By Felix Petersson (@_felixpetersson)
After 90 minutes of intense entertainment and battling, the San Jose Earthquakes stood winners in their season-opener against the Minnesota United, 3-2.
The home match started off leveled among the two teams. Minnesota had the first big chance in the 17th minute but San Jose’s goalkeeper Andrew Tarbell kept things knotted with a miraculous save.
It took about 20 minutes until the Earthquakes started to produce their own attacks. In the 27th minute, the home team scored the match’s first goal. Danny Hoesen placed the ball in the back of the net after being served by Vako Qazaishvili.
“Hoesen was absolutely brilliant today,” said head coach Mikael Stahre after the game.
One goal was not enough for the Earthquakes — and before the celebrations from the opening goal was over — Qazaishvili had made it 2-0 in front of a surprised audience.
Before halftime, San Jose had a few more opportunities to enlarge their lead but went into the break up 2-0.
The second half started in high pace. Both teams had a number of chances, and Tarbell had to make some good saves in order keep Minnesota zeroed.
About 13 minutes into the second half, Hoesen took action again. After a beautiful play, with many players involved, he led the charge to the ball and placed it behind the Minnesota goalkeeper making it 3-0 Earthquakes.
Things got interesting, however.
In the 81st minute, Kevin Molino scored Minnesota’s first goal in the match and four minutes later, he scored again, making it 3-2.
The last minutes of the match were thrilling and Minnesota was doing everything they could to get the equalizer.
The Quakes managed to survived the pressure, and when the final four minutes of stoppage time over, the result remained 3-2.
Overall, Stahre was satisfied with his team’s performance, even though the team showed signs of fatigue late.
“Because of our finish of the game, the players didn’t really celebrate like after normal victory today,” said Stahre. “But in the end, it’s all about winning”
Next up for San Jose is a visit at Sporting Kansas City on March 17.