The San Jose Earthquakes rallied from a two-goal first-half deficit to tie Real Salt Lake 3-3 in the club’s MLS opener on Saturday at a sold-out Buck Shaw Stadium.
Honduran center back Victor Bernardez provided the spark with a pair of second-half goals, the latter of which came in the 95th minute. The Earthquakes now have 17 second-half stoppage-time goals in all competitions since 2012, 15 of which have been of the game-tying or game-winning nature.
Chris Wondolowski put San Jose on top early with a close-range finish from his thigh. Shea Salinas whipped a free kick into the box where Bernardez flicked the ball toward goal and right in front of Wondolowski, who calmly directed a shot past Real Salt Lake goalkeeper Nick Rimando.
Real Salt Lake came roaring back with three straight goals. The first was a blast from long range via Kyle Beckerman. RSL’s captain struck his shot from 30 yards out with his left foot, banging it off the post and in.
Offseason signing Luke Mulholland capped the scoring for RSL with a put-back attempt from close range in the fourth minute of first-half stoppage. Ned Grabavoy tried his luck from just inside the box, but Earthquakes goalkeeper Jon Busch punched the ball away. Unfortunately for Busch, Mulholland found the blocked shot first and fired from the doorstep to give the visitors a 3-1 advantage.San Jose head coach Mark Watson altered the game plan at halftime and inserted Alan Gordon and JJ Koval into the match in the 63rd minute. As a result, the Quakes peppered RSL with 17 shots in the second half, seven of which were on target. The Earthquakes out-shot Real Salt Lake 27-12 on the night.
Bernardez pulled one back in the 75th minute, smashing a header past Rimando. Salinas picked up the assist with another set piece, this time providing service from a corner kick. Bernardez wriggled himself free at the near post and powered his shot into the net for his first goal of the season.
The Earthquakes will hit the road for their next two matches, the first of which is a decisive second leg against Deportivo Toluca FC in CONCACAF Champions League. San Jose enters the game tied at 1-1 with Toluca FC holding an advantage thanks to their away goal. Toluca FC hosts the Quakes on Wednesday, March 19 at Nemesio Diez Stadium with kickoff at 5 p.m. PT on FOX Sports 2 and Univision Deportes Network.
San Jose’s next MLS match is Saturday, March 22 against defending MLS Cup champion Sporting Kansas City. Kickoff is 5:30 p.m. PT on Comcast SportsNet Plus, 1590 KLIV and 1370 KZSF.
San Jose Earthquakes 3:3 Real Salt Lake
Buck Shaw Stadium – Santa Clara, Calif.
March 15, 2014 – Attendance: 10,525
Scoring Summary: SJ – Chris Wondolowski (Victor Bernardez, Shea Salinas) 6; RSL – Kyle Beckerman (Joao Plata) 11; RSL – Joao Plata (Luis Gil) 32; RSL – Luke Mulholland (unassisted) 45+4; SJ – Victor Bernardez (Shea Salinas) 75; SJ – Victor Bernardez (unassisted) 90+5.
Misconduct Summary: SJ – Steven Lenhart (caution) 9; RSL – Nat Borchers (caution) 52; SJ – JJ Koval (caution) 77; SJ – Shea Salinas (caution) 90.
San Jose Earthquakes: Jon Busch, Cordell Cato, Victor Bernardez, Jason Hernandez (Jason Hernandez 67), Shaun Francis, Atiba Harris (Alan Gordon 63), Sam Cronin, Jean-Baptiste Pierazzi (Jean-Baptiste Pierazzi 63), Shea Salinas, Chris Wondolowski, Steven Lenhart.
Real Salt Lake – Nick Rimando, Tony Beltran, Nat Borchers, Aaron Maund (Carlos Salcedo 71), Chris Wingert, Kyle Beckerman, Ned Grabavoy, Luke Mulholland (Cole Grossman 69), Luis Gil, Joao Plata (Jordan Allen 82), Alvaro Saborio.
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SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES HEAD COACH MARK WATSON
On the result:
“That’s kind of standard stuff around here, isn’t it? Once again, we had a great start. It was disappointing to see the game seemingly slip away from us. We got a bit sloppy and dug ourselves a big hole, but once again, our guys found a way to push to the end and get a point out of the game.”
On conceding a goal before halftime:
“The heads were down. It’s your home opener, you get off to a great start, the team had a lot of energy; to concede three goals and one just before halftime, the heads were down. It was a matter of sorting ourselves out on the field and making sure the heads were back up when we went back out there. We wanted to start the second half with energy and fight and a belief that we could still get something out of this game.
On opponent:
“They’re a good team and keep possession. There’s a couple things we needed to do better. They had too much time on the ball. Kyle Beckerman is a big part of what they do, and we gave him too much time on the ball. We knew we needed to sort that out for the second half or we would have had no chance to get something out of the game.”
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES MIDFIELDER SAM CRONIN
On second half adjustments:
“I think it was our energy. We just weren’t as focused in the first half. We were taking too long to organize ourselves to defend, which gave them too much time on the ball. We will take the tie. It’s good to get the point, but we have some things to work on.”
On defensive effort:
“We played with a makeshift backline for most of the game. When Jason [Hernandez] went out, we played with only three in the back; Khari [Stephenson] and I were sitting in the midfield with one in the back and the other in front. They continued to sit off of the ball to preserve their lead, which gave us more time on the ball to shift it wide or play it in the box.”
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES DEFENDER VICTOR BERNARDEZ
On stoppage time equalizer:
“It was a corner that [Alan] Gordon flicked my way with his head. I anticipated the ball bouncing my direction, so I adjusted my body to play the deflection. I am just blessed to have been put in a position today to score two goals which my team absolutely needed to get a tie at home.”
On match:
“Tonight we realized the caliber of the opponent we were facing. I didn’t feel that we were sharp enough in the first half as they beat us to every ball and scored three goals. At halftime, our coaching staff made their adjustments to the offensive approach and thankfully it worked for us to get a draw.”
On injuries to the defensive unit:
“We struggled mightily in the first half surrendering those three goals, but I can’t blame those on our injuries. Instead, we tightened up as a team and you saw a stingy defensive effort in the back line. I can’t say enough about the men who stepped up on defense tonight.”
On upcoming match at Toluca:
“We are ready for that match. We are confident in our play and really felt we could have won tonight and the first leg against Toluca. The key is finding how to play well over 90 minutes against a strong Toluca team that is already in midseason form.”
