Photo by Denny Medley/ USA Today Sports
By SKYLAR ROLSTAD
Sporting Kansas City had previously been undefeated at home in 2015, but all of that changed Wednesday night with a shocking defeat to the San Jose Earthquakes.
Led by braces from Chris Wondolowski and Cordell Cato, the Earthquakes went in to Sporting Park and thrashed Sporting KC, 5-0, on Wednesday night, just days after thos hosts completed a three-goal comeback to shock fellow contenders in the Vancouver Whitecaps.
Cato started and helped finish the onslaught for San Jose with goals in the third and 58th minutes, while Wondolowski added another goal for a five-goal lead in the 61st minute.
The Earthquakes had not scored more than three goals in a game throughout the 2015 season prior to Wednesday night’s victory. San Jose took any chance of winning the game out of Sporting’s hands with a three-goal lead in the 27th minute. Following Cato’s early finish, Chris Wondolowski netted a penalty in the 17th minute while Anibal Godoy scored from eight yards in the 27th minute.
Wondolowski’s second goal, in the 61st minute, was his 100th goal in his Earthquakes career.
Benny Feilhaber was shown a red card in the 71st minute due to a reckless tackle. The sending off was the second in Sporting KC’s season.
Sporting conceded 17 shots total to the Earthquakes and only managed ten itself, with only two testing San Jose goalkeeper David Bingham.
Sporting KC previously held a 12-game unbeaten streak in home MLS games. The team had not been beaten by four goals or more since Aug. 18, 2002, a 4-0 loss to the Columbus Crew.
Following the win, the Earthquakes will return to action Saturday against D.C. United, while Sporting KC looks to bounce back with a visit to the Columbus Crew that same day.
The Godoy signing finally allowed Kinnear the flexibility to play a defensively sound 4-4-2…getting Wondo underneath Quincy. The Alashe/Godoy pairing in the middle is the key…they cover so much ground…very solid defensively. I agree Godoy is the real deal, his distribution and savvy up field are an added bonus…very solid. I don’t see Kinnear going away from this central mid pairing even when MPG returns from injury…he probably plays as a tucked in flank mid.
Totally agree. With two holding mids covering a lot of ground… it really changed the team. Will we see this lineup more? Wondo is at his best when he’s playing in a 4-4-2 (IMHO) and has someone battling with the D while he runs (and runs and runs) finding gaps in the defense.
Kinnear’s team come on late. Is this the beginning of the push or a one off? Far and away the best that San Jose has played in years. Better quality soccer than the 2012 team and some of the best counter-attcking that I’ve ever seen in MLS. It could have easily been 7-0.
Wondo actually wasn’t that good, but Amarikwa is looking more like the steal of the season and Godoy is for real. Salinas used Chance Myers are turnstile.
Saturday vs. DCU will be telling.
This game should be called the game of the week. Wondo’s header goal of the week.
Lol