Saturday, October 25th, 2008 As usual, the fans waited the last minute before reaching their seats at Buck Shaw tonight, but it is in front of a sold out stadium (10,526 fans, including around 30 Toronto fans came to the game), that the Earthquakes started their last game of the season. Before that, 500 to 1,000 people who hadn't arrived yet missed the San Jose Earthquakes Team Awards ceremony. Jason Hernandez was named Defensive Player of the year, Darren Huckerby received the MVP award and Joe Cannon was named the team's US Soccer Foundation Humanitarian of the Year. After the honors, the game could start and, quickly, Toronto showed too many weaknesses to threaten the Quakes. The local team dominated and easily controlled the first half. They won possession and had the better opportunities. With only 2 shots (against 8 for San Jose) and many defensive mistakes Toronto was happy to reach the break with a 0-0 score. Greg Sutton was his teams' savior with 4 difficult saves. Very often in soccer, when a team dominates and creates chances without scoring, it gets to regret it at the end of the game, and reaching half time on this score was not a good sign for San Jose. However, Toronto's reaction never came and the second half started the same way. The Earthquakes were dominating and, this time, it didn't take long before they converted one of their chances into a 1-0 lead. In the 49th minute, Ronnie O'Brien's cross from the right was deflected by Jim Brennan. On the following corner kick, O'Brien himself put the ball on Ryan Cochrane's head. The defender's shot was well placed between 2 defenders and Greg Sutton who could only watch it passing the line. Again, the non-reaction from Toronto allowed the Quakes to create many chances to kill the game. They had a slower period, between the 62nd and the 66th minute during which the defense looked asleep, which, against a strong and motivated team, could have had big consequences. If we forget these 4 or 5 minutes, they continued to control the game until the end. Ramiro Corrales' excellent return after his knee injury showed how much his team had missed him. Even Frank Yallop who always refused to use this as an excuse so far admitted it after the game. Ryan Johnson showed during 90 minutes that his physical strength and his fighting spirit were of great value. They were probably the best two players on the pitch tonight.
The team as a whole produced a beautiful and promising game. Remained to score a second goal to relieve the crowd. It is Shea Salinas who got rewarded for his frustrating season. Coming off the bench for only a few minutes in most of the games, he showed a lot of promises, but rarely had time to convert them in game winning moves. Tonight, after another beautiful run on the left wing (he replaced Huckerby on the left and not O'Brien on the right as he often did), he dribbled two defenders, turned toward the penalty spot, entered the box and met Kevin Harmse who could only throw him on the ground. Salinas converted the penalty kick himself (2-0, 90+1) The Earthquakes could then celebrate the victory and the overall successful season with their fans. After celebrating with the 1906 Ultras, they signed autographs on their way to the locker room. Joe Cannon stayed over 1 hour outside, signing autographs to each and every kid waiting for him. Before receiving his award tonight, he already had received the Andrew Bedard Memorial Spirit of the Game award at the Soccer Silicon Valley Dinner the day before. The last 2 days have been rich in emotion for him. Here is what he told us when he finally reached the locker room:
Post Game Interviews:
Frank Yallop: Ultras After The Game: Thierry Heumann (email)
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