VANCOUVER, B.C. – It’s been a long time coming but the San Jose Earthquakes finally have a win in Vancouver at the eighth attempt, putting in an assured performance to see off the Whitecaps 2-1 at BC Place on Friday night.
Quincy Amarikwa set the Quakes on their way with a 14th-minute header that David Ousted carried over the goal line. San Jose were looking comfortable throughout and when Simon Dawkins doubled their advantage on the hour mark, it was game over for Vancouver, who grabbed a stoppage time consolation from Nicolas Mezquida.
San Jose coach Dominic Kinnear was a delighted man after the match, not only with his team's first road win of the season, but their overall performance from start to finish.
"It helped to get the early goal," Kinnear told reporters. "It gave us a little bit of belief and some confidence. I thought we played well, broke well, created some good chances.
"Good attitude. The guys showed good togetherness. We created some good chances throughout the game. Yes, we did defend a little bit deep late in the game because they're throwing some numbers forward. We broke well. The overall team spirit for me was really impressive."
The win was San Jose's first in four games and only their second in their last 12 MLS matches. But it could have a massive impact on their hopes of claiming a postseason berth.
Their recent form may not exactly scream out playoff contenders, but the three points now puts the Earthquakes just one point off the postseason places in the Western Conference, and Kinnear feels although the victories haven't been coming, his team has done well to keep themselves in contention for a late playoff push.
"We didn't want to come in with no road wins this late in the season," Kinnear admitted. "That's just the way it's went. We did pick up a number of draws on the road, which did give us some points and doesn't let other teams get the three, especially the [Western] Conference games.
"When you strip it all down, you don't want all the side stories of it's your first win there and your first road win. The most important thing is three points. In the last four games it was a win and three draws, so we were kind of knocking on the door. So you're close, but sometimes you walk of the field thinking it's frustrating because you feel you should have more points in your pocket and it doesn't really move you in the standings at all."
With 11 games of the season remaining, San Jose have plenty of time to make a push to make the postseason.
It's going to be a tight finish in the Western Conference and Kinnear knows his team and a few others appear to be battling it out now for the final two postseason berths.
"We're sitting on seven wins, who knows what the number is," Kinnear mused. "A couple of teams in the West are running away with it, so we're all maybe looking for four, five and six [places]. Even four is a bit of a stretch because LA is quite high up."
