SAN JOSE, Calif. – For two seasons, gleaming Avaya Stadium drew plenty of accolades from locals and out-of-towners alike.
On Saturday night, the San Jose Earthquakes’ new home might have arrived in terms of its home-field advantage.
Despite a gut-punch of a goal from Seattle Sounders midfielder Nicolas Lodeiro, the Quakes showed their strength at Avaya, using a Chris Wondolowski volley in the 90th minute to forge a 1-1 tie that kept San Jose unbeaten at home this year.
From a persistence standpoint, it was one of the best performances that the Quakes have had since moving out of Buck Shaw Stadium following the 2014 campaign. San Jose are 2-0-1 at Avaya this year after going 15-6-13 there the last two seasons.
“We got something out of the game, which I think we deserved,” said Quakes coach Dominic Kinnear. “I’d have been heartbroken if we walked out of here with zero points, considering the way we played … The first 45 minutes, we were pretty fun to watch, pretty electric. We were just missing that goal.”
All that work threatened to be undone with Lodeiro’s strike, an outside-of-the-boot bolt that caught San Jose unawares in the 85th minute after Clint Dempsey’s initial free kick was knocked down by Anibal Godoy in the middle of the Quakes’ wall.
But the Quakes recovered in spectacular fashion when tireless forward Marco Ureña – playing arguably his best game since joining San Jose – followed up passes from Darwin Ceren and Cordell Cato to fizz a cross that found the open Wondolowski on the far post.
“It’s great to do that,” Wondolowski said of keeping Seattle winless in San Jose since 2010. “I commend the effort, and I think we have that fight in us.”
Wondolowski and Ureña conspired to almost put the Quakes ahead in the first half; the captain’s delicate pass off Shaun Francis’ cross allowed Ureña to hammer a sideways volley that forced a sprawling, top-shelf save from Seattle goalkeeper Stefan Frei. And Ureña almost bagged a game-winner for the Quakes, breaking in behind the Sounders back line during stoppage time, only to be denied again by Frei.
It all bodes well for the new pairing of US and Costa Rican internationals.
“I think that our partnership’s definitely blooming and blossoming into something special,” Wondolowski said. “I love playing with him. I love his approach defensively but also offensively. He works hard and is tireless in his work ethic. But offensively, he has that composure and technical ability to do something special.”
