The first meeting of the California Clasico between the LA Galaxy and San Jose Earthquakes took place Saturday night at Stanford Stadium in Palo Alto.
San Jose’s Chris Wondolowski had an early chance to score in the 2nd minute as he tried to put in a shot but Jaime Penedo made a great save right in front of goal.
However, it was LA’s Juninho who scored a rocket from 30 yards out that goalkeeper David Bingham could not do anything about. That goal would be his third in three games upping his season total to four.
The lead didn’t last long though as San Jose score an equalizer when Dan Gargan lost the ball at midfield to Wondolowski. He passed the ball off to Matias Perez Garcia who then crossed it back into the box to a streaking Wondolowski that put it into the net.
LA defender Omar Gonzalez was taken off at half time for precautionary reason as he clashed heads with Clarence Goodson earlier in the first half. Gonzalez seemed fined initially but got off the field a few minutes later but was cleared by team physicians.
It was Goodson who would then give San Jose the lead in the 53rd minute as he headed in a corner kick. The final nail in the coffin came for LA in the 72nd minute when substitute Cordell Cato got passed Gargan and fired a shot past Penedo giving San Jose a 3-1 lead.
“We were bad in the second half,” said manager Bruce Arena. “What can you say? Whatever the reasons are. We got out played. Very poor performance on our part.”
This will be LA’s last game with Gonzalez, Gyasi Zardes, and Jaime Penedo as they will join their respective international teams in preparation for the CONCACAF Gold Cup.
The LA Galaxy are still winless on the road this season going 0-5-5 overall (16 games dating to last season). However, another eye opening stat is that this game was their fifth in only two weeks and it doesn’t end there. They will play two more this coming week as they take on San Jose again on Wednesday in U.S. Open Cup play and then they come home on Saturday to take on Toronto FC on the Fourth of July.
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