San Jose Earthquakes forward Jeremy Ebobisee celebrates his goal with Judson at Pay Pal Park on Saturday SEP 17, 2022. (San Jose Earthquakes)
by Marko Ukalovic
In a match where things were chippy late in the match, the San Jose Earthquakes and FC Dallas played to a 1-1 draw on Saturday evening at Pay Pal Park.
San Jose snapped its two match losing streak and are winless in three consecutives matches. FC Dallas has points in its last four matches.
FC Dallas (13-8-11-50 points) drew first blood in the 16th minute. Paul Arriola centered a ball into the middle of the box. Jader Obrian’s one timer deflected off of Tanner Beason and past ‘Quakes goalkeeper JT Marcinkowski for his second goal of the season.
San Jose (7-14-10-31 points) received a break in the 23rd minute when a shot inside the box pinballed of the hand of Marco Farfan for a penalty and a yellow card for Farfan.
Jeremy Ebobisse converted the penalty kick a minute later when he made a quick hesitation before beating FC Dallas goalkeeper Maarten Paes with a left footed shot for his team leading 16th goal of the season.
Ebobisee’s 16 goals are tied for the third-most in a single season in club history and most among all players other than Chris Wondolowski. His goal also marked his second goal of the season and of his MLS career via penalty.
Interim head coach tinkered with his lineup as Jackson Yueill was out with a knee injury and Cristian Espinoza came off the bench as a substitute for the first time this season. Benji Kikanovic and Judson started in place respectively.
“I think we looked good. The guys stepped up. I think everybody can have a chance to play and show the level that they have. We played against a good team. They made rotations and we had some players missing like Eric Remedi and rotated Cristian Espinoza. Dallas is still one of the best teams that plays good soccer here in the league, and I think we were good tonight. The team is defending every day a little bit better after the game against FC Cincinnati. We had very good moments with the ball and what we missed was to create a little bit more and arrive in the box. But I think that the guys that stepped up today did very well,” Covelo said.
San Jose received an advantage in the 82nd minute when Arriola retaliated with an attempted punch on a Quakes player. A VAR review confirmed the foul and Arriola was given a red card and an automatic ejection.
The ‘Quakes weren’t able to cash in the opportunity with FC Dallas down a man for the final 13 minutes of the match including the five extra minutes in stoppage time.
“I think the group put themselves in good spots. I thought there were some good moments where we exploited spaces, on counterattacks working from the width into the middle and then trying to get to the other side of the field. Ultimately our final decisions let us down a little bit, prevented some more clear-cut chances,” Ebobisse said.
Both Marcinkowski and Paes made one save during the match.
GAME NOTES: Each team finished the match with five corner kicks.
San Jose is now 29-21-20 all-time vs. FC Dallas, including a 17-8-11 home record.
The Earthquakes are now 7-10-7 in MLS play under interim head coach Alex Covelo.
The Quakes extended their home unbeaten streak to three matches (2-0-1).
UP NEXT: San Jose host the Los Angeles Galaxy in the 2022 installment of the California Classico on Saturday 9/24 at 7:00pm at Stanford Stadium.
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