HARRISON, N.J. – Riding two Bobby Convey goals on either side of halftime, the San Jose Earthquakes advanced to the Eastern Conference final with a stunning 3-1 win at Red Bull Arena.
It was a brilliant night for Convey, who scored the game’s first two goals and assisted on San Jose’s third, scored by Golden Boot winner Chris Wondolowski, which proved to be the difference maker for the Earthquakes as they rallied to win the two-leg playoff series 3-2 on aggregate.
Having won the first leg last Saturday at San Jose, New York only needed a tie to advance to the Eastern Conference final. Instead of finishing off the Earthquakes, the Red Bulls looked flat and lacked killer instinct for much of the match.
San Jose started strong from the onset, predictably pushing hard for the early goal and getting it in the sixth minute.
With space down the right flank, Ryan Johnson settled the ball and had time to weigh his options, choosing to send in a swerving, dangerous cross into the area. The cross fell to Scott Sealy, who laid the ball back towards Convey. The winger hit a beautiful shot into the top of the goal past a diving Bouna Coundoul for the early lead.
For the entirety of the rest of the half, it was the home side that had the better of the run of play. But despite holding the majority of possession, New York rarely looked dangerous.
The Red Bulls finally came close to an equalizer in the 39th minute when, after some wizardry from Dane Richards, the Jamaican played a ball towards Juan Agudelo at the center of the area. Making just his second start in MLS, Agudelo quickly made two moves to his right to free himself just yards from goal. The teenager lasered a shot from an acute angle that beat Jon Busch in San Jose’s goal but hit off the post.
Convey almost turned provider in the 42nd minute, as his ball from the left side of the area was one-timed by Johnson, forcing Coundoul into an athletic, diving save to his left.
New York got off to a strong start in the second half. Left back Roy Miller coming penetrated the area and narrowly put a shot over the crossbar just minutes in.
In the 60th minute, New York again came within inches of scoring the equalizer. Rafa Márquez’s deft touch was played to Agudelo at the top of the box, who one-timed a through ball to Mehdi Ballouchy. With two touches to his right, Ballouchy found some space, but Busch deflected the shot with his foot.
The Earthquakes hung tight and compact and got a hard earned goal when, in the 76th minute, Convey collected a through ball from Arturo Alvarez. Turning on Tim Ream, Convey’s left-footed effort was badly flapped at by Coundoul.
The Red Bulls struck right back, though. In the 79th minute, Agudelo made some nifty moves on the left flank to create some separation. With the ball glued to his left foot, the 17-year-old served in a nice ball that Ángel rose to meet, nodding into an wide-open goal.
But the euphoria was short-lived for New York and just set to begin for San Jose.
The Earthquakes answered back immediately when Convey hit a cross from 35 yards out that Wondolowski met in the air to loop over a diving Coundoul. The perfectly timed header was his first goal of the postseason.
With the win, San Jose will now go on to meet the winner of the two-leg series between Columbus and Colorado. The Crew host the second leg of that tie on Saturday (4 p.m. ET, TeleFutura), trailing the Rapids 1-0 from last week's first leg. The Eastern Conference final will be played between Nov. 11 and 14.
Scoring Summary:
SJ -- Bobby Convey 1 (Scott Sealy 1, Ryan Johnson 1) 6
SJ -- Bobby Convey 2 (Arturo Alvarez 1) 76
NY -- Juan Pablo Angel 1 (Juan Agudelo 1) 78
SJ -- Chris Wondolowski 1 (Bobby Convey 1) 81
Misconduct Summary:
SJ -- Ramiro Corrales (caution; Reckless Foul) 32
SJ -- Jon Busch (caution; Dissent) 81
Lineups:
San Jose Earthquakes -- Jon Busch, Tim Ward, Jason Hernandez, Brandon McDonald, Ramiro Corrales (Eduardo 45), Chris Wondolowski, Sam Cronin, Scott Sealy, Bobby Convey, Geovanni (Arturo Alvarez 75), Ryan Johnson.
Substitutes Not Used: Bobby Burling, Chris Leitch, Brad Ring, Khari Stephenson, Brian Edwards.
New York Red Bulls -- Bouna Coundoul, Chris Albright (Jeremy Hall 84), Carlos Mendes (Salou Ibrahim 84), Tim Ream, Roy Miller, Dane Richards, Joel Lindpere, Rafael Marquez, Mehdi Ballouchy, Juan Agudelo (Thierry Henry 84), Juan Pablo Angel.
Substitutes Not Used: Mike Petke, Carl Robinson, Tony Tchani, Greg Sutton.
Referee: Mark Geiger
Referee's Assistants: Hector Vergara; Steven Taylor
4th Official: Silviu Petrescu
Weather: Showers and 48 degrees
Attendance: 22,839
