The San Jose Earthquakes scored two goals in the final thirty minutes to overcome an early Vancouver Whitecaps score to earn their first victory of the season in the home opener at PayPal Park.
“I am proud of the group and our performance,” said Quakes head coach Luchi Gonzalez after the game. “We didn’t sustain for the 90-plus minutes, but overall, I thought we went there and pushed the game.”
The Quakes coming off a season-opening loss to Atlanta United fell behind early behind from a 19th-minute strike from Vancouver’s Alessandro Schöpf from an excellent build-up.
“Vancouver had a compact block and made it difficult to play between lines,” explained Gonzalez. “We got picked off, and we conceded an offensive transition by Vancouver. Not the way we wanted to start, but we stayed calm. I am proud of the group for taking it one moment at a time.”
The Whitecaps nursed their lead into the final third of the game. Then Quakes forward Jeremy Ebobisse got onto the end of a Jamiro Monteiro cross to head a ball into the top corner of the goal in the 68th minute.
“I believe the sense of urgency changed,” said Earthquakes defender Jonathan Mensah. “Of course, we could’ve started better, but being a goal down you need to do anything you can to come back and win the game. We sensed it right away that we needed to change gears and we did.”
Nine minutes later San Jose’s Carlos Akapo’s strike put the Quakes ahead.
“Got on the ball and possess and create and we didn’t stop believing,” noted Gonzalez. “Credit to the guys to not stop, to not give up, to be relentless in their attitudes, their beliefs, their energy, their intensity. We have to be really proud of them. And for us to come back down one and win 2-1 shows character. It will be a good reference point for us moving forward for the rest of the season.”
