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Salinas notches brace in late rally against reigning Liga MX champions
The San Jose Earthquakes fell 4-3 to Liga MX's reigning champions C.F. Pachuca Saturday night at Avaya Stadium. After conceding early in the match, the Quakes rallied late scoring three goals in the second half.
C.F. Pachuca took the lead in the 12th minute. Building from Ruben Botta's pass, Erick Gutierrez shot from distance. Earthquakes keeper Bryan Meredith tried to make the save, but the ball went off the left post and into the goal.
In the 21st minute, Pachuca's Raul Lopez made the score 2-0, sending a free kick from outside the area into the top left corner of the Quakes' goal.
Lopez capitalized again in the second half from another free kick. Sending the ball into the Quakes' six-yard box in the 59th minute, it bounced over the defense and across the goal line.
Despite the three-goal deficit, the home side continued to fight. Tommy Thompson scored his second goal in an international friendly for the Quakes in the 64th minute. Shea Salinas crossed the ball from the right and Thompson found the back of the net from a diving header.
The goal marked the beginning of a three-minute, three goal series.
In the 66th minute, Pachuca were awarded a penalty after Fatai Alashe was called for a handball in the box. Botta sent the ball hard and low into the bottom left corner to make the score 4-1.
In the next play, Chad Barrett set up Salinas with a back-heeled pass. Salinas' shot went into the bottom right corner of the goal in the 67th minute.
With just moments left in the game, Salinas cut inside of the 18-yard box and found the right corner of the goal for the second time to make the final score 4-3.
The Quakes return to MLS action on Saturday, Sept. 10 against Seattle Sounders FC, presented by 7UP, at Avaya Stadium. The match will mark the sixth annual A&W Celebrity Root Beer Float Night, in which local celebrities will serve A&W Root Beer floats to fans to benefit the Positive Coaching Alliance. The game will be broadcast live on CSN California, KLIV and KZSF.
Notes:
- San Jose is 10-9-8 all-time in friendlies, including a 7-1-4 record in their last 12 matches.
- The Earthquakes and Pachuca are now 1-2-0. The teams previously met in 2002 in the CONCACAF Champions Cup.
- The Quakes are 2-9-4 against clubs from Mexico all-time, including a 1-6-3 record in friendlies.
- Tommy Thompson scored his second goal in an international friendly for the Quakes, having previously capitalized in the 2-1 victory against CDS Vida on Oct. 14, 2014.
- Bryan Meredith made his second start of the season after previously starting in the 2-1 victory in the international friendly against Real Sociedad on May 18.
- Shea Salinas scored his second and third international friendly goals with the Quakes. Salinas previously found the back of the net in the 4-0 win against the Honduran Olympic Team on July 15, 2008.
- Max Alvarez, Chase Minter, Christian Chaney and Joaquin Rivas made their Earthquakes debuts after joining on short term agreements from USL affiliate Sacramento Republic FC.
International Friendly
San Jose Earthquakes 3 - C.F. Pachuca 4
Sept. 3, 2016 - Avaya Stadium in San Jose, Calif.
Attendance: 15,011
Scoring Summary: CFP - Erick Gutierrez(Ruben Botta) 12; CFP - Raul Lopez (unassisted) 21; CFP - Raul Lopez (unassisted) 59; SJ - Tommy Thompson (Shea Salinas) 64; CFP - Ruben Botta (penalty) 66; SJ - Shea Salinas (Chad Barrett) 67; SJ - Shea Salinas (unassisted) 90;
Misconduct Summary: CFP - Ruben Botta (caution) 18; SJ - Innocent (caution) 45; SJ - Fatai Alashe (caution) 66; CFP - Ruben Botta (ejection) 69.
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES: Bryan Meredith; Kofi Sarkodie, Marvel Wynne [Joaquin Rivas 45 (Chase Minter 79)], Andres Imperiale, Jordan Stewart (Kip Colvey 45); Fatai Alashe, Matheus Silva, Innocent (Max Alvarez 90), Tommy Thompson; Shea Salinas, Chad Barrett (Christian Cheney 86).
SHOTS: 12; SHOTS ON GOAL: 7; SAVES: 2; FOULS: 15; CORNER KICKS: 2;OFFSIDES: 4.
C.F. PACHUCA: Oscar Perez (Alfonso Blanco 45); Raul Lopez (Jose Martinez 45), Jose Esquivel, Oscar Torres (Salomon Urias 68); Emmanuel Garcia (Jorge Hernandez 45); Victor Guzman, Erick Aguirre, Erick Gutierrez (Juan Calero 62); Ruben Botta, Jose Ramirez (Jonathan Urretaviscaya 62), Wilson Morelo (Mateus Goncalves 45).
SHOTS: 7, SHOTS ON GOAL: 6; SAVES: 4; FOULS: 9; CORNER KICKS: 1;OFFSIDES: 4.
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SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES HEAD COACH DOMINIC KINNEAR
On the game: "It was a good exercise and a great comeback at the end. I think at 4-1 it was the score. We could've put our heads down and walked away but great spirit by the guys to get two goals there at the end and push hard. It was a good team we played against tonight. For us to get through it without any injuries and to get guys 90 minutes was important as we head to the last eight games."
On the offensive output in the second half: "We had a couple of looks in the first half. You're just wanting to guys to get that goal and get the greatest enjoyment out of the game as possible. We created some good chances. It came down to our pressure, and being able to pressure them higher up the field was creating turnovers and making us a little bit closer to the goal when we had the ball. Good goal by Tommy (Thompson) and two other goals by Shea (Salinas)."
On what to take away from the friendly: "Guys getting confidence and playing 90 minutes in a good competitive environment against a good opponent. To finish off the game scoring the last two goals I think keeps the guys hungry and wanting more."
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES MIDFEILDER SHEA SALINAS
Overall thoughts on the game: "I felt like we held them to not many chances. To be down 2-0 in the first half, I don't think was very fair, but we were down 2-0. They scored another one right at the beginning of the half, so that was tough, but I think we played well. We fought defensively, we stayed organized and scored some goals, which was nice."
On his goals: "I think the first goal, Tommy [Thompson] slid Chad [Barrett] in with a nice ball through. Chad is just great and back-heels it to me and just lays it off perfectly in my path. We work on that shot a lot in practice so I was able to slide it far post. And then the second goal, I was frustrated that I hadn't taken this guy on inside much, so as soon as I got it he was backing off me and I just thought, you know, 'this is the perfect chance, I'm going to take it inside and shoot it' and fortunately it went side-netting, which is nice."
On takeaways from game looking ahead toward the upcoming Seattle Sounders matchup: "I think we take a lot of positives away. We were organized defensively. I thought certain guys played really well tonight and that will bode well for going into next weekend. It's a big game, I think the results went our way tonight, so Seattle, that game, becomes really big."
On Tommy Thompson's goal: "Tommy played well tonight, really well. I thought Chad [Barrett] played really well, our guys in the back played great and it's good to score goals. That's something we want to do. We wanted to come out and score goals tonight."
On the team's reaction to the result: "You always play to win. It's frustrating when that doesn't go your way, but I think the way we played and the way we fought being down three goals and we fought back and we played well."
