Preview: RSL, SJ to clash in battle for Western dominance

SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES vs REAL SALT LAKE
BUCK SHAW STADIUM, Santa Clara, Calif.
July 14, 2012 (WEEK 19, MLS Game #178)
10:30 p.m. ET (CSN-CA; KTVX-ABC4)

The class of the Western Conference thus far this season meet for a third this season when the San Jose Earthquakes entertain Real Salt Lake on Saturday evening at Buck Shaw Stadium. The Quakes return home after a two-game road swing, coming off a scoreless draw at FC Dallas. Real snapped a four-game winless run last time out, a 3-0 home win against the Portland Timbers. The Quakes have won both previous meetings this year, both in dramatic fashion.

REFEREE: Allen Chapman. SAR (bench): C.J. Morgante; JAR (opposite): Anthony Vasoli; 4th: Ramon Hernandez
MLS Career: 5 games; FC/gm: 22.2; Y/gm: 2.4; R: 0; pens: 1

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INJURY REPORT:

• SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES -- OUT: MF Sam Garza (rib fracture); MF Joey Gjertsen (R knee surgery); DF Tim Ward (L non-specific soft tissue injury); DOUBTFUL: MF Simon Dawkins (L shoulder sprain); QUESTIONABLE: DF Ike Opara (L hip flexor strain)
• REAL SALT LAKE -- OUT: DF Chris Schuler (L foot bone stress response); QUESTIONABLE: MF Ned Grabavoy (L adductor strain); PROBABLE: MF Javier Morales (R knee hyperextension); DF Nat Borchers (L quadriceps strain)

INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES: none

SUSPENDED: SJ: Ramiro Corrales (through July 15)

WARNINGS:

• SUSPENDED NEXT YELLOW CARD: RSL: Alvaro Saborio
• SUSPENDED AFTER TWO YELLOW CARDS: SJ: Rafael Baca, Steven Beitashour, Marvin Chavez, Ramiro Corrales, Alan Gordon, Steven Lenhart ... RSL: Will Johnson, Javier Morales, Jamison Olave, Jonny Steele, Chris Wingert

HEAD-TO-HEAD

ALL-TIME (15 meetings): Earthquakes 5 wins, 19 goals ... Real 5 wins, 22 goals ... Ties 5

AT SAN JOSE (6 meetings): Earthquakes 3 wins, 12 goals ... Real 3 wins, 11 goals ... Ties 1

2012 (MLS)
4/21: SJ 3, RSL 1 (Stephenson 47+; Dawkins 92+; Wondolowski 93+ -- Beckerman 53)
6/23: RSL 1, SJ 2 (Morales 69 -- Gordon 65; Wondolowski 84)

• It's the third meeting of the season between the clubs and the Earthquakes have won the first two, a dramatic 3-1 win on April 21 in Santa Clara with the tie-breaking goals from Simon Dawkins and Chris Wondolowski coming in stoppage time, and a 2-1 win June 23 at Salt Lake, thanks to another late goal.
• The first victory this year was San Jose's first win in league play against RSL since May 30, 2009, and ended a two-game losing streak to Real in Santa Clara. Real had won three of the five previous meetings, with two draws.
• Coaches record: Frank Yallop vs. RSL: P16 W5 L7 D4 ... Jason Kreis vs. SJ: P11 W5 L3 D3

LAST MEETING (MLS):

• San Jose finally broke through in the quiet match in the 75th minute. A Ramiro Corrales free kick from the right side was allowed to bounce, and a miscommunication between Rimando and Nat Borchers left the ball sitting up for Alan Gordon to head into an open goal.
• Four minutes later, Javier Morales brought Real back to even terms. His perfect free kick from 24 yards swerved over the wall and into the upper-left corner past Quakes 'keeper Jon Busch.
• But San Jose swung the match back again six minutes from the end. A long throw from Justin Morrow was headed on by Gordon, and Wondolowski beat his man to the ball to redirect it on goal. Rimando got down for the shot, only to see it spin under him and over the line for his league-leading 13th goal.
• REAL SALT LAKE (4-3-1-2): Nick Rimando - Terakazu Tanaka (Luis Gil 72), Chris Wingert, Nat Borchers, Tony Beltran (Paulo Junior 89) - Ned Grabavoy (Jonny Steele 59), Kyle Beckerman, Will Johnson - Javier Morales - Fabian Espindola, Alvaro Saborio.
• SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES (4-3-1-2): Jon Busch - Steven Beitashour, Jason Hernandez, Victor Bernardez, Justin Morrow - Marvin Chavez, Khari Stephenson (Jean-Marc Alexandre 84), Ramiro Corrales - Simon Dawkins (Shea Salinas 66) - Steven Lenhart (Alan Gordon 59), Chris Wondolowski.

SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES

The San Jose Earthquakes concluded their two-game road trip with a result, playing to a scoreless draw with FC Dallas on Saturday evening in Frisco. The Quakes lead the Western Conference with 37 points from 19 games.

HIGHLIGHTS: Goal line clearances keep SJ, FCD scoreless
LAST MATCH

• Both teams had shots cleared off the line in the first half. Fabian Castillo who nearly found the net in the 31st minute for FCD when he connected with a loose ball, but it hit fallen San Jose defender Jason Hernandez in front of goal and bounced away from danger.
• The Earthquakes nearly broke through five minutes later. Chris Wondolowski was freed in on goal and chipped past an on-rushing Kevin Hartman in goal, but Hernan Pertuz recovered to clear the ball off the line.
• Hartman finished the night with one save for FC Dallas, while Quakes 'keeper Jon Busch was credited with three saves.
• Earthquakes head coach Frank Yallop made two changes to the team that fell 2-1 to the Portland Timbers at Jeld-Wen Field. Marvin Chavez and Ramiro Corrales came into the midfield in place of Shea Salinas and Khari Stephenson.
• SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES (4-4-2): Jon Busch - Steven Beitashour, Jason Hernandez, Victor Bernardez, Justin Morrow - Marvin Chavez (Shea Salinas 62), Sam Cronin, Rafael Baca, Ramiro Corrales (sent off 80) - Alan Gordon (Khari Stephenson 83), Chris Wondolowski.

TEAM NEWS
A&W Root Beer Float Chug-Off

• The Earthquakes were shut out for just the second time this season, the first since a 1-0 loss to the Houston Dynamo on March 17.
• I have to do a little better job of finishing it off. ... I know it wasn't in, but I don't think you can get much closer to it not going in the net," said Chris Wondolowski. "We had our chances, FC Dallas had a couple good defensive plays clearing off the line and a couple good saves by Kevin [Hartman]."
• But it was also the Quakes' first defensive clean sheet since March 31, when they posted their third in the first four games of the season.
• "I thought our center midfielders were excellent tonight," Quakes coach Frank Yallop said. "Sam Cronin and Rafa Baca covered a lot of ground against basically a three-man [central] midfield, with David Ferreira dropping pretty deep to pick the ball up and do his thing. They did a nice job of collapsing and making it difficult for those three players in there."
• Goalkeeper Jon Busch was able to return to duty after suffering an eye injury that forced him off at halftime of the LA match on June 30.
• "Defensively we're pretty happy just to get the zero. That's our first one in a while and just to keep them off the board and [FC Dallas] really didn't have a lot of chances to be honest, so we were pleased with that," said Sam Cronin. "Our passing can get a little sharper and it's disappointing not to finish off one of those breakaways we had."
• Alan Gordon made his second consecutive start, the first time this season he's started in back-to-back league games.
• "Coming into last year, he was injured. He was injured when he came in from Toronto FC to be honest. He had surgery and then he was out for the year, so it looked like a bad trade, but now it's a good one," said Yallop. "We didn't know about the injury, but he's better now. He has six goals in not that many minutes. He was close tonight, but he was a big man out there tonight. He leads the line well. He helps [Chris Wondolowski] with playing underneath a little bit to give him some space."

REAL SALT LAKE

Real Salt Lake snapped their four-game winless run in emphatic fashion, rolling to a 3-0 win against the Portland Timbers on Saturday evening at Rio Tinto Stadium. Real sit in second place in the Western Conference with 36 points from 20 games.

HIGHLIGHTS: RSL drop the hammer on listless Timbers
LAST MATCH

• Real Salt Lake finally broke through in the 60th minute. After collecting the ball outside the area, Kyle Beckerman floated a ball towards the penalty spot that Alvaro Saborio rose up to meet and flick into the corner of the Portland goal.
• Just two minutes later, Real and Saborio each had a second. Chris Wingert drove in a cross from the left flank and Saborio stretched forward to nod it past goalkeeper Troy Perkins.
• Things got testy in the 64th minute after a Diego Chara tackle on Javier Morales, and Chara was sent off nine minutes later after parrying Saborio's header off the line with his left hand, and the score was 3-0 after Saborio converted the resulting penalty kick.
• RSL head coach Jason Kreis made four changes to the team that reached a scoreless draw with Seattle Sounders FC at Rio Tinto Stadium. Tony Beltran and Jamison Olave came back into the back four for Kenny Mansally and Kwame Watson-Siriboe, Ned Grabavoy started in midfield for Luis Gil, and Paulo came back in up top for Junior Fabian Espindola.
• REAL SALT LAKE (4-3-1-2): Nick Rimando - Tony Beltran, Jamison Olave (Kwame Watson-Siriboe 82), Nat Borchers, Chris Wingert - Ned Grabavoy (Luis Gil 24), Kyle Beckerman, Will Johnson - Javier Morales - Paulo Junior (Emiliano Bonfigli 54), Alvaro Saborio.

TEAM NEWS
Justin Braun on coming home to Salt Lake

• Real Salt Lake put an end to their two-game losing streak at Rio Tinto Stadium -- their first ever -- their four-game winless run dating back to June 20, and a 251- minute scoreless streak since Javier Morales scored in the last meeting with San Jose.
• "We made it very clear to our players that we wanted to get back to the basics and establish a foundation," said RSL head coach Jason Kreis. "I think we did that Wednesday night not allowing Seattle to score against us and then put it all together tonight. I feel like we've moved a step in the right direction."
• Alvaro Saborio hit for his third multiple-goal game this season, and scored just the second league hat trick in RSL history, the first since Robbie Findley hit for a triple to open the 2009 season.
• "I think this is the guy, for me, that has just had a lot of injustices lately," Kreis said. "The goals that have been called back against him that he's scored that we've reviewed again and say, 'Those are fair goals.' So, I'm really, really pleased that he scored three and perhaps we can all feel better about where he stands, and where we stand."
• Said defender Chris Wingert: "Our forwards have like 16 goals, our starters, and that's pretty darn good. When all things are clicking for us, they're scoring, and [Saborio] played great tonight. I'm psyched for him."
• Center back Jamison Olave returned to the team after missing the last three matches, playing 82 minutes before he was removed in favor of Kwame Watson-Siriboe.
• "Everybody was freaking out and it's understandable. We don't want to get too high or too low from the way everbody else is reacting," said Wingert. "Whether it's great things or bad things, but we're trying to stay on an even keel, but it's tough after a few losses."
• Ned Grabavoy was able to return to the team after two matches out of the first team, but had to come off after just 24 minutes after suffering a groin injury.
• Credited with his 131st goalkeeper victory, Nick Rimando pulled into second place all-time in league history, along with Zach Thornton. Current FC Dallas goalkeeper Kevin Hartman is the all-time leader with 174.