45), Mauricio Pellegrino (Wesley Lopes Da Silva 81), Oscar Tellez, Juan Jesus Gutierrez, Alejandro Castro (Martin Astudillo 45), Jose Maria Mena, Ruben Navarro (Quique De Lucas 56); Rodolfo Bodipo (John Aliosi 56), Nene
TOTAL SHOTS: 13; FOULS: 14; OFFSIDE: 5; CORNER KICKS: 4; SAVES: 1; CAUTIONS: Carreras 40; Mena 59; EJECTIONS: Tellez 10;
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES - Jon Conway, Tighe Dombrowski, Brett Rodriguez, Chris Aloisi, Wade Barrett (Robby Fulton 12), Brian Mullan (Arron Lanes 81), Danny O'Rourke, Chris Wondolowski, Ian Russell, Julian Nash, Roger Levesque (Orlando Ramirez 65).
TOTAL SHOTS: 5; FOULS: 18; OFFSIDE: 4; CORNER KICKS: 3; SAVES: 3; CAUTIONS: Russell 10; Rodriguez 58; EJECTIONS: Conway 10
Referee: Colin Arblaster
Referee's Assistants: Gregory Hill, Jeff Forward
4th Official: Said Ravanfar
Attendance: 4,522
