The San Jose Earthquakes convincingly defeated rivals LA Galaxy 4-2 in their penultimate preseason match on Saturday afternoon. Goals from Chris Wondolowski, Tommy Thompson, and Fatai Alashe overturned an early deficit and were enough to overcome San Jose’s defensive setbacks.
Anibal Godoy and DP Magnus Eriksson were the two notable absences in San Jose’s starting eleven and neither came off the bench. Jackson Yueill and Jahmir Hyka started in their stead and Fatai Alashe and Tommy Thompson replaced them at halftime. Otherwise, Mikael Stahre appears to have settled on his starting lineup.
The Swedish coach will be pleased with the effectiveness of his high-pressing system, which consistently won the ball in dangerous positions high up the field. The Quakes man-marked in the midfield and forced the Galaxy’s back-line to possess the ball, chasing them into corners and then pouncing at lightning speed.
There were early problems with the system but Stahre corrected for them quickly enough. The forwards stepped a little too high in the opening minutes, which gave the Galaxy’s midfielders room to drop into the hole. At times it also appeared as if the entire team simply shut off while waiting for the word to step, allowing the Galaxy to find a pass in the middle and distribute the ball.
The Quakes were particularly vulnerable to balls in behind and center-back Yeferson Quintana was caught flat-footed on multiple occasions. The Galaxy nearly broke the deadlock when a neat one-two broke San Jose’s back-line but Andrew Tarbell made a key save to deny Romain Alessandrini and Shea Salinas cleared Ola Kamara’s follow-up off the line.
San Jose didn’t get so lucky the second time as Alessandrini beat Tarbell at the near post with a nearly identical run.
However, the Quakes immediately grabbed an equalizer as the press forced an errant pass in the middle to Hyka, who played to Wondolowski to finish. Hoesen had similar chances on the break but couldn’t beat former Quake David Bingham and Vako also sent two low efforts whistling wide of the post.
San Jose didn’t build out of the back as they did against Reno 1868 last weekend, opting instead to move the ball quickly up the field and keep it in the Galaxy’s half.
The Quakes completed the comeback shortly into the second half, with Tommy Thompson and Fatai Alashe converting two similar goals in short succession. Danny Hoesen, who has established himself as a considerable threat up top in preseason, orchestrated both goals. For Thomspon’s goal, Hoesen slipped in Wondolowski to shoot and for Alashe’s, he drove down the left and fired at goal. On both occasions, Bingham saved and the rebounds fell kindly for Thompson and Alashe. Neither were particularly gorgeous finishes but the high press and quick break put the Quakes in positions to capitalize on their luck.
Yet the match was far from over. As the Galaxy pushed further and further up the pitch San Jose’s midfield dropped further and further back, allowing the Galaxy to dictate play from the midfield. Sigi Schmid’s men grabbed one back in the seventy-second minute when Jungwirth stepped off Giovani dos Santos in the midfield and the Mexican international sprayed a long ball over the top to Ashley Cole. Cole’s shot was stopped by Tarbell but the rebound dribbled across goal for Kamara to finish.
Nonetheless, San Jose held on and Thomspon put the match to bed in the ninetieth minute, converting substitute Chris Wehan’s low cross.
