SAN JOSE, Calif. – The San Jose Earthquakes didn’t win their third MLS championship in 2010. But for the first time since being reestablished in 2008, they were legitimate contenders and returned to the MLS Cup Playoffs.
The Quakes avoided early-season slumps that derailed their ’08 and ’09 campaigns from the jump, retooled at midseason with the additions of Jamaican midfielder Khari Stephenson and Brazilian attacker Geovanni – the club’s first Designated Player signing – and went on a 7-4-2 kick from Aug. 14 to clinch the eighth postseason berth.
San Jose’s season peaked with a 3-1 victory in Red Bull Arena that knocked New York, the Eastern Conference’s top point-getters, out of the playoffs and put the Quakes into the second round for the first time since 2003. Here are the best and worst moments of the 2010 season.
[inline_node:322659]Best moment of the year
After dropping the first leg 1-0 at home, nearly everyone wrote the Quakes off—except the Quakes themselves. San Jose pulled a shocker in Red Bull Arena in the second leg, stunning New York’s DP-laden roster, 3-1, through a tour de force performance from Bobby Convey, who scored twice and assisted on the final goal to finish the Red Bulls’ season.
Worst moment
The ride only lasted another week before the low point: watching Kosuke Kimura’s cross slip untouched past a Quakes defense. Kimura’s goal was the difference in Colorado’s 1-0 victory over San Jose in the Eastern Conference Championship at Dick's Sporting Goods Park. The result ended the Quakes' season.
Best goal
Although Chris Wondolowski won the MLS Golden Boot with 18 goals, the year’s best for San Jose perhaps belonged to Arturo Alvarez. With the game deadlocked at 1-1 at PPL Park in July, the El Salvador international broke in from the right wing during second-half stoppage time with only Philadelphia defender Jordan Harvey to beat. Six dribbles later, all with the outside of his dominant left foot, Alvarez cut back and whistled the game-winner past Union ‘keeper Chris Seitz.
WATCH: Alvarez stuns Union with late winner
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Best save
Jon Busch came up big all season for the Quakes, but no save was bigger than the one he made in the second leg of the Eastern Conference semifinals. With San Jose clinging to a 1-0 lead (and a 1-1 tie, on aggregate) in the 60th minute at Red Bull Arena, Jon Busch came up with a pure reaction kick-save on Mehdi Ballouchy, who had gotten free inside San Jose’s six-yard box. Busch's point-blank stop denied the Red Bulls a clear momentum-swinger and preserved the Earthquakes' upset.
WATCH: Busch kicks away point-blank chance
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Team MVP: Chris Wondolowski
He may have come up short in the voting for league MVP, but there's no question who San Jose's main man was. With 12 goals in the Quakes’ final 13 matches, he unquestionably lifted the team. His nine game-winning goals was also tops in the league. As nearly the entire team admitted, without Wondo, San Jose wouldn't have gone to the postseason.
Best newcomer: Jon Busch
Some observers thought GM John Doyle was engaging in a bit of overkill when he brought in the former MLS Goalkeeper of the Year after he was cut by Chicago. But the move looked shrewd after incumbent No. 1 Joe Cannon suffered a broken ankle in August and Busch (1.06 GAA) backstopped the team to the playoffs. That the club was willing to part with Cannon in the Expansion Draft tells you all you need to know.
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