Dom Kinnear and the SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES came into the contest firmly in 5th place in the West at 4-2-2 (14 points). Kinnear’s San Jose squad was looking to build on their impressive 1-0 victory last week vs Sporting KC. Philly 4-3-0 (12 points) came into the match just one point behind Montreal for first place in the East. The first minutes of the match saw the contest scoreless. San Jose was uncharacteristically sloppy with errant passes and no real offensive cohesiveness. CJ SAPONG was unsuccessful on a head ball shot on goal in the 26th minute for Philly. Then in the 30th minute CHRIS PONTIUS connected with a header to the back of the net on a corner from TRANQUILLO BARNETTA. PONTIUS’ hardwork the play before created the corner try for the Union that he went on to capitalize. In the 36th minute, Philly’s CJ SAPONG missed a golden opportunity inside the 6 where SAPONG launched the close range cross from WARREN CREAVALLE at the end of a fast break. The half saw the Quakes relatively quiet most of the half. That was until they rattled off three scoring attempts, starting with a shot in the 43rd minute that was saved by Union keeper ANDRE BLAKE, The half ended with San Jose trailing 1-0.
As if they weren’t struggling enough, in the 59th minute of the 2nd half, ANIBAL GODOY received his second yellow card which resulted in a red and his ejection from the match. Playing a man down, San Jose continued to lack any true fire power offensively in the second half. And then they found the back of the net in the 84th minute when SIMON DAWKINS beat 2 defenders at the top of the 18th a hit a perfect strike past Philly keeper ANDRE BLAKE. At the end of regulation. Four minutes of extra time was added and neither team was able to pull ahead for the victory. For the UNION, it was an opportunity missed to pull into first place as East leading Montreal was held to a draw vs Colorado.
