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San Jose Earthquakes vs. Los Angeles Galaxy: Match Night Commentary

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BY ADAM SERRANO

The California Clásico resumes tonight as the San Jose Earthquakes travel down Highway 101(with a transfer to the I-405) to take on the Los Angeles Galaxy (ESPN2, 7:30 PST)

The Earthquakes come to the Home Depot Center in fourth place in the Western Conference having earned a victory in their last MLS match against Philadelphia Union. The Quakes have had a lot of difficulty traveling to Southern California with only 4 wins in Los Angeles since the start of the rivalry and only one since 2001. The Galaxy returned to their winning ways last week with a 2-1 victory on the road against D.C. United. Los Angeles will be playing in their first home game since July 4th

I will be providing commentary throughout the match so please feel free to follow along here. As always, feel free to share your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below.

Enjoy the action (Commentary is after the jump): 

FINAL – The whistle is blown and the final score is 2-2. The Earthquakes battled hard throughout the match and head over to Ultras to thank them for their support. Fantastic play from the team who battled throughout the night but were done in as the Galaxy snatch a draw thanks to a late goal by Landon Donovan. A poor performance overall from Los Angeles particularly in the defensive half, but thanks to some late heroics, the Galaxy remain unbeaten at home. 

This has been Adam Serrano, Thank you for following along and check back later for more coverage of the game on SBI. 

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93rd Minute – Convey streaks up the field after the clearance, but Juninho and Bowen bring him down. The Brazilian picks up a yellow.  

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92nd Minute – Ryan Johnson comes on for Cornell Glen as the Galaxy press up the field. They'll get a corner at the Riot Squad end. 

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91st Minute – Bowen sends in a cross that Busch can not handle. Edson Buddle tries to bury the rebound, but is unable and Donovan fires home the equalizer. 4 minutes of stoppage time. 

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90th Minute – GOAL!! LOS ANGELES TIES IT UP AS LANDON DONOVAN BURIES IT HOME FROM CLOSE RANGE!

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88th Minute – Franklin (who has been abused by Convey all night) pulls the winger down and earns a deserved yellow card as he stops the attack. 

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87th Minute – JUST WIDE from Bowen. The young striker creates some space for himself, but can  not find the frame. 

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86th Minute – Galaxy starting to waste some chances as they are clearly pressing for the equalizer. Sloppy play in the last 10 minutes. 

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83rd Minute – Buddle with a great chance, the Galaxy do their part to save it, but Omar Gonzalez fires a poor header for a San Jose goal kick. 

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82nd Minute – GREAT PLAY by Burling who clears Kirovski's effort. Corner to the Galaxy at the Riot Squad end. 

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80th Minute – Gordon gives way for Kirovski. Poor game by Alan Gordon today. 

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79th Minute – Galaxy looking for the equalizer as Jovan Kirovski gets set to come in. 

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77th Minute – Earthquakes playing with some confidence right now. pressuring the Galaxy and doing their best to kill off the match. 

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76th Minute – The Ultras 1906 (San Jose fan group) are in full voice right now. The Angel City Brigade doing their best to shout them down, but the crowd has gone silent in LA right now. Eddie Lewis coming on for Todd Dunivant. 

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74th Minute – Galaxy try to strike back on a corner, but Leonardo heads it just wide. 

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73rd Minute – Messy corner, by the Galaxy. Convey fires it in and both Gordon and Gonzalez are unable to play the ball which falls to McDonald who smashes it home. Nice goal against his former team. 

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72nd Minute – SAN JOSE GOAL!! BRANDON MCDONALD BURIES THE REBOUND! 2-1 San Jose!

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71st Minute – Donovan picks up a yellow as the Earthquakes earn a corner. Best chance that San Jose has had all half. 

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70th Minute – Juninho with a nicely taken effort that is saved by Busch. Corner to the Galaxy. 

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69th Minute – Dangerous free kick given after a foul on Donovan near the Box. Dangerous moment here for the Earthquakes. 

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67th Minute – Earthquakes make a change as Wondolowski comes out for Scott Sealy. 

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64th Minute – Agreement in the press box is that Gordon was offside on that play as he looked to be obstructing a San Jose defender from an offside position. Looked pretty clearly offsides to me. 

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63rd Minute – Great play on the goal as Donovan frees up a streaking Todd Dunivant who sends in a cross that Edson Buddle buries in the back of the San Jose net. A shot with some anger and authority on it. In other news, Bowen in for Kovalenko and the Quakes have Scott Sealy up. 

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60th Minute – Galaxy putting the pressure on now. looking for the second goal. Donovan getting into it with the ref who gets in the way of Landon. 

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59th Minute – THERE IT IS! GOAL BY EDSON BUDDLE! A great cross in and the GALAXY HAVE TIED IT
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57th Minute – Glen with a clumsy shot on a great opportunity. He earns his boos from the Los Angeles fans. Tristan Bowen about to come in for the Galaxy presumably for Alan Gordon. 

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56th Minute – Great Hustle play by Donovan on that play. Convey was in alone, but the midfielder track backed and kept the Quakes from creating a scoring opportunity. 

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55th Minute – Easy save for Busch on the free kick. Galaxy still searching for the equalizer. Another harsh tackle on Juninho gives the Galaxy another free kick. 

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54th Minute – Bobby Burling picks up the yellow and the Galaxy will have a free kick from about 28 yards. 

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53rd Minute – Arturo Alvarez on for Joey Gjertsen. Speedy player on for the Quakes. Looks like a yellow card on the tackle. This one is starting to get heated. 

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51st Minute – Wow. Looking at the replay it looks that the ball went off Convey's head. Hit the cross bar and then off his hand. Difficult play to call for the ref who didn't look to have a great view of that lay. 

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49th Minute – WOW! Bobby Convey saves Edson Buddle's header off the line with his own header. FANTASTIC play by the Winger. 

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48th Minute – GREAT SAVE by BUSCH. Kovalenko fires in a shot that forces Busch to make a palm save. Corner Galaxy. 

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46th Minute – Good non-call right there. No contact on Donovan who goes down attempting to jump over the tackle. 

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45th Minute – And we're underway. No changes from either side. 

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HALFTIME – Disappointing half from the home side. A quick Convey goal puts the Galaxy down at the half for the first time this season. Donovan and Buddle have had trouble linking up while Omar Gonzalez has not been successful in defense. After the quick goal, the Earthquakes have shown a road mentality. I would expect more of the same from Yallop's side int eh second. 1-0 Earthquakes at the half.

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45+2 Minute – Good ball from Dunivant, but Buddle's header goes just over. Edson has not been his usual commanding self tonight. 

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45th Minute – Three minutes of stoppage time. 

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44th Minute – Frank Yallop appears to have switched Wondolowski and Glen with Wondolowski now being marked by Omar Gonzalez. The Maryland product has not had a great night and the Earthquakes are going to attempt to place more pressure on him. 

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42nd Minute – The Earthquakes are desperately trying to hold on before the half. I would expect at least four minutes of stoppage time after the events of the first half. 

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41st Minute – Donovan breaks away from Hernandez and crosses it to Buddle, but the striker can not put it on frame. Goal kick. 

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39th Minute – Glen might have been on the ground a little long for the crowd. A chorus of boos rain down on the field as the forward waits to come back on the field.

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38th Minute – Game is getting pretty physical as Glen goes to the ground, but the Galaxy attempt to play on. The ball is cleared, but Glen is still on the ground after an elbow from Gonzalez. Didn't look intentional. 

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36th Minute – Gordon is back on the field as the Galaxy are threatening, but Gordon kills the attack in an offside position. Kirovski and Bowen up on the Galaxy sidelines. 


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34th Minute – Gordon is up and is walking off the field. Nasty Knee to the face. Painful. 

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33rd Minute – HUGE collision as Busch and Gordon collide going for the cross. Gordon is on the ground and the stretcher is out. OUCH!

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31st Minute – Bobby Convey has been very impressive on the right wing and is doing a great drop overwhelming Todd Dunivant so far. I think that the Galaxy may have to make a sub to settle this one down, but no one is currently up on the sidelines. 

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29th Minute – McDonald fires a shot from just outside the box, but Ricketts makes the save. San Jose has been very impressive weathering the chances that the Galaxy have gotten in the last 20 minutes. 

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27th Minute – JUST WIDE! Stephens goes just wide of the net. The Galaxy are getting close now. 

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23rd Minute – ANOTHER MISS! Buddle gets the ball and goes around Corrales, but fires it just across the net of Busch. Knocking on the door now. 

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22nd Minute – Stephens earns a corner in what appeared to be a Quakes hand ball. The corner is poor once again and the Quakes clear. 

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21st Minute – NEAR MISS! Juninho with a great move in midfield to strip an Earthquakes midfielder, but his shot goes just wide. 

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20th Minute – The Galaxy are still recovering from the early shell shock from the quick goal. They are making poor decisions and losing the ball in key spots throughout the field. 

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18th Minute  -The Quakes force a turnover and the Quakes go on the attack once more, but Cornell Glen's effort is saved by Ricketts. 

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15th Minute – Poor corner by Donovan who misses Gordon as the ball goes out for a goal kick.

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14th Minute – Corrales gives the Galaxy the corner in front of the Ultras who shout abuse at Donovan. 

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12th Minute – Expect the Galaxy to continue to work the flanks and cross balls into Buddle and Gordon as they try to create space in the Quakes back line. 

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10th Minute – Donovan fires a shot on goal, but Busch makes the save. The crowd behind him is showing some pretty nasty stuff at Busch after the save. The Galaxy with a fre ekick. 

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8th Minute – The Galaxy are trying to slow the game down and seek out the holes in the San Jose defense by spreading the ball across the field. The Earthquakes have had trouble with wide fields in the ast. 

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7th Minute – The Earthquakes clearly have LA on their heels early and are pressuring. 

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5th Minute – Before the Galaxy fans can get in their seats, the Earthquakes bury it in. Little known, fact, the Galaxy have never recovered when down a goal. 

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4th Minute – Low ball in and Glen took a shot and Ricketts couldn't make the rebound. Leonardo tried to clear, but plays it to Convey and the All-Star buries it. 

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2nd Minute – GOAL! SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES! BOBBY CONVEY WITH THE GOAL!

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PREGAME – Nice atmosphere for a weekday game. The Angel City Brigade and the Riot Squad are in full effect while the San Jose Earthquakes supporters group, the Ultras 1906 join them. Lets get this one started!

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PREGAME:  The Clásico features a number of tantalizing match-ups, but perhaps the most interesting will be MLS league leading scorer Edson Buddle going up with rookie phenom Ike Opara. The rookie defender will need to limit space for Buddle in what should be a highly physical battle. 

Also keep a close on the battle between the Earthquakes All-Star winger Bobby Convey as he lines up against the speedy Sean Franklin. 

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PREGAME: Here are the Line Ups:

SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES

————Glen———Wondolowski————–

Convey—–McDonald——Cronin—-Gjertsen

Corrales—-Opara——Burling——-Hernandez

———————-Busch————————–


LOS ANGELES GALAXY

————Gordon———Buddle—————

Donovan———-Juninho————Stephens

———————Kovalenko———————

Dunivant—-Leonardo——-Gonzalez——Franklin

———————-Ricketts————————–

Comments

  8. Even from last year it seems like an upgrade.

    I watched Philly play Man U yesterday, and they went toe to toe with them. Accurate passing, good possession, and good technique.

    I even remember seeing a few double digit passing sequences.

    Reply

  12. On the other hand… as a guy who’s been watching European stuff and hasn’t seen an MLS game in 3 or 4 years… the overall quality seems much higher to me. Not that one game is a good way to judge it.

    Reply

  15. The Fire, out of nowhere, cut him from the roster at the start of the season. It was so random, that even Busch himself was entirely confounded.

    A rookie who almost no experience replaced him. The team has been in a downward spiral since then.

    Reply

  19. That’s the truth. I already knew he was good, but after Paul Caligiuri’s performance as the color man for the RBNY/Spurs game, Martino sounds even better.

    Reply

  23. That’s a decent portion of them, but you can’t blame someone for great positioning.

    You have to be there to score after all.

    Reply

  27. Funny you bring that up Cuthman99, because we had a chance to hear from one of the best a few days ago.

    Kasey Keller was in the booth at the Celtic/Sounders game, and they asked him about the ball. He said that it was the worst soccer ball he had ever played with.

    Reply

  39. Not at all. I think Ronaldinho will be a great addition.

    I just think that these two bums are riding their nationality for a mediocre paycheck that’s probably better than what they’d get at home.

    I feel the same way in reverse regarding prejudice against Americans abroad. Americans are said to be worse players, JUST because of their nationality.

    Both view points are ridiculous.

    Juninho and Leonardo do not produce ON THE FIELD. That’s why I think they’re bums.

    Reply

  44. There’s a reason Leonardo doesn’t play much.

    What is the BFD about Brazilian players. Just because they’re Brazilian doesn’t mean they’re good. Ask yourself, why is a Brazilian playing in MLS instead of Brazilian league?

    Juninho and Leonardo are jokes and a waste of roster space.

    Reply

  49. OMG No one is there..The galaxy cant draw…And they have another team?

    (sarcasm brought to you by the Red Bull vs Tott thread)

    Reply

  50. Let’s go gals. One question though…why alan gordon? He is absolutely not talented enough to be starting. The gals one need, if there is any need, is another forward to complement Buddle.

    Reply

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