Dominic Kinnear was able to breathe a sigh of relief Saturday night after his visiting San Jose Earthquakes side made it back into the win column for the first time since Week 2 of the season.
“You always want to build off the win,” the Earthquakes’ head coach said, following their 1-0 victory over expansion Minnesota United FC. “It’s a good vibe in the locker room, and we’ll fly home and try to do this again against Portland (next Saturday).”
The victory snapped a six-game winless streak, and marked the first away win this season for the Quakes, who were playing their third consecutive road match.
“It feels really good,” Kinnear said. “We’ve played well, but we haven’t been scoring goals. Playing from behind is always tough. Three games on the road is tough for any team in this league. I thought we deserved to win, created some good chances. Really happy for the guys.”
Center back Florian Jungwirth scored the match-winner for San Jose, netting his second goal of the season in the 54th minute off a corner kick.
“We work on set pieces a lot with (assistant coach) Steve Ralston, who has some good ideas,” the German defender said. “For me, I saw some spots that I could run through. If the ball comes there, you have to be there. Today, we had three chances and one goal. I like set pieces a lot.”
Jahmir Hyka took the corner and striker Chris Wondolowski managed to deflect the ball toward Jungwirth who bundled it in just underneath Minnesota’s Kevin Molino, who was guarding the near post. Wondolowski, the US international, hasn’t scored in his last four games, but it was his second assist in that timespan.
Wondolowski said he believes he is starting to turn around his struggles.
“I’m feeling good,” he said. “In the season there’s always ups and downs. To be honest, I’m personally coming off of two tough games. I thought I connected some passes and looked a little more dangerous, but I’ve still got a ways to go.”
Of course, San Jose was also able to keep the Loons' attack scoreless, which Kinnear was happy about, even if it required a couple lucky breaks.
“They’ve got some good attacking players (who) find good openings,’’ Kinnear said. “We had a ball cleared off the line (by defender Kofi Sarkodie), David Bingham came up big in some opportunities. When you get zero goals against you, you have a better chance of winning the game. That was the key for us.”
