The San Jose Earthquakes closed their season-opening, two-game home stand with a 2-1 victory over the defending MLS Cup champion Portland Timbers on Sunday evening at Avaya Stadium. Forwards Chris Wondolowski and Quincy Amarikwa tallied first-half goals and the Quakes defense pitched a shutout for more than 88 minutes in the victory. San Jose is one of three teams in Major League Soccer to win each of its first two matches, after defeating the Colorado Rapids 1-0 in their season opener last weekend. The Quakes also opened the season 2-0-0 for the first time in club history.
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES HEAD COACH DOMINIC KINNEAR
On the game:
“I think both teams played pretty well and created some chances on both sides of the ball. We just seemed to make a little bit more defensive plays there at the end. But overall I thought we played well. We came out pretty sharp. We were passing the ball, guys were wanting it, guys were moving. And obviously they had some chances there as well, they have some good players. The first goal was a real alert play by us, and obviously the second goal is something special from Quincy [Amarikwa]. But I thought the first 45 minutes were really, really sharp. And then in the second half we knew they were going to make a push and we had to kind of sit in a little bit which I didn’t really want to do, but it happens. And to come out and beat the defending champs, you know it’s going to be a big effort from everyone involved – it’s what we needed, and it’s what we got.”
On Quincy Amarikwa’s goal:
“You always know he gives everything he’s got. So for him to get rewarded with a goal like that I think is just, because he does do a lot of the grunt work. It’s just great individual play, it’s a great touch, and probably it was the only place where it could have beat [Adam] Kwarasey, because I think he came close to it. It was a great play by him, it really was. And it was much needed. Just before halftime, it was a big lift for us.”
On Fatai Alashe’s return to the lineup and moving Simon Dawkins outside:
“It was very important. Not just for getting Simon out in that space, but just for him and [Anibal] Godoy to get that partnership back, which we felt was a good partnership for us at the end of the season last year. Obviously disappointed to see him [Alashe] not kick a ball all preseason, knowing how important he is to the team, and I think he showed it today.”
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES FORWARD CHRIS WONDOLOWSKI
On his goal:
“To be honest, I thought it was a great ball by Kip [Colvey] to find Anibal Godoy and set that up. Godoy looked up and played a great ball to me. I was able to make a near-post run and tap it in. It was a good buildup I thought too.”
On what he thought of Quincy Amarikwa’s goal:
“Amazing. Jaw-dropping. This guy is amazing. That was well deserved. I’m proud of him because he puts so much work into each game and especially the quality of that goal. Unbelievable.”
On if this match was a game-changer:
“Yeah, I hope so. It’s nice to finally execute a nice game plan. I thought that we came in there and we knew what we wanted to do. There’s always a difference between knowing what you want to do and actually doing it and executing it and I thought we did a great job. I thought Anibal and Fatai [Alashe] were wonderful in there. They’re really the catalyst that kept us going and connecting those passes and then you can express yourself in the offensive third. I thought they did a great job and not to mention Victor [Bernardez] and Clarence [Goodson] back there.”
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES FORWARD QUINCY AMARIKWA
On his goal:
“Most goalkeepers play off their line, so I thought if I can turn quickly I have an opportunity. When I took my first touch long, the keeper was off of his line unsure if he should come or not. Then on my second touch, I looked up and figured if I put it over his right and he would have difficulty getting to it. Once I made contact with it, I knew I hit how I wanted to. Luckily, it fell in the back of the net.”
On the team’s offensive play:
“With the change of Fatai [Alashe] playing today we were able to maintain possession better through the midfield and we were able to find chemistry from last season. Simon [Dawkins] found time and space out wide and that was putting Portland on their heels on the counter attack. It’s only going to get better as we build more continuity.”
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES MIDFIELDER ANIBAL GODOY
On win:
“It was a tough match. We knew coming into today that we would have to play at a high level to beat the champs. They have a very talented midfield with a dangerous attack. We tried to tighten up some of the loose play from last week and that was key in today’s win.”
On upcoming road match vs. LA Galaxy:
“We have to make sure we take advantage of the week to train. Our midfield is going to have another tough matchup against theirs. We have two good wins to start the season, but will take our best efforts to win in Los Angeles.”
