VANCOUVER, B.C.
– The San Jose Earthquakes defeated Vancouver Whitecaps FC 2-1 at BC Place behind goals from Quincy Amarikwa and Simon Dawkins. The victory marked the first of the season on the road for San Jose.
In the 12th minute, Dawkins made some space for himself with a bit of nifty footwork before crossing the ball into the box. Second-year midfielder Fatai Alashe headed the ball with pace towards the near post, smacking the crossbar. A scrum ensued in front of net before the ball was eventually cleared.
Two minutes later, San Jose got on the board. Anibal Godoy sent in an in-swinging corner kick, which found an unmarked Amarikwa inside the six-yard box. Amarikwa’s header was corralled by keeper David Ousted, but his momentum carried him, and the ball, behind the goal line. The goal gave San Jose their first lead in Vancouver since May 5, 2012.
Vancouver nearly equalized in the 20th minute. Forward Masato Kudo beat the offside trap and had a one-on-one with Quakes net minder David Bingham, but his shot sailed up and over the bar.
Dawkins doubled the road side’s advantage in the 60th minute. Receiving a pass from Alberto Quintero, Dawkins pushed the ball past his defender and blasted his left-footed shot into the side netting.
Vancouver was able to pull a goal back four minutes into stoppage time, but the Quakes held on to secure all three points.
The Quakes return home to take on the Houston Dynamo on Friday, August 19 at Avaya Stadium, presented by Meriwest Credit Union. The match kicks off at 8 p.m. PT and will be broadcast live on UniMas, 1590 KLIV and 1370 KZSF.
Notes:
San Jose is now 7-6-10 on the season and 1-5-6 on the road. With the win, only eight teams in MLS have secured more points on the road than the Quakes’ nine.
San Jose now has a 3-6-6 all-time record against Vancouver, including a 1-6-1 record on the road. Friday night’s win marked the first-ever for San Jose in Vancouver.
The Quakes earned their first road win of the season, first since Aug. 22, 2015 (W 2-0 at DC) and first against a Western Conference opponent since Aug. 19, 2015 (W 5-0 at KC).
San Jose is currently riding a five-game unbeaten streak (2-0-3), third longest in MLS. Only three teams have earned more points over their last five games than the Quakes’ nine (DAL – 10, LA – 11, TOR – 12).
The Earthquakes have held opponents to no more than one goal in 18 of their 23 matches this season, including 12 of their last 13.
The Earthquakes trotted out the same starting XI for the fourth consecutive match.
Forward Quincy Amarikwa scored his third goal of the season and 24th of his career.
Midfielder Simon Dawkins scored his third goal of the season and 17th of his MLS career.
Anibal Godoy and Alberto Quintero tallied their second and third assists of the season, respectively.
Head coach Dominic Kinnear’s winning percentage is now .931 in the month of August (25-0-4) when his team scores first.
The Earthquakes all-time record in the month of August is now 9-0-3 under Kinnear.
San Jose has trailed for a total of 14 minutes in their last five matches.
Cordell Cato started and played 90 minutes for the fifth consecutive match, a new personal record.
Darwin Ceren entered as a substitute at halftime and played 45 minutes, his most in a game since being acquired by the Quakes on Aug. 3.
San Jose scored multiple goals on the road for the first time since June 18 (D 2-2 at ORL).
MLS Regular Season
Vancouver Whitecaps FC 1 – San Jose Earthquakes 2
Aug. 12, 2016 – BC Place in Vancouver, B.C.
Attendance: 22,120
Scoring Summary: SJ – Quincy Amarikwa (Anibal Godoy) 14; SJ – Simon Dawkins (Alberto Quintero) 60; VAN – Nicolas Mezquida (Kendall Waston, Christian Bolanos) 90+4.
Misconduct Summary: SJ – Fatai Alashe (caution) 34.
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES: David Bingham; Jordan Stewart, Victor Bernardez, Marvell Wynne, Cordell Cato; Simon Dawkins, Anibal Godoy, Fatai Alashe (Darwin Ceren 46), Alberto Quintero (Shea Salinas 87); Chris Wondolowski, Quincy Amarikwa (Chad Barrett 83).
SHOTS: 12, SHOTS ON GOAL: 6; SAVES: 6; FOULS: 16; CORNER KICKS: 6; OFFSIDES: 3.
VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC: David Ousted; Marcel de Jong (Alphonso Davies 66), Tim Parker, David Edgar, Kendall Waston; Nicolas Mezquida, Matias Laba (Fraser Aird 74); Pedro Morales, Giles Barnes, Christian Bolanos; Masato Kudo (Blas Perez 66).
SHOTS: 17; SHOTS ON GOAL: 7; SAVES: 4; FOULS: 15; CORNER KICKS: 11; OFFSIDES: 1.
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES HEAD COACH DOMINIC KINNEAR
On whether he was happy with the performance:
“Yes. It helped to get the early goal. I think it gave us a little bit of belief and some confidence. I thought we played well, broke well, created some good chances. Obviously, we relied on David Bingham at times tonight, he pulled us out of some tough situations. It’s our first road win of the year. I think it’s the first time the Quakes have won in Vancouver, which is always a tough place to play. So to sit here and come out with three points and watch the way the team played, really happy and looking forward to the next one.”
On what his game plan was tonight and why it worked so well:
“Well, I wouldn’t give myself that much credit. No, it was good to get a goal off a set piece. I thought Quincy Amarikwa had a real strong game, up until the substitution, and really held the ball up well for us. When he does that, he brings people into play. I thought we defended their set pieces pretty well until the very end. But overall, I just thought the guys, our possession was good, our movement was good, we created some good chances. I thought the amount of work we put in tonight was well deserved to get the win.”
On what they need to do to get into playoff position:
“We’re at seven wins. Who knows what number it is because a couple of teams in the West are running away with it, so we’re all kind of looking for maybe four, five, and six. Maybe four is a bit of a stretch because LA is quite high up. It is always our intent to get road wins. We didn’t want to come in with no road wins this late in the season, it’s just the way it went. But we did pick up a good number of draws on the road, which gave us some points and doesn’t let other teams get three, especially the conference games. For us, it’s just a matter of staying healthy. We play three games in the next eight-to-ten-day period, so it’s going to be difficult. We have two games at home, hopefully we can get that and go to Columbus with some confidence.”
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES GOALKEEPER DAVID BINGHAM
On tonight’s win:
“Most important thing, we needed to get those three points to be sitting better on the table and we were hoping to do that tonight. There are a few things we need to work on, but overall it was a great win for us.”
On winning in Vancouver for the first time:
“It’s great, I don’t think it could have come at a better time for us too, so that’s the main thing for us right now, we needed to come away with some points on the road games and at home we’ve got to hold strong like we’ve been doing.”
On conceding the late goal:
“I hate giving up goals and I especially don’t like it when they’re given up in the last minutes of the game, that’s something we need to tidy up on. If we can tidy up on that, we’re an extremely good team and people underestimate us and we like it like that”
On what the win does for the team’s playoff hopes:
“It’s a good win on the road, it’s even better it’s a Western Conference opponent. There’s so much soccer to be played for the rest of the year, so this is a great win but at the end of the day we have a lot of games left and we have to keep improving to make it a very competitive conference.”
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES MIDFIELDER SIMON DAWKINS
On tonight’s win:
“It’s good to get the win. It gives us confidence going into the last games. Now, we got that away win. We can go to other places now and do the same thing.”
On how the team won:
“We passed the ball and moved well. When we do that, we’re a good team. We’ve shown that this season in glimpses. We need to find that consistency again. This is a good start and hopefully we win next week as well.”
