Clutch Vako goal has Quakes on brink of playoff spot
Even with their playoff hopes dwindling the Earthquakes refused to quit.
The Earthquakes got a clutch goal from Valeri “Vako” Qazaishvili, in the 77th minute then goalkeeper Andrew Tarbell made some huge stops in the dying moments for a 1-1 draw with the Vancouver Whitecaps Sunday.
The tie, combined with losses by FC Dallas and Real Salt Lake, put the Earthquakes’ Major League Soccer playoff hopes in their own hands heading into next Sunday’s final game.
The Quakes close out the regular season against Minnesota United FC Sunday at Avaya Stadium, and a win will clinch a playoff spot for the first time since 2012. The Loons, an expansion team, went 10-16-5 this season and stand ninth in the West.
Chris Wondolowski set up San Jose’s goal with a pretty pass. Vako took the ball, darted between two defenders, and put a shot past Whitecaps’ goalkeeper Stefan Marinovic to silence a crowd of 22,120 at BC Place Stadium
“That was a big one,” Wondolowski said. “I saw him make the run. Iwas hoping I could feed it into him. It was a great finish.”
San Jose’s playoff hopes looked to be on life support after Yordy Reyna gave Vancouver a 1-0 lead in the 29th minute. The Quakes came into the match with a 3-12-1 road record and had just one win in eight previous games at BC Place Stadium (1-6-1).
“To be honest, a month or two ago we would have put our heads down and it could have got ugly,” Wondolowski said. “We stayed with it, kind of regrouped at halftime.”
Quakes coach Chris Leitch was pleased with his team’s patience and persistence.
“These guys knew what was on the line tonight and they didn’t run away from it,” Leitch said. “They ran right to it, took on the challenge head on, and really dug in. It was a hardfought result in a tough place to play.”
The day began with San Jose sitting eighth in the Western Conference, but a perfect storm of results had the the Quakes vaulting into the sixth and final playoff spot.
With 43 points, San Jose (1214-7) is tied with Dallas (10-1013), but the Quakes hold the tiebreaker with more wins. Real Salt Lake (12-15-6) is eighth with 42 points.
Dallas lost 4-0 to Seattle and Real Salt Lake was beaten 1-0 by Colorado.
Real Salt Lake hosts Sporting Kansas City in their final game while FC Dallas is at home to the L.A. Galaxy.
With the clocking ticking down the Whitecaps pressed, forcing Tarbell to make several saves.
“At the end of the game all you are thinking is keep the ball out of the goal,” said Tarbell. “It’s that’s simple.”
Despite falling behind, Leitch said his team was never really out of the match.
“The way I saw the game, the flow of it, I thought there was a goal in there for us,” he said. “I didn’t think we needed to change a ton of things throughout the course of that half.”