Nine-Man Earthquakes Stun Toronto FC 2-1 at Avaya Stadium

Quakes earn team's first-ever victory playing with nine men

SAN JOSE, Calif. - The San Jose Earthquakes defeated Toronto FC 2-1 at Avaya Stadium Saturday night despite playing with nine men for most of the second half. Forward Quincy Amarikwa's first half goal and midfielder Simon Dawkins' late strike earned the Quakes their first victory since May 11 when they defeated Houston Dynamo 3-1 at home.

The Quakes nearly took an early lead in the seventh minute after Dawkins worked his way into the Toronto box and sent a shot heading towards Alex Bono's goal. The ball took a deflection off forward Chris Wondolowski and into the net, but the Quakes' captain was called offside.

After end-to-end exchanges, San Jose nearly struck again in the 26th minute. Defender Shaun Francis sent a pass to the far post and Amarikwa attempted a diving header that was saved by Bono. The ensuing attempt on the rebound by the Quakes was headed clear over the crossbar by a Toronto FC defenseman.

Four minutes later, the Earthquakes' persistence in Toronto's half gave the home side a 1-0 advantage. Midfielder Fatai Alashe sent a low cross finding Amarikwa at the top of the six-yard box who one-touched the ball past Bono.

            

Two former Earthquakes players helped Toronto FC equalize just before the half. After San Jose was reduced to 10 men following an Anibal Godoy red card, defender Steven Beitashour sent a cross that found fellow defender Justin Morrow who tapped the ball past goalkeeper David Bingham.

Despite going down to nine men early in the second half after Alberto Quintero was shown the red card in the 53rd minute, the Earthquakes took the lead in the 70th minute. After Cato's feed, Dawkins weaved his way through Toronto FC's defenders and fired a beautifully placed long-distance shot in the top right corner to put the Quakes ahead 2-1.

            

With Toronto FC pressing on their end late in the second half, Bingham made several clutch saves to help clinch the Earthquakes a hard-fought win at home.

The Quakes return to action against Real Salt Lake on Friday, July 22 at Rio Tinto Stadium. The match kicks off at 8 p.m. PT live on UniMás, 1590 KLIV and 1370 KZSF.

Notes:

• San Jose is now 6-6-7 on the season and 6-1-3 at home. 
• San Jose now has the upper hand with a 5-4-4 all-time record against Toronto FC, including a 3-2-1 record at home. 
• San Jose is now 13-4-7 all-time at Avaya Stadium.
• The Quakes snapped a seven-game winless streak (0-3-4) on Saturday night. 
• San Jose last received two red cards in one game on June 7, 2015 against FC Dallas. JJ Koval and Mark Sherrod were both expulsed during the scoreless draw.
• Since the inaugural season of MLS in 1996, San Jose has concluded five games playing with nine men and have a 1-2-2 record. Saturday's match marked the first time San Jose won playing two men down. 
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• Games In Quakes history playing with nine men 
• 07/28/1996 vs. New York MetroStars; L 4-1 
• 08/18/2012 vs. at Montreal Impact; L 3-1 
• 08/24/2013 at FC Dallas; D 2-2
• 06/07/2015 at FC Dallas; D 0-2
• 07/16/2016 vs. Toronto FC; W 2-1 

• The last team to score the game-winning goal with nine men to their opponent's 11 was the Dallas Burn on August 7, 2004, when Eddie Johnson converted a PK in the 91st minute to secure a 1-0 win over Colorado.
• In MLS history, teams have gone 11-36-20 when finishing a game with nine men, including tonight. Before Saturday's match, Philadelphia was the most recent team to win playing down two men when they defeated Chivas USA 1-0 on April 21, 2012. 
• The Quakes have not lost to a Canadian side at home since May 29, 2010 and have extended their undefeated streak against teams north of the border to 12 with a 4-0-8 record  
• The Earthquakes are unbeaten this season (3-0-2) when either Quincy Amarikwa or Fatai Alashe records a point.
• Fatai Alashe's last assist also came on a Quincy Amarikwa goal on October 25, 2015 against FC Dallas at Toyota Stadium.
• San Jose has allowed five total goals in nine games at Avaya Stadium this season and has yet to concede multiple goals to an opponent on home turf. 
• The Earthquakes have held opponents to no more than one goal in 14 of their 19 matches this season, including eight of their last nine. 
• After starting 15 games this season, Quakes captain Chris Wondolowski was subbed for the first time in the 2016 MLS regular season.
• Jordan Stewart made his second start of the season after previously earning his first against Portland on June 1.
• Both Quincy Amarikwa and Simon Dawkins scored their second goals of the season. Amarikwa scored the game-winning goal against Portland on March 3 while Dawkins scored a late equalizer during a 2-2 draw against Philadelphia on May 30. 

MLS Regular Season

San Jose Earthquakes 2 - Toronto FC 1

July 16, 2016 - Avaya Stadium in San Jose, CA

Attendance: 18,000

Scoring Summary:

SJ - Quincy Amarikwa (Fatai Alashe) 30; TOR - Justin Morrow (Jordan Hamilton, Steven Beitashour) 44; SJ - Simon Dawkins (Cordell Cato) 70.

Misconduct Summary: SJ - Fatai Alashe (caution) 33; SJ - Anibal Godoy (ejection) 42; SJ - Alberto Quintero (ejection) 53;.

SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES:

 David Bingham; Shaun Francis, Jordan Stewart, Victor Bernardez, Cordell Cato; Simon Dawkins (Chad Barrett 89), Anibal Godoy, Fatai Alashe, Alberto Quintero; Chris Wondolowski (Adam Jahn 87), Quincy Amariwka (Shea Salinas 58).

SHOTS: 8, SHOTS ON GOAL: 3; SAVES: 4; FOULS: 12; CORNER KICKS: 1;OFFSIDES: 4.

TORONTO FC: 

Alex Bono; Josh Williams, Justin Morrow, Drew Moor, Steven Beitashour (Mo Babouli 72), Benoit Cheyrou, Tsubasa Endoh, Jay Chapman, Jonathan Osorio (Marco Delgado 76), Sebastian Giovinco, Jordan Hamilton (Nick Hagglund 76).

SHOTS: 22; SHOTS ON GOAL: 5; SAVES: 1; FOULS: 5; CORNER KICKS: 7;OFFSIDES: 1.

SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES HEAD COACH DOMINIC KINNEAR

On confidence gained from a win like this: 

"It definitely can be a turning point and I told the guys that. That just shows you the attitude you have. Obviously things were against us at different times of the evening, but the attitude was fantastic and I said that should be our attitude every game, no matter what. So hopefully it's a sign of good things to come. We scored some real good goals tonight, defended well. But the guys were fantastic. David [Bingham] coming out catching crosses, blocking shots, bouncing balls in the box, everybody was alert to it and they just really wanted it a lot tonight and I'm happy for them."

On what he told his team after the game: 

"See you on Monday, that's a great win. Talk to you later. Way to go. We talked at halftime because the guys were really upset about the first red card and felt we were a little hard done by. I think we lost our focus and they got the goal. I just told them here at the half, 'Hey, just stick together.' We set up our formation the way it is, just gave the guys certain hints about the roles we want them to play and you just kind of hope it goes - usually when you play with 10 men you're going to need more defending but you're going to need that little bit of individual magic I think most of the time, or a set piece, to win you the game. And obviously Simon's [Dawkins] play tonight was fantastic for us."

On managing such an eventful game: 

"You don't want to get too bent out of shape about what's going on. So you just try to keep the guys going, just keep encouraging them - 1-1, halftime, it's like, okay, if it's 1-1 I think we'll be okay. Obviously when Simon [Dawkins] scores you want to get a little bit greedy and go, okay, can we win this game 2-1 with nine guys? So it was just make sure the ball turns over, you get behind the ball, you get good shape. I don't know how it looked on the sideline with me and my demeanor, but I definitely was dying inside."

On the team's impressive defensive performance: 

"It's just that. The amount of possession the other team had, the amount of shifting you had to do. It was a real difficult game, and you're playing a pretty good team, too. And even though yes they did play on Wednesday, I think the red card gives them a little more confidence and momentum going into the second half and they have that little magician that plays up top for them. He's such a good player, so you want to try and make sure you limit his moments on the ball. It's difficult. The second half seemed to last about six hours. Especially after Alberto [Quintero] got sent off. And you're just willing them to win and I think the thing was, they were willing themselves to win, which was even better."

On how Simon Dawkins' goal lifted the team's spirits: 

"Not just the team, but the entire stadium. That was maybe the loudest I've heard this place. And I think it really made the fans go from being mad to being really hopeful. You could feel the sense of the stadium and everybody just the attitude change by Simon's goal. He's scored two goals for us this year and both of them have been fantastic, so I hope that continues for him and for us."

SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES MIDFIELDER SIMON DAWKINS

On winning the match with only nine men:
"I think it was just our hard work and our teamwork. The season hasn't gone our way in terms of luck and some results have gone against us. Today, you could see [this match] meant a lot to us. We stuck in there, even with nine men. That just shows the good players we have here and the team spirit we possess. We are really happy with the win."

On the game winning goal: 

"Cordell [Cato] played the ball to me and I thought we weren't going to get many more chances, down two men. I felt that if I could just have a go, take a shot on target you never know what could happen. Thankfully it went in."

SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES DEFENDER VICTOR BERNARDEZ

On team's response after second red card: "The team's mentality was strong. We knew we still had a chance to win this game we had to have. We took advantage of our chances tonight. Luck was also our on side, which is something we did not get last week. We still have work to do and we need to take care of business on Friday against a tough Real Salt Lake team."

On losing Godoy and Quintero for next match: 

"It's unfortunate, but we have depth. We have guys who we can play. You look at Matias [Perez Garcia] who has a chance to help this team once again. We are still enjoying tonight. We know it was improbable and we want to continue with good play."