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Los Angeles shaken up in the Bay: San Jose Earthquakes 3, LAFC 1

San Jose struggles continue for LAFC, falling to MLS' worst on the road
Trebor TracyBy 4 Mins Read
LAFC attacker Mateusz Bogusz. Photo by Brenton Tse | Angels on Parade

After collecting four points in their two-match home stand, LAFC were back on the road with a short trip North, taking on San Jose Earthquakes. The black & gold have struggled on the road so far, but what better way to get back on track than traveling to take on the worst team in the league. Even with that fact, the Quakes are a California rival, and we all know they play at their best when looking to beat LA.

We say it all the time, when you’re a team looking to take down a top squad, the best thing you can do is score early and try to get them on the ropes. LAFC have given up early goals when away from home, often putting them on the ropes and tonight was unfortunately no different,. It took just five minutes for San Jose to get on the board on a corner kick from Cristian Espinoza, who found a leaping Rodrigues for the headed effort into the back of the net.

Conceding the early goal stammered LAFC, and San Jose spent a lot of the first half looking to double their lead before break. Usually we see teams like that sit back and defend but the Quakes wanted more and felt they could exploit the weaknesses within LAFC. Head Coach Steve Cherundolo has expressed the growth with the squad going into a more possession based style of play, but what good is possession if you make nothing of it?

The first half LAFC dominated with 70% of the possession, but got off the same number of shots as San Jose (8). They got just one more corner (3) than San Jose, who only had two but were 50% success rate after scoring on one. The first half was a continuation of what we have seen all season, especially on the road, this team doing well to pass and keep the ball but lack that killer in front of goal. Nobody to take the game over on a consistent basis. A match against the last-placed team in the league shouldn’t be this hard for LAFC, but alas, they now needed a very strong second half if they were going to salvage a win from this match.

The difference in form on the road for LAFC continued in the second half, and it was the home side that looked to pull away. In the 55th minute, Espinoza sent in a silver platter cross that found Amahl Pellegrino in stride, and the latter worked around LAFC keeper Lloris, finishing it to double the lead.

Following up the body shot, looking to land the knockout blow, San Jose got another just moments later. In the 59th minute the home side took another corner kick that found its way into the box, deflecting off LAFC forward Denis bouanga, and skipping past Lloris to give San Jose three after the own goal.

Going down three finally woke up LAFC, as they seemed to catch a spark to try and pull off the massive comeback late. In the 69th minute, Cristian Olivera pulled one back for the visitors after taking it off the San Jose defender. Controlling the ball on the run as he cut past the rest of the defense, and at the angle, struck it well enough to get it over the line for the goal to, at the very least, avoid the shutout.

Despite a couple of near goals, San Jose were able to keep their nerve to see out the massive upset. Not since the snowstorm in Sandy has the team looked this bad on the road, with the Earthquakes taking full control of this match to get the 3-1 win. For LAFC, they have a quick turnaround as they start their US Open Cup tournament at the midweek, taking on Steve Cherundolo’s old squad, Las Vegas Lights. The team will then be back at home next weekend to take on Vancouver Whitecaps.

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