So, the Earthquakes had a game today. It was against FC Dallas. (The FC is unnecessary and the nick name "the Hoops" or "hoops" is super lame, so from here on out I'm just going to call them Dallas.) Dallas tied the Quakes last time and kept them from scoring. Dallas plays a smother or holding kind of game. San Jose seems to always have trouble against them. Last year in the final game of the season, the Quakes played Dallas and Chris Wondolowski was trying to score to win the golden boot and he just couldn't. And, last time the Quakes played Dallas (about a week ago) they couldn't do anything again! Infuriating....BUT, tonight the Quakes scored fairly early in the match. That was so exciting. I always like my team to score first because come backs are so difficult and rare in soccer.
The Quakes scored the second goal also. The second goal came right before half time. When the ball was first kicked for the pass, I actually said out loud to the tv "Get a head on that, you are taller than EVERYBODY". I was talking to Alan Gordon, when he jumped, rising far above everyone else, he headed the ball in! 2-0, going into half time is soooooooo stress relieving, especially since Dallas was actually playing VERY well. They had EIGHT corner kicks in the first half. (I guess if they were playing "very" well, they would have scored on some of those, so maybe they weren't playing all that well!) But Dallas was scaring me with all their chances and play right up near San Jose's goal. I was hoping half time would help the Quakes, but I also KNEW that the 2-0 scoreline was very favoring!
Second half was played better. More Earthquake possession and they seemed calmer, more confident, trying hard, not giving Dallas any real space. (But the Quakes LOVE the pass back, and I do vividly remember Wally once saying "pass the way you are facing"..and.."make the easy pass", so I know that passing the ball back is an OK thing to do, but Dallas has watched film or something, because they picked of a ton of those pass back attempts.)
I don't want to make this too long because I know my readers are going to look at the picture, see soccer, then look at the length, then just skip all this mumbo jumbo....but I do want to get to the Penalty Kick portion of this blog so you can find out why I almost cried.
Dallas had a hand ball in the box. Wondo took the PK. He made it. The ref called it back, saying a Quake player infringed into the box too early. So Chris had to take the kick again, but on the second time, the keeper stopped the shot, Chris didn't even get to the rebound!!!! (Like how I'm calling him Chris now....went from Wondolowski, when I was just an average Quakes fan, then Wondo when I was a Wondo fan, now it's Chris, since I feel like he's a friend!) (I wrote him a fan mail type letter the other day...we'll see if he's a "friend" for real if he writes back!) (Hope I don't have to wait till he's traded like I did when Dany Heatley got traded!)
So Chris missed (after making) and he just looked SO sad. I know he was sad, it's like having a goal taken away. It HURTS. Any time ANYONE misses a PK they feel awful....ANYTIME!!! But this was hard to stomach, because he made the first one and mostly because he's in a race to try to break a record, and he pretty much has to score a goal a game in just about all the rest of his games to do it!!!
But the team was winning, and I KNOW that's really why he plays the game. The win is what they want....records and golden boots are all secondary to championships!!!!
Since the Quakes were up 2-0, they seemed to play different after the missed PK. They actually seemed like they were trying to get Chris a goal by forcing passes to him and playing a crazy fast pace, which DID not work and IS NOT their style. And they paid the price for it, too. In the 89th minute, after a 5 or 10 minute FLURRY of Dallas chances, Dallas scored! The commentator even said "GAME ON" right then....and it felt like that, too. Even though the Quakes lead the WHOLE game, it still felt like Dallas could strike again at any second. And then it happened....a PK for DALLAS. One of their players was taken down in the box. It was at the 92nd minute, with 4 minutes of stoppage time, so the game was SOOOOO OVER....but the injured guy lay on the ground for 2 full minutes. The guy taking the shot was a defender who had never scored a goal in the MLS. And he SKY-ED it up over the top of the cross bar. Basically he lost the tie for the team. So, as bad as I felt for Chris earlier....and as HAPPY I WAS for a Quake WIN...I felt so horrible for this guy! He must have felt so bad! Poor dude!
So, the Quakes can and do, I'm sure, feel very lucky about that win. And they always seem to learn from their mistakes....so I'm thinking the forcing the ball to Chris or kicking back since they are winning 2-0 will not happen again.
Anyway, I used to always end my Sharks commentary with GO SHARKS!!!! So, GO QUAKES!
I am LOVING this season!!!! (I wish William was here to watch with me!!!!)
Jonny in the background.
ReplyDeleteWondolowski is on the US National team, of course.
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