Terry Dunfield turned the ball over on two seperate occasions withing the span of 15 seconds to basically hand Chris Wondolowski his goal in the '38. I'm left to wonder if he forgot to put his contact lenses in before the match as he blindly passed the ball into the middle of the pitch as soon as he saw black jerseys within 40 feet of him. Surely fatigue is catching up with him as he has been a staple in the middle all season for the Whitecaps.
If I were going to place a bet on who would score in todays match -prior to kickoff- 2010 Golden Boot winner Chirs Wondolowski would have most certainly been where my money would have rested. The shifty attacker placed a cheeky back heel into the goal as a frustrated Caps back line we're caught on the wrong foot after Dunfield coughed up the ball. While I do not have official stats in front of me with regards to turnovers, just a rough guess would have him completing less the 50% of his passes. He struggled to catch his colleagues in stride and seemed to be willing to pass the ball the second he saw White. His frustrations we're obvious when he and Shea Salinas began bickering after a string of Dunfield miscues. The last of which resulted in him passing the ball in the completely wrong direction of Selinas' run. In all honesty it looked like Terry attempted to come off the pitch while San Jose was subbing. The 4th official held up a board for the sub and it did in fact indicate that a number 7 was involved in the exchange, Dunfield made his way to the centre of the pitch and exited as though he was being removed from the game. Now maybe he was just receiving instruction from the coach but the manner in which he left the field left me wondering if his head was actually in the game Wednesday.
San Jose's goal came somewhat against the run of play as Vancouver appeared to have the ball in the Earthquakes half for a solid chunk of the first half. San Jose took 7 shots on Jay Nolly's net during the first half but other then the goal they all came from well beyond the 18 yard box. Frank Yallop was quick praise Vancouver's back line for being very good at dropping back and taking away opportunities to push the ball into the box. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
Ryan Johnson was easily the most dangerous player on the pitch for the Earthquakes for the first 45, but you can't give Chris Wondolowski chances.
The Second Half saw the Caps continue to apply pressure but it was not until Head Coach Teitur Thordason decided to change the teams formation that the squad responded and looked to take complete control of the match.
At the '75 mark Thordason put in US international Jay DeMerit who re-injured his groin in April. DeMerit came in for right back Wes Knight and immediately moved into the central back slot. Greg Janicki slid out right and Mouloud Akloul pushed out to the left. Teitur normally plays a 4-4-2 but against The Quakes he changed the momentum of the game by moving one of his defenders up in the formation into a midfield role.
From that point on it seemed as though the 'Caps were destined to pull themselves back into the match.
Vancouver's goal came in typically dramatic fashion as Davide Chiumiento curled a free kick from outside the right edge of the box into the left side of the net. In what can only be called a perfectly placed ball Chiumiento caused the stadium to erupt with jubilation.