OAKLAND -- When you have the worst record in Major League Soccer, making the playoffs is more of a dream than an expectation. But the San Jose Earthquakes want the league to know they're still in the running for postseason play after a 3-2 win against the Los Angeles Galaxy Sunday afternoon.
Earthquakes team captain Nick Garcia said "the playoff window hasn't closed," and looks forward to building upon the club's recent success.
"We haven't lost in a month," Garcia said. "Three ties and a win are decent results. Things are optimistic right now, and our destiny is in our own hands. With eight or nine games still to play at home, I think we have a legitimate shot."
The Earthquakes playoff hopes got a big boost when Ryan Cochrane scored in the 90th minute to give San Jose the win Sunday in front of another big crowd at McAfee Coliseum.
"Three points have been a long time coming, but it's always good to win in front of our fans," Earthquakes head coach Frank Yallop said. "It was a terrific comeback in the last couple minutes of the game, and it showed character from our team. We're becoming more like the team we want to be, and I think we played well today."
San Jose jumped out to the lead in the eighth minute, as Arturo Alvarez scored in his Earthquakes debut.
"It was nice for to Arturo score. He's really matured into a good player in this league, and we're very lucky to have him on our team," Yallop said. "I'm very pleased for him. He's a young one, and very good for the future of this club."
San Jose made it 2-0 when Darren Huckerby scored in the 40th minute, his second goal in as many games.
"Both Darren (Huckerby) and (Francisco) Lima haven't really trained for two months, and before our last home game, neither had trained for the whole week, so their fitness is not near what it will be in three or four weeks time," Yallop said. "But the guys we've added have made a difference for us, and that's important."
Los Angeles tied the game through goals by Landon Donovan and Edson Buddle before Cochrane's last-minute heroics, but Yallop was still pleased with his team's overall performance.
"I thought Ramiro Corrales really drove us on today. He was terrific in the middle of the field," Yallop said. "We put a lot of energy putting the ball forward and it was good to see. I was very happy in our efforts with both sides of the ball against a team that scores a ton of goals. I was very happy in the stuff we created."
Coming into the game, the Earthquakes had scored just three goals total in their last eight matches, and hadn't scored a goal against the Galaxy all season.
"It was a wide open game," Yallop said. "Either team could have won, but it was nice for us to finally get a good win. It was a good showpiece for the fans -- we showed that we don't give up. I think we've added some good attacking options. We're not done yet, but we're starting to get there, we're starting to build, and hopefully we can become a strong team for years to come."
With FC Dallas' victory Sunday in Toronto, San Jose now sits seven points shy of a playoff place in the Western Conference. But with 11 games still on the schedule, there's still plenty of time to come up with a happy ending to the Earthquakes' first season back in Major League Soccer.
"We starting to establish a good rhythm now," Yallop said, "and with our next game at home -- if we can get a win out of that game (against New England) then we have a real good chance at getting a run into to try and make the playoffs, which is our whole aim."
Falcao Interested In Prem Switch - Agent
Falcao Interested In Prem Switch - Agent
Quakes hope to build off win
