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Earthquakes in recovery mode vs. Revolution after earth-shattering loss (Jun 11, 2018)
The San Jose Earthquakes were minutes from a much-needed win on Saturday night.
Then disaster struck.
Los Angeles Football Club scored goals in the 90th and 97th minute to beat San Jose 4-3, handing the Earthquakes a fourth straight loss and leaving team captain Chris Wondolowski and others searching for answers.
"Maybe complacency, maybe just not that drive, I don't know. It's on us," said Wondolowski, who gave his team a 3-2 lead in the second half. "It's on myself, being the captain of this locker room. Not getting our team prepared comes on myself."
He and the rest of the Earthquakes will have to regroup quickly. They host the New England Revolution on Wednesday in San Jose.
The Earthquakes (2-9-3) already sit 13 points below the playoff line.
"This is the hardest defeat so far," coach Mikael Stahre told the league's website. "There's one minute left of the 90 minutes and we have a 3-2 up, and then two minutes later we are losing again. So, for me, it's absolutely crazy. But I'm really proud of the players' commitment and energy, and they really followed the game plan, especially in the second half."
San Jose, which lost just twice at home last season, fell to 1-4-1 at Avaya Stadium in 2018.
Forward Danny Hoesen's answer to the Earthquakes' woes: Keep pushing.
"At this moment, we cannot be confident enough," Hoesen said. "Because we have a tough season and we have to keep going. I don't think any one of us thought we could relax and just walk away with the three points. As you see, they (LAFC) kept going, so you give a lot of credit to them as well."
Wondolowski scored twice in the second half to leave himself eight goals shy of Landon Donovan's MLS record.
San Jose fan site Quakes Epicenter reported this week that Georgian International Guram Kashia would likely be joining the Earthquakes soon. A deal "isn't finalized yet," website editor Joel Soria said on Twitter on Saturday, "but will likely get completed this week."
Kashia would be joining former teammate and fellow Georgian Valeri Qazaishvili on the San Jose roster.
The Revolution (6-4-5) got a Teal Bunbury goal with less than nine minutes to play for a 1-1 draw at Chicago on Saturday night.
New England is undefeated with three ties in its past four MLS games.
In 2017, the Revolution finished in seventh place in the Eastern Conference, missing the postseason largely because of its dismal road record (1-13-3, second worst in the league).
But this season, New England has points (although just a single win so far) in four of its six matches away from home.
"We were talking a lot about (changing) the road mentality in the past few weeks," center back Antonio Delamea told MLSsoccer.com after the tie with the Fire. "I think we showed a big improvement. We just need to keep this mentality, keep this aggression. If we keep this energy, I think we'll do good."
