FRISCO, Texas – Chris Wondolowski tallied twice in the first half to lead the San Jose Earthquakes to a 2-0 road win against defending Western Conference Champion FC Dallas at Pizza Hut Park on Saturday.
The 2010 MLS Budweiser Golden Boot winner has scored San Jose’s last 12 regular season goals, extending his MLS record dating back to Sept. 15, 2010. Wondolowski also moved into sole possession of fifth place on the Earthquakes all-time leading goals list with 22, surpassing former US international Eric Wynalda.
Chris Leitch helped create Wondolowski’s first goal, chipping a pass over the FC Dallas backline. Wondolowski chest-trapped the ball with his back to the goal then unleashed a ferocious left-footed strike that beat goalkeeper Kevin Hartman to the far corner for a 1-0 San Jose lead in the 5th minute.
The build up to Wondolowski’s second goal also started with Leitch, this time in the 23rd minute. San Jose’s right back lofted a pass to the far side of the field that Joey Gjertsen collected before whipping a cross to the near post. Wondolowski was there to nod the pass toward the opposite corner and in for his fourth career multi-goal game.
Earthquakes goalkeeper Jon Busch stopped three point-blank chances by Milton Rodriguez in the second half to help preserve the shutout. Busch along with a defense that included Leitch, Jason Hernandez, Brandon McDonald, Ramiro Corrales and Sam Cronin helped bottle up a potent FC Dallas attack that included 2010 MLS Volkswagen MVP David Ferreira for San Jose’s first shutout of 2011.
San Jose returns to action on Saturday, April 2 by hosting Seattle Sounders FC at 7:30 p.m. PT.
San Jose Earthquakes (1-1-0) at FC Dallas (0-1-1)
March 26, 2011 – Pizza Hut Park
Attendance: 11,022
Scoring Summary: SJ – Chris Wondolowski (Chris Leitch) 5; SJ – Wondolowski (Joey Gjertsen, Leitch) 23.
Misconduct Summary: None.
San Jose Earthquakes – Jon Busch, Chris Leitch, Jason Hernandez, Brandon McDonald, Ramiro Corrales (Brad Ring 90), Chris Wondolowski, Sam Cronin, Simon Dawkins (Ike Opara 83), Joey Gjertsen (Ellis McLoughlin 73), Bobby Convey, Ryan Johnson.
Statistics: Shots: 6; Shots on Goal: 2; Saves: 6; Fouls: 10; Offsides: 5; Corners: 3.
FC Dallas – Kevin Hartman, Zach Loyd, George John, Jackson Goncalves (Ruben Luna 74), Jair Benitez, Marvin Chavez, Eric Alexander (Eric Avila 62), Daniel Hernandez, Ricardo Villar (Fabian Castillo 57), Milton Rodriguez, David Ferreira.
Statistics: Shots: 19; Shots on Goal: 6; Saves: 0; Fouls: 7; Offsides: 7; Corners: 8.
QUOTES
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES HEAD COACH FRANK YALLOP
On the Chris Wondolowski Bouncing Back from Last Week’s 1-0 Loss to RSL:
“What’s good about Chris is he doesn’t drop his head. He knows he can finish and he proved it again tonight that he’s one of the top strikers if not finishers in our league. As long as someone scores, and it happens to be Chris right now, we’re fine.”
On Jon Busch’s Performance:
Jon has been terrific since he arrived. There’s no doubt he’s a top goalkeeper in our league and it’s great to have him on our team. He’s a good communicator, very sharp off his line. He does all the things that you ask of a goalkeeper. He was terrific.
On San Jose’s Performance at Home vs. on the Road:
“I said before the season that we have to become a better team at home. You can’t just turn that on and off. I thought we played well against Salt Lake right through the 90 minutes. Tonight, I thought we sort of had the tale of two halves where the first half was ours and the second half was Dallas’ game. To score two goals early away from home is not an easy thing.
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES MIDFIELDER / FORWARD CHRIS WONDOLOWSKI
On his Two Goals:
“I thought my goals today were the product of good team play. Chris Leitch had a great pass to me on the first goal and Joey Gjertsen had another good ball to me for the second goal. Those passes make my job a lot easier when I’m making those runs into the box.”
On Bouncing Back from Last Week’s 1-0 Loss to RSL:
“I felt terrible after last week’s game and I thought I could do a lot better than I did last week. I was very frustrated with that, but my teammates had faith in me and I was able to bounce back this week.”
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES GOALKEEPER JON BUSCH
On His Performance and San Jose’s Defensive Effort:
“They were down 2-0 at home and we knew they had to press in the second half. We knew that was going to come and we just did what we needed to do. It wasn’t pretty, but it was effective soccer. We dodged some bullets, but everybody did their job. The same goes for me. I didn’t do anything special, I just did my job.”
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES DEFENDER CHRIS LEITCH
On the Result:
We maybe got away from our game in the second half, but when you’re up 2-0 you want to stay disciplined defensively and that’s what we did. We kept our shape and put out fires when we needed to, but overall it was a great collective effort.
On San Jose Bottling Up 2010 MLS Volkswagen MVP David Ferreira:
Their whole front four or five are very fluid and David Ferreira is obviously one of their key guys. We just made sure that when he did enter your zone, you chased him out of there as quick as possible. With that said, he’s a very good player and he’s going to get some space occasionally, but I thought we did a good job collectively of keeping track of him and stepping to him when he was in your area.”
