SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES vs TORONTO FC
BUCK SHAW STADIUM, Santa Clara, Calif.
July 11, 2009 (WEEK 17) / MLS Game #123
7:30 p.m. PT (CSN-CA; RogersSN)
The San Jose Earthquakes play host to Toronto FC at Buck Shaw Stadium as the teams meet in an interconference matchup for the first time this season. The Quakes have started to turn their season around over the last five weeks, though they still sit at the foot of the Western Conference. TFC begins a road-heavy second half of the season coming off a loss at Real Salt Lake two weeks ago that came after back-to-back home wins against New York.
REFEREE: Abbey Okulaja. SAR (bench): Fabio Tovar; JAR (opposite): David Bragg; 4th: Ramon Hernandez MLS Career: 89 games; FC/gm: 28.6; Y/gm: 3.5; R: 14; pens: 23
INJURY REPORT: SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES - OUT: MF Ramiro Corrales (R ankle sprain); DOUBTFUL: DF Ryan Cochrane (L ankle surgery); QUESTIONABLE: MF Bobby Convey (L hamstring strain); PROBABLE: MF Darren Huckerby (R quadriceps strain) ... TORONTO FC - OUT: FW O'Brian White (knee); QUESTIONABLE: DF Nick Garcia (adductors)
INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES: TOR: Sam Cronin (USA; CONCACAF Gold Cup)
SUSPENDED: none
WARNINGS:
SUSPENDED NEXT YELLOW CARD: SJ: Aaron Pitchkolan ... TOR: Jim Brennan
SUSPENDED AFTER TWO YELLOW CARDS: SJ: Quincy Amarikwa, Ramiro Corrales, Ryan Johnson ... TOR: Chad Barrett, Adrian Serioux
HEAD-TO-HEAD
ALL-TIME: Earthquakes 1 win, 2 goals ... Toronto FC 0 wins, 0 goals ... Ties 1
AT SAN JOSE: Earthquakes 1 win, 2 goals ... Toronto FC 0 wins, 0 goals ... Ties 0
RETURN MATCH: 10/10: San Jose Earthquakes at Toronto FC, 3:30 p.m. ET
LAST YEAR (MLS)
7/19: TOR 0, SJ 0
10/25: SJ 2, TOR 0 (Cochrane 49; Salinas 90)
• The teams met for the first time ever a year ago, and Toronto FC did not score a goal in either meeting.
• The teams played to a scoreless draw at BMO Field in July before the Earthquakes claimed a victory in the season finale for both club.
• Coaches record: Frank Yallop v TOR: P3 W1 L0 D2 ... Chris Cummins vs. SJ: first game
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES
The San Jose Earthquakes were seconds away from claiming a first road victory of 2009 before an own goal left them in a 1-1 draw with Real Salt Lake on July 3 at Rio Tinto Stadium. The Earthquakes have 13 points from 14 matches on the year, still in eighth place in the Western Conference, 18 points behind MLS overall leaders Houston Dynamo.
LAST MATCH
• Real hadn't lost in four games, with two wins in their last three, while the Earthquakes were looking for their first victory away from home on the season with two wins and two draws in their last five games.
• The visitors finally broke through in the 63th minute. Arturo Alvarez played a neat one-two with Pablo Campos at the edge of the area, skipping through a host of RSL defenders on his way into the area and then stabbed a left-footed shot past Nick Rimando inside the right post for his fifth goal on the campaign.
• Just went it seemed the Quakes would leave Utah with the full three points, heartbreak hit. Javier Morales tried to bring down a loose ball in the San Jose area, and defender Chris Leitch was able to get a foot in. But he knocked the ball past goalkeeper Joe Cannon and inside the right post for an equalizing own goal.
• Earthquakes head coach Frank Yallop made two changes to the team that defeated the LA Galaxy 2-1 at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum the previous weekend. Arturo Alvarez and Jason Hernandez came back into the team, in place of Michael Zaher and Darren Huckerby.
• Here's Yallop's team (4-4-2): Joe Cannon - Chris Leitch, Jason Hernandez, Aaron Pitchkolan, Ramiro Corrales (Michael Zaher 45) - Arturo Alvarez, Brandon McDonald, Antonio Ribeiro, Bobby Convey (Shea Salinas 38) - Pablo Campos (Cornell Glen 87), Ryan Johnson. Substitutes Not Used: Quincy Amarikwa, Simon Elliott, Andrew Weber, Chris Wondolowski
• "To concede a goal with an own goal was tough. Tough, tough, tough," said Yallop. "You work so hard for 90 minutes, and then one ball breaks us down and we score an own goal. We're two or three minutes away from winning the game, and we did the same thing [we did] in Dallas."
TEAM NEWS
• A key part of the end of the match happened in the first half. Ramiro Corrales and Bobby Convey both suffered injuries and had to come off before the break, replaced respectively by Michael Zaher and Shea Salinas.
• "The two injuries cost us in the end because we couldn't make changes when we needed to. When some of the players in key positions were getting tired, we couldn't bring on fresh legs to help with the workload," Yallop said.
• Despite the late leveler which denied the Quakes a first road win on the season, they have still played .500 soccer over the last five games, winning two, losing two and tying one. "We've got to take the positives out of this game. We played very well for most of the game," said Yallop. "We hopefully can build on this. We've been playing this quality of soccer for the last five games, it's been a lot different team, and I expect some great things to happen."
• Jason Hernandez was able to return to the Quakes lineup after missing the LA match, and that meant that Brandon McDonald, instead of losing his place, was moved into the center of the midfield.
• "We've not done well away from home, and I'm trying to get us solid and strong," said Yallop. "I think we need some steel in the middle, and putting [McDonald] in there will help us."
• Ramiro Corrales was given the start at left back as Michael Zaher ended up the odd man out after making four consecutive starts. But Zaher came on just before the halftime break when Corrales suffered an ankle sprain.
TORONTO FC
Toronto FC return to league action for the first time since June 27, their last match a 3-0 loss at Real Salt Lake. TFC has 22 points from 16 matches, now alone in fourth place in the Eastern Conference, two point behind the tie atop the division between D.C. United and the Chicago Fire.
LAST MATCH
• Real had a win and two draws after losing four times in a six-game stretch, while Toronto FC were coming off back-to-back home wins against New York and riding a three-game winning streak in all competitions.
• RSL weathered an early storm, then took over the game in the 21st minutes. Picking off a weak back pass in the center circle, Yura Movsisyan raced in alone on goal before chipping the ball over TFC goalkeeper Stefan Frei for his fourth goal on the season and third in the last four games.
• Minutes after Frei robbed him with a remarkable save, Kyle Beckerman doubled the RSL lead in the 44th minute. Dancing around a defender on the byeline, Javier Morales slotted the ball back to the penalty spot where Beckerman made no mistake in side-footing home on the volley.
• Real finished off the rout in the 78th minute. Ned Grabavoy escaped a marker to race up the middle of the park, sliding the ball to Clint Mathis on the right, and he powerfully hit inside the far side netting on the run for his second goal on the campaign.
• TFC interim head coach Chris Cummins made no changes to the team that defeated New York 2-0 on June 24, their second win in 11 days against the Red Bulls.
• Here's Cummins' team (4-4-2): Stefan Frei - Nana Attakora, Nick Garcia, Adrian Serioux, Jim Brennan - Dwayne De Rosario, Sam Cronin, Carl Robinson, Amado Guevara (Danny Dichio 46) - Pablo Vitti (Marco Velez 69), Chad Barrett (Fuad Ibrahim 82). Substitutes Not Used: Brian Edwards, Gabe Gala, Emmanuel Gomez
• "Whether it was due to the altitude or whatever, we just couldn't get near them," said Cummins. "Guys couldn't get their second wind."
TEAM NEWS
• Off the high of back-to-back home victories against New York and the miraculous victory in Montreal to win the Canadian Championship and qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League, TFC fell back to earth in Salt Lake City.
•"I don't think it was a lack of effort, we kept trying and trying, and plugged away all the way to the end, but we just didn't have enough legs in us. We didn't create enough chances, or string together enough passes, and on the night, they were a better team than we were," Cummins said.
• The loss at RSL dropped Toronto's road record to 1-3-2, and their record against Western Conference sides to 1-5-1. Of TFC's remaining 14 games, nine are away from BMO Field and nine are against West teams.
•"We're aware we need to start winning games or at least taking points on the road," Cummins said. "We're going to look at travel arrangements and things like that to get the best out of the players once we're there."
• After the heavy stretch of games, Cummins gave his team four full days off, including the entirety of last weekend, before returning to work in advance of the San Jose match.
• "It's going to give us a chance to rest a few of the lads, for them to go away and spend some time with their families knowing that when they come back we have two very, very hard months of games coming up," said Cummins. "We wanted to be in amongst it halfway through the season, and we're joint second in the conference. ... We're happy where we are. We've got a fantastic chance of making the playoffs and that's our next goal."
• In the last eight games, TFC has scored three goals on two occasions and a pair of goals on two others (as well as the remarkable six against the USL1 Montréal Impact). However, they've also been shut out now three times in that stretch.
• "We've shown on our day we're capable of beating anyone in this league and performing at a high level, but we've also shown that if we're a little bit off of it, then we can lose quite comfortably like we did last Saturday," said midfielder Carl Robinson. "We've got to show consistency and kick on again in two weeks time."
