SPARTAN STADIUM
SAN JOSE, Calif.
7 pm PT (Altitude)
The San Jose Earthquakes put a pair of unbeaten marks on the line this weekend when Western Conference rival Colorado Rapids come calling at Spartan Stadium. The Quakes haven't yet lost this season on their home ground - and haven't dropped a single point to the Rapids - while quietly taking over the lead in the Western Conference and in the race for the MLS Supporters' Shield. The Rapids are firmly entrenched in the fourth and final playoff spot in the West, truly in control of their own destiny as five of their final 11 games are against those teams below them in the table.
REFEREE: Michael Kennedy. SAR (bench): Fabio Tovar; JAR (opposite): David Bragg; 4th: Richard Heron
MLS Career: 65 games; FC/gm: 32.8; Y/gm: 4.0; R: 9; pens: 29
Games involving Earthquakes: P12 W5 L5 T2; FC/gm: 31.8; Y/gm: 3.6; R: 1; pens: 2
Games involving Rapids: P11 W3 L4 T4; FC/gm: 31.5; Y/gm: 4.7; R: 2; pens: 6
INJURY REPORT: SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES - OUT: DF Craig Waibel (R knee torn ACL/LCL); DF Troy Dayak (L knee torn ACL); FW Brian Ching (R hamstring strain); DF Ryan Cochrane (R ankle sprain) ... COLORADO RAPIDS - OUT: MF Matt Crawford (R hip strain); QUESTIONABLE: FW Josh Elbaum (hernia PROBABLE: DF Pablo Mastroeni (R ankle sprain); DF Mike Petke (R hip muscle pull)
INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES: none
SUSPENDED: none
WARNINGS: SJ: Brian Mullan (18 CP) ... COL: Kyle Beckerman (19 CP); Nat Borchers (20 CP)
HEAD-TO-HEAD
ALL-TIME (39 meetings): Earthquakes 19 wins (1 shootout), 60 goals ... Rapids 16 wins (2 shootout), 56 goals ... 4 draws
AT SPARTAN STADIUM (19 meetings): Earthquakes 10 wins (1 shootout), 37 goals ... Rapids 7 wins (1 shootout), 28 goals ... ... 2 draws
• The clubs meet for the fourth and final time in league play this season, with the Earthquakes having won all three previous encounters this year. They won the first two both by 1-0 scorelines, once at each ground, and both from late goals, before claiming a 2-1 win in Denver in the last meeting.
LAST MEETING
• The San Jose Earthquakes finished off their four-game road swing in fine fashion, knocking off the Colorado Rapids 2-1 on July 20. The Earthquakes took the lead in the 20th minute after Brian Mullan received the ball at the top of the box, and after quickly juking defender Ritchie Kotschau with a step-over move, buried his shot in the bottom left of the net for his second goal of the season.
• Mark Chung then doubled the lead with a goal against his former club in the 73rd minute. Dwayne De Rosario made a long dribbling run which attracted three Rapids defenders and allowed Chung to sneak unmarked to the top of the box where his first time shot off a De Rosario pass sizzled into the far corner of the net.
• The Rapids pulled a goal back eight minutes later when Fabrice Noel was pushed over the penalty area, and Wolde Harris converted from the spot by sending Pat Onstad the wrong way.
• Here's Clavijo's team (4-4-1-1): Joe Cannon - Ricky Lewis, Nat Borchers, Mike Petke (Jean Philippe Peguero 28), Ritchie Kotschau - Terry Cooke, Kyle Beckerman, Leo Cullen, Eric Denton - Luchi Gonzalez (Fabrice Noel 61) - Jeff Cunningham (Wolde Harris 57)
• Here's Kinnear's team (4-4-2): Pat Onstad - Kelly Gray, Ryan Cochrane (Wes Hart 89), Eddie Robinson, Wade Barrett - Brian Mullan (Julian Nash 76), Ricardo Clark, Mark Chung - Dwayne De Rosario - Ronald Cerritos, Alejandro Moreno
THIS SEASON
• The Earthquakes went into Denver on May 25 and came away with their first win in the Mile High City in more than two years as Alejandro Moreno's 78th-minute goal gave San Jose the victory.
• Dwayne De Rosario found Moreno on the outside near the corner of the area, and he beat newly-acquired defender Mike Petke one-on-one, turning the former D.C. United center back before hitting a low shot that skipped off Petke's foot and through a host of legs, curling inside the far post past Joe Cannon's outstretched dive.
• On June 29, it was another late goal that gave the Quakes a 1-0 victory at Spartan Stadium. The Earthquakes also extended their club-record home shutout streak to 506 games with the victory, as both 'keepers did their part to try and ensure neither team would find the back of the net on the night.
• Earthquakes 'keeper Pat Onstad was credited with four saves on the night, a couple of fine stops over the final half-hour. But he had no answer for a long-range looping blast from Jeff Cunningham in the 10th minute - only to see it come back off the base of his right-hand post. Early in the second half, a Ricardo Clark blast caromed off the woodwork for San Jose.
• But two minutes from full time the home side hit home, Brian Mullan and Julian Nash playing a neat one-two on the right before Mullan slipped a through ball to Dwayne De Rosario in the right side of the area. He hammered a drive inside the near post that beat Rapids 'keeper Joe Cannon for his second goal of the season.
HISTORY
• A year ago, each team won once on their home ground, with the final two meetings in the season series a pair of draws.
• The Rapids won by the only goal at Invesco Field on April 24 (Henderson 26), then the Earthquakes returned the favor with a 3-1 victory at home on July 17 (Ching 22, 50; Donovan 55 - Trembly 83).
• The teams then played to scoreless draw in San Jose on Aug. 28, before reaching a 1-1 draw on Oct. 2 in Denver (Peguero 14 - De Rosario 82).
• Until this season, the teams had played to nearly a statistical dead heat over their nine-year history, but with this year's success the Earthquakes now have three more wins, and have scored four more goals, in the all-time series.
• Coaches record: Dominic Kinnear vs. COL: P7 W4 L1 D2 ... Fernando Clavijo v SJ: P10 W3 L6 T1
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES
The San Jose Earthquakes won for the third consecutive match and remained undefeated at home, knocking off the Columbus Crew 2-1 last Saturday at Spartan Stadium. The Earthquakes took over sole possession of the top spot in the Western Conference with the victory, now with 37 points from 21 matches, two ahead of FC Dallas. They are two points behind New England now in the race for the MLS Supporters' Shield.
• The Earthquakes won for the seventh time in their last nine games and remained unbeaten at home on the campaign.
• The Quakes went ahead in the 13th minute as Dwayne De Rosario finished off a nice combination from San Jose's attacking trio. Ronald Cerritos set the Canadian international free with a long pass from the center stripe, and held off Chris Henderson before slotting home on the run.
• Brad Davis, making his first appearance for the Earthquakes after missing six matches on national team duty, doubled the lead with a masterful free kick in the 54th minute.
• Henderson pulled a goal back 12 minutes from the end, taking a long pass from Kyle Martino as the Crew sped from end to end before sending a low drive home from just outside the area, but Columbus couldn't hammer home a second to avoid Robert Warzycha's first loss since taking over as head coach.
• Earthquakes coach Dominic Kinnear made one change to the team that knocked off the MetroStars 2-1 in the final match before the All-Star break. With Brad Davis back from national team duty, he took his place on the left side of midfield, preferred to Brian Mullan as Mark Chung moved to the right flank.
• Here's Kinnear's team (4-3-1-2): Pat Onstad - Kelly Gray, Danny Califf, Eddie Robinson, Wade Barrett - Mark Chung, Ricardo Clark, Brad Davis (Brian Mullan 74) - Dwayne De Rosario - Ronald Cerritos, Alejandro Moreno
• "I am very happy for the guys. We deserve to be where we are because they have stayed focused and played well despite all the things going on around the team," Kinnear said. "They are playing some of the best stuff I have seen in the last few years. The effort is there every game and we are attacking from everywhere, so I am really pleased with the team right now."
TEAM NEWS
• Although he hadn't played with the club in more than a month, the Quakes didn't lose a beat with Davis coming back into the team.
• "Right now we are rolling. We are the team to beat, hopefully we continue to play well and keep things rolling," Davis said. "It is one of our goals since preseason to be on top of our division, if not on top of the league. We are going to continue to do that and keep striving to work hard. This team can do it, I know we can."
• But while the attacking midfielders - Davis, Chung and Mullan on the flanks and De Rosario underneath the two forwards - have been driving the Earthquakes success, Davis pointed to holding midfielder Ricardo Clark as the key.
• "He's a workhorse - he's playing so well right now," said Davis of his one-time teammate with the MetroStars. "He made two or three crucial tackles tonight and covered so much ground. He's playing with a lot of confidence."
• Ronald Cerritos became the club's all-time assist leader with his helper on the Quakes first goal. "Obviously, it feels really good. Getting that record means you worked hard. In the end, I have to thank a lot of people. Those numbers always come from the help of other people. I just have to say thanks to so many people, people that I have played with like Eddie Lewis, Eric Wynalda and so many others. Guys like that helped me a lot, and it just feels great."
• On Monday, the Earthquakes drew 1-1 with Spain's Club Deportivo Alaves in a contentious friendly at Spartan Stadium. After just 10 minutes, a full-field scrap left both teams a man down as San Jose 'keeper Jon Conway and Oscar Tellez of Alaves were sent off. Nené gave Alaves the lead after 43 minutes when he scored from the penalty spot, but Julian Nash hit for the equalizer in the 65th minute.
• Here's Kinnear's team: Jon Conway, Tighe Dombrowski, Brett Rodriguez, Chris Aloisi, Wade Barrett (Robby Fulton 12), Brian Mullan (Arron Lanes 81), Danny O'Rourke, Chris Wondolowski, Ian Russell, Julian Nash, Roger Levesque (Orlando Ramirez 65)
• "I was happy with the result tonight. The guys that played kept going for 90 minutes, which is an aspect of this team that you see every time we step on the field," Kinnear said. "A lot of guys who played tonight haven't played many minutes for us, and it is nice to see them play well when they get the opportunity against what I thought was a good opponent."
COLORADO RAPIDS
The Colorado Rapids won for the second consecutive match, continuing the road miseries of the Los Angeles Galaxy with a 2-0 victory in Denver last Saturday night. The Rapids maintained their grip on fourth place in the Western Conference with 24 points from 21 matches, now eight points behind third-place Los Angeles but five ahead of fifth-place Real Salt Lake in the race for the final playoff spot.
• The Rapids maintained their grip on fourth place in the West while closing the gap with third-place Los Angeles in handing the Galaxy yet another defeat on the road.
• Jeff Cunningham got the Rapids off to a dream start, finding a seam in the Galaxy back four and turning to flick home a shot inside the far post after just seven minutes. Jean-Philippe Peguero then doubled the Colorado lead on the half hour as he juked his way through the Galaxy defense to race in alone on goal before beating Kevin Hartman with a perfectly placed angled shot.
• The Galaxy couldn't find their way back as they again failed to win away from The Home Depot Center on the season, having not won away from Southern California since June 27, 2004.
• "Our defense played well, but fortunately it felt like L.A. came out like we've come out a couple of times, with really no energy or passion," said goalkeeper Joe Cannon. "Credit our guys, the midfielders and forwards didn't really allow any guys to break through, and the defenders were great as well. I have a great group of guys in front of me."
• Rapids head coach Fernando Clavijo made three changes to the team that defeated the Chicago Fire 4-1 at home in their final game before the All-Star break. Hunter Freeman made his first start since May 14, coming in at right back, while Mike Petke returned from suspension and Jean-Philippe Peguero returned in attack in place of Luchi Gonzalez. Guy Melamed returned to the substitutes bench, as did Ricky Lewis.
• Here's Clavijo's team (4-3-1-2): Joe Cannon - Hunter Freeman, Nat Borchers, Mike Petke (Dan Gargan 80), Ritchie Kotschau - Terry Cooke, Kyle Beckerman, Eric Denton - Alain Nkong - Jeff Cunningham (Luchi Gonzalez 73), Jean Philippe Peguero (Guy Melamed 89).
• "I'm happy. I think we came out and showed attitude, and we have to recognize we are capable of doing that all the time. There were a lot of ups and downs but I think we did well overall, we kept the ball and we didn't give them a lot of room or chances."
TEAM NEWS
• While rarely threatened over the final 45 minutes, Clavijo was concerned about a drop-off from his team in the second half.
• "It was obvious we were not the same team coming out in the second half. In the first five or 10 minutes, we were a little bit flat. It was a concern, but we managed to keep them away from our goal and keep going from there," Clavijo said. "When we had possession I think we handled the ball well, we got it in their end and behind defenders to create more scoring opportunities. We didn't give room to the players who could hurt us."
• However, Clavijo started to see signs of his side putting together some good, quality play. "When we do that (maintain midfield possession), we manage to do well to keep the ball down and win games. Sometimes we get forced to play one direction only and we don't change the feel. Today you have to look at Kyle Beckerman, who was amazing defensively ,and Alain Nkong, who was able to connect with the forwards. If we can keep good pressure and if we lose the ball, get everybody behind the ball, it would be outstanding."
• Clavijo is still concerned with the absence of Pablo Mastroeni, still out through injury after suffering an ankle sprain while on national team duty.
• "I think it's still a factor - we're missing Pablo Mastroeni, he hasn't been able to be there. I think that everyone is stepping up in that position," Clavijo said. "When we play this way as a team we always manage to come out with a win, but it's only one game. We've had a good second half of the season, but we have a lot of work ahead of us still."
• Mike Petke was able to return to the lineup for the first time since being forced to leave the July 20 early with a hamstring injury. "I didn't feel 100 percent. I thought I played well enough but I didn't feel 100 percent as far as my injury goes," he said. "The doctor said that it wasn't going to get any worse, it's just going to be painful and I knew I'd have to deal with it and that's what I tried to do tonight as best I could."
