Déja vu, anyone?
Once again, San Jose Earthquakes winger Shea Salinas was the hero of the California Clasico as he fired a late goal to help secure a dominant 3-0 Quakes victory over the LA Galaxy. He tore down the sideline in celebration, ripping off his shirt in a cheeky reference to his stoppage-time winner in this same fixture in 2017.
“I didn’t really want to take my shirt off but I felt that if I didn’t, I would’ve gotten a lot of [flack] from my teammates and fans,” laughed Salinas. “So I went ahead and did it, and it was fun.”
“Fun” is an understatement. The Quakes were superb in attack, overrunning the Galaxy with the type of slick passing through the middle and darting runs down the wings that have characterized coach Matias Almeyda’s adventurous attacking style. That’s to say nothing of an outstanding defensive display from goalkeeper Daniel Vega and his back line, which kept San Jose’s first clean sheet in the history of the Cali Clasico.
The Quakes set the tone from the opening whistle, notching an early go-ahead goal courtesy of Vako. A broken set play fell right to the midfielder’s feet and, in a brilliant piece of improvisation, he fired a low shot into the bottom corner.
At the other end of the pitch, the Galaxy were off the pace and struggled to create chances. Captain Zlatan Ibrahimovic was unusually subdued, sulking around the field with palpable frustration. Evidently displeased with his service, the forward dropped further into the midfield in search of space but found himself tightly man-marked wherever he went.
Vako, by contrast, was a picture of confidence, swaggering through the Galaxy’s defense on a series of jinxing runs. He should have released the ball earlier on a few occasions, but why pass when he had scored San Jose’s last six goals?
“Perfect” was the way Almeyda described the Georgian’s performance. “That’s the road he has to stay on,” said the coach. “It’s the only way he can keep his position. He’s demonstrating that he’s very much improved.”
That said, the Quakes could still have improved their finishing early on. Although they registered six shots on target in the first half, few troubled Galaxy goalkeeper David Bingham.
Heading into the second half, the Quakes left the door open for the Galaxy. Ibrahimovic came close on multiple occasions, heading over and curling wide.
Then Salinas came on and put the game to bed.
“[Matias] told me to get out there and take my guy on one-on-one,” said Salinas. Cristian was up and down the flank and wore them down so I was fortunate to come on and go against tired legs. It worked out for us.”
Tommy Thompson followed up with a third just moments later, an emphatic end to a statement victory.
