Nine days, three matches, three time zones.
Three shutouts. Three wins.
The San Jose Earthquakes took a stretch that could have easily ended their playoff hopes and instead turned the cross-country road trip into a potential pivot point for the 2015 season.
San Jose closed out their first three-match winning streak of the year with yet another clean sheet Saturday, blanking D.C. United 2-0 at RFK Stadium behind goals from Chris Wondolowski and Shea Salinas. In the last week-and-a-half, the Quakes have beaten Colorado 1-0 at home, traveled to dominate Sporting Kansas City 5-0 and dusted the Supporters’ Shield leaders D.C. United – placing San Jose into the heart of a Western Conference playoff chase that seemed distant during a winless July.
“Looking at the road trip, it’s a bit daunting to go to Kansas City and to follow that up with an away game to D.C.,” Quakes coach Dominic Kinnear told reporters. “I think obviously the game in Kansas City gave us a lot of confidence … Just a great road trip for us. A good six points against two really good teams.”
The Quakes (10-10-5, 35pts) needed some help from D.C. striker Alvaro Saborio, who whiffed on two fine opportunities. San Jose recorded their fourth shutout in five August games after shipping 11 goals in four MLS matches last month.
“It’s a huge accomplishment, but I think it just shows … we’ve never given up,” Wondolowski said. “We have the same mentality. It’s just nice to finally get some results to keep us going and push ahead.”
San Jose thus stretched their defensive shutout streak to 294 minutes – 270 of those with newcomer Anibal Godoy on the pitch. The Panamanian international has been everything the Quakes could have hoped since his arrival last week, on the day of his debut against the Rapids. Godoy has covered acres of space in San Jose’s midfield with an icy self-assurance, freeing up Wondolowski, who earlier this season would range far back into the Quakes’ midfield to help make up numbers there.
Saturday, Godoy showed off not only his defensive skill, but also his long-range passing: a 20-yard delivery to Quincy Amarikwa in the 52nd minute was inch-perfect, allowing the Quakes forward to turn at midfield and skin D.C. defender Kofi Opare, setting the wheels in motion for Salinas’ insurance tally.
“[Anibal] has been excellent,” Kinnear said. “He’s only practiced with us maybe three times. The guys appreciate him. The guys understand what he’s doing for the team. He and Fatai [Alashe] definitely have a good partnership in there. I think he’s been a good pickup. It’s another body in there, along with Fatai, that really makes it hard to penetrate against us.”
Said Quakes defender Clarence Goodson: “He’s almost always in the right spot, very calm on the ball. It’s been a massive addition for us.”
Whenever D.C. penetrated, goalkeeper David Bingham was there. The first-year starter made a huge save in the 79th minute after Marc Pelosi's turnover led to Davy Arnaud getting an open look inside the penalty area. Bingham adroitly came off his line and got enough of the shot to set up Goodson for a thunderous clearance.
“David Bingham’s play on the Davy Arnaud chance was really key for us,” Kinnear said. “He comes out on crosses, he’s good in the air. Give credit to the guys in front of him. I thought Victor [Bernardez] and Clarence were really good tonight, as well, to really limit the openings or easy looks.”
San Jose, who moved even with sixth-place Seattle prior to the Sounders’ 2-0 loss at Real Salt Lake, close with seven of their last nine matches at home, beginning Friday against the LA Galaxy (11 pm ET, UniMas).
“When we looked at the schedule, the thought amongst the team was, we need to be in touch [at this point],” Goodson said. “We have seven of nine at home now. We’re very much in touch of a playoff spot. To be where we are is excellent. You look up the table, I think a lot of those teams have a lot of away games.”
Geoff Lepper covers the San Jose Earthquakes for MLSsoccer.com.
