For the second consecutive home game, the San Jose Earthquakes played to a 0-0 draw, holding down a dangerous D.C. United club Saturday night at Spartan Stadium.
With the result, San Jose, which still hasn't lost at home this season, moves its record to 3-3-5 overall. D.C. United is 3-4-3.
Although neither team was able to light up the
scoreboard, both teams played attacking soccer until the end. The Earthquakes, who are now 1-0-4 at Spartan, were unable to keep up with D.C. United on the possession end of the game, but managed to do a good job in limiting major scoring chances.
Following a slow start which saw the Earthquakes
nearly give away a goal in the first minute of the match on an errant Eddie Robinson back pass, San Jose began to establish a positive rhythm. Mark Chung, making his home debut for the Earthquakes, had an excellent chance in the 10th minute, picking up a loose ball and unleashing a left-footed shot from 16 yards out that went high and wide of the target.
With both teams playing an attractive style in an
entertaining first half, the Earthquakes found themselves doing most of the defending. San Jose was unable to hold the ball consistently, while D.C.'s clever attacking duo of Christian Gomez and Jaime Moreno caused havoc for the San Jose backline, especially along its right side. Only a sprawling block by Robinson prevented Ben Olsen from scoring off a pass from the left side by Moreno, who had beaten Chris Aloisi down the left sideline.
San Jose nearly nicked a goal against the run of play
in the 32nd minute. Brad Davis and Alejandro Moreno combined on a nifty one-two along the left sideline, but the sliding Dwayne De Rosario was unable to get solid contact on the tempting Davis cross.
Despite the up-and-down action, neither team was able
to generate any excellent chances in the first half and the teams went into intermission at 0-0.
The second half began in much the same fashion the
first half ended, D.C. dominating possession and the Earthquakes resorting to a counterattacking style of play. However, neither team was able to generate much in the way of scoring chances for the first 20 minutes of the half, and the game remained scoreless.
The Quakes were fortunate to keep it at 0-0 when
Gomez nearly scored in the 66th minute. Taking a pass from Moreno along the left side of the penalty area, the Argentine midfielder missed inches of the far right post on a shot from 12 yards out.
San Jose nearly broke the deadlock in the 70th minute
when Chung dribbled past two defenders and set up Davis with a brilliant through pass. But Davis rolled a right-footed shot pass the left post.
Rookie Julian Nash made his Earthquakes debut, coming
on as a substitute for Cerritos in the 79th minute.
MLSnet.com Man of Match: Nick Rimando (D.C. United)
Danny Kadah is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
D.C. United (3-4-3) vs. San Jose Earthquakes (3-3-5)
June 04, 2005 -- Spartan Stadium
Scoring Summary: NONE
D.C. United -- Nick Rimando, Bryan Namoff (John Wilson 74), Bobby Boswell, Brandon Prideaux, Joshua Gros, Brian Carroll, Christian Gomez, Ben Olsen, Dema Kovalenko (Alecko Eskandarian 79), Santino Quaranta (Jamil Walker 85), Jaime Moreno.
Substitutes Not Used: Troy Perkins, David Stokes.
TOTAL SHOTS: 13 (Jaime Moreno 5); SHOTS ON GOAL: 2 (Christian Gomez 1, Ben Olsen 1); FOULS: 22 (Ben Olsen 7); OFFSIDES: 0; CORNER KICKS: 7 (Christian Gomez 6); SAVES: 3 (Nick Rimando 3)
San Jose Earthquakes -- Pat Onstad, Chris Aloisi, Danny Califf, Eddie Robinson, Wade Barrett, Mark Chung, Ricardo Clark, Dwayne De Rosario, Brad Davis, Ronald Cerritos (Julian Nash 79), Alejandro Moreno.
Substitutes Not Used: Ryan Cochrane, Jon Conway, Tighe Dombrowski, Kevin Goldthwaite, Wes Hart, Danny O'Rourke, Ian Russell, Chris Wondolowski.
TOTAL SHOTS: 7 (Ronald Cerritos 2, Brad Davis 2); SHOTS ON GOAL: 3 (3 tied with 1); FOULS: 14 (Wade Barrett 4); OFFSIDES: 4 (Ronald Cerritos 3); CORNER KICKS: 4 (Ronald Cerritos 3); SAVES: 2 (Pat Onstad 2)
Misconduct Summary:
DC -- Brandon Prideaux (caution; Pushing, Holding) 71
SJ -- Dwayne De Rosario (caution; Dissent) 71
DC -- Ben Olsen (caution; Dissent) 80
Referee: Jair Marrufo
Referee's Assistants: -George Gansner; Emiliano Monje
4th Official: Ramon Hernandez
Attendance: 11,989
Time of Game: 1:51
Weather: Clear-and-72-degrees
All Statistics contained in this boxscore are unofficial.
