One game in 100 words: The San Jose Earthquakes’ attack did not look bad at regular glance. They moved the ball around well and kept possession, but their shot selection and finishing runs just weren’t present to produce the goals needed to challenge Toronto, a team that was firing on all cylinders in large part to former Juventus man Sebastian Giovinco. He assisted on two of his squad’s goals and excellently stimulated the counter attack to have San Jose’s defense fall short at important points in time. Dominic Kinnear’s squad remains at sixth place in the Western Conference with this loss, while Toronto moved up to fourth place in the East past the Columbus Crew.
Goals
Toronto: Justin Morrow 22′, Warren Creavalle 33′, Luke Moore 72′
San Jose: Chris Wondolowski 24′ (PK)
Three moments that mattered:
24’ — Wondolowski’s PK — Two minutes after Justin Morrow begun the scoring, Chris Wondolowski was at the penalty kick spot and few thought the proven forward would miss such an open chance. He didn’t, burying his attempt into the lower left corner. A determined offensive run in the box for the Earthquakes resulted in a handball from Toronto defender Ashtone Morgan to set up the PK. The game was tied 1-1, impelling a possible surge from the Earthquakes if the momentum was right.
33’— Creavalle sizzles it by Bingham — Clarence Goodson gathered Morgan’s failed cross into the penalty area and pushed it forward to Sanna Nyassi. The former Montreal Impact man then turned into the box and tumbled when Giovinco reached out to tackle him but no call was awarded to the Earthquakes. Snatching the turnover, Luke Moore knocked a swift touch out to Warren Creavalle approaching the edge of the box, and he smacked a fizzing strike that beat goalkeeper David Bingham in the lower right hand corner.
71’ — Giovinco pinpoints it to Moore — Michael Bradley started the sequence with a well-weighted lobbed ball down the right flank for Giovinco, and as calm as ever, he waited for fellow forward Luke Moore to crash the net prior to zipping a pass between defender Victor Bernardez’s legs, right on the doorstep for the tap-in finish. Moore applied the light touch to hand Toronto the two-goal advantage, one that seemed nearly insurmountable. Assist number two for the “Atomic Ant.”
Lineups
Toronto: Sebastian Giovinco, Luke Moore (Jay Chapman 84′); Chris Konopka; Justin Morrow, Damien Perquis, Eriq Zavaleta, Ashtone Morgan; Warren Creavalle (Jackson 66′), Benoit Cheyrou, Jonathan Osorio (Nick Hagglund 84′), Michael Bradley
San Jose: Sanna Nyassi (Cordell Cato 58′), Adam Jahn, Shea Salinas; David Bingham; Marvell Wynne, Victor Bernardez, Clarence Goodson (Paulo Renato HT), Jordan Stewart, Chris Wondolowski, Khari Stephenson, J.J. Koval (Mark Sherrod 75′)
