The San Jose Earthquakes showed amazing resilience in their come-from-behind 2-1 victory against the Columbus Crew on Saturday evening at Crew Stadium. Goals by Eddie Robinson and Ronald Cerritos cancelled out an early finish by Chad Marshall to give the franchise its first win in Columbus against the Crew since 1996.
Robinson began the comeback despite a rough start to the match. The defender was beat by Crew defender Chad Marshall for the game's opening tally in the 19th minute.
"He took blame for the goal," said San Jose coach Dominic Kinnear. "We do individual matchups and Chad Marshall was his guy."
However, Robinson remained focused in order to bring his team back into the match.
"It has been a great year for him both defending and with the ball at his feet. When he does make a mistake, it doesn't bother him," said Kinnear on his central defender. "I think in the past he took it a little too personal. I think now he tunes into the game for the full 90 minutes."
Cerritos sent in the corner kick that Robinson headed home to level the match in the 30th minute, and the Salvadoran international admired Robinson's ability to finish such a driven ball.
"The ball was coming in like a rocket," said Cerritos. "For me, it is really hard to finish those balls."
San Jose has not lost since May, a span of seven matches. It was the second match of the season in which the Earthquakes have won after surrendering the first goal, and their coach said he loves his club's desire to fight back from a deficit.
"I think the one good thing is our response when teams score against us," said Kinnear. "It is a very confident group and I think they believe in each other. They don't want to let each other down."
It was the Earthquakes' first regular season win against the Crew at Crew Stadium and their first in Columbus since the inaugural season. However, the Earthquakes did defeat the Crew here in the 2001 MLS Cup Playoffs before winning the MLS Cup on the same field against their bitter rivals, the Los Angeles Galaxy.
"We know that this is a really hard city to come to and play," said Cerritos. "It was very difficult to play against them because they needed the result. It was a huge win in this stadium."
The Earthquakes picked up the historic victory despite being outshot 14-5. However, they clearly showed more quality in front of goal than their opponents.
"I don't think we had too many chances today, but I think we were very effective with our finishing," said Kinnear.
John Kuhn is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
