The San Jose Earthquakes were unable to take advantage of their home field against the Seattle Sounders and fell 3-1 on Wednesday night.
“It hurts in the sense that it’s at home,” Quakes forward Chris Wondolowski noted. “We feel extremely confident that when we are at home that we need to pick up points and it doesn’t matter the opponent.”
Seattle entered the season in second place in the Western Conference and looked the stronger side through much of the match. The Sounders’ Raul Ruidiaz scored in the 25th and 42nd minute to give the visitors up by two goals at the half.
Cristian Roldan put Seattle up by three goals early in the second half. San Jose pulled one goal back on a Seattle own goal but the team was unable to get any closer.
“They took advantage of our mistakes,” said Earthquakes head coach Matias Almeyda after the game. “I’ve said all week that players like Raul Ruidíaz don’t forgive. Players like Cristian Roldan have a lot of mobility and will move into a position to score. We discussed things that could have been avoided but we have to give credit to the virtue of these players.”
Despite the loss the Quakes stayed in tenth place, five points out of a playoff position. They next play Vancouver on Saturday evening in Canada.
“So, we’re still outside looking in, but we have a huge one against Vancouver on Saturday and if and when we pick up three points there, we can really start to get a move in,” explained Wondolowski. “The faith hasn’t wavered one bit in the locker room and we still feel confident. We feel that we can do a lot of great things in these seven games and really start clicking.”
