The San Jose Earthquakes have made it a habit all season of producing goals late in games to snatch points. They did it again on Saturday, and this time the late-game heroics helped them grab first place in the Western Conference.
Chris Wondolowski delivered an 84th-minute goal to give the Earthquakes a 2-1 victory over RSL at Rio Tinto Stadium.
The two Western powers played a scoreless 74 minutes before Alan Gordon broke the deadlock off a long ball from Ramiro Corrales. He beat Nat Borchers and Nick Rimando to the ball and headed it home.
Real Salt Lake responded with an equalizer from Javier Morales just four minutes later on a beautiful free kick finish. That strike looked like it might propel the home team to a victory, but it was the Earthquakes who found a winner when Gordon headed a Justin Morrow throw in right to Wondolowski, who finished it from close range for the winner.
The victory moved San Jose into first place in the West, and also stuck RSL with a second straight home loss.
Here are the match highlights:
What did you think of the match? Starting to believe the Earthquakes are an MLS Cup favorite? Think RSL missed Jamison Olave too much on Saturday? See San Jose holding onto first place in the West?
Share your thoughts below.