Quakes close out Challenge Cup with emphatic win

Ronnie O’Brien moves past Fulham’s Luis Boa Morte in the 2005 MLS All-Star game. Photo: Brooks Parkenridge, isiphotos.com

They may be just an expansion team, but the San Jose Earthquakes showed they’re ready for the regular season, completing a three-game sweep of the Carolina Challenge Cup by defeating the New York Red Bulls 3-0 on Saturday night. Early goals in each half staked the Quakes to a 2-0 lead before a late own goal by New York defender Erik Brunner upped the final margin. The result at Blackbaud Stadium in Charleston, S.C., saw the Quakes come away with a 4-1-2 pre-season record with one match to go, an exhibition next week against the Portland Timbers.

Coaches are always keen to get off to good starts, but not even Quakes’ head man Frank Yallop could have dreamed up the script for Saturday’s beginning as San Jose scored straight from the opening kickoff. Kei Kamara finished off a seven-pass sequence by heading in Ivan Guerrero’s cross, and the Quakes found themselves 1-0 up after a cozy 23 seconds.

The Quakes weren’t content to just sit on their early lead either, as they continued to attack, using long balls over the top to exploit the lack of pace in the Red Bull’s back line. But it was from a set piece that the created their next opportunity. A short corner was played to San Jose midfielder Ronnie O’Brien in the 18th minute, and his cross was headed back across goal by Jason Hernandez, only for Red Bulls’ defender Jeff Parke to clear from just in front of his own goal with the Quakes’ Ned Grabavoy lurking nearby.

New York had threatened as early as the 10th minute when a Seth Stammler through ball appeared to put Juan Pablo Angel in the clear, but the Quakes Ryan Cochrane foiled the attempt with a lunging tackle.

The Red Bulls finally managed a spell of sustained pressure around the half-hour mark, and they had what looked to be two clear opportunities five minutes later, but both Angel and Dave van den Berg had their shots blocked by the San Jose defense.

The Quakes nearly went two up just before half-time as a Hernandez long ball found O’Brien wide open on the right wing, but the Irishman’s cross to Gavin Glinton saw Parke arrive just in time to thwart Glinton’s attempt on goal.

The half-time break saw no let up in the Quakes pressure, as they scored a second goal just four minutes into the second half. Goalkeeper Joe Cannon had just been forced to make a sharp save from Angel, when he rolled the ball out to James Riley, whose long ball found Glinton in the clear to slot past Red Bulls goalkeeper Jon Conway.

Kamara nearly added a third three minutes later when he was put through by a Grabavoy pass, but his attempt to round Conway saw him carry the ball too wide, and the chance was gone.

New York gamely tried to get back into the match, when Jon Wolyniec got a clear look at goal in the 58th minute, but his shot was deflected out by substitute defender Eric Denton.

The match got chippy around the hour mark when both Seth Stammler and Carlos Mendes were cautioned for dangerous tackles, and the game’s temperature remained just under the boiling point thereafter.

The game was put beyond doubt in the 86th minute, when Erik Brunner was whistled for hand ball as he attempted to clear a Corrales corner kick. The Quakes’ midfielder had the subsequent spot kick saved by Zach Thornton, but from the ensuing rebound Brunner compounded New York’s misery by turning Matt Taylor’s centering feed into his own net.