Earthquakes play New York City FC to scoreless draw

Neither team is able to capitalize on a flurry of chances to score

SAN JOSE — It was a frustrating scoreless draw for the Earthquakes against New York City FC on Friday night in a game that was expected to feature goals aplenty.

The Quakes (6-6-10) generated tons of chances and dominated for the most part. They totaled 19 shots to go along with nine corner kicks, leaving coach Dominic Kinnear searching for answers as to why the ball could not find the back of the net.

“We’re not happy with this point,” Kinnear said. “We should have came out with a win. We had some good looks and to come out with no goals is surprising.”

NYCFC (10-7-7) came into the game leading the league in goals scored and goals allowed at 40 a piece. They got off to a quick start as Andrea Pirlo and Co. made a beautiful display of ball movement look effortless. Frank Lampard and David Villa had San Jose’s defense on edge in the opening 10 minutes as both came close to giving their team an early lead.

Then it was the Quakes’ turn.

Quincy Amarikwa beat his defender for the ball to win possession and placed a spot-on pass in the 11th minute to a wide open Anibal Godoy, who shanked it over the post from inside the box. A few minutes later, Alberto Quintero broke away after an errant New York pass and dribbled past a couple of defenders for a chance in front of Josh Saunders, but the goalkeeper made a superb block.

The second half was a nightmare for Chris Wondolowski. In a half that saw San Jose dominate possession, the captain missed out on several key opportunities to put the Quakes ahead.

The first missed chance came in the 53rd minute. Quintero found Wondolowski with a cross from the right flank, but the shot missed to the right of the post.

Shea Salinas displayed impressive dribbling skills inside the penalty area to find Wondolowski in the 57th minute, only this time the shot missed to the left.

The play that left Wondolowski really kicking himself came in the 69th minute. After he got by Saunders, his shot took a bounce and hit off the left post.

Newcomer Darwin Ceren made his debut in the 82nd minute as a substitute for Fatai Alashe. Despite the lofty expectations for Ceren during the week, it was too late for him to make any type of impact.

One last late heroic bid from Wondolowski fell short in the 84th minute after his shot from inside the box was again met with a fantastic block from Saunders, leaving the striker clearly frustrated.

“We’re getting way too late in the year for silver linings,” Wondolowski said. “We need to execute better on our offensive third. Our defense played outstanding and our midfield was unbelievable. Tonight was on myself and not finishing.”

Kinnear did take away a positive in being able to shut out such a high-powered New York offense. But two points out of a playoff spot with 12 games to go, he said the team can’t afford to get shut out at home.

“Ties are good but we gotta start doing better than good right now.”