San Jose’s Magnus Eriksson dribblespast DC United’s Yamil Asad in a game on May 19th, 2018 at Avaya Stadium. Photo by Lyndsay Radnedge.
A steady stream of 80’s music and photo ops with a real life Delorian greeted fans at Avaya Stadium on Saturday Night as the San Jose Earthquakes commemorated their meeting with D.C. United by holding Retro Night. But once the match started, it was the visitors that turned back the clock as D.C. United took a night off from being terrible and threw it back to the early days of MLS Cup domination in a 3-1 route of the Earthquakes.
“Our energy was fantastic, we looked fresh.” said D.C. United Coach Ben Olsen. “I thought we were very disciplined throughout the game, I thought we pressed in the right ways, in particular in the first 30 minutes.”
San Jose shuffled the deck once again coming off a midweek draw in Vancouver, starting a five man backline that saw Chris Wehan make his first MLS start while once again leaving Chris Wondolowski on the bench. However that formation was quickly called into question as D.C. United routinely pounced on the Earthquakes in their defensive third, pouncing on several bad giveaways and exploiting the space that the Earthquakes were giving them by having Wehan and Nick Lima playing higher up the field.
“Obviously there were some bad decisions from the coach.” said Earthquakes Coach Mikael Stahre. “The lineup and the technical things, it was an absolute disaster, my bad.”
Zoltan Stieber celebrates with Oniel Fisher after scoring the opening goal in a 3-1 win over the San Jose Earthquakes on May 19th, 2018 at Avaya Stadium. Photo by Lyndsay Radnedge.
The onslaught began in the 15th minute when Luciano Acosta found Zoltan Stieber over the top well behind the Quakes defense, and the Hungarian International slotted it home past Andrew Tarbell.
It went from bad to worse just five minutes later for San Jose, as Acosta picked a lazy pass from Vako in front of the 18 yard box and walked it into the danger zone before laying off his second assist of the night to Darren Mattocks.
The dumpster fire was already roaring when a tire was thrown on top in the 38th minute when Paul Arriola picked Jackson Yueill’s pocket in front of the 18 yard box. Arriola promptly found Yamil Asad with space, who fired a rocket past Tarbell to send another shock wave through an already stunned Avaya Stadium.
“We came out totally wrong, we made mistakes with the ball, we couldn’t press them and they easily found spaces behind us. said Stahre. “To be frank, they were much better than us this evening.”
“We were really efficient in our chances, they were high percentage chances. Some of them came off of really good pressure and when you win the ball a little higher up the field, you’re in a better spot to strike, its not brain surgery.” said Olsen. “Our center backs did a good job of stepping into the midfield, which allowed everybody else to stay a little bit higher.”
San Jose’s Florian Jungwirth controls the ball in a game against DC United on May 19th, 2018 at Avaya Stadium. Photo by Lyndsay Radnedge.
Both teams must now look ahead to the City of Angels, as the Quakes head south to take on their bitter rivals the LA Galaxy on Friday Night, while D.C. United continues their road odyssey on Saturday taking on MLS newbies LAFC.
San Jose Earthquakes
DC United
