Matias Almeyda sketched this one out perfectly.
As the San Jose Earthquakes took the field for the second half, Almeyda instructed his team to deploy a kickoff-play they had devised at training last week. After some tricky moves in the center-circle, Magnus Eriksson played the ball wide to tonight’s captain Shea Salinas, who cut inside and curled a gorgeous finish into the top corner. It was their third goal of the night — the knockout punch in an impressive 4-1 victory over Sporting Kansas City — and San Jose’s fastest-ever goal from a restart.
“We practiced that yesterday, it was amazing,” said Salinas. “It was really cool to practice something and have it come to fruition.”
The same could be said of San Jose’s game-plan as a whole. The Quakes rushed to an early 2-0 lead courtesy of a brace from Danny Hoesen, and Kansas City never recovered. The home side’s aggressive defense interrupted SKC’s slick passing patterns, and their quick breakaways overwhelmed SKC’s defense.
After San Jose’s last home match, a 3-0 victory over the Portland Timbers, Almeyda called on Hoesen to improve his finishing, and the Dutchman responded with two clinical goals in the first eleven minutes tonight. San Jose looked to launch Hoesen in behind with long balls over the top, and Godoy found him for the opener after just five minutes. Shortly thereafter, Jackson Yeuill put Hoesen in on goal again with a curling pass in behind, and the forward buried another cool finish. Although the goal was originally called back incorrectly for offside, it was restored by video review after chants of “V-A-R” rang throughout Avaya Stadium.
San Jose were also remarkably compact in defense, limiting Kansas City to long-range attempts and half-chances. Except, that is, for one major lapse when Harold Cummings misplayed a pass straight to SKC and Florian Jungwirth clumsily gave up a penalty as he rushed to recover. However, the Quakes escaped to the half with the shutout intact as Krisztián Nemeth skied the spot-kick well over the bar.
Salinas wasted no time scoring a third on the other side of the half, and Magnus Eriksson’s deflected goal put the game to bed shortly thereafter.
Although Felipe Gutiérrez buried a late penalty for SKC, the match was already done and dusted. The only thing left to see was whether Chris Wondolowski could tie the all-time MLS goalscoring record as a late substitute, but he couldn’t beat Tim Melia on a late breakaway.
