San Jose Earthquakes 2, LA Galaxy 1 | 2020 MLS Match Recap

The Goonies struck late again.

An 82nd-minute penalty kick by Andy Rios lifted the San Jose Earthquakes to a 2-1 Cali Clasico win over the LA Galaxy Saturday night at Earthquakes Stadium.

Rios buried his attempt into the corner of the net, just past the outstretched arms of David Bingham, who in the first half denied Chris Wondolowski’s spot-kick.

Referee Robert Sibiga pointed to the spot after Galaxy defender Rolf Feltscher mistimed a Cristian Espinoza service into the box, spun and pulled down Nick Lima.

It was the second straight game San Jose (4W-6L-5D) rallied for an emotional win. The Galaxy (4W-7L-3D) had wasted little time in taking the lead with Sebastian Lletget scoring his sixth goal of the season just four minutes after the opening kickoff.

The midfielder, who has four of the Galaxy’s last five goals, followed up Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez’s attempt off the post with the rebound on a sequence started with Cristian Pavon’s penetrating run into the box.

The Quakes had a golden chance to equalize 10 minutes later when Wondolowski stepped to the penalty spot after Galaxy defender Nick DePuy was ruled to have handled the ball.

With car horns behind him blaring, Bingham saved the penalty attempt with a lunging effort to his left, a decision upheld following Video Review. Sibiga went to the monitor to check if Bingham drifted off his line on the attempt but the replay showed his right heel was rooted to the line.

Bingham got the better of Wondolowski again in the 26th minute, diving again to his left to push aside a downward header.

The Quakes equalizer came late in the first-half courtesy of a left-footed blast by Marcos Lopez into the side-netting off a setup by Lima before Rios provided late-game winning drama for the Quakes once again.

Goals

• 4’ — LA — Sebastian Lletget | WATCH
• 42’ — SJ — Marcos Lopez | WATCH
• 82’ — SJ — Andy Rios | WATCH

Three Things

• THE BIG PICTURE: After rallying to win at LAFC last Saturday night, the Quakes have made it back-to-back victories with their first Cali Clasico win of 2020, a victory that catapulted them to ninth in the Western Conference table. The Galaxy, meanwhile, occupy the bottom spot previously owned by the Quakes with their fourth consecutive defeat. This was the 89th all-time meeting in all competitions with the Galaxy leading the regular-season series 32W-25L-16D since the first Cali Clasico chapter was written on April 28, 1996.
• MOMENT OF THE MATCH: It’s not every day two of the region’s all-time best scorers exchange shoves during a fracas! But that’s what we had when Chicharito and Wondolowski got involved in an incident that started when Lima and Joe Corona collided while sliding in on a 50/50 challenge. 
• MAN OF THE MATCH: It was a true team victory, but we’ll give the nod to Lima, who set up the equalizer late in the first half and was pulled down on the play that led to the winning PK.

Next Up

• SJ: Wednesday, October 7 vs. Vancouver Whitecaps (10:30 pm ET | TSN 1/4/5 in Canada; MLS LIVE on ESPN+ in US)
• LA: Wednesday, October 7 vs. Portland Timbers (10:30 pm ET | MLS LIVE on ESPN+ in US; MLS LIVE on DAZN in Canada)