The San Jose Earthquakes repeated last season’s dramatic 3-2 Decision Day victory over Minnesota United in their first match of the 2018 season, courtesy of a brace from Danny Hoesen and goal from Vako. Kevin Molino’s late rally took the steam out of an otherwise dominant performance from San Jose but the Quakes managed to stave off disaster to seal the three points.
The Quakes were understandably skittish in the opening, taking a while to get comfortable in their buildup. Minnesota sat deep and allowed San Jose to possess in their own half but the Quakes lacked penetration early on, often resorting to long diagonals. Florian Jungwirth and Anibal Godoy were rather flat and outnumbered in the midfield, particularly on Minnesota’s quick breaks. Ibson and Rasmus Schüller sat as deep holding midfielders for Minnesota and were able to find holes in San Jose’s press to break the pressure and launch forward.
San Jose were particularly vulnerable to balls in behind as Shea Salinas cheated forward on the left and neither center-back had the pace to match Minnesota’s forwards. Minnesota nearly capitalized in the seventeenth minute, with Ibson launching Ethan Finlay in behind Salinas and forcing a big stop from Andrew Tarbell.
However, Stahre has preached tactical flexibility and to his credit, San Jose adapted well to plug the holes. The home side began to push higher up the pitch and the wide men Magnus Eriksson and Vako tucked into the middle to get more of the ball and pressure Minnesota’s holding midfielders. Nick Lima and Hoesen tested the waters with tentative efforts early on and Vako proved the key to unlock Minnesota’s defense in the twenty-seventh minute, picking out Hoesen on the top of the box for the forward to curl into the bottom corner.
It was at that moment Stahre gave his men the nod engage the high-press, to immediate effect. Wondolowski pressed the center-back from kickoff, blocking a long-ball and breaking down the right. The forward’s cross narrowly missed Hoesen at the front-post but Vako made the late far-post run to convert. The Quakes should have had a third as well, as Vako’s shot was tipped wide by Matt Lampson and Yeferson Quintana hit the bar from the following corner.
Their persistence paid off in the second half, though, with Hoesen burying a neat one-two with Vako down the right. Following the third, the Quakes sat deep to begin game-management mode but, as in their 4-2 preseason victory over the LA Galaxy, they were susceptible to lapses in focus. Christian Ramirez nearly netted after Tarbell spilled the ball and Molino also began to find space in behind as the Quakes dropped off. Quintana was also forced off due to injury, which thrust Jimmy Ockford on as a replacement in his MLS regular-season debut.
Molino pulled one back in the eighty-first minute, capitalizing on a poor clearance and nipping ahead of his defender to convert, and a second shortly thereafter stunned San Jose. Stahre managed to close the floodgates by subbing on Fatai Alashe and dropping Jungwirth into a back-three to root the defense but the two goals took the momentum out of what had previously been a convincing performance.