SAN JOSE, Calif. – Maybe, after suffering a painful letdown in their previous match, it should have been expected that the San Jose Earthquakes would come out with a bolt of adrenaline Tuesday night at Avaya Stadium.
Even if it was only supposed to be a friendly.
Things were hardly cordial between the Quakes and their guests, Mexican side Club America, as the visitors captured a 2-1 victory in International Champions Cup play. Referee Alejandro Mariscal handed out eight yellow cards, a pair of matching reds and drove San Jose coach Dominic Kinnear from the pitch with some five minutes remaining in regulation.
“It was bizarre, but there’s nothing wrong with some competition to keep you on edge,” Quakes midfielder Tommy Thompson said. “I enjoyed it out there. You can tell that they came to compete, and we brought it right back to them, as well. … I think both teams wanted to win, and it showed. Everyone was giving it their all out there, and I thought it must have been fun to watch from the sidelines.”
The game opened in fairly mundane fashion, with the opening minutes’ most notable moment a 24-yard free kick from San Jose midfielder Matias Perez Garcia that banged off a Club America post. Things took a turn for the chippy, however, when Quakes center back Clarence Goodson ran down Club America forward Dario Benedetto from behind in the 15th minute. Replays showed the Argentinean badly turning his left ankle, and the recent acquisition from Club Tijuana had to leave the game shortly thereafter.
“The challenge when Clarence and Benedetto were tangled up obviously led to some pushing and shoving, and it didn’t stop,” Kinnear said. “That would be the point that led to the intensity rising. The first 15 minutes I think were played in a good fashion, and that obviously raised the tempers.”
Hard fouls abounded, even as Goodson headed home in the 24th minute to give San Jose a 1-0 lead. It culminated in Quakes winger Sanna Nyassi – cleaned out with a meaty challenge by America’s Erik Pimentel – and visiting captain Paolo Goltz each getting ejected for lashing out at each other in first-half stoppage time.
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“I just saw two guys acting like … silly people,” Kinnear told Fox Sports at the halftime whistle.
Club America drew even and then went in front through goals from Andres Andrade and Francisco Rivera against a San Jose side that saw eight changes at intermission and was playing with a makeshift back four. Those tallies were followed in short order by Kinnear stalking off from the Quakes bench and down the tunnel toward the locker rooms. Kinnear said afterwards that he felt “I was going to get sent to the locker room by the referee, so I just beat him to the punch.”
But the official box score scored listed a red card for him in the 85th minute. Whatever the case, Kinnear had seen all he needed to after witnessing his side simply wilt in a 2-0 loss against Houston on Friday.
“I enjoyed the spirit and the intensity they played the game with,” Kinnear said. “Obviously, there were times when both teams came together, and our team did not leave one guy alone. So I liked the way they stuck up for each other. They fought to the end, which I thought was a real positive – something I was hoping that would happen and was expecting to happen tonight.”
