Quakes lack spark, focus in loss to Dynamo

July 10, 2014: Houston Dynamo forward Will Bruin (12) takes a shot on goal to score in the 81st minute, as San Jose Earthquakes goalkeeper David Bingham (1) dives to late to save it, during a Major League Soccer match between the San Jose Earthquakes and the Houston Dynamo at Avaya Stadium in San Jose, California, USA. The Houston Dynamo won 2-0.

July 10, 2014: Houston Dynamo midfielder Ricardo Clark (13) celebrates scoring in the 10th minute, with Houston Dynamo forward Will Bruin (12) and other p[layers, during a Major League Soccer match between the San Jose Earthquakes and the Houston Dynamo at Avaya Stadium in San Jose, California, USA.

July 10, 2014: Houston Dynamo midfielder Ricardo Clark (13) heads the ball into goal to score in the 10th minute, during a Major League Soccer match between the San Jose Earthquakes and the Houston Dynamo at Avaya Stadium in San Jose, California, USA.

Quincy Amarikwa made his first start back in a Quakes uniform since being traded back to his first club but The Quakes were unable to continue their run of form at home as they lost to the visiting Dynamo 2-0 thanks to defensive miscues.

Houston was first to get on the board from a Ricardo Clark header in the 10th minute, beating Shaun Francis to the ball and David Bingham on the shot. Houston pressured San Jose from the start, forcing the Quakes on their heels and forcing mistakes that lead to Alex getting a nice cross into the box and giving Francis a quality look on goal and ending the Quakes 326 minute shutout streak at Avaya Stadium.

In the 21st minute, San Jose would get their first real chance on goal from a Fatai Alashe half volley outside the box. Alashe controlled a bouncing ball with his chest and put a rocket of a shot at Houston goalkeeper Tyler Deric forcing a touch over the bar to keep the Houston lead.

They would get another chance after Deric was issued a yellow card for handling the ball outside the box. The resulting free kick for Bernardez slammed off the top corner of the goal and the rebound was just barely cleared by the defense to preserve the lead.

Houston would continue to get chances as the game began to go from goal box to goal box forcing both keepers into uncomfortable situations. Bingham had two plays where his decision making let him down, first coming out on a ball when he should have stayed in goal and a second where he stayed home when he should have come out to grab the ball.

The second yellow of the match would go to DeMarcus Beasley for a late tackle on Matias Perez Garcia in the 37th minute and it would give the Quakes a chance to put real pressure on Houston and allowed them to control the match until a poor giveaway in the center of the field started the Houston attack. Houston put two dangerous balls into the box but neither were capitalized on.

In stoppage time Houston would see two quick yellows, one to Clark for a poor tackle and one to Nathan Sturgis for persistent infringement. The latter gave San Jose a dangerous free kick that would force a corner but nothing would find the net as the half ended 1-0.

The second half started with a bang as 2 minutes in the Quakes would have a corner kick thanks to nice ball control from Francis. The corner would find the head of Clarence Goodson but his shot went off the head of Alashe and out for a goal kick.

The first 15 minutes of the second half saw the Quakes settle into the match and control the possession but again were caught out by a poor pass in transition that Houston was able to intercept. Houston managed to set up two chances for Ricardo Clark only to have them both blocked by the defense. The first chance beat the keeper only to have Victor Bernardez slide in to block the shot.

From there the Quakes would continue to control the match as Tommy Thompson came into his own and was able to create dangerous chances with his distribution. Thompson’s play was almost polar opposite of that in Portland where he looked lost for much of the match. Against Houston he looked much more confident on the ball and aware of the spacing on the field as he created chance after chance.

Mark Sherrod would be the first substitute of the match, coming on in the 68th minute for Matias Perez Garcia as the Quakes chased the tying goal. Houston would counter 2 minutes later, bringing off Alex for Lionel Miranda, a like-for-like change in the 70th minute.

Both teams made changes in the 79th minute with San Jose bringing on Leandro Barrera for Shea Salinas and Houston bringing on Rasheed Olabiyi for Alexander Lopez but it would be the Houston sub Miranda who would make the first impact. Miranda intercepted a soft back pass from Sanna Nyassi who seemingly passed the ball to no one and Miranda calmly passed across the box to Will Bruin for an easy goal to make it 2-0 in the 81st minute.

Next it would be Quincy Amarikwa who would exit the match for Mike Fucito in the 84th minute after having one of the best performances of the match for San Jose. Amarikwa created a number of chances for San Jose but the final connection never seemed to be there, a possible byproduct of being a new arrival to the club.

Houston would sub off Will Bruin at the beginning of stoppage time, replacing him with Mauro Manotas as the Dynamo closed out the match 2-0.

Dominic Kinnear was first to fall on the sword after the match, taking the blame for the loss, “I’ll take the blame for this one. I think every once and a while a coach doesn’t prepare his team properly and I don’t think we played well tonight and I think I had a big part in that.”

Clarence Goodson was quick to say it was a team effort, “That’s nice of him to say but again it’s a collective effort. There’s a staff, there’s players and I think we let ourselves down tonight.”

San Jose plays again on Tuesday in the International Champions Cup against Club America at Avaya Stadium and then travel to Los Angeles to take on the Galaxy on Friday.