SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES vs NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION
BUCK SHAW STADIUM, Santa Clara, Calif.
March 29, 2014 (WEEK 4, MLS Game #33)
7:30 p.m. PT (CSN-CA; CSN-NE)
Two clubs looking for their opening wins of the campaign come together on Saturday evening when the San Jose Earthquakes play host to the New England Revolution at Buck Shaw Stadium. The Quakes suffered their first loss of the year last weekend, falling 1-0 at Sporting Kansas City. The Revolution have yet to score a goal this year, but gained their first point in a scoreless draw with Vancouver Whitecaps FC in their home opener a week ago.
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REFEREE: David Gantar. SAR (bench): Baboucarr Jallow; JAR (opposite): Marco Arruda; 4th: Ioannis Stavridis
MLS Career: 23 games; FC/gm: 25.6; Y/gm: 2.9; R: 9; pens: 1
SUSPENDED: none
DISABLED LIST: none
INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES: none
HEAD-TO-HEAD
ALL-TIME (37 meetings): Earthquakes 20 wins (0 shootout), 66 goals … Revolution 12 wins (2 shootout), 46 goals … Ties 5
AT SAN JOSE (18 meetings): Earthquakes 10 wins (0 shootout), 37 goals … Revolution 5 wins (2 shootout), 23 goals … Ties 3
LAST YEAR (MLS):
7/6: NE 2, SJ 0 (Sene 13; Imbongo 78)
- This is the only league meeting between the teams this season.
- The Revolution won the lone meeting between the teams a season ago, a 2-0 win at Gillette Stadium on July 6, their first win in Foxborough vs. San Jose since 2009.
- The Revolution also last won at San Jose in 2009, a 1-0 victory at Buck Shaw Stadium on March 21.
- Coaches record: Mark Watson vs. NE: P1 W0 L1 D0 … Jay Heaps vs. SJ: P2 W1 L1 D0
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES
The San Jose Earthquakes suffered their first loss of the young season, falling 1-0 to Sporting Kansas City on Saturday evening at Sporting Park. The Quakes are in a tie for eighth place in the Western Conference with one point from two games.
LAST MATCH
- The game's lone goal came in the 57th minute. After Quakes forward Steven Lenhart batted a ball during a scrum in the penalty area, referee Ricardo Salazar pointed to the spot. San Jose 'keeper Jon Busch went to his left, and Sporting's Dom Dwyer calmly shot low and behind him.
- SKC goalkeeper Eric Kronberg was called upon to make just one save for his first league shutout of the season.
- Quakes boss Mark Watson made one change to the team that opened the season with a 3-3 draw against Real Salt Lake at Buck Shaw Stadium. Clarence Goodson came into central defense in place of Jason Hernandez.
- SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES (4-4-2): Jon Busch - Cordell Cato, Clarence Goodson, Victor Bernardez, Shaun Francis - Atiba Harris (Alan Gordon 76), Jean-Baptiste Pierazzi, Sam Cronin (JJ Koval 46), Shea Salinas - Chris Wondolowski, Steven Lenhart.
TEAM NEWS
- The Earthquakes lost for the first time in all competitions in the defeat by Sporting KC. They drew with Real Salt Lake in their lone league encounter prior, and played to a pair of 1-1 draws with Mexico’s Toluca in the CONCACAF Champions League (losing the series in a penalty shootout).
- “It's tough to win on the road. There's travel. There's a lot of things involved. I think the biggest thing is teams come at you with such energy and such aggression,” said Quakes head coach Mark Watson. “You have to be able to match it and keep a strong mentality for 90 minutes to have any chance of winning on the road. It's definitely a difficult task.”
- After missing the start of the season and all three competitive matches with a calf strain, Clarence Goodson made his 2014 debut in central defense.
- “I think it's going to be great to have a full week of training. We have had a lot of guys out. I think we will get a lot of guys back and even if we don't, it will be good to go through a full week of training with the guys that are playing together,” Goodson said. “I think the guys have done a good job and stepped up, but to have a full week of training makes a world of difference and of course we are a different team in San Jose.”
- The Quakes did see Chris Wondolowski return to the starting lineup, after injury limited him to a substitute role in the second leg vs. Toluca at midweek.
- “We don't change the way we play. Whether it's home or away, we expect to get three points and we didn't do it. We will go back and regroup and try to get it going again to get the win against New England next weekend,” Wondolowski said.
- Jean-Baptiste Pierazzi also returned to the first XI in the center of midfield after playing just 18 minutes off the bench in the match vs. Toluca.
- “It's been a long stretch of games and that showed in the performance a little bit. It wasn't a factor in the game. It was two teams that had a tough schedule. I thought Kansas City were just a bit better on the night,” Watson said.
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION
The New England Revolution still have yet to score a goal but claimed their first point of 2014, reaching a scoreless draw with Vancouver Whitecaps FC on Saturday afternoon at Gillette Stadium. The Revolution are in eighth place in the Eastern Conference with one point from three games.
LAST MATCH
- Real chances were few and far between for most of the afternoon for both sides. Whitecaps goalkeeper David Ousted made a reflex stop on a fifth-minute corner for the best of this three saves on the day.
- Vancouver mustered just seven shots and didn’t serious threaten Revs goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth during the match, who was called upon to make two stops.
- Revolution head coach Jay Heaps made three changes to the team that fell 1-0 to Philadelphia Union at PPL Park. Jose Goncalves came into the back four in place of Darrius Barnes, and Saer Sene and Kelyn Rowe came into the midfield in favor of Scott Caldwell and Donnie Smith.
- NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION (4-1-4-1): Bobby Shuttleworth - Andrew Farrell, A.J. Soares, Jose Goncalves, Chris Tierney - Andy Dorman - Saer Sene (Daigo Kobayashi 58), Diego Fagundez, Lee Nguyen (Dimitry Imbongo 81), Kelyn Rowe (Scott Caldwell 89), Teal Bunbury.
TEAM NEWS
- The Revolution saw their season-opening goalless streak extended to 270 minutes, despite coming away with their first point of the season in the draw with Vancouver. The MLS record to start a season without scoring is 383 minutes, set by Toronto FC in 2007.
- “[Getting a shutout] is a positive. When we look at this, we’re going to take away a good, solid performance defensively from top to bottom,” said Revolution head coach Jay Heaps. “They didn’t have a ton of chances and that’s always good. I think when we had our shutout streak last year when we did well, the other team wasn’t getting a ton of chances and we limited them today. We have to be more clinical on our chances.”
- With the return of Jose Goncalves to the back four, the Revolution had their nominal first-choice back line together for the first time in the 2014 season, and with it came the first clean sheet of the season.
- “Obviously, this has not been an ideal start. You go on the road for two difficult games, but we got home and I thought at least we put it together in some areas. We defended well, we didn’t give away a ton. I thought our backline was really good,” said Heaps.
- After missing the Philadelphia match with a sore hamstring, Kelyn Rowe returned to the starting lineup on one flank. Saer Sene was given the start on the other flank, his first appearance in the starting XI this season after coming off the substitutes’ bench in the first two matches.
- “I think when we’re really playing well and everything’s gelling – we’re dealing with a couple of injuries, we’re getting everyone back,” said Heaps. “When you have your full roster and the full players, I thought we did well at times, but still coming together a bit in that final third. That’s always the hardest part early in the year.”
- Andy Dorman was again given the start in the holding midfield role, playing the full 90 minutes.
- “I think Andy really came on in this game and trained well all week. I thought he played well last week in Philly. Andy’s been a player where when the going gets tough and you need to rely on someone, he’s always been a player who’s done well there,” said Heaps. “I was excited about his performance and he went 90 (minutes), because he had a couple of little injuries in preseason he was able to get through.”
- Said Lee Nguyen: “With his physical prowess, he was able to win a lot of 50-50 balls for us, air balls, second balls. It really helped. Also, his composure on the ball when we did win it, he was able to string passes together and help us get out of the back.”
- Teal Bunbury again reprised the lone striker role, with a line of four midfielders in behind. “Formations are our starting points,” said Heaps. “So when you start talking about formations and different things, for me it’s more about how we play and how we want to play and the philosophy in which we play.”
