Earthquakes Explode for 5-0 Road Win Over Sporting Kansas City

The San Jose Earthquakes scored in the third minuteWednesday night and kept the pressure on throughout the game en route to a convincing 5-0 victory over Sporting Kansas City at Sporting Park. Chris Wondolowski scored two goals to reach 100 for his Quakes career, while Cordell Cato had his first career MLS brace and Anibal Godoy scored his first goal in MLS.

San Jose jumped on top early through Cato in just the third minute. Shea Salinas got the ball on the left wing and ran past three defenders before sliding a ball back for Cato, who had made late run. He then fired a shot past Sporting Kansas City goalkeeper Tim Melia to the near post for his second goal of the year.

The Quakes nearly had a second in the eighth minute after a good passing combination. Wondolowski received a pass at the top of the box and then split two defenders with a ball for Quincy Amarikwa. Amarikwa faked a shot and then fired a low shot that was deflected out for a corner. On the ensuing corner, the ball got cleared out, but Marvell Wynne sent it back in the box for Clarence Goodson. Goodson ripped a shot from close range that was saved well by Melia.

Wondolowski made the Quakes lead 2-0 after Cato, Amarikwa and Wondolowski broke down the Sporting defense again. Wondolowski ran onto a long pass from Fatai Alashe in the box and cut it back for Cato, who flipped a pass to Amarikwa. The Quakes forward was pushed over from behind by Chance Myers and Wondolowski calmly finished from the spot for his 10th goal of the year. With the goal Wondolowski becomes the only player in MLS history to score 10 or more goals in six consecutive seasons.

The lead grew to 3-0 with a fantastic finish by Anibal Godoy in the 27th minute, his first goal in an Earthquakes' uniform. After receiving a ball at midfield, Amarikwa back heeled a pass through the Sporting KC defense to Godoy. The Panamanian international then maneuvered around a Sporting defender before slotting a near post shot past Melia.

San Jose almost had a dream start to the second half after some good work from Amarikwa on the left wing. After he got around a defender, he found Cato at the edge of the box. Cato rolled a cross for Wondolowski on the right side, but his shot slid just past the left post.

Cato and Salinas connected again in the 58th minute to give San Jose a 4-0 lead. Amarikwa picked up a pass in midfield and then found Salinas on the left wing. Salinas broke past a defender to the endline and squared for Cato who had made a run into the heart of the box. He then one-timed a shot past Melia.

The Quakes continued their attack with another goal from Wondolowski in the 61st minute. Alashe picked out Wondolowski with an inswinging cross in the box and the U.S. international dove and headed one to the far post for his 11th goal of the year. The goal moved Wondolowski into a tie with former teammate Dwayne De Rosario for sixth all-time in MLS history with 104 goals. It was also his 100th goal as a member of the Earthquakes.

San Jose concludes a two-game road trip on Saturday, Aug. 22 when they take on D.C. United at R.F.K. Stadium. The match kicks off at 4:00 p.m. PT and will be broadcast live on CSN+, 1590 KLIV and 1370 KZSF.

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Notes: 
-The last time the Earthquakes scored five goals on the road was August 8, 2001 against the New England Revolution at Foxboro Stadium, a 5-1 win. 

-Wednesday night marked the first brace of Cordell Cato's MLS career. 

-With two goals Chris Wondolowski moved into a tie with Dwayne De Rosario for sixth all time in MLS history with 104. He also now has scored 100 goals as a member of the Earthquakes. 

-Chris Wondolowski notched his 17th career multi-goal game Wednesday night, tying him for fourth all-time in MLS history. 

-The Earthquakes win on Wednesday night snapped an eight-game losing streak in Kansas City for the Earthquakes. They last won at Kansas City on Aug. 14, 2004. The win was also San Jose's first ever victory at Sporting Park.

-Shea Salinas made his 100th career start for San Jose Wednesday night and with his two assists he is now tied with Ramiro Corrales for fourth all time in Quakes history with 32.
-David Bingham recorded his 100th career save on Wednesday night.

MLS Regular Season 
San Jose Earthquakes 5-0 Sporting Kansas City 
August 19, 2015 - Sporting Park 
Attendance: 18,866

Scoring Summary: SJ - Cordell Cato (Shea Salinas) 3; SJ - Chris Wondolowski (penalty) 17; SJ - Anibal Godoy (Quincy Amarikwa) 27; SJ - Cordell Cato (Shea Salinas) 58; SJ - Chris Wondolowski (Fatai Alashe) 61.

Misconduct Summary: SKC - Benny Feilhaber (ejection) 71; SKC - Krisztian Nemeth (caution) 74.

SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES: David Bingham, Marvell Wynne, Victor Bernardez, Clarence Goodson, Shaun Francis, Cordell Cato, Anibal Godoy, Fatai Alashe (Marc Pelosi 82), Shea Salinas (Sanna Nyassi 88), Chris Wondolowski, Quincy Amarikwa (Adam Jahn 73).

SHOTS: 17; SHOTS ON GOAL: 9; SAVES: 2; FOULS: 9; CORNER KICKS: 4;OFFSIDES: 5.

SPORTING KANSAS CITY: Tim Melia, Amadou Dia (Marcel de Jong 45), Matt Besler, Chance Myers, Kevin Ellis, Amobi Okugo (Mikey Lopez 45), Paulo Nagamura (Graham Zusi 68), Benny Feilhaber, Dom Dwyer, Jacob Peterson, Krisztian Nemeth.

SHOTS: 10; SHOTS ON GOAL: 2; SAVES: 4; FOULS: 14; CORNER KICKS: 6;OFFSIDES: 0.

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SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES HEAD COACH DOMINIC KINNEAR

On performance:
"Every one of our players had a good game tonight. Throughout a season that doesn't happen all the time, but we scored some good goals, we broke well, we defended well. They come out with a lot of pressure and if you don't break that pressure, you are asking for trouble. Our ability to beat guys on the dribble tonight opened up some chances for us. They press high and it is so hard to break, but if you can make a good pass out of pressure some chances can open up for you."

On pairing of Fatai Alashe and Anibal Godoy:
"We weren't able to get Anibal and Fatai on the field together last week since Fatai was suspended. It made sense to play them together on the road against a really good team. It gave us good balance in midfield and they both played well. To have those two in the midfield made us really solid and we had good possession as well."

On Chris Wondolowski's milestones:
"The accolades keep coming for him and I have known him a long time. Everyone that knows him or is close to him is obviously very happy for him. He's scored goals in a lot of different fashions and in many stadiums around the league. Really happy for him to accomplish these things. He deserves every single accolade he gets."

SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES FORWARD CHRIS WONDOLOWSKI

On match:
"This is a very difficult place to play and Kansas City is a very good team. I think we caught them at a good time. They have had a lot of games in short amount of time. We have our backs against the wall so we are going to come out swinging like we did tonightand try and keep our playoff aspirations afloat. That is our focus right now. We had a game plan and we executed it."

On winning at Sporting Park:
"Soccer is a huge game of momentum. We came out and got a goal very early and I thought we played some inspired soccer, especially early and you get a goal or two and the other team starts pressing. Executing on our chances is something that the coaches talked to us about and we were able to do that tonight."

On milestones:
"It is a nice thing. Tonight the most important thing was getting a win and I am hoping we can make the playoffs and reflect on individual things in the offseason. I owe it all to my teammates because a lot of my goals come inside the six so they do a great job of setting me up."

SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES MIDFIELDER CORDELL CATO

On creating space:
"Dominic (Kinnear) told us before the game that if we could play the ball well out of pressure there was going to be space. We tried to play it in to Wondo (Chris Wondolowski) and Quincy (Amarikwa) and play off that and we found a lot of space inside doing that. It worked out well for us and we created a lot of chances."

On opening goal:
"We wanted to come out and put them under pressure from the start. Shea (Salinas) got the ball and he did well. I just made a run and screamed for the ball and he made a great pass. I just had to finish it. And from there, we kept the pressure on and things kept falling into place. We created a lot of chances and took some of them."