The Houston Dynamo opened their 2008 pre season with a hard-fought, 1-0 win against the team now bearing their former name: the San Jose Earthquakes.
In front of a small but boisterous crowd at PAL Stadium, both teams battled early for supremacy at midfield. It was Houston, though, that scored the first and only goal of the game at the 44th minute of play, thanks to a free kick by Stuart Holden. Holden's kick was aimed for Chris Wondolowski, who knocked the ball across the goalmouth. Ricardo Clark got free from the defense and drove a shot past Quakes goalkeeper Joe Cannon and into the back of the net.
"It was probably one of the easiest goals I've ever scored," said Clark. "The ball just bounced to me, I was in the right spot, and it was easy from there on. It was not the greatest goal, but I'll take it."
Houston made several substitutions at halftime and during the second half, among them that of Corbin Waller for Pat Onstad at Goalkeeper. Waller had at least three good saves on goal that prevented the Quakes from tying up the score. Two of those saves came within the last 20 minutes of the game.
With the 1-0 win now behind them, the Men in Orange will now train tomorrow at PAL Stadium before taking on CAL State Berkeley on Friday. A second pre-season game against the Earthquakes will come on Saturday at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco. Kickoff for that game is scheduled for 9:00 p.m. CT.
"These games are just about preparation. They are just practice for the real thing coming up in Hawaii, so we just have to take things one day at a time so we can get to (the Pan Pacific Tournament) with plenty of confidence," said Clark.
Major League Soccer Preseason
Houston Dynamo 1, San Jose Earthquakes 0
San Jose, Calif.; PAL Stadium
Attendance: 3,182
Team |
1 |
2 |
F |
|---|---|---|---|
Houston Dynamo |
1 |
0 |
1 |
San Jose Earthquakes |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Lineups
HOU - GK Pat Onstad (Corbin Waller, 46th), D Patrick Ianni, D Eddie Robinson (Stephen Wondolowski, 64th) , D Bobby Boswell (Mike Chabala), M Stuart Holden (Jeremy Barlow, 64th), M Richard Mulrooney (Nick Hatzke, 64th), M Ricardo Clark (Geoff Cameron, 46th), M Dwayne De Rosario (John Michael Hayden, 64th), M Corey Ashe (Johnny Alcaraz, 64th), F Brian Ching (Erik Ustruck, 64th), F Chris Wondolowski (James Georgeff, 64th).
SJ - GK Joe Cannon (Preston Burpo, 46th), D James Riley (Chris Roner, 64th), D Nick Garcia (Taylor Graham, 46th), D Jason Hernandez (Jay Ayres, 64th), D Chris Pozniak (Greg Curry, 64th) (Robert Sandoval, 75th), M Shea Salinas (Adam Smarte, M Joe Vide (Eric Denton, 46th), M Ned Grabavoy (Fabrice Noel, 64th), M Ivan Guerrero (Tim Bohnenkamp, 64th), F Gavin Glinton (Yuri Morales, 46th), F Kei Kamara (Matt Taylor, 64th).
Scoring Summary
HOU - Clark (Wondolowski, C.), 44th.
Cautions/Ejections
HOU - Jeremy Barlow (yellow), 74th.
Statistics
Shots: HOU - 15, SJ - 13
Shots on Goal: HOU - 5, SJ - 5
Saves: HOU - 5, SJ - 4
Fouls: HOU - 14, SJ - 11
Corners: HOU - 4, SJ - 5
Offside: HOU - 5, SJ - 0
