Quakes blanked 4-0 in Open Cup action

(UPDATED) The San Jose Earthquakes fell 4-0 to Real Salt Lake Wednesday night in a play-in match for the U.S. Open Cup. The one-sided match was marred by a catastrophic clash of heads between Earthquakes defenders Ryan Cochrane and Jay Ayres just nine minutes into the match, with both players being taken off the field before play resumed in the 15th minute.

“It shocked us a little; it was a pretty bad collision, to be honest,” said Quakes coach Frank Yallop after the match. “I was sitting close — it was loud and I think it disturbed a few of our players.  We just have to see how they are.  I think Jay Ayres is worse off than Ryan Cochrane, but they’re both pretty concussed and in the hospital at the moment, so hopefully they’ll be okay.”

The collision had a marked effect on the Quakes’ composure, and just six minutes later Real Salt Lake scored off a corner kick when Matias Mantilla nodded on a ball to Kyle Beckerman, who headed home from short range.

Beckerman added to his tally in the 33rd minute, this time with an impressive, 30-yard right-footed blast from the left side of the field that beat Quakes keeper Preston Burpo low and to the near post. Salt Lake scored a second goal less than a minute later as Cordoba intercepted a ball in midfield, starting a two-on-one break before sliding the ball to an unmarked Yura Movsisyan to make it a 3-0 match.

The second half was marked by an increasingly intense late winter snow storm, which led to the substitution of the usual game balls with bright orange, high-visibility models. RSL’s dominating performance ended with a goal by MLS journeyman Andy Williams in the 90th minute.

With the loss, the Earthquakes are eliminated from continued competition for the 2008 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. Real Salt Lake will face a second play-in match, this one in Columbus against the Crew, next month.

“There’s not much to take out of it,” said Burpo. “It’s a knock-out game and we lost.  You can talk about the weather, you can talk about the field, you can talk about a good crowd tonight. There’s nothing to take out of it quite honestly.  At this point we’re out of the tournament. We had two chances at a trophy, this was one, and now we have a league trophy to look at.”

Lineups:
San Jose: Preston Burpo; Eric Denton, Ryan Cochrane, Jay Ayres, Adam Smarte; Shea Salinas, Ramiro Corrales, Joe Vide, Ryan Johnson; John Cunliffe, Peguero Jean Philippe. Subs: James Riley and Jason Hernandez for Cochrane and Ayres, 15; Ivan Guerrero for Corrales, 46; Grabavoy for Jean Philippe, 63.

RSL: Chris Seitz; Tony Beltran, Jamison Olave, Chris Wingert, Matias Mantilla; Andy Williams, Kenny Cutler, Matias Cordoba, Kyle Beckerman; Yura Movsisyan, Robbie Findley. Subs: Dema Kovalenko for Beckerman, 46; Javier Morales for Cordoba, 58; Dustin Kirby for Wingert, 64; Tino Nuñez for Movsisyan, 75.