Wondolowski leads Quakes to forge draw
STANFORD >> Chris Wondolowski simply wasn’t going to take a back seat to Zlatan Ibrahimovic on Saturday night.
Not in the Earthquakes’ most emotional game of the regular season before an announced crowd of 50,743 at Stanford Stadium.
Wondolowski scored twice, including the game-tying goal in the 69th minute on a penalty kick, as the Earthquakes came from two goals down in the California Clasico against the Los Angeles Galaxy to earn a 3-3 draw.
Ibrahimovic, the charismatic Swedish star who signed with the Galaxy in March, scored twice in his Clasico debut and now has nine goals on the season.
Wondolowski nearly had the hat-trick and the game-winner, as he took a pass from Shea Salinas in the 90th minute in the box and hit the post square on. His first goal came in the 15th minute, just after his first penalty kick attempt, and he now has six on the season and 140 for his Major League Soccer career, five short of the league record.
“He’s an excellent penalty taker,” forward Danny Hoesen said of Wondolowski, who, according to a team spokesman, left the stadium shortly after the game ended, or before media availability began. “He does it in training all the time. He’s
the penalty taker of this team, so there’s no question he should take it.
“The second one, you saw how badly he wanted it. He put it away with a lot of power.”
Valeri Qazaishvili also scored for the Earthquakes, who have gone winless in nine and finished the first half of the season with a 2-9-6 record, last in the 12team Western Conference. Still, they’ve now picked up draws in three straight, and begin the second half with road games against Portland on July 7 and Montreal on July 14.
“Talking about the playoffs, it should not be in our minds at the moment,” Hoesen said. “It should be game-by-game. Start winning games, and at the end, you can see where you’re at.”
The Galaxy’s addition of Ibrahimovic
certainly gave the Clasico game — which are emotionally charged to begin with — just another layer of intrigue.
He made his presence felt in the opening minute.
Ibrahimovic collected a pass from Romain Alessandrini to the left of the Quakes’ goalie Andrew Tarbell and sent a bullet of a shot toward the far side for a 1-0 Galaxy lead.
Wondolowski responded for San Jose in the 15th minute. After Magnus Eriksson drew a foul just inside the penalty area, Wondolowski’s penalty kick try was first saved by Galaxy keeper David Bingham, but the Quakes striker followed up the shot and poked the loose ball into the Los Angeles net to tie the game.
After the goal, Wondolowski appeared to have a choice word
or two for his former teammate, who had an acrimonious split from San Jose.
“That’s between them,” Salinas said of Wondolowski and Bingham.
Los Angeles scored twice in five minutes — both on set pieces — to take a 3-1 lead. Alessandrini curled in a direct kick from just outside the box for a 2-1 Galaxy advantage, then Ibrahimovic scored on a low free kick from 30 yards out.
The Quakes made one change to their starting lineup Saturday, as midfielder Fatai Alashe made his first start since April 14 against Houston. Alashe was a substitute in the last four games, including 19 minutes in last week’s 1-1 draw with RSL. Coming out was Jackson Yueill, who played 71 minutes last week.