Monday Kickback: Week 15

The San Jose Earthquakes were one of the few teams in action last weekend and were looking to stay relevant in the playoff picture as the season wears on. The “Summer of Soccer” also got underway so even though they may not be much Major League Soccer action in the next month there is still plenty of soccer to consume. Let’s take a look at what happened last week in San Jose.

FC Dallas Visits Avaya

A depleted Dallas squad came to Northern California in the middle of a double heat wave. The game-time temperature at Avaya Stadium was 87 degrees, and the Quakes had only lost once in the last eight matches and were looking to keep up with the playoff pack. Dallas was hoping their thin lineup help together enough to make it the summer break intact.

The Quakes had to play comeback in the 27th minute after Daniel Vega whiffed on a simple pass from Florian Jungwirth that rolled into the back of his own net. The play may have been one of Vegas’ most embarrassing of his career, but he has kept the Quakes in enough matches this season that this play can and will be quickly forgotten as the season moves on. As soon as the second half started, it was Wondo time. This time it was Magnus Eriksson that had the chance to feed Wondo the ball as he once again stood in the middle of the six-yard box and found the back of the net.

Nine minutes later it was time for Eriksson to get his third goal of the season and first since April 20 against Sporting Kansas City. In a wild play in front of the Dallas goal, Eriksson seemed to have almost scored just to have the Dallas defense miraculously clear the ball from in front of their own goal. During the next stoppage, referee Ted Unkel consulted with the VAR and was able to see clearly that the ball did indeed cross the goal line giving the Quakes the lead for the time being. Francis Atuahene made his debut for Dallas in the 64th minute and in the 65th minute, he leveled the game at two goals apiece. The Quakes made a couple more threats but ended the day with a hard-earned point although the probably should have taken more.

International Duty

Nick Lima- Lima came in as a sub in the USMNT loss to Jamaica in Washington D.C. His position looks secure in the national team for now due to DeAndre Yedlin’s groin injury. He started and played all 90 minutes in Sunday’s loss to Venezuela. Lima was one of the highest rated players in a poor match from the United States.

Jackson Yueill- Was one of the best players for the U.S. against Jamaica. He was not a part of Greg Berhalter’s provisional Gold Cup roster, so he was back in San Jose on Saturday and played 90 minutes for Matias Almeyda. El Pelado had high praise for Yueill recently saying, “In terms of soccer, he is very complete, and I see a big European future for him.

Anibal Godoy, Harold Cummings- Both Godoy and Cummings played 90 minutes for Panama in a 3-0 loss to Uruguay in the last friendly before the Gold Cup. Panama starts its Gold Cup journey on June 18 against Trinidad and Tobago.

JT Marcinkowski- The 22-year-old keeper was called up by Jason Kreis for his upcoming camp of the U.S. Men’s National Team U-23 squad.

Watch Wondo

Chris Wondolowski scored for the fourth match in a row and is now tied for fourth-most in MLS this season with eight goals. Wondo scored in the 46th minute of the Quakes draw to Dallas on Saturday to keep his goal scoring streak alive. Wondo earned MLS Player of the Month honors for his efforts, the seventh time in his career he has earned those accolades. The only thing that is going to slow down Wondo now is the international break, but he will look to keep up where he left off on June 26 when Houston Dynamo come to San Jose.

Quakes in Fourth Round of U.S. Open Cup

The Quakes take on the Sacramento Republic in the fourth round of the U.S. Open Cup on Tuesday. Sacramento is currently seventh place in the Western Conference of the USL Championship tied with Quakes affiliate Reno 1868 FC. The two teams have faced each other in the fourth round of the U.S. Open Cup before with the Quakes winning both encounters.