San Jose Earthquakes

Even when you're the reigning Major League Soccer MVP, you never forget the bad calls—no matter how long ago they happened.

San Jose Earthquakes and United States national team striker Chris Wondolowski, who was named MLS MVP after a stellar 2012 season, spoke with B/R world football lead writer Michael Cummings by phone on Monday.

As he continued preparations ahead of the 2013 regular season, which begins March 3 for San Jose, Wondolowski spoke about personal accolades (and there were many in 2012), the playoffs, his chances with the national team, turning 30 and one very bad call he remembers from his high school days.

So what happened to make Wondo remember the incident more than a decade later? Read on to find out.

Bleacher Report: 2012 was such a successful year for you. What, if anything, disappointed you about the season?

Chris Wondolowski: How we ended the year. You always want to raise the MLS Cup championship and you play to win championships. All the personal accolades are very special and I take great honor in them, but to be honest I’d trade them all in for a championship. So that’s the big goal for this year.

BR: I thought you might say something about that. Of course, you have experience on championship teams (Wondolowski was a member of the Houston Dynamo's championship teams in 2006 and 2007). Do you think the ingredients are there with this San Jose team to win a championship?

CW: Absolutely, I definitely think that it has the ingredients to win a championship. One of the most important things that we bring as a club is that we work together and everyone does their jobs to the fullest. If we have everyone buying in 100 percent and doing their job to the fullest and just trying to get better, we also have enough talent I believe that we can break teams down as well. So I think it’s a great recipe for a championship and for a solid year in general.

BR: Last season San Jose won the Supporters’ Shield but went out of the playoffs early. What did you learn from that experience, and how do you take that and move onto this season?

CW: You have to continue to play your game but at the same time be smart. Throughout the whole season we did a great job, and that’s one of the goals we have to remember. It’s such a long season and there are so many ups and downs that you have to really make sure that your valleys aren’t too low and that you stay even keel.

But once you get into the playoffs, it’s a whole other atmosphere, and I think that we learned a lot from it. We learned our lesson and we’re a lot better for it, and hopefully we can improve it this playoffs.

We got out of our game a little bit for about 20 minutes (against the Los Angeles Galaxy), and we got punished and three goals were scored on us. And that’s a big hole to climb out of.

BR: You just had a big birthday (Wondolowski turned 30 on Jan. 28). Are you approaching anything differently now that you’re in your 30s?

CW: Yeah, I think to be honest it really is just a mindset, and I think I’m taking it more serious, especially off the field. I know, especially in younger years I could eat anything and do anything and felt like I’d be OK. But now I’m going to In and Out or Burger King and I feel it the next day.

I think now I’m just taking more responsibility both on and off the field, and I think that’s one of the things that’s going to help me.

BR: You were part of the U.S. camp in January and played against Canada in Houston. How would you rate the camp, and what did you get out of the experience?

CW: It was a good camp for all the guys. We had a very tough three-and-a-half weeks. There’s so much that goes into it.

For me personally, it was a great opportunity for 25-odd days to show what you have in front of one of the best coaching staffs in the world. So it’s a great learning tool, and I was also able to learn from some of the great strikers in there, Eddie Johnson and Will Bruin and Juan Agudelo.

They all bring a little something different to the table, and to have those guys day-in and day-out and to see what they can do, I think I was able to pick up some things and incorporate them into my game as well.

BR: Unfortunately, that first goal didn't come against Canada. Do you think it's just a case of scoring that first goal with the national team? And do you think you'll have another opportunity in World Cup qualifying for the Gold Cup?

CW: Being a striker is a funny thing because sometimes they come in clumps, and sometimes you can’t buy a bucket. I have a lot of confidence in my ability, but one is for sure, that I’ll have to do well this year if I want another chance.

I know that I need to continue to work hard and grow as a player. So if I do that, I feel that I can get another opportunity, and when I do, I do need to make the most of it, whether it is the Gold Cup or a World Cup qualifier or a friendly. I’m just looking for another opportunity and hoping to make the most of it.

BR: As far as I can tell, you've never received a red card in MLS. Is that true? Have you had a red card at any level?

CW: That is true. I have received a red card in a reserve game when I was at Houston, and then high school was the last one. So I’ve had two red cards in my playing career.

BR: What happened in the high school game?

CW: To be honest, it was a bit of a bad call. It was a ball in the air, and I went to go trap it, and the guy kinda put his head down and went for a diving header. And so I think the ref thought I kicked the guy in the face even though I really did just trap it. So I got a straight red for that.

BR: Back to MLS. In 2010 and 2011, you scored 18 and 16 goals. Then 2012 was another level entirely. What was the difference?

CW: Definitely just the team play. We had so many weapons, and having (Steven) Lenhart and (Alan) Gordon up top, who are just great targets and great forwards but take so much attention away from me that it allows me to be in the free role and pick and choose my spots where I can be dangerous.

Also having so many great guys wide on the wings, we were able to get service in the box—Marvin Chavez and Shea Salinas and Justin Morrow and Steven Beitashour had great years as well. That whole combination helped me as a player.

BR: You were marked by John Terry in the MLS All-Star game last year, and he said it was a nightmare marking you. How does playing against someone the stature of John Terry help you? And did it mean anything to you that he said what he did?

Absolutely, he’s one of the greatest to play that position and has a wonderful pedigree winning the Champions League and EPL titles and being capped numerous times by the England national team. So to have someone of his stature tell you that your movement is making a nightmare for him, it’s one of the best compliments you can receive. And just the way he went about it—it wasn’t forced. He kinda stopped me off to say it.

BR: You played in San Jose early in your career. Now you're back, having success and you just turned 30. Is this your last stop, or is there something else in store for you?

CW: I’m very open to anything, and I absolutely love San Jose. It’s basically home for me, and so I get to see a lot of friends and family. But I am very open to anything that comes my way, especially if it happens to be in Europe or something of that nature.

I am always open ears and like to keep my options open. But at the same time I’m a pretty happy guy right now, and so it would have to be a pretty nice deal for anything to work out.

Follow @MikeCummings37

It was set up for another magical finish. 

The San Jose Earthquakes were doing battle with the Los Angeles Galaxy in their Western Conference semifinal second leg. The Quakes had earned a 1-0 lead after Victor Bernardez's 94th-minute winner in the firs leg. However, the Galaxy quickly turned the tide on the Supporters' Shield winners. 

The defending champs came out blazing with a quick goal from Robbie Keane in the 21st minute on a defensive error by early sub Ike Opara. It looked like that was the shock San Jose needed to get going, but it was beat twice more in the first half on a second goal by Robbie Keane and Mr. November, Mike Magee. The MLS leading goal scorer, Chris Wondolowski, had an early opportunity to keep pace, but he blasted a shot from 10 yards over the goal. 

The Earthquakes have been called the Goonies for their never-say-die attitude. All season long, they appeared to have magic running through them. In three regular-season games with the Galaxy, the Quakes battled from behind to win two and tie the other. Five times this season, the Quakes had stoppage-time winners, including the Bernardez goal on Sunday. It was only fitting that they would have to battle from behind one more time. 

The Earthquakes came out of halftime down 3-0 on the night and 3 1 on aggregate. They needed two goals in regulation to get to overtime and three to send the defending champs home early.

They put together a few decent attacks but never seemed dangerous until the last 15 minutes of the game. The momentum certainly shifted to San Jose when the third "bash brother," Alan Gordon, came into the game. Gordon had been resting a bad ankle but made an appearance late in an attempt to get that magic back.

It almost worked.

Gordon scored in the 82nd minute following a missed attempt by Justin Morrow on a corner kick. The Quakes needed one goal in the last eight minutes and stoppage time to earn some more soccer. Then it happened. In stoppage time, one minute before the whistle would be blown, the Earthquakes got their chance. Steven Lenhart headed a ball down to Wondo at the top of the box. Wondo turned and played a perfect pass to his right to the oncoming Ike Opara. Time must have frozen for Quakes fans. It was surely going to happen again. They had done it all season long. They knew how this story was told.

Then the magic died.

Opara's shot sailed over the crossbar, crushing the dreams of all those blue, wig-wearing Earthquakes fans in attendance at Buckshaw. The Galaxy were able to kill the clock and move on to the Western Conference finals. 

All year long, the "Goonies" never quit. They persevered through countless trials. On this day, it just wasn't meant to be. 

His breakthrough chance for the San Jose Earthquakes had arrived in a fit of finger-snapping immediacy on Thursday night, for a reason no player would ever want.

Sercan Guvenisik, a half-time substitute for forward Steven Lenhart, lasted just 19 minutes in San Jose's friendly with Mexican Premier League (Liga MX) side San Luis FC before hobbling off the field with what would later be diagnosed as a hamstring problem.

Earthquakes manager Frank Yallop beckoned to Fondy, who as recently as May had been plying his trade for the Los Angeles Blues in the United Soccer Leagues (USL) before being brought in as a guest player for a recent string of games.

It's the sort of audition that can spark a career, should the managerial staff come away impressed with the string of performances. But that couldn't have been farther from his mind when the call came to spell Guvenisik.

Maybe that was best. It's hard to get nerves when you don't have time to fall prey to worry.

The 23-year-old furiously shed his warmups and filtered out onto the field, where he paired with All-Star forward Chris Wondolowski at the top of San Jose's 4-4-2 formation. It was a fun change from 19 months ago, when Fondy—then a talented senior at UC Santa Cruz—had replaced Wondolowski during an exhibition with the University of California.

The inclusion wasn't lost on the 1906 Ultras, who despite their diminished presence on the night still hailed the Bay Area native's entrance into the game.

"It felt awesome," Fondy said in the post-game locker room, thinking back upon his entry into the game. "I might have blacked out for a second out there, you can tell me what happened."

Sporting the number 36 on his back, on a jersey that had yet to feature his name (so it goes for guest invitees), Fondy waited only five minutes for his first chance on goal, superbly chesting a crossfield ball from Ramiro Corrales and firing a volley over the crossbar.

Though he's always been known as a goalscorer, it was Fondy's link-up play against San Luis that most impressed. His flicked header, which bounded into the path of Wondolowski, was impressive, as was his hold-up play in the 85th minute, where from the right wing he picked out midfielder Rafael Baca in the penalty area with a clever pass that nearly led to a goal.

"I like to think that I’m an all-around player; that I can do everything pretty well," Fondy said. "I just like to fine-tune everything to take it to the next level."

He'd already impressed for San Jose in a Tuesday reserves match victory (2-0) against the Los Angeles Galaxy.

Then it had been Fondy's fearsome drive that had opened the scoring for San Jose, his effort rocketing off the crossbar and into the path of Mehdi Ballouchy, who headed home with ease. Fondy had also come close to getting his name on the score sheet with a close-range sliding effort that was well saved.

Wondolowski, who scored the 92nd-minute winner against San Luis and never one to mince words both on the field and off it, said in the post-game locker room that he came away particularly impressed by Fondy's Thursday-night performance.

The impression was shared by Yallop. "He’s done well," the coach said in his interview. "We had Matt in a couple of years ago (2011); he went to Pittsburgh and played in the USL, and I've spoken to him via text over the last little bit. Any time he’s here, we'll talk.

"He’s not had a chance to come in too frequently, but we invited him for the reserve game (against the Galaxy), and he did well in that and I thought he’s played well enough in that game to get a chance to show his stuff tonight. He did well; I thought it was good."

Tired legs notwithstanding (two games in three days' time wears on any player, regardless of age), Fondy was a picture of exuberance in the locker room.

"It was awesome," he said, trying to affix words to what he'd just experienced. "I’ve been trying to get on the Earthquakes for a year or two now, and it’s a dream come true."

Since his Santa Cruz career came to a close, Fondy has featured for USL sides Pittsburgh and Los Angeles, and kept on scoring.

While with LA this past spring, he scored against the youth teams of Chivas USA and LA Galaxy, but through it all, he has maintained making it in MLS as his foremost goal.

"When I'm in the (Bay Area), I'll let (Yallop) know I'm around, and if he needs me for a reserve game or practice," Fondy said. If that proves the case, Fondy continued, then he's there.

"I tried out for them a few years ago, and I was on the cusp, and I played a few USL seasons. When I got back after this previous (LA) Blues season, I texted Yallop I was around, and I got into that reserve game against the Galaxy."

Fondy's chance with the Quakes will likely come after the current season, in which San Jose is embroiled in a race for the Supporters Shield and a likely title challenge. That means that Fondy will presumably earn an invitation to January camp, where he'll be raring to crack the Quakes roster.

Few will have finer pedigrees than he.

At Santa Cruz, Fondy led the team in scoring in his sophomore (seven), junior (eight) and senior (14) seasons. That final campaign (he also chipped in 12 assists for the 11-4-3 Banana Slugs) coincided with Fondy being named the Division III Independents Player of the Year as well as earning First-Team honors. (He was named third-team All-America his junior season at UCSC.)

It was the latest in a long line of accomplishments for Fondy, who in 2006 was named the Central Coast Section (CCS) Player of the Year after scoring 15 goals and adding 11 assists for Burlingame High School.

That Fondy had enjoyed such a superlative end to his high school career was made all the more impressive considering that he'd suffered a torn right quadriceps during his junior year that had forced him into six months of convalescence.

Fondy had used that time to work painstakingly upon improving his left foot, an effort that helped create the complete player seen today. He's never forgotten the injury, though, and the level of appreciation for health that it fostered in him.

It's an awareness he continues to exude, even as his appearance (he's shed his shaggy hair for a closer crop) has changed. Asked about his plans for the immediate future following Thursday's game, Fondy was succinct.

"I’m trying to stay around here as long as I can," he said. "The longer (San Jose) let me stay, that’s the best thing that can happen."

All quotes were obtained first-hand unless otherwise noted.

He'd notched a goal via penalty against the Montreal Impact on Aug. 18, giving him the return rate of 18 goals in just 22 league games (one goal every 1.2 games).

It's the sort of proficiency, and consistency, normally resigned for the video-gaming realm, where games flash by and goals flow in.

For San Jose Earthquakes forward Chris Wondolowski, however, it was merely the latest goal-scoring exploit in a season that has been chock-full of them.

For a while this summer—particularly following a hat trick against Real Salt Lake on July 14, which had sprung his tally to 17 goals in 18 games, there had been serious talk of Wondolowski surpassing Roy Lassiter's league record of 27 goals scored.

Following that RSL match, one journalist even asked "Wondo," as he's affectionately known in the Bay Area, whether he would like to break the record with Lassiter in attendance.

Then, it had been a question readying entry into the "when" category, rather than "if." Nothing quite so captivates an American audience as a record chase in summer, after all.

But there is a dilemma in affixing such a powerful spotlight upon Wondo. As he'll be the first to tell you, this season—heck, his entire career—has never been about him.

It sounds too good to be true, as if one of those tried-and-true, but exceedingly lame, cliches we tend to plaster upon our athletes.

Too bad. Wondolowski's career is a reference point for being passed over, being told he's not good enough. When you've spent the first seasons of a professional career toiling in lower professional leagues and, at the best moments, in the MLS reserves, you're afforded a priceless sensibility.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VDGIJ20nrc

Despite his rampant success in recent seasons—he is the recipient of the 2010 MLS Golden Boot, awarded to the top goalscorer (Wondo nabbed 19 that season, and lost out on the '11 award in a tie-breaker after scoring 16), and the 2011 Castrol Index Player of the Year, bestowed upon the top attacker based on a bevy of complex metrics (Wondo earned a 9.31 rating out of a possible 10, for what it's worth)—he has never grown too big for his britches.

He knows what it's like to be passed over, and his entire on-field modus operandi seems geared toward ensuring that he never loses sight of just how important a team can be. He's learned the importance of camaraderie.

This, all this, can go away so quickly—few people are more cognizant of life's fickleness than an athlete—thus, the importance of the team bond, which goes well beyond that of "brotherly," ratchets up in importance.

Wondolowski is the captain, and he often leads the team in huddles both before games and during their most frenzied moments.

It's a fitting visual verification for the metaphor that has molded this side. With decidedly less fanfare than the 2011 San Francisco 49ers, their successful Bay Area brethren, the Quakes are one of the best teams you're ever going to find.

A No-Frills Approach, a Record-Setting Pace

The clamoring, once so insistent, has dissipated somewhat in the past several weeks.

Wondolowski has scored just that lone goal in Montreal in his past five games, and with seven fixtures remaining, Lassiter's record is becoming an ever-fainter glimmer on the horizon.

His indifference to the record aside, Wondolowski has hardly diminished in terms of importance even as his goals have dried up and teams have geared their defenses toward stemming his prodigious threat.

San Jose's second-most-recent game, against the Colorado Rapids on Aug. 25, saw Wondolowski produce a bevy of deft flicks, pinpoint passes and superb control that, while they won’t end up on any highlight show, continue to augment his transformation into a complete footballer.

United States men's national team coach Jurgen Klinsmann has certainly taken note, picking “Wondo” regularly for games in the past year. (Wondo was not called up for the upcoming pair of World Cup qualifiers.)

Like a shooter suffering through an off-night and concentrating instead on his defensive intensity, Wondolowski doesn’t let missed finishes undo him, and doesn't turn off his effort once the goals stop coming. It’s a testament to his fortitude, an added boon to the vaunted Quakes attack and a perfect argument in favor of his captaincy.

It has helped produce a San Jose attack that is not only looking like one of the most formidable in club history. It was perhaps most fitting that, as one record has passed seemingly out of reach (vis a vis Wondolowski's individual exploit), another has been eclipsed (vis a vis the team).

San Jose broke its record for most goals scored in a season this past Sunday against Chivas USA, their 4-0 victory over the struggling Western Conference side gave them a league-leading 56 strikes in 2012. That's one better than the '97 Quakes produced, and there are still seven games yet to be played before the playoffs.

Wondolowski failed to crack the scorers' list in that match as well, but he did notch his sixth assist of the season when he sent in a neat through ball for midfielder Simon Dawkins to smash past Chivas keeper Dan Kennedy to give San Jose a two-goal advantage.

It's that sort of spurious play from Wondo, who frequently drops deep into midfield from his initial position farther upfield, becoming something of an attacking midfielder-cum-support striker in the attack.

That versatility compounds his menace, befuddles the opposing defense and diversifies the Earthquakes' attack. Many a pundit have derided the Quakes as a one-man attack—one of the laziest appraisals one can make.

San Jose is at its most dangerous when strikers Steven Lenhart (eight goals) and Alan Gordon (11) join Wondo up front, creating the sort of Hydra usually reserved for the most outsized of Ovid's Metamorphoses.

Wondolowski may enjoy a seven-goal cushion atop the San Jose scoring chart, but his 18 strikes constitute just 32 percent of the total output.

Contrast that to English Premier League side Arsenal last season (2011-12), who on the way to a third-place finish last season scored 74 goals in 38 games.

Their top scorer, Robin van Persie, who has since left for Manchester United, tallied 30 goals that season, or 40.5 percent of total output.

(Interestingly enough Van Persie has scored four of United's eight league goals through three games in the current season—good enough to constitute 50 percent of the attack.)

Arsenal suffered from the stigma that they were nothing more than a "one-man show" last season—something that San Jose likely hears far too often as well.

Following Sunday's Chivas match, Quakes manager Frank Yallop was asked, somewhat facetiously, whether the team had dispelled the notion that they were a one-man team.

The Canadian seemed almost taken aback at first by the absurdity of the question, and responded in kind.

"You can tell me yourself," he said, noting that he'd just seen his side score three times from free kicks against Chivas, on top of Dawkins's goal from the run of play. "The stats say that we're scoring tons of goals from everywhere."

That sharing of the wealth has helped the Earthquakes amass a seven-point advantage at the top of the Western Conference standings, and a three-point cushion over Eastern Conference leaders Sporting Kansas City as they fight for the Supporters Shield, granted to the team with the best league-wide record at the end of the season.

Since netting a hat trick against RSL, Wondolowski has scored just once in San Jose's past seven league fixtures.

Five of those games have been victories.

Including Wondolowski, the Quakes have had seven different goal scorers during those seven matches, a span in which they have fired in 22 goals, or just over three a game (3.14 to be exact, for all the Pi lovers out there).

With the race for the playoffs heating up as the weather cools down, that sharing of the wealth will only increase in significance. San Jose has enjoyed billing as the "team to beat" in MLS for much of the season, frequently named to the top spot in the weekly Power Rankings.

That they have continued to burnish that status with Wondolowski's goal-scoring rate diminishing from rapid-fire to tepid only speaks to this side's potential.

Yallop was effusive in his belief that this year's team is the result of a conscientious, albeit frugal, spending policy that has brought in the blend of players he needs.

The Quakes are a hard-working bunch, each of them willing to fulfill the defensive duties inherent in a top side's success. Their pressing scheme is incessant, their ability to throttle teams on the counterattack—seen so brilliantly against Chivas—unparalleled.

They may be branded as outsiders, they may play in an arena without the thrills and frills of the soccer-specific stadiums enjoyed by their peers (San Jose will break ground on a new stadium on Oct. 21, with construction due to be completed by the start of the 2014 season).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xv9P7tox0AU

But they could care less. They love their supporters—especially the boisterous 1906 Ultras, who remain standing, chanting and clapping for 90 minutes of every game.

It's in keeping with this side's record-setting philosophy that club president Dave Kaval has requested 4,600 fans to participate in that ground-breaking ceremony.

That number would easily eclipse the Guinness World Record for such an event, currently held by Unique Builders, who used 4,532 people in a 2007 project in Jaipur, India.

For now, San Jose will continue to befuddle opponents at Buck Shaw Stadium, nestled amid the sprawling Spanish mission-style splendor of Santa Clara University.

On some nights, particularly these late-summer ones of late, you're unlikely to find a more sweeping set of vistas—as Quakes winger Shea Salinas, currently injured, tweeted this past weekend.

It's hardly a wrench for the Quakes, who have not lost at Buck Shaw since last season—a run that was extended to 15 games with the Chivas win.

A True Leader

That sort of success has been bred by an unselfish streak shared by every first-team player. Wondolowski is the first to tell you that all he cares about is winning.

The forward takes time after games—doesn't matter if they're wins or losses—to pick out a player, or maybe two, who are enjoying a superb run of form.

Back in mid-July, it was Rafael Baca and Sam Cronin, the central midfielders who form the core of Yallop's 4-4-2 formation.

And when a player is struggling, as Baca was toward the end of that month, seen most notably when he was substituted for Steven Lenhart in the 59th minute of a match against the Chicago Fire, Wondolowski is the first to sidle up to him in the post-match locker room.

After that Fire match, where San Jose had fought to a 1-1 draw, Wondo huddled with Baca for a few minutes in the postgame locker room, encouraging the midfielder and telling him to toss that game aside as a mere anomaly in what has been an excellent season for the former Loyola Marymount player.

Baca took the words to heart, and has been back to his lung-bursting best of late. Against Colorado he provided a sumptuous assist for one of Gordon's goals, and he has been impeccable in his distribution in the center of the park.

Wondo did the same to Ike Opara following that Fire match.

Opara, a young center back who had come on for the injured Victor Bernardez, had been used sparingly all season before being called upon that night. Wondolowski, face etched in stern reprimand, instructed Opara that, above all, he could not get hurt.

A visible weight was lifted from Opara's back, a bark of laughter ensued. The defender has been excellent through the past few games for San Jose, which he has started at center back.

It's those sorts of anecdotes, mixed alongside that now-fabled Goonies "Never say die" mentality, that make this team one to cherish.

Many coaches praise their players, but when Yallop says after every game that there is no ego on this side, that this is a group of players who genuinely enjoy working together, you can do nothing else but believe him.

The doubting Thomases of the media aside, there's no way not to once you've watched this team live. What the Earthquakes have is very, very rare in professional sports.

It is a mentality that is exuded from the 10 players who take the field with him each game night. It flows through the coaching staff, the substitutes and the reserves, and it has created the most successful team in MLS this season.

Unless otherwise noted, all quotes used in this article were gathered at San Jose Earthquakes games.

Since returning to Major League Soccer in 2008, San Jose had won just one of its 10 previous encounters with Chivas USA, their opponents on Sunday night. The run included this season’s May 13 draw (1-1) at Buck Shaw Stadium.

But as has so often been the case this season, San Jose has a very bad habit of turning scripts on their heads. They did so again on a Sunday night that started off with a sweltering 6 p.m. PT kickoff, cutting Chivas to shreds as they took their chances, surging to a 4-0 victory.

Frank Yallop made just one change from the side that defeated Colorado Rapids 4-1 last weekend, with Victor Bernardez replacing Justin Morrow at center-back. Bernardez and forward Steven Lenhart had both missed the game while serving a one-match suspension stemming from incidents in an Aug. 18 encounter with Montreal Impact.

Morrow, who usually features as a left-back but had played some central defense this season—most notably last weekend against the Rapids—had played every minute this season for the Quakes. At 2,340 minutes, he’s tied for sixth-most among all MLS players, and it was deemed that he could have a rest.

The fourth goal—sent in quickly when left-back Ramiro Corrales caught Chivas in disarray as they attempted to set up their wall—was San Jose’s 56th on the season, and broke the previous franchise record for most in a season.

San Jose head coach Frank Yallop called that feat “phenomenal,” noting that the previous holders had included the likes of Landon Donovan and Dwayne DeRosario—both part of the 2001 and 2003 MLS Cup-winning sides.

“We were really clinical, and we could have scored a few more,” Yallop said. “And that’s not to rub it in on anybody, but I just think that our team right now is the team that’s moving the ball well, working very hard for each other and we have quality players in important positions in front of goal. Our chemistry is excellent, and we’re scoring from all over the place.”

Bernardez opened the scoring in the 11th minute, before Simon Dawkins added a second in the 39th.

Thirty-five-year-old left-back Ramiro Corrales, the last remaining member of the league’s inaugural 1996 season, rounded off the scoring with free-kick goals in the 71st and 81st minutes.

“Simon Dawkins again, what a player,” Yallop said, referring to Dawkins’ two goals against Colorado. “I’m really happy for Ramiro (Corrales) to get two goals. His first goal was a fantastic free kick, and the second was just bright play; he’s just a really bright player. It’s nice of Victor (Bernardez) to get on the sheet too. So I’m happy for a lot of the guys tonight.”

Corrales had been battling injury for much of the past month, but Yallop said that after two weeks of excellent training sessions, he pulled the fullback aside ahead of the Rapids match and told him he’d earned a starting role based purely on merit. This was the second consecutive game Corrales had started at the position, and captained the side.

Robin Fraser, head coach of Chivas, had drilled his side well about the game-changing importance of San Jose’s midfield foursome. Composed of two central holding players (Rafael Baca, Sam Cronin) and two wingers (Simon Dawkins, Marvin Chavez), it is the engine room for most of the Earthquakes’ play.

The road side thus kept three players in the center, including rigorous tacklers Shalrie Joseph and Oswaldo Minda—right-winger Tristan Bowen would pinch in to condense the space even further—when San Jose gathered possession in its own third, attempting to choke out any opportunities to find the influential Baca and Cronin.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtFlNTkQgkM

San Jose’s fullbacks, normally so adept at getting forward in the attack, were forced to stick to their defensive assignments during a start of the game in which Chivas were dominant.

“I thought, to be honest, Chivas played well tonight,” Yallop said. “They didn’t finish their chances, but when you’ve got a clinical team playing against you, and you miss three or four chances and we get one, and it’s, boom, goal, it’s got to be frustrating.”

The first real chance of the game came just after five minutes, when a deflected shot from Chivas forward Casey Townsend fell to talented 19-year-old striker Juan Agudelo, whose point-blank effort was stifled by a last-ditch sliding challenge.

Traded earlier in the season from New York Red Bulls, the Colombia-born but NY-raised Agudelo has found it difficult get a firm handle on this season, in which he’s scored two goals and added three assists in 14 games.

Following the third foul on Cronin in 10 minutes—he and Minda were locked in a personal battle of sorts—Bernardez lined up a 30-foot effort from left-center of goal.

The gigantic center-back’s strike was low and forceful, and it skipped twice past a helpless Dan Kennedy to give San Jose a 1-0 lead in the 11th minute. The big defender’s celebration was formulated, but it was hard to begrudge him his moment—it was, after all, just his second goal of the season.

Shalrie Joseph attempted to emulate the finer of his two goals from his previous game against New England Revolution two minutes later, but the Grenadian’s right-footed curling drive from just atop the penalty area bounced wide of Busch’s goal.

Agudelo had his golden chance seconds later. Picking off a lazy back-pass to Busch, the forward found himself one-on-one and at a slight angle with the keeper, but he lost his nerve and fired straight at him, the ball firing off Busch’s chest as he rushed to snuff out the danger.

Chris Wondolowski then hit the crossbar with a header on a cross sent in from Steven Beitashour on San Jose’s ensuing counter. It was end-to-end stuff, just 15 minutes into the match to boot.

Townsend could not take advantage of a free header off a good Tristan Bowen cross in the 28th minute, sending his effort wide left of Busch’s goal. The chance marked the first time Busch had been threatened since the previous Agudelo chance, and it would just about end Townsend’s threat on what was a very quiet night for the forward.

Agudelo again was sent through into space in the 34th minute, and while he had Bernardez beat for pace, his attempted nudged shot with the outside of his right foot was saved by Busch for a corner.

Alan Gordon’s excellent pressing won possession in the Chivas half early in the 39th minute. The ball fell to Marvin Chavez, who recovered quickly and played a pass to Wondolowski in space.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VDGIJ20nrc

The striker turned and sped toward goal before sending a neat left-footed pass for Simon Dawkins, who was making a diagonal run across the top of the box. The ball was played a bit behind him, but the Englishman was able to take his touch into space and fire a shot past Kennedy to give San Jose a two-goal advantage.

In a manner similar to the way they’d responded with the first goal, it was a superb response to extended pressure from San Jose.

“We don’t get perfect balls played in to us, so we work with what we get,” Dawkins said afterwards. “This was one of those situations where it worked. We practice finishing every day after training for that reason.”

Gordon had called Dawkins the best player on the team, echoing the words of winger Shea Salinas one month earlier. Though he had found it hard to get into the game at the outset, thanks to Chivas’ midfield tactics, Dawkins’ ability to change a game at a moment’s notice was again witnessed first-hand.

Three goals in his past two games and five in his past eight: quite the return for the 24-year-old. Passing by Dawkins in the postgame locker room, Morrow told the assembled reporters that the team had taken to calling the Edgware native "James Bond reincarnated."

While Chivas had threatened at disparate moments to start the second half, Dawkins again found the best chance when in the 64th minute he cut in from the left wing and fired inches over Kennedy’s bar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0U-2gKkFHo

Bowen, who had easily been Chivas’ best attacking player on the night, forced a 68th-minute save from Busch, who fisted his left-footed effort over the bar.

A timely interception on the ensuing corner sprung Steven Beitashour into space. Racing down the left flank, three options emerged to Beitashour's right. He picked Chavez, whose left-footed curler was saved by Kennedy.

It was a theme of the night for San Jose—their frenzied pressing game had picked apart Chivas on numerous occasions, leading to good opportunities on the counter.

“When you press it makes it easier to get the ball back,” Rafael Baca said. “When we do that right, we’re very dangerous, getting the ball in good spaces.”

“I think we have a hard-working midfield,” Yallop said toward the end of his post-match press conference. He was particularly proud of Dawkins and Chavez—two wingers who had showed excellent work rates tracking back in defense.

“If you’re an attacking player, and you’re going to play for a team that I coach, you’ve got to be able to work back and work hard. I think that it’s taken me awhile to get those types of guys, but we’ve got them. We have a bunch of two-way players who want to work hard defensively and get forward when they can.”

Baca credited the side’s fitness levels for allowing them to play that sort of game without seeing attacks peter out due to fatigued touches and balls sent just out of the reach of tiring players.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0YCinzJ4UU

After San Jose had again picked the pockets of a lackadaisical Chivas side in its own half, Rafael Baca was bundled over as he attempted to run on to a neat one-two pass from Sam Cronin. Ramiro Corrales, captaining for the night, took the free kick and sent in a lovely left-footed shot that curled into Kennedy’s left-hand corner in the 72nd minute. It was Corrales’ first goal of the season, and the 55th scored by San Jose in 2012, tying the club record for most goals in a season.

The long-time league veteran then attempted to turn provider on the Quakes’ ensuing possession, but his attempt to get his ninth assist of the season was spurned when Kennedy saved Steven Lenhart's header.

Corrales would break the season record in the 81st minute, again from a set piece stemming from an egregious tackle by Minda on Wondolowski.

Taking advantage of miscommunication between the Chivas players—many of whom had their backs to him—Corrales took his free kick quickly and sent in a bouncing effort at the far post. Kennedy, unable to do anything more than lunge unsuccessfully at the shot, was furious with his wall.

San Jose had its fourth goal for the second time in eight days.

The win pushed San Jose's record to 16-6-5 on the season, good for 53 points, and gave them a three-point cushion atop the Supporters Shield standings. Sporting Kansas City, currently leading the Eastern Conference, are second in that race, sitting at 50 points.

Unless otherwise noted, all quotes used in this article were gathered at the game.

Two goals apiece from Simon Dawkins and Alan Gordon fired the San Jose Earthquakes to a 4-1 victory over Colorado Rapids Saturday on an abnormally breezy late summer evening at Buck Shaw Stadium.

The win exacted a fitting measure of revenge for the Quakes, who had not lost at home since last season against—fittingly enough—Colorado. Their current unbeaten streak at Buck Shaw now extends to 14 games (10-0-4).

San Jose was playing without three of its normal starters, with striker Steven Lenhart and central defenders Victor Bernardez and Jason Hernandez sitting out due to one-game suspensions incurred during last Sunday’s match against Montreal Impact.

Save for a span of 10 or so nervy minutes in the second half when Colorado pulled a goal back to make it 2-1, the makeshift central defense of Ike Opara and Justin Morrow held strong.

The Earthquakes didn't miss a beat.

San Jose were dominant throughout, producing a vintage display that coach Frank Yallop called “one of the best” he’d seen in his almost eight seasons of managing the club (2001-03, 2008—).

The win took San Jose to a league-best 15 wins and pushed their lead in the Western Conference standings to seven points over Real Salt Lake. San Jose still have a game in hand, as well.

They went four points clear of Eastern Conference leaders Sporting Kansas City in the race for the Supporter’s Shield, although SKC have a chance to cut back into that advantage when they host New York on Sunday.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqU3lQLTljE

Dawkins Excellent Once Again in Midfield, Alan Gordon Rampant Up Front

It’s getting to the point where defenders know what’s coming when San Jose midfielder Simon Dawkins runs at them on the break, but they remain helpless to stop it.

On loan from English Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur for the second consecutive season, Dawkins, a natural attacking midfielder, has a marked proclivity of cutting infield with his right foot whereupon he frees himself up to either fire an attempt on goal or spread a pass to an arriving teammate.

It is his syncopated change of pace, compounded by a bevy of deft feints, that keep the movement fresh, and therefore the defenders continually befuddled.

In the 11th minute, Dawkins was sent into space on the left wing from a superb left-footed through ball by Gordon.

"You talk about hold-up play, and it doesn’t get any better than that," Yallop said of his striker. "Chest, down, great ball out wide to Simon, who's 1 v 1, and I think he enjoys that. He’s not really a wide player, so he enjoys coming in centrally."

"The defender’s coming toward me, so I feel if I take one touch I can take it past him and he won’t be able to get himself set," Dawkins said. "I’ve been working at that in training every single day, and thankfully it paid off today."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfVk0D3XkKk

The first goal was clinical—a low, right-footed drive past keeper Matt Pickens’s near post. Yallop called it a "great shot." His second, in the 68th minute, put the game out of reach. 

Taking his throw-in quickly, San Jose midfielder Marvin Chavez picked out Sam Cronin in an advanced midfield position, whereupon Cronin played a quick ball into the path of Dawkins, who was surging to his right.

The ball fell perfectly into the Englishman’s path and, after pausing briefly to ready himself, Dawkins fired a first-time shot (again with his right) past Pickens, again past the keeper's near post.

He would almost add a third goal in the 87th minute, but fired his fearsome drive into the side netting. Still, he pushed his season total to six goals (although the PA announcer said he’d scored his fifth on both of his goals).

Speaking to reporters afterward, Dawkins playfully chastised himself for missing out on his hat-trick. "I should have had a third," he said, chuckling. "But I fired it into the side netting."

Gordon nearly got a hat-trick of his own. The tall striker, who had not featured for San Jose since July 28 against Chicago (successive suspensions), and had not scored since July 22 against Vancouver, immediately made his presence felt.

There are few forwards more energetic than Gordon, and throughout the first half he was ubiquitous, charging down defenders like a bull who’d just seen red.

His assist for Dawkins’s opening goal was excellent, as was his eye for goal, still sharp after two games on the bench. Gordon continued to put Pickens under pressure, forcing the keeper into a string of saves before he finally got his goal in the 43rd minute.

Rafael Baca did superbly to erase Hunter Freeman—who had a howler of a first half—with a clever stepover, launching a left-footed cross to the back post where Gordon rose to meet it and head down to make it two-nothing heading into halftime.

After Dawkins pushed San Jose to a 3-1 advantage, Gordon rounded off the scoring adroitly.

Taking advantage of Ramiro Corrales's header in midfield, which bounded into the Colorado penalty area, Gordon raced onto the loose ball and, after touching past center-back Marvel Wynne, dispatched his shot into the back of the net.

It was a statement game from the Quakes, who Yallop had exhorted in a team meeting before the game to use this Rapids encounter as an opportunity to banish memories of their loss last weekend. 

"I thought tonight, we have to make a statement where we’re top of the league; let’s stay there," Yallop said. "Let’s not limp into the playoffs."

The weather was a fitting forecaster: the season is now heading into its stretch drive, and while the Earthquakes are getting closer to locking up a playoff spot, they want to do so with panache.

Brief Worries After Colorado Score

The second-half had begun at a bit of a canter, but it would fire into life in the 54th minute when Martin Rivero sent a bending corner kick to an unmarked Tyrone Marshall, standing in the middle of the penalty area.

Marshall could do nothing else but head past Jon Busch to pull back a vital goal and send the momentum swinging back to his side.

"They made a sub where Hunter Freeman came off and Marshall came on, so everybody had their marks during the first half, but obviously with the substitution nobody had picked up Marshall yet on a set piece and he pretty much had a free run at (the header)," Opara said.

"That can’t happen, but going forward I think we’ll figure that out as a unit, and when a substitution is made to quickly react and go from there."

"That goal was a bit of a wake-up call," Dawkins said. "We knew that we needed to keep our game the way we’d had it in the first half, and attack, and we ended up getting those two additional goals." 

"We were just weathering the storm, weathering the storm, and we knew that at some point it would open up, so we were playing long balls and trying to stretch them out," Opara said. 

"Finally, we had guys underneath who could create, and we had guys who could finish well. Overall tonight, it was a good effort."

Opara hailed Morrow’s play on the night in particular, repeatedly telling both reporters and Morrow alike in the post-game locker room that he just "follows the All-Star’s lead." (Morrow played in the MLS All-Star game on July 25.)

Fire back into dominance they did, with the final minutes of the game seeing a thoroughly frustrated Colorado side unable to cope with some sublime, sweeping passing movements from the Quakes, one of which nearly ended in a stirring goal. 

Kaval Sets a Date for Construction to Begin on New Stadium

Construction is set to begin on San Jose’s new soccer-specific stadium in October of this year, and Earthquakes president Dave Kaval wants to make it a memorable start.

Not just in fans’ minds, mind you. He wants this thing etched into the history books.

During a halftime speech to the assembled crowd at Buck Shaw, Kaval said that it would take 4,600 participants to break the standing world record for biggest groundbreaking.

In a ceremony outside the stadium an hour-and-a-half before kickoff (an Earthquakes media representative expressed pleasantly surprised at the strong turnout), Kaval had first revealed that construction was set to begin on the new stadium in October, with designs on it being ready to go by the start of the 2014 MLS season.

Unless otherwise noted, all quotes used in this article were gathered at the game.

The Seattle Sounders had every reason to feel confident heading into Saturday night's MLS Western Conference showdown against the San Jose Earthquakes.

Never mind that the game would be played in the cozy confines of Buck Shaw Stadium, where San Jose have been loathe to concede points this season.

Never mind that the Sounders were catching the Earthquakes on a brief dip in form—San Jose had grabbed only one point from their last possible six.

Sounders striker Eddie Johnson had scored six goals in his last seven games. His fellow forward Fredy Montero had two goals in his last three. Midfielder Mauro Rosales had six assists in his last six games.

But a taxing run of games—including Wednesday’s U.S. Open Cup final, which had gone all the way to penalties before Sporting Kansas City prevailed—had forced head coach Sigi Schmid to make some key changes to his normal lineup.

Rosales and Johnson had both gone the entire 120 minutes in the Open Cup final, and Schmid decided that, given as how those two and Montero would be unable to go a full 90 minutes against San Jose, he would bring them on as impact substitutes.

The gambit nearly worked, too.

By the time 90 minutes had gone—93, to be exact, after stoppage time had been added up—the substitute Montero had added a third goal to his run, and it looked as if Seattle, which had not lost in its last six league matches, was going to push their run to seven and inch ever closer to the Earthquakes' lead atop the Western Conference standings.

Because that Montero goal—opportunistic as ever—had tied up the game at 1-1.

With just three minutes of added time having been shown by fourth official Alejandro Mariscal, it appeared San Jose were heading to a second consecutive league draw, after tying Chicago Fire 1-1 on July 28.

Everything pointed to that outcome. How could a team find a goal within a minute's time to pull them from one point to three?

But this is a different team, and this is a different season. San Jose have developed an almost ethereal capacity to, as the illustrious American Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte so perfectly put it, "find that little something extra."

Lochte recognized that, for a winner, there's always something left. You just have to find it.

And thanks to a golden, floppy-haired savior—as great a character as you're likely to find in Major League Soccer—San Jose found a way to win.

Enter Lenhart

Shea Salinas had a confession to make to Steven Lenhart in the San Jose Earthquakes post-game locker room.

With the seconds tick-tocking toward zero in that final minute of stoppage time, the winger had tried to curl in his first cross, which had faltered.

"I know!" Lenhart said, hair still up in that comical off-center bob, feigning disgust as his eyes widened. "I was so mad."

While the entire Earthquakes team might not have succumbed to rage at that point, they were likely staring chagrin in the face.

Seattle’s equalizer had left San Jose staring down a run of three MLS games where they would have taken just two points from a possible nine.

With two of those games coming at home, it was a way of sputtering, and not soaring, toward the league finish line.

But this team is different. Almost Hollywood-esque in their ability to find happy endings when all looks lost, there is an indefatigable spark emanating from them that exudes the mantra, "Never say die."

The ‘Goonies’-like, never-give-up moniker, which this entire team has embraced since Lenhart coined it back in late May, fits them better than most.

"It’s happened time and time again, and I don’t think it’s something that happens all the time, but this team has just shown a great spirit and great character, and we will not stop until the final whistle," San Jose assistant manager Mark Watson would say afterwards.

(Manager Frank Yallop was serving a one-game touchline ban for his antics against Chicago on July 28, which had resulted in his expulsion.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKEg-OW5Bw8

Watson played it cool during his post-game interview, but you could see the enthusiasm bubbling beneath. It's hard to hide a smile when you're talking about this season's San Jose Earthquakes.

But Before Lenhart, Dawkins

San Jose had opened the scoring through midfielder Simon Dawkins in the 71st minute, whose goal kick-started what had been a decidedly cagey affair up until that juncture.

Dawkins collected a bumbling ball at the right edge of the penalty area and, with his momentum taking him away from goal, fired a low shot toward the right post.

It was forceful enough, and spontaneous enough, to catch keeper Michael Gspurning off-guard. The Austrian shot-stopper could only manage a fingertip as he watched it bounce into the back of the net.

"I just saw the ball bouncing," Dawkins said afterward. "I thought, 'If I take a touch, I might not get the opportunity to score.' So I decided to hit it and thankfully it went in."

It was just returns for the Earthquakes, who had been ascendant throughout the second half. But Seattle might have felt hard-done by for not having a goal by that point.

Seattle Unable to Capitalize Upon a Good First Half

Sounders striker Sammy Ochoa twice hit the woodwork, once off an acrobatic overhead kick that left Quakes keeper Jon Busch no chance, the other time off a powerful header early into the second half.

Services were coming thick and fast from newly ordained designated player Christian Tiffert, a 30-year-old German Bundesliga veteran who had only joined the club on July 27.

While Schmid noted that Tiffert is more disposed toward midfield, with Montero and Johnson out of contention for a starting role, the manager had asked his newest charge to play as a support striker to Ochoa.

Tiffert obliged, and during the first half he was ubiquitous, exemplifying the Sounders’ dominance through a series of inch-perfect, bending right-footed services that hearkened to mind a certain English midfielder for the Los Angeles Galaxy.

Tiffert’s inclination to roam saw him filter about the vast expanses of midfield.

Normally staying in the right-hand portions, the man most recently of FC Kaiserslautern linked up well with his new teammates, playing little passes and popping up underneath the Quakes back four.

"I thought (Tiffert) was good," Schmid said. "I thought he was dangerous; he got in close to goal with that one-two pass combination, and his services off corners was very good."

Tiffert was the one providing Ochoa with those gilt-edged crosses, or providing the balls that led up to the distribution. (Ochoa's overhead kick had originated after Tiffert had had picked out winger Alex Caskey on the left with a sumptuous curling ball.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_n8bdJWR1DQ

San Jose Makes Key Half Time Adjustments

Despite Seattle’s first-half dominance, which both Watson and Dawkins readily admitted, they did not capitalize. With that small victory in tow, San Jose fired out of the gate to start the second half.

"We came in at halftime, and we thought we had done well but we thought we could do more," Watson said. "We asked players for another 15 to 20 percent; we knew we had a little more in us, and they responded. We brought a lot of energy at the start of the second half, and got on top."

"In the first half, we didn’t start very well," said Dawkins. "So in the second half, we decided to drop (Chris) Wondo(lowski) a bit more, keep the ball moving, and make them chase us more. That helped us in the second half."

Dawkins’s movement was one of the key factors in the swing.

Coupled with winger Marvin Chavez’s excellent play on the wing, the 24-year-old Englishman tucked into the center, providing an extra body in midfield to help counter Seattle’s three-man midfield, which had focused on stifling San Jose.

Salinas has called Dawkins perhaps the Quakes' best overall player, and for most of Saturday night, he embodied that moniker.

Showing a terrific ability to dribble past defenders while retaining possession, Dawkins also linked up superbly with left-back Justin Morrow, once sending Morrow down the wing with a perfectly weighted first-time pass.

"I thought Simon had another strong game tonight," Watson said. "He’s a good player, he’s got sharp feet, he’s got a great brain for the game, he sees the little angles, he gets in the right spaces. He’s someone who’s really helped us.

"He’s typically a wide player, but he has natural tendencies to come inside. We want to work him in those little areas, and I thought his quality was one of the differences in the game tonight."

That he was, but even Dawkins wouldn't have been unable to predict the way this one ended.

Climax

Despite the Earthquakes’ dominance throughout much of the second half, Schmid’s introductions of his fearsome trio of Johnson (68’), Rosales (82’) and Montero (84’) turned the game on its head.

Johnson came close with a header that glanced over the bar, but was uncommonly ineffective.

Not so with Rosales and Montero, who immediately showed their quality. Montero in particular was a handful within moments, ducking past Quakes defenders with his dribbling and using good movement to get into dangerous areas.

It was little surprise, then, that those two were involved in the equalizer.

Rosales’s cross from the right wing was headed down by Quakes central defender Victor Bernardez, but Sam Cronin, manning the goal line, couldn’t get more than a poke away as his feet gave out beneath him.

The ball skipped somewhat serendipitously for Montero, who was never going to miss from that range, and headed home past Jon Busch. It was the forward’s fourth goal against San Jose since joining Seattle in 2009.

Bent but not broken, San Jose moved quickly to start up play again. Before a minute had gone after Seattle’s goal, they had a corner.

Easy Does it For Shea

Salinas told Lenhart in the locker room that after his first failed delivery, he had decided to loft his next service in—a corner kick from the left in the 93rd minute. It would prove a judicious choice, as the approach worked to perfection.

Lenhart rose highest and directed his header across goal and past Gspurning into the back of the net. Bedlam ensued at Buck Shaw.

It was San Jose’s seventh goal this season after 90 minutes, its 17th in the final 15 minutes and, when combined with Dawkins’s strike, the 28th and 29th goals over the past half hour of games.

Unsurprisingly, San Jose leads the league in each category.

The win pushed San Jose’s record to 14-5-5, and took their point total to a league-best 47 points. Seattle dropped to 10-6-7, and currently sits at 37 points.

The win gave San Jose the first leg in the Heritage Cup, which has been in effect between the two former NASL (North American Soccer League) rivals since the Sounders entered MLS in 2009.

(Due to the unbalanced schedule in effect this year, San Jose’s 1-0 victory over Seattle on March 31 won’t count toward the Cup.) Three points were afforded San Jose on Saturday night, meaning they need only a point against Seattle on Sept. 23 to take the Cup for the first time since 2009.

If Seattle should emerge victorious, a series of complicated tiebreakers will go into effect to decide the victor.

A Night to Remember, and the Reason Why We Won't Forget it Anytime Soon

Near the end of an IBM-led hour-long panel this past Friday, titled "Box Office to Front Office," geared toward recognizing that technology is revolutionizing the sporting world, San Jose Earthquakes president Dave Kaval said something particularly insightful.

Kaval was one of four panelists invited to discuss the topic along with representatives from video game designer EA Sports, sports website Bleacher Report and IBM.

The majority of questions directed Kaval's way had to do with the new stadium the Earthquakes are currently building, which is scheduled to be in service by 2014.

He also delved into the the ways technology is currently filtering into MLS. Kaval noted the Adidas miCoach smart chip, first seen in use during the MLS All-Star game and which fits into a player’s compression jersey and tracks his movement during a game.

Yet while he was distilling the mesmerizing glut of information available at our fingertips, Kaval took a step back.

"There’s a nostalgia to the way a soccer match is played," Kaval told the audience numbering some thirty men and women clustered about a small room at IBM's San Francisco Financial District location, as well as others who were watching via a webstream.

That principle seemed to run counter to what had been discussed throughout the panel up until that point.

The Bleacher Report rep said that when he watches NFL football during the fall, it is with a television, laptop and iPad in tow. The EA Sports invitee spoke of how the interactive gaming experience will only increase as we move further into the future.

But Kaval noticed a difference in the way a soccer game flows. Perhaps it's against the tide, but most likely it possesses a certain eternal quality that will weather the technological storm.

"There’s few stops, and continuous halves of action," Kaval noted, before stressing that he wants fans’ attention geared toward the play on the field, instead of checking the latest news on their phones.

The words seemed almost prescient ahead of Saturday night’s game.

Look away, and you’d have missed Sam Cronin’s last-ditch block in the 81st minute that denied Seattle a what would have then been an equalizer, and which would have had severe implications upon the match.

Look away, and you miss Lenhart’s last-ditch heroics, the latest in what is becoming the most fortuitous "bad habit" where the Earthquakes are involved.

You could catch the highlights later, sure, recapping the action on a laminated computer screen. But it wouldn't come close to matching all the elements—crowd reaction, immediacy, etc.—that constitute the live experience and make it inimitable.

Like Don Draper once said about nostalgia in the first season of the acclaimed television series Mad Men, it’s "delicate, but potent."

You begin to realize that, as the character Lou once said while watching a baseball game in Rescue Me, sport is an awful lot like life.

Soccer is a far cry from baseball, but it can lull you into a listless sleep, should the action not come thick and fast enough your liking. That's the age-old complaint against the Beautiful Game, at least from some Americans' perspectives, after all. 

But if you trust, and keep your eyes peeled—and Saturday night’s Earthquakes game got rather trying at times—there's the chance you'll witness the unforgettable. There's a chance you'll realize that this is the timeless essence of sports.

A game inspiring thousands of people. Because the victory is so much more than a simple three points in a box score. It's faith rewarded.

It’s Lenhart racing over to a pocket of the field, his teammates vaulting after him in sheer, unequivocal jubilation. It’s the ensuing celebration that captivates those 10,000 or so hardy fans who’d held out until the final whistle.

It’s the 1906 Ultras, San Jose’s vaunted group of hardened supporters, staying after the final whistle had gone.

Even though their ranks had diminished, the remaining band didn’t mind one bit. They kept chanting, kept singing, and kept jumping about. It’s a rhythm all its own, and it triggers something elemental in your mind.

Something that coincides perfectly with the message splayed out on one of their banners: No matter the results, we'll stand behind the Earthquakes. It's a loyalty rarely seen in this life.

Something catches in your throat; maybe its an inescapable side effect triggered by a potent dose of nostalgic feeling.

But this exceeds the melancholy that usually associates wistful looks back in memory. This is recognition that the moment we just witnessed is what will always keep sport alive. Which is as it should be.

Maybe, in the end, it’s simply a group of fans wrapped up in the reverie of a glorious haze, providing a closing-time tune for fans as they filter out of the stadium, hoping this night doesn’t end.

Maybe that brings you back to reality. Maybe that gives you an added fuel burst to carry you through tomorrow.

Maybe that’s a good thing.

Unless otherwise noted, all quotes used in this article were gathered at the game.

Alan Gordon didn’t earn a starting nod in last Wednesday’s Major League Soccer (MLS) All-Star game. He didn’t open the scoring, either, in what would become a thrilling 3-2 victory for the MLS' best over Chelsea, last season's European Champions.

Those distinctions went to Gordon’s San Jose Earthquakes teammate, and fellow striker, Chris Wondolowski, a man who is poised to enjoy a potentially historic 2012 season.

Wondolowski’s 17 league goals, accrued in just 21 games for an astounding return rate of 0.81 goals per game, have captivated the hearts and minds of supporters around the league.

Many believe the late-blooming 29-year-old presents the most formidable threat to Roy Lassiter’s record of 27 goals in an MLS season, a feat the former Tampa Bay forward achieved in the league's inaugural 1996 campaign.

With 11 games remaining, the record is very much within "Wondo's" reach.

But the 'Quakes' captain will be the first to tell you that he'd never have reached this blooming stage in his career without the teammates who take the field with him for each game.

There's a reason that the San Jose starting eleven huddle up before, and often during, games. There's a reason the players often hug each other before kickoff. This is a tight-knit bunch. Wondolowski doesn't see himself as a star, and he wouldn't want you to think so, either. That would be a detriment to the group.

Enter Alan Gordon

Whereas Wondolowski's jet-fueled scoring has jettisoned him to the league lead, Alan Gordon actually holds the distinction of having scored the most goals per 90 minutes. (He has scored nine league goals in 823 minutes, almost one goal a game—a phenomenal rate.)

It's the sort of concentrated production that has become a calling card of "Gordo's" this season, during which he has been as responsible as anyone for the Earthquakes' terrific play.

He is one of the foremost examples of management's shrewd decisions in the past couple of years, where a series of prescient trades and insightful draft decisions have helped concoct a cocktail of dynamism on the field.

The youthful fullback tandem of Steven Beitashour and Justin Morrow, both of whom were named All-Stars and started alongside Wondolowski at Philadelphia’s PPL Park—came through the MLS SuperDraft.

Others, like Gordon, arrived in San Jose through trades.

Brought in from Toronto FC last summer, one year after San Jose had moved for TFC midfielder Sam Cronin (who now starts in central midfield), Gordon saw his season derail just weeks after touching down for his second California stint in MLS (he began his career with LA Galaxy).

What was most maddening about the situation, to San Jose manager Frank Yallop's mind, was that the club was not made aware of an injury Gordon was carrying when the ink dried on the deal.

Though he had missed a substantial amount of the 2011 season dealing with a debilitating groin injury, since Gordon was acquired through a trade, per MLS logistics he did not undergo a physical before joining San Jose, as would have been the case if he had been a free agent.

After watching him play a full 90 minutes in his last match with Toronto ahead of the move, San Jose believed they were obtaining a fully fit striker.

But within a month of the deal's completion, Gordon was forced to undergo surgery to repair tears in an abdominal muscle and both hip adductors. What had initially been diagnosed as a three-to-five week recovery eventually ballooned into a season-ending injury.

Fully Fit, Gordon Has Begun to Flourish

Following San Jose's 2-1 win over FC Dallas this past July 18, a game in which Gordon scored his seventh league goal of the season, Yallop noted that, had it not been for a debatable decision in a June 20 match against Colorado Rapids, "Gordo" could have had one more.

It's safe to say that, with Yallop finally able to worry about his forward's goal return instead of X-ray results, things are going well.

The coach praises his forward for the dedicated approach he's shown during training this season, which Yallop believes has contributed to Gordon's production.

Gordon has been one of the foremost embodiments of the Earthquakes' "Goonies" moniker, a reference to their uncanny ability to fight back from deficits and obtain positive results in the final minutes of games.

(Before he scored against the Portland Timbers on July 3, all of Gordon's goals this season had come in a substitute role, and after the 75th minute to boot.)

He has taken the never-say-die philosophy, and the relentless effort that accompanies it, to heart.

"I’ve been working hard, and I've been coming off my injury and I continue to do that," Gordon said. "I’m not changing what I’ve been doing and it seems to be working.

"When you get minutes, you’re fitter. When you’re not getting the minutes, sometimes you’re sucking wind, and it affects your play. The more fit I get, it allows me to do more things on the field. In that sense I am feeling strong, and I hope it continues."

His fiery approach is tailor-made for a savior's role. After opening the scoring for San Jose against Dallas, Gordon bounded over the advertising boards surrounding the field at Buck Shaw Stadium and, in a fitting homage to the Lambeau Leap, vaulted onto the railing in front of the mass of supporters.

Using the railing's uppermost metal bar for support, Gordon rocked back and forth while unleashing a torrent of jubilant yells. The fans couldn't get enough.

It was a mirror-image of Gordon's saving grace in a May 19 road fixture with Columbus Crew. With the score 1-0 in Columbus' favor, and the seconds ticking away to the final whistle, Gordon collected a neat pass from Wondolowski in the penalty area and fired a left-footed shot.

In agonizing fashion, the side-footed drive caromed off the underside of the crossbar, and filtered back into play. But Gordon would not be denied. He raced onto the rebound and unleashed a spectacular acrobatic volley with his right foot that bounced past a thoroughly flummoxed collection of Crew and into the back of the net.

It's safe to say that Gordon's exuberance, and his stick-to-it-iveness, have infected the 'Quakes' locker room.

When one of his teammates was asked after a recent game against Chicago Fire, in which San Jose had trailed until stoppage time, whether he had ever despaired about the potential outcome, Gordon snapped to attention from his locker and barked his disapproval at the mere mention of possible disbelief.

Not one of this current band of 'Quakes would ever believe the game to be beyond their reach, said Gordon, eyes blazing. The mere possibility of that lack of faith baffled him. The teammate quickly voiced his concurrence.

With players like Gordon leading the way, it's easy to see why San Jose fans have quickly become acolytes of the Goonies approach.

A Key Contributor Who Does Much More than Score

Gordon was used primarily as a "joker" substitute to start the season, a term bestowed upon players who are particularly adept at making key contributions upon entering the game.

But after forward Steven Lenhart was ruled out from July 3 to July 31 (a span that encompassed five league games), as he recovered from lingering concussive symptoms stemming from a collision during a Portland Timbers match, Gordon got his chance at a starting role.

He pounced upon the opportunity, scoring four goals during that run of five encounters while providing San Jose with a priceless physical presence at the forward position.

After San Jose’s victory over Dallas, Wondolowski said that Gordon’s physical approach and hold-up play fits in seamlessly with the team’s offensive philosophy, and provided a priceless boon to the attack.

“When we clear the ball, (Gordon) possesses it, and we get two or three passes so we can get our guys going on the outside, and get our outside backs overlapping," Wondolowski said. "That’s a great thing to have."

The Earthquakes thrive when they’re able to get the ball to speedy wingers Shea Salinas and Marvin Chavez, who then attack the opposing team's fullbacks with a combination of pace and trickery as they race toward the endline.

With their forwards' height making for an obvious target, (Wondolowski, Lenhart and Gordon are all over six feet), crosses are frequently floated into the penalty area, where that trio has shown a predatory ability to finish chances.

That was certainly the case in the Dallas match.

Collecting the ball with a deadening first touch in the middle of the field, central midfielder Sam Cronin chanced a glance at goal.

Picking out Gordon, who said later that he motioned for a cross to be sent in, Cronin delivered an inch-perfect cross to the far post.

Gordon rose highest and powered his header down and into the back of the net for that ninth goal of the season. (He would get his 10th in San Jose’s 2-1 loss to Vancouver Whitecaps on July 22.)

With Lenhart Back, the Attack Becomes Even More Formidable

Lenhart made his return to the side on July 31, coming on as a substitute against the Chicago Fire and immediately joining Wondolowski and Gordon in the attack. The Quakes, down 1-0 at that juncture, quickly rose into the ascendancy with their three-headed Hydra of a forwarding ensemble.

The threesome's aerial prowess makes for a sort of pin-balling spectacle when crosses are played into the box. It's very rare that any of them lose an aerial duel, and they do a fantastic job of nodding on headers into the paths of teammates.

It was just that sort of play that proved to be San Jose's saving grace on the night, as Wondolowski deadened a header for Lenhart in the 98th minute. Collecting the pass at the top of the penalty area, Lenhart timed the bounce perfectly and unleashed a blistering volley that punctured what had been a valiant effort by the Chicago defense and keeper.

The match ended 1-1, and the Earthquakes, just as they've done all season, got a much-needed point—the kind that could prove so vital when the final standings are revealed.

"I just thank God,” Gordon told a collection of reporters, this coming after the Dallas encounter, but you feel certain he'd have said something similar after Chicago. “God’s been great to me and this team, and we’re just going to keep going and do the things we’ve been doing.

"Everybody's healthy, and there's someone right behind you ready to step in and do a job. Somebody's not going to be happy who's on the bench, but that's the sign of a good team."

Right now, the Earthquakes’ terrific play has fired them into first place in the Western Conference standings, where they stand at 44 points through 23 games.

They lead second-placed Real Salt Lake by two points, and enjoy a six-point margin over the Eastern Conference-leading New York Red Bulls, albeit with a game in hand.

It's a position that augurs well in their chase for the Supporter’s Shield, awarded to the team with the best overall record at the end of the season.

If they accomplish that feat, they'll owe their strike force, which has helped amass 45 goals—easily the most prolific output in MLS (LA Galaxy sit in second with 39), in a big way.

Gordon, whose fearless approach and relentless desire have contributed to many more goals than the ones he's actually managed to score himself, should be applauded for his production alongside Wondolowski and Lenhart.

Yallop certainly realizes the pivotal role he's played, saying that San Jose "missed" him last season when he went down to injury.

The seasoned coach has frequently made mention of his team's ability to win even when Wondolowski fails to find the back of the net. Gordon is a big reason for that.

Unless otherwise noted, all quotes used in this article were recorded on-site at San Jose Earthquakes games.

Wholesale changes were in order throughout Tuesday night’s friendly between San Jose Earthquakes and Swansea City, with both Frank Yallop (San Jose) and Michael Laudrup (Swansea) clearing out their substitutes’ benches.

By the time the final whistle had gone on a 2-2 draw, Laudrup had used 21 players in total to Yallop’s 19. Both managers used the word “pleased” in their post-game press conferences when asked to describe their reaction to the result, played out in front of 9,239 at Buck Shaw Stadium.

“It was very useful, what I saw tonight,” said Laudrup, who took over the Swansea managerial post on June 15 after Brendan Rodgers left for Liverpool FC. “I think the first half, the first 60, 65 minutes we did well. It’s getting much better everyday, you can see that. We scored a couple of goals, and we could have scored a couple more.”

“But in the last 20 to 25 minutes we forgot the ball, we forgot to play,” Laudrup continued. “We gave it away too soon. That’s difficult for our team if we don’t have the ball, because then of course we have to run and it becomes difficult for us.”

During his two seasons at the helm of Swansea City, Rodgers had built upon the system of fluid passing and incisive movement begun by Roberto Martinez in 2007.

Stubborn in the vein of Arsene Wenger or Ian Holloway, managers of Arsenal and Blackpool, Rodgers was resolute in his desire to see his side play their passing game, no matter the circumstances surrounding the match.

Swansea became one of the greatest stories of the 2011-12 Premier League season, showing no nerves about being the first Welsh side to crack the English top flight during the league’s modern era.

Aided by some inspired work in the transfer market (namely, Gylfi Sigurdsson), the Swans rode their fluid system of football to an 11th-place finish, claiming some impressive results along the way.

Victories over Arsenal and Liverpool at the Liberty Stadium were highlights, but it was Swansea’s ability to obtain results when they needed that most contributed to their impressive final placement.

The Laudrup Era Shows Early Promise

Fast-forward to the final day in July. The Swansea side that Laudrup brought with him is already showing some indications of its new manager’s presence.

Michu and Chico, signed earlier this summer, joined Jonathan de Guzman in the starting lineup. Laudrup coached De Guzman, a central midfielder with a creative bent, at Mallorca in 2010-11 and has brought his former charge in on loan from Villarreal for the upcoming season.

After leaving Mallorca on less-than-cordial terms in late September 2011 (almost four years to the day from when Jose Mourinho left Chelsea under similar circumstances), Laudrup could have had his pick of the litter when it came to top European clubs.

A transcendent player in his day—in Christian Mohr Boisen's book Et Fodbolddynasti, German legend Franz Beckenbauer called him the best player of the 1990s and Andres Iniesta hailed him as the greatest of all time—Laudrup has already enjoyed some impressive spells of success in his relatively brief managerial career.

Still just 47, the former attacking midfielder led Danish side Brondby, with whom he had played as a youngster, to a league and cup double in 2005, a feat for which he earned Danish Manager of the Year.

His sides have a penchant for playing attractive football, and Laudrup was attracted to Swansea City in part because of their renowned style. His signing sent shockwaves throughout Wales, where Swansea fans who had been reeling from Rodgers’s departure perked up and hailed the inspired arrival of one of the greatest to ever play the game.

Laudrup departs from his predecessor in some very particular areas, however. He has noted that Swansea will not sneak up on anybody this season, a luxury they were afforded during their maiden Premiership voyage last season. Thus, they must have alternative styles in order should the fluid passing fail to fire.

“All the other teams in the Premier League know how Swansea is playing, and they will try to adapt to that, to find the weak points in our play,” Laudrup said. “That’s why we have to, we need some alternatives to the way we play normally, if it’s not working.”

A Mix of the Old and New Open the Scoring for Swansea

His side certainly started off well against San Jose, bossing possession for much of the first half. The inevitable jitters and lapses in concentration, so frequently seen during preseason fixtures, were also on display, but as the half progressed, the starting XI began to play some very good football.

Michu, Chico and De Guzman all started for Swansea, and holdover first-teamers Michel Vorm, Ashley Williams, Luke Moore, Leon Britton and Danny Graham rounded out Laudrup's lineup to start the game.

They met a San Jose side with nine changes made to the team that had started Saturday night’s enthralling 1-1 draw with Chicago Fire.

Forward Steven Lenhart, who had played the role of savior against the Fire by way of a spectacular volleyed equalizer in the 98th minute—the latest goal ever scored in Earthquakes club history—was on the bench, as were Chris Wondolowski, Rafael Baca, Shea Salinas and Alan Gordon.

Thirty-three-year-old Ramiro Corrales, named to last week's All-Star game, was in the starting lineup at left back.

Swansea started on stronger footing—Yallop attributed that to the makeshift lineup he sent out—with Luke Moore and Danny Graham both seeing early chances go begging for the visitors.

San Jose mounted their first real attack in the 23rd minute, when Corrales picked out a wide-open Sam Garza at the edge of the penalty area. Garza took a touch to settle before firing a fierce drive that had eyes for goal. But Vorm, excellent last season for Swansea, was able to palm the effort over the bar.

After beginning the game somewhat disjointed, often electing to play over the top for Graham and attacking midfielder Michu when passing lanes closed down, Swansea finally began to settle and play their neat, triangular passing game that had so captivated the Premier League a season ago.

'Quakes right-back Jed Zayner managed to pick out forward Cesar Pizarro with a good cross in the 31st minute, but Pizarro could only head over into the top netting. Swansea surged thereafter, embarking upon a steady acceleration that would last until the end of the half.

A poor back-pass from Mehdi Ballouchy, whose trade from New York Red Bulls was only finalized on Monday morning, saw a poor back pass picked out in the 36th minute. The ball fell to Graham, whose left-footed drive sizzled just past keeper David Bingham’s far post.

Wayne Routledge then found Michu at the top of the box in the 39th minute, but the man who tallied an impressive 15 goals for Rayo Vallecano last season could only fire wide of Bingham’s right post.

Michu was excellent on the night, providing the sort of attacking dynamism that will surely be needed in the upcoming season.

Swansea would open the scoring just two minutes later.

Swans left-back Ben Davies sent a searching cross-field ball for Routledge that Corrales easily picked out, but the defender’s volley, intended as a back pass for Bingham, fell woefully short.

Ever alert to that sort of danger, Graham raced onto the loose pass and, after touching past the onrushing Bingham, coaxed his right-footed shot into the back of the net to put his side up 1-0.

Swansea would continue their vein of pressure to start the second half, and in the 60th minute, Williams sent in a curling cross from the right edge of the penalty area.

It fell perfectly for his fellow central defender Chico, who rose highest and headed down past Bingham’s right to make it two goals to none for his side.

A Timely Trio Turn the Tide for San Jose

Both Laudrup and Yallop began sending on substitutes in rapid succession after the second goal, but it was the latter’s inspired introductions of Lenhart, Shea Salinas and Simon Dawkins in the 62nd minute that turned the match on its head.

The diaspora of key Swansea players headed for the sidelines was met by a number of the 'Quakes' top players entering the game. It was a disparity that would change the match's complexion entirely.

“We brought in the ‘reinforcements,' if you like, Yallop said. “Those guys who are really game sharp, and you notice a big difference when they come on, they can change the game.”

Whereas San Jose had appeared to be on the back foot for most of the game, they suddenly pushed into the ascendancy.

Dawkins, as he'd done so adroitly on Saturday in a performance that had earned him the top spot in the weekly Castrol rankings the strings, tucked into an attacking midfield position (he excels when he is able to cut in from his starting assignment on the wing).

Salinas, who had been superb at both right wing and right-back against Chicago, quickly began wrecking havoc on the left for San Jose.

It didn’t take the winger long to put Swansea left-back Ashley Richards, brought on for starter Angel Rangel, under pressure.

Slipped in behind the defense by Guvenisik, Salinas ghosted past Richards to the endline before cutting his cross back across goal, where it went untouched.

San Jose had turned the tide, however, and in the 74th minute Rafael Baca, substituted just minutes earlier, took a quick free kick, sending a lofted ball cross field to Salinas.

The winger collected with ease before picking out Chris Wondolowski, brought on alongside keeper Evan Newton and Baca in the 71st minute.

Normally metronomic with his consistency in front of goal, Wondolowski’s powerful header blazed past Vorm’s near post.

But Salinas was far from finished with his industrious work.

A bit of inspired vision from the 24-year-old Dawkins picked out Salinas on the left wing in the 80th minute.

Darting past Richards on the left wing, Salinas sent his cross toward the arriving Lenhart, who could do nothing else but side-foot his close-range effort past Vorm and into the back of the net to bring the ‘Quakes to within a goal.

The crowd, ominously silent for much of the game (much to the chagrin of the 1906 Ultras, San Jose's boisterous band of Ultras), began making their voices heard.

Channeling San Jose’s Goonies mentality might have seemed a bit bizarre for a friendly, but make no doubt about it—the 'Quakes' never-say-die attitude was on full display from the time Lenhart found the mark.

Another superb sequence from the Earthquakes in the 82nd minute saw Wondolowski nod down a header for Dawkins, whose first-time ball split a seam on that vulnerable Swansea right flank and found Corrales, who sent in a good, hard cross that was headed clear for a corner.

After Salinas fired wide in the 83rd minute—a rare shot on goal for him, and one that he looked like he’d have liked to have back—Dawkins again played the role of creator, this time in the 85th minute.

After a neat bit of dribbling, Dawkins picked out Baca on the right wing. The central midfielder's inch-perfect cross missed Wondolowski by a whisker, but who else than Lenhart rose to meet it. The forward's powerful header coursed past a helpless Vorm's left to even up the game at two.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-NJD8IoM6E

Swansea substitute striker Leroy Lita had two chances to seal the game for his side but was unable to show the same sort of accuracy his opposite number Lenhart displayed.

Yallop Impressed by Ballouchy’s Debut

San Jose finalized a trade on Monday that sent an international spot and a conditional draft pick, both from 2013, to New York Red Bulls for Bay Area product Mehdi Ballouchy.

A graduate of Gunn High School in San Jose and a two-year player at Santa Clara University (he will have remembered Buck Shaw well from his collegiate days), Ballouchy had little time to adapt to the new time zone or his new teammates before taking the field against a very good Premiership side.

“Ballouchy was a little tired, you know, he traveled all day yesterday,” Yallop said. “I think he probably would have enjoyed playing a bit more late on, but just in general, I thought he was good on the ball, he keeps it well.

Like Dawkins, Ballouchy loves to cut infield and enjoyed his best spells in central midfield.

The midfielder particularly impressed with his ability to retain possession in tight spaces, showing the sort of ingenuity that is often a requisite to pick apart teams of Swansea’s stature.

His poor back pass aside, which almost led to a Swansea goal in the first half, it was an impressive display from the newest Earthquake.

“He’ll get up to speed for the way we play, quicker and what we try to do is really move it as quick as we can, and don’t let it settle,” Yallop said. “Once he gets used to the speed of that, it’ll be really good.”

Asked which of the other Earthquakes impressed him on the night, Yallop noted Ike Opara in central defense as well as the striker pairing of Guvenisik and Pizarro , who started the game.

He credited both forwards for “looking pretty good together,” once they shook off the rust of the game's opening moments.

Tuesday’s friendly marked the third consecutive summer that San Jose have played an English Premiership side, each time at Buck Shaw. After drawing 0-0 against Tottenham in 2010, the ‘Quakes defeated West Bromwich Albion 2-1 in 2011 before Tuesday night’s 2-2 draw.

Finished with their three-game tour of the United States (Swansea lost 2-1 to Colorado Rapids before defeating Ventura County Fusion 1-0 ahead of Tuesday’s game), Laudrup’s side now fly back to Wales. A friendly against Blackpool awaits next Tuesday, before Swansea bring their preseason to a close with a friendly against Stuttgart.

San Jose now enjoy a 10-day respite before their Aug. 11 game against Seattle Sounders at Buck Shaw.

Unless otherwise noted, all quotes used in this article were gathered on site.

The San Jose Earthquakes used a package deal of a 2013 international player spot and a conditional draft pick from that same year to entice New York Red Bulls to send along midfielder Mehdi Ballouchy, San Jose's official website reported Monday morning.

Ballouchy, a seven-year MLS veteran who had been traded to New York from the Colorado Rapids in September 2010, started 10 times for Red Bulls this season (16 total appearances), providing a goal and two assists.

The native of Morocco moved to Denver with his brother as a teenager, spending his junior year attending South High School. The two then moved to Palo Alto, where Ballouchy attended Gunn High School for his senior year.

He committed to Creighton University and spent his freshman year at the Nebraska school, but then transferred to Santa Clara University. Playing for coach Cam Rast, Ballouchy thrived in his new school's sunny, palm-tree laden climes.

By the time his second season at SCU had come to a close in 2005, Ballouchy had been named a Soccer America and NSCAA/adidas First Team All-American while leading the Broncos to a spot in the NCAA Tournament.

His production caught the eye of talent evaluators, and was soon included in one of Generation Adidas' maiden programs. The project is aimed at improving the talent level of players in the United States, and helps players like Ballouchy enter MLS without the prerequisite of four years in college.

The equipment manufacturer took the reins of the program in 2005 from Nike, who had previously called the venture "Project-40," according to US Soccer Players.

Many of the best players currently involved in the national team set-up emanated from the program and its predecessor, including Landon Donovan, Tim Howard, Clint Dempsey and Michael Bradley.

The move paid dividends for Ballouchy, who was made the No. 2 overall pick by Real Salt Lake in the 2006 MLS SuperDraft. He appeared in a career-high 32 games that season.

He has since filtered through Colorado (by way of a trade that sent Kyle Beckerman to RSL) and then New York, before finally returning to the Bay Area.

The midfielder has compiled 13 goals and 24 assists during his seven years in MLS, production that has Earthquakes coach Frank Yallop excited to see his newest player take the field.

"I’ve admired his play over the seven years he’s been in the league," Yallop told the club's official site. "He’s steadily improved since joining MLS. Mehdi’s a good player, a great addition to our team and we’re looking forward to having him here in San Jose."

It was not apparent whether Ballouchy would be included in the 'Quakes' team sheet for Tuesday night's (July 31) friendly against Swansea City.