The San Jose Earthquakes buried the Vancouver Whitecaps with an avalanche of shots on Saturday night, tallying a league-record forty-three attempts in a comprehensive 3-1 victory.
On the back of three consecutive defeats, the Quakes were in need of a statement victory to reassert their playoff intentions. Though the scoreline might not have sent the full message, the stats sheet shows one of the most dominant performances in Major League Soccer history. The home side tallied nineteen shots on target, another record, and controlled seventy-five-percent of possession.
All of which the Quakes achieved without the presence of head coach Matias Almeyda, who was serving a touchline suspension after his controversial sending off during the team’s midweek loss to LAFC.
Early on, it looked as if his absence might thwart their efforts as Vancouver claimed a surprise lead. Jake Nerwinski cut in from the right, muscling past Vako, and whipped a low effort into the bottom corner, his first-ever goal in Major League Soccer.
Yet it was in that moment that San Jose flipped a switch and halted their downward tumble. With a renewed sense of urgency, the Quakes immediately went back up the other end of the pitch and equalized. Chris Wondolowski threaded a neat one-touch pass through to Judson’s overlapping run and the midfielder coolly slotted past Maxime Crepeau.
The Quakes began to pepper Vancouver’s goal with shots from all angles, forcing Crépaeu to make a league-record sixteen saves. Yet the Canadian could only keep the Quakes at bay for so long, and Wondolowski finally completed San Jose’s comeback in the thirty-fourth minute. So adept at finding space in the box, the forward ghosted in-between defenders at the far post to finish Cristian Espinoza’s corner.
“Matias and the coaching staff work on a lot of different types of set pieces,” said defender Florian Jungwirth. “Basically, we always try to block a guy…sometimes it’s a bit unusual how we attack and that makes it hard for the opponent.
“It’s definitely a weapon of ours.”
To their credit, Vancouver continued to keep the Quakes close, even as it rained shots.
It wasn’t until the Quakes introduced new signing Andres Rios in the seventieth minute that they were able to put the match to bed. While his teammates were finding every possible way to miss, the Argentine only needed one shot to make his mark, curling a gorgeous effort in off the post from twenty yards.
With a clinical new addition and renewed energy, the Quakes will likely be confident they can sustain tonight’s momentum in their crucial home match against Orlando City next weekend.
Said Wondolowski: “When you’re not creating chances, that’s when you have to worry and start changing things. Right now, we’re on the right path and hopefully it kind of snowballs.”
