Match Data
SUMMARY
Seattle Sounders FC 1 - San Jose Earthquakes 0
Sunday, September 29, 2019
Venue: Avaya Stadium
Referee: Ismail Elfath
Assistants: Kyle Atkins, Corey Parker
Fourth Official: Rosendo Mendoza
VAR: Edvin Jurisevic
Attendance: 18,000
Weather: 63 degrees and partly cloudy
SCORING SUMMARY
SEA - Jordan Morris 90’+4’
MISCONDUCT SUMMARY
SJ - Tommy Thompson (ejection) 56’
SEA - Xavier Arreaga (caution) 60’
SEA - Xavier Arreaga (ejection) 71’
SEA - Nouhou (caution) 87’
LINEUPS & STATS
Seattle Sounders FC - Stefan Frei; Kelvin Leerdam, Kim Kee-hee, Xavier Arreaga, Brad Smith (Román Torres 88’); Gustav Svensson, Cristian Roldan, Jordan Morris, Víctor Rodríguez (Nouhou 79’), Joevin Jones (Jordy Delem 74’); Raúl Ruidíaz
Substitutes not used: Bryan Meredith, Luis Silva, Emanuel Cecchini, Harry Shipp
Total shots: 8 (Three players, 2)
Shots on goal: 5 (Morris/Jones, 2)
Fouls: 9 (Arreaga/Jones, 2)
Offside: 1 (Jones, 1)
Corner-kicks: 7 (Rodríguez, 4)
Saves: 10 (Frei, 10)
San Jose Earthquakes - Daniel Vega; Tommy Thompson, Guram Kashia, Florian Jungwirth, Nick Lima; Cristian Espinoza (Carlos Fierro 82’), Jackson Yueill, Magnus Eriksson, Valeri Qazaishvili (Shea Salinas 61’); Chris Wondolowski (Andres Rios HT), Danny Hoesen
Substitutes not used: Andrew Tarbell, Harold Cummings, Marcos Lopez, Anibal Godoy
Total shots: 22 (Eriksson, 6)
Shots on goal: 10 (Three players, 2)
Fouls: 13 (Espinoza, 3)
Offside: 0
Corner-kicks: 8 (Eriksson, 7)
Saves: 5 (Vega, 5)
Post-Match Quotes
SEATTLE SOUNDERS FC HEAD COACH BRIAN SCHMETZER
On the win:
“At the beginning and let’s go through the end. What do you want to ask me? I’m happy? The players are happy in there? Yeah, of course we are. Did they put it in? Of course they did. Did they never stop believing that they could win? No. This team – I’m amazed all the time about the drive and determination to be a winning team, winning franchise. We were going over some of the stats the other day since 2009, the most points, 11 consecutive seasons into the playoffs. And what I like about this is that we did it on our own against a very, very good team. San Jose is going to be a handful as long as Matias [Almeyda] is here. He’s done a great job. That’s a tremendous team, but we were the ones that were a little fortunate at the end and we got the goal.”
On Jordan Morris coming back after going down on the end line:
“Goal scorers make mistakes, defenders make mistakes, midfielders make mistakes. The kid gave us the win at the end. I’m proud as punch.”
On Stefan Frei’s leadership and play tonight:
“He’s been doing it ever since he’s been here. Tonight, MLS Cup in 2017, he’s done it all.”
On second half adjustments after San Jose taking over possession:
“Again, we tried to make some adjustments. But look, again, they’re a very, very good team. Dangerous team, hard to play against. The fouls, red cards certainly changed things, but even when they went a man down, you could tell they were desperate and they were still pressing the issue. At times, you looked at it as if it was still even numbers. And then the flip happened when Javier [Arreaga] got his second yellow, then our team dug down and dug deep and we were able to get the win.”
On if he thought there was an advantage either up a man or 10v10:
“Well up a man, you should have – we should have pressed higher up the field. We should have kept better possession, but again, credit to San Jose.”
On using Torres as a sub:
“I said before, I’m not going to be afraid if the game demands Román Torres. The game demanded Román and we put him in and he was great.”
On using Victor Rodriguez’s performance:
“Good. Very good. He was able to establish possession in their half of the field, had some good moments, so very pleased that he got 80 minutes.”
On where this win rates:
“I don’t know if I would rank it yet. I have to let all the stuff sink in, but we were certainly very pleased. The coaching staff puts in just as much effort as the players to make the team successful. Gonzalo [Pineda] had the tactics right, Djimi [Traore] working with all the defenders, Preki working with Jordan [Morris] every day, Tommy [Dutra] with Stef [Frei]. I have the best coaching staff in the league.”
On any disappointment over the red card to Javier Arreaga:
“The first yellow was not against Javier. [Danny] Hoesen was grabbing him from the halfway line. It’s unfortunate that the referee made that call, but that was not a yellow against Javier.”
Follow up on the second yellow:
“Second yellow, I mean, yeah. That I can’t argue.”
On Seattle’s winger play against San Jose:
“Inverted wingers, whatever you want to call them, Jordan and Joevin [Jones], they’re very good technically 1v1 type players, so we figured that we could get an advantage there. It gave me the flexibility because hadn’t things gone not the right way, I would’ve flopped Jordan and Joevin. We had a ton of options there. So I love having those options.”
On Jordan Morris’ wing play:
“He was good. I mean, a couple times when he was able to just lay it back and sprint or third man running, that’s the kind of stuff he needs to do more often.”
On Raul Ruidiaz:
“Ruidiaz put a hell of a lot of work in. Hell of a lot of work today.”
SEATTLE SOUNDERS FC FORWARD JORDAN MORRIS
On the emotions of the game:
“Yeah, they make it tough, to be honest. We knew that it was going to be a dogfight. I think some results went our way too, so for us to get three points here is huge.”
On the team not quitting until the end:
“Definitely, the team doesn’t stop fighting, keeps pushing. Like I said, they made it difficult on us. Go up a man, go back to even, lots of emotions but the guys kept pushing and it was a good result.”
On his read on the ball through the game:
“I can’t remember exactly but it was kind of a bouncy ball and sometimes you have to take a chance. I think they tried to head it to a teammate and it went over his head. I was fortunate to be able to get there and score, but again, just getting the three points was what mattered.”
On the scoring opportunity five minutes before his goal:
“Yeah, you’ve got to. It wasn’t a very good touch at all, potentially tired legs or whatever, but no excuses and you just have to keep pushing.”
On his next move when Vega came out to defend:
“I saw him coming out, the ball was bouncing a little bit. So I just tried to lift it over him and fortunately it went in.”
On why San Jose is tough to play against:
“They’re man to man marking makes it difficult. It’s really unorthodox and it’s a tough spot and style to play. It’s tough.”
On if San Jose’s man marking makes it hard to get in good spots after turnovers:
“It’s just an unorthodox style of play that you’re not really used to and they’re a very good transitioning team as well, so man to man and then offensively they get forward so they present us with some challenges.”
SEATTLE SOUNDERS FC MIDFIELDER CRISTIAN ROLDAN
On the team’s effort to keep fighting and the result:
“Well, I don’t think it was a clean game by any means. I think it was a sloppy game. It was always going to be that way, just the way they play and they make things difficult for you, and it turns into a track meet. That’s exactly what they want and fortunately it went our way, but they’re a tough team to play; unorthodox. If they can make the playoffs, they’ll be a dangerous team to play against.”
On Seattle’s play with a man advantage:
“I don’t think we played well by any means, with 10 or 11 men. But we found a way to win and that’s the most important thing, so we’ll take these three points and move on.”
On if finding a way to win is the necessary mindset this late in the season:
“Oh, totally. It’s a grind at this point. Every game is going to be this way from here on out. We’re going to play another tough opponent in Minnesota at home. They have a lot of quality so we have to be aware of their best players on the field.”
On why they weren’t as clean on the ball as they would have liked:
“I think San Jose did an extremely good job of always having pressure on the ball. Whenever that’s the case, it always makes things difficult because you hurry your pass or you take a sloppy touch and it makes things difficult. On our side, expecting that it’s going to be a difficult game and almost playing in that way. We all embraced that role and grinded it out.”
On his message to fans in Seattle:
“Thank you for all the support. Obviously, we’re putting ourselves in a good spot and we need everybody in that stadium to help us pull through and get second place to host multiple playoff games hopefully.”
—
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES HEAD COACH MATIAS ALMEYDA
On managing the pressure and priorities that present themselves in these matchups:
“Honestly, we put a lot of work into that mentally, with rest, and the team performed well. They had a great match. I am really pleased with the performance of the team, not the result. But this result, regardless of a win or draw, would not have made a difference. There are still 98 minutes left in which the fate of our season will be determined. In general, we should be proud of our players and we are very grateful for the people that came to support us today. I experienced a fantastic atmosphere today – a great spectacle.”
On what went wrong:
“I think they [Seattle Sounders FC] weren’t even expecting to score a goal because they kept waiting and we played most of the match with just 10 players. I just looked at the numbers in terms of how many shots they took, corner kicks taken, ball possession and passing, and our team was superior considering the risks we took while being a man down. We were left with a majority of attacking players. These players always show effort and dedication. We were not exposed and the team controlled possession of the ball with just 10 players. We hit the post twice. We had our chances and I think we got back to the way we had been playing throughout the season.”
On any concern over the stretch of recent losses:
“No, because many other teams also have not been winning. If they were, that could have made a big difference, and I think that’s something natural in this league. It’s still just the first year in which I took part in this league. As we get closer to the end, many teams have fallen due to fitness, emotions and the risks they take. It’s even across the league. In our conference, four teams are still in the race for playoffs.”
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES MIDFIELDER SHEA SALINAS
On the team’s performance:
“I thought we responded really well. We had good control of the game. There were times that we didn’t, but most of the time we had good control. You could see every guy left everything they had out there. We had our chances and just weren’t able to put them away.”
On the emotions after the game:
“We were just going for three points. That’s what we came to do. Once the final whistle blew, it was disappointment, but everyone came in the locker room and said there’s still hope. Win and we’re in. We’re excited for that.”
On having a chance to make the postseason:
“After four games if you would have asked us that if we could play the last game and win it to be in the playoffs, everyone one of us would have said yes. We went on a string of results that was great. We were not expecting to be in this situation, but here we are. Now we just have to get our heads around one game. We can battle for one game. We can play all out for one game and get the win.”
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES MIDFIELDER MAGNUS ERIKSSON
On managing emotions after the game:
“We wanted more. We deserved more, but we didn’t get it today, we didn’t get it in Atlanta and we didn’t get it against Philly. Hopefully we will next weekend. If we win, we’re in. That’s good to know.”
On the team now compared to the strong midseason run:
“It’s small details in football. We do exactly what we did in July as well. If we get the first goal after five minutes, that changes everything. We have a big belief in what we’re doing. It’s really nice to have it in our hands, and we’re looking forward to next weekend.”
On confidence this week:
“We’re a great group in here. We’re going to train and enjoy training together. Later on this week we’ll talk about the opponent. We have harmony in the group so we don’t have any issues on that point. We’re just looking forward to next week. We need to step up our game a little bit, but it’s small details and we’ll be really prepared for Sunday.”
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES FORWARD DANNY HOESEN
On if something needs to change after five matches without a point:
“I don’t think we need to change too much. The effort is there and the belief is there. We were a little bit unlucky, but we still have a second chance. We’ll keep the same belief and just be a little bit better in the final third.”
On the mentality of the team entering the final week with recent results:
“The coach handles it well. Even today he said he was proud of what we showed effort-wise. Even with 10 men, we still kept the ball and kept attacking. That’s really positive. I’m not afraid that anybody is going to drop his head down. It’s a big chance. It’s a final. That’s going to be very exciting.”
On regaining his form:
“It’s been a tough season with injuries, family problems, losing your spot. It’s not easy. It’s something I have to deal with personally. I love to be a part of this team. Obviously I want to get back to my top form. Hopefully I get another chance next week.”