Earthquakes’ 2-2 tie against Union is a season-saver

SAN JOSE >> It looked as if the Earthquakes’ season was on its last legs Saturday night on a gloomy evening at Avaya Stadium.

San Jose trailed the woeful Philadelphia Union in the final minute in a game they needed points from to remain in the MLS playoff picture.

Shea Salinas knew it. Every one of the announced crowd of 18,000 fans did too.

So the Quakes midfielder took the ball into the penalty area and slipped past one player. Then another. Finally Joshua Yaro tripped Salinas in desperation.

Referee Ted Unkel called the penalty.

Then Chris Wondolowski stepped to the line, 12 yards from goalkeeper John McCarthy to bury his 10th goal of the season that allowed San Jose to escape with a 2-2 draw on an otherwise dismal night of soccer.

“Shea still has legs to make a great run,” Wondolowski said of his teammate’s late-game energy.

The penalty allowed Wondolowski to score at least 10 goals for the eighth consecutive season, an unprecedented Major League Soccer milestone that adds to one of the great resumes in league history.

Wondolowski has 131 MLS goals, which is 14 shy of Landon Donovan’s alltime career record.

Perhaps as important, the penalty kick preserved some dignity at a time the Earthquakes (910-6, 33 points) needed it the most.

A tumultuous eightmonth MLS season that saw a mid-year coaching change and a new 3-5-2 formation had been squeezed into a tensionfilling final 10 games when the Earthquakes walked onto the field.

The late theatrics isn’t enough to decrease the incredible pressure on a club that has tried everything this year to reboot. San Jose improved its home record to 7-1-5 but the draw knocked San Jose into seventh place in the Western Conference, a point below the playoff spot.

Now the Quakes play two road games this week at Real Salt Lake on Wednesday and next weekend against the L.A. Galaxy.

Then San Jose plays at Eastern Conference leader Toronto FC on Sept. 9. It’s going to take halting a five-game road losing streak to keep the Quakes in the playoff picture.

They got no help Saturday with a sluggish effort.

“We played like individuals out there,” Salinas said.

After San Jose raced to a 1-0 lead on Valeri Qazaishvili’s third-minute goal, everything slid south. First, the Quakes lost steady defender Florian Jungwirth in the 19th minute to a right shoulder injury. Coach Chris Leitch didn’t know when he might return.

The coach also doesn’t know when breakout rookie Nick Lima will be back after suffering a thigh in practice last week.

To think how great it started with Georgian international Qazaishvili making the most of his first MLS start with a brilliant goal. The striker got the ball just outside the penalty box and turned on Alejandro Bedoya. Then the 5-foot-9 newcomers dribbled past defender Roland Alberg before getting his second goal of the season.

“I just shot between their legs,” he said.

But too many giveaways eventually allowed the Union life as Philadelphia (8-11-6) fights to remain in the Eastern Conference playoff race. Rookie Jack Elliott got his maiden MLS goal in the 35th minute off a scrum in front of the net. Alberg made it 2-1 in the second half after another messy defensive effort on a throw in.

But as frustrating as it was, the Earthquakes head on the road feeling good.

“You fight, you claw, you have a lot of guys not wanting to give up,” Leitch said.