Quakes prevail on Alvarez wonder strike

New forward Cornell Glen scored in his home debut for the Earthquakes. Photo: Joe Nuxoll, centerlinesoccer.com. 

Center Line Soccer’s complete coverage includes a photo gallery, audio interviews with head coach Frank Yallop and six players, and the Man of the Match poll (at right). 

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - A few weeks ago, San Jose Earthquakes manager Frank Yallop bemoaned the fact that none of his players were “playing out of their skin.” But in Saturday’s match against Real Salt Lake, enough players stepped up in critical moments to give the Quakes a badly needed 2-1 victory that snapped an eight-game winless streak.

Cornell Glen and Arturo Alvarez scored second half goals 11 minutes apart to stake the Quakes to a 2-0 lead, with Alvarez’s blast from over 30 yards a clear Goal of the Year candidate. The insurance tally proved critical as RSL’s Robbie Findley scored in the 80th minute to bring the visitors within one, but a fabulous save in stoppage time from Quakes’ keeper Joe Cannon preserved the victory. It also kept Real winless on the road in 2009.

“In any good team, to get results, you need more than a few guys having a good day,” said defender Jason Hernandez. “Too many times in the past, more than one guy was having an off day. In those instances, you’re not going to win games. If we have more nights like tonight, where more guys than not are having good games, we’ll come out with a lot more wins.”

With the Quakes playing their third game in eight days, Yallop made four changes to his starting lineup, handing Glen and defender Mike Zaher their first starts as Earthquake players, while defender Chris Leitch returned from suspension. Alvarez also resumed his spot on the right side of midfield.

For RSL, Tony Beltran didn’t recover sufficiently from a right quadriceps strain, creating a spot for Chris Wingert to return to the lineup. And in a bid to create more offense, head coach Jason Kreis shook up his forward line, giving both Luis Miguel Escalada and Fabian Espindola their first starts of the season.

The early minutes were played out largely in midfield, but some quick thinking by Real’s Kyle Beckerman in the sixth minute nearly saw RSL break on top. His crunching tackle on Ramiro Corrales near the top of the San Jose box saw the ball run to ex-Quake Ned Grabavoy. His quick pass to Escalada gave the Argentine a clear look at goal, but Cannon denied the Argentine with a sharp save.

Real continued to carry most of the early play, and the visitors’ thought they had won a penalty in the 15th minute when Grabavoy’s header appeared to hit San Jose defender Jason Hernandez in the arm, but referee Kevin Stott waved away their appeals.

The Quakes soon began to make more inroads into RSL territory, and Glen nearly put the home side on top in the 22nd minute, but his curling effort drifted just wide.

San Jose then forced a series of corners and should have gone ahead with at least one of them. In the 26th minute, Corrales’ header from an Elliott delivery was saved by Rimando at point blank range, with Robbie Russell clearing the rebound. Another Elliott serve four minutes later found Ryan Johnson wide open at the back post, but his close-range header missed the target.

The match settled down over the next ten minutes, but San Jose then finished the half with a flurry. Glen’s header from a Chris Leitch cross forced another diving save from Rimando in the 42nd minute, and an overlapping run from Zaher a minute later saw his hard cross nearly result in an own goal. Yet it wasn’t enough to achieve a breakthrough and the half finished scoreless.

“I don’t think we played particularly well up front in the first half,” said Yallop. “I think [RSL] did a pretty good job of stopping Ryan [Johnson] and Cornell [Glen]. But I thought what was good for us was that we had a pretty good springboard once we won the ball in the middle of the park.”

Glen certainly raised his game just seven minutes into the second half. Zaher’s cross from the left wing found Glen completely unmarked in the box, and he made no mistake, depositing his header past Rimando to give the home side the lead.

“When you’re hitting crosses early like that, you see that the near post space is there,” said Zaher. “To be unchallenged, I thought somebody might step in there…I saw Cornell as the target and it ended up working out for us.”

Almost immediately, Kreis brought on Findley and Yura Movsisyan for Escalada and Espindola, but sensing a chance to put the game away, the Quakes ratcheted up the pressure, even as Yallop surprisingly brought off Glen for Quincy Amarikwa.

Both Johnson and Bobby Convey came close to scoring, but it was finally left to Alvarez to extend the lead in the 63rd minute. The Quakes’ winger shook look loose on the right side, and in a move that is now his trademark, cut inside and unleashed a pile driver from 30 yards that settled into the upper left hand corner of the net.

“It’s funny because Frank [Yallop] told me to change things around…but I like going inside,” said Alvarez. “I got a good ball from Bobby [Convey], and it was a good shot on target.”

Kreis then brought on Clint Mathis for Grabavoy, and while a change in RSL’s fortunes wasn’t immediate, they began to make some headway, eventually pulling a goal back in the 80th minute. Javier Morales slipped a through ball to Findley from the left wing, and the RSL striker evaded three San Jose defenders before slipping the ball past Cannon for his sixth goal of the season.

Yallop brought on Aaron Pitchkolan for Jason Hernandez to shore up the Quakes’ defense, and while it raised concerns that Hernandez might have re-aggravated his calf injury, the defender insisted that it was more a case of him being out of gas.

“I didn’t want to hurt the team,” said Hernandez. “I figured I would just step off and let some fresh guys take care of it.”

But San Jose had Cannon to thank for preserving the victory. Movsisyan’s blast one minute into stoppage time looked set for the upper corner, but Cannon made a superb one-handed save preserve the lead, and help the Quakes hang on for a morale-boosting victory.

Now that the Quakes have tasted victory again, they’ll need to replicate this effort on the road in the next two weeks when they travel to Dallas and Seattle. But unlike the previous few matches, they’ll be doing so with more confidence and less tension. That is especially true of their manager.

“I’ve been feeling the pressure obviously, because I’m in charge of the guys,” said Yallop. “As much as you try to keep positive, it is a weight, yeah. You don’t like losing games, and a lot of times you look at yourself and think ‘Why?’ But what I like about our group is they’re a good bunch of guys, and they played for me tonight.”

• • •

San Jose Earthquakes (2-7-2) vs. Real Salt Lake (3-6-2)
May 30, 2009 – Buck Shaw Stadium
Attendance: 10,153

Scoring Summary: SJ – Cornell Glen (Mike Zaher, Bobby Convey) 52; SJ – Arturo Alvarez (Bobby Convey) 63; RSL – Robbie Findley (Javier Morales) 80.

Misconduct Summary: RSL – Kyle Beckerman (caution) 28; RSL – Will Johnson (caution) 48; SJ — Ryan Johnson (caution) 57; SJ – Arturo Alvarez (caution) 64; SJ – Ramiro Corrales (caution) 69; RSL – Javier Morales (caution) 70.

San Jose Earthquakes – Joe Cannon, Chris Leitch, Jason Hernandez (Aaron Pitchkolan 84), Nick Garcia, Mike Zaher, Arturo Alvarez, Ramiro Corrales, Simon Elliot, Bobby Convey, Ryan Johnson, Cornell Glen (Quincy Amarikwa 59).

Statistics:  Shots 13; Shots on Goal 7; Saves 3; Fouls 12; Offsides 2; Corner Kicks 9.

Real Salt Lake: — Nick Rimando, Chris Wingert, Nat Borchers, Jamison Olave, Robbie Russell, Will Johnson, Kyle Beckerman, Javier Morales, Ned Grabavoy (Clint Mathis 64), Luis Miguel Escalada (Robbie Findley 55), Fabian Espindola (Yura Movsisyan 56).

Statistics:  Shots 8; Shots on Goal 4; Saves 4; Fouls 9; Offsides 5; Corner Kicks 2.