The San Jose Earthquakes put a rather large exclamation point on its week at the Carolina Challenge Cup.
Scoring less than a minute into the game, the Earthquakes cruised to a 3-0 win against the New York Red Bulls Saturday night at Blackbaud Stadium, finishing unbeaten in the week-long tournament.
San Jose wrapped up the tournament title Wednesday night, but added another victory against the Red Bulls in the final game of the round-robin tournament. The expansion Earthquakes beat Toronto 1-0 last weekend and the host Charleston Battery 2-1 on Wednesday night in previous games in the tournament.
It was the second Carolina Challenge Cup title for the Earthquakes, who captured the event in 2005. New York finished 0-1-2, while Toronto FC finished 0-2-1 in the tournament.
The winners of the last four tournaments have gone on to win either the MLS Cup or the MLS Supporters' Shield, given for the best record during the regular season.
While San Jose coach Frank Yallop tried to downplay the significance of winning a preseason tournament, he was pleased with his team's overall performance throughout the event.
"We do understand that it is preseason, but we are trying to build something," Yallop said. "We came out here to try and build some team chemistry and to play well and I think we accomplished all that.
"I think we had our best performance of the tournament against New York. We were dangerous all night and we didn't concede a goal to a good side."
Yallop said he was most pleased with the Earthquakes' ball possession during the tournament.
"We possessed the ball very well the whole week," Yallop said. "Our passing was pretty sharp. I think we looked dangerous in all three matches. It was good to see guys moving the ball and enjoy playing."
New York coach Juan Carlos Osorio was obviously not happy with the Red Bulls' lackluster outing.
"I was very disappointed that we conceded an early goal in the manner in which we did it," Osorio said. "It's very difficult to get back into the game after conceding a goal like that. It's a mountain to climb. We had a few half-chances, but it wasn't really our night.
"We had enough chances to score a couple of goals, but you have to put the ball in the net. We gave a lot of minutes to some of our draft picks. Some of them have shown very good things and some have not. I have a clearer opinion of my players in general."
It took San Jose just 23 seconds to get the opening goal of the game. Midfielder Ivan Guerrero made a strong run down the left flank and crossed the ball just outside the six-yard box to striker Kei Kamara, who headed it past New York 'keeper Jon Conway for the score.
"It's always good to get an early goal, but I knew there was still a long way to go," Yallop said.
The Earthquakes grabbed a 2-0 lead on Gavin Glinton's goal in the 49th minute. Defender James Riley got the ball on the right side, slotted a pass just past the midfield line to Glinton. Glinton raced past New York defender Chris Leitch, took two strong dribbles, and blasted a shot past Conway for the score.
"It was a good performance by all of us," said Glinton, who played for the host Battery in 2006. "We capped off the tournament with a comprehensive win against New York. It's the preseason and we know we have a long way to go."
San Jose was awarded a penalty kick 88th minute. Ramiro Corrales took the penalty kick, but New York backup 'keeper Zach Thornton made a nice diving save to his left. However, Corrales pounced on the rebound near the goal line on the right side of the net and tried to cross the ball into the six-yard box. His cross deflected off a New York defender and into the net for the score.
San Jose Earthquakes 3, New York Red Bulls 0
Scoring Summary:
SJ -- Kei Kamara (Ivan Guerrero) 1
SJ -- Gavin Glinton (James Riley) 49
SJ -- Eric Brunner (own goal) 88
New York Red Bulls: Jon Conway (Zach Thornton 65); Kevin Goldthwaite (Chris Leitch 46), Jeff Parke (Carlos Mendes 46), Eric Brunner, Danleigh Borman, Seth Stammler, Dave van den Bergh (Sinisa Ubiparipovic 61), Luke Sassano, Claudio Reyna (Mike Magee 46), Juan Pablo Angel, John Wolyniec (Oscar Echeverry 60)
San Jose Earthquakes: Joe Cannon; Nick Garcia, Ryan Cochrane (Eric Denton 46), Jason Hernandez (Jay Ayres 85), James Riley, Ivan Guerrero (Matt Taylor 77), Ramiro Corrales, Ned Grabavoy (Conrad Smith 77), Ronnie O'Brien (Joe Vide 46), Kei Kamara (Jamil Walker 77), Gavin Glinton (Shea Salinas 61)
Disciplinary Summary:
NY -- Seth Stammler (caution) 62
NY -- Carlos Mendes (caution) 62
SJ -- Jamil Walker (caution) 89
Referee: Andrew Chapin
Referee's Assistants: Skye Arthur-Banning, Bob Wern
4th Official: Alejandro Mariscal
