Abram Heredia

A game that initially looked to have all the signs of a blowout had its trajectory altered greatly by a sending off in the first half as an in-form San Jose Earthquakes took a 2-0 victory over visiting Phoenix Rising in the US Open Cup despite having to play the second half a man short. 

The win earned San Jose the right to next host Minnesota United in the Round of 16.

Phoenix Rising lined up with almost identical personnel from its previous win from this past weekend, barring two changes as Daniel Flores and Eziah Ramirez replaced Luke Biasi and Collin Smith, respectively. 

San Jose however, rotated much more heavily with only Dave Romney returning to the starting 11 from its previous match. A notable feature of San Jose’s lineup was the return of Timo Werner who hadn’t seen the pitch since March. Unexpectedly, Werner started as an attacking midfielder whereas, in previous games, he had been featured as a winger or a striker.

The Earthquakes started off strong by scoring in the first three minutes of the match. Werner played a corner short to Nick Fernandez at the edge of the box. Fernandez shrugged off the oncoming pressure and drove a shot with power to the near post to beat the keeper from just outside the box, netting him his first senior-team goal as well as breaking the deadlock in this match for a 1-0 lead.

In the 13th minute, Jonathan Gonzalez went into a 50/50 challenge with a reckless slide tackle and caught the ankle of Phoenix midfielder, Diego Gomez. The tackle was initially ignored in favor of a Phoenix advantage but was called back and given a yellow card.

San Jose nearly doubled its lead in the 18th minute after a through ball from Nonso Adimabua put Werner through on goal. Despite being in on goal, Werner struggled to get his footing after cutting back past the defender and ultimately put the ball into the arms of Patrick Rakovsky.

San Jose was determined to get their second which came in the 23rd minute. Fernandez showed tremendous vision to pick out a pass no one else could see and set up Jack Jasinski in acres of space. With no one to beat but the keeper, Jasinski was able to drill it home, earning his first career goal. 

In the 33rd minute, Noel Buck almost granted Fernandez another assist but his left-footed shot ricocheted off the inside of the post.

A few minutes before halftime, Jonathan Gonzalez attempted to stop a breakaway by launching himself into a Phoenix attacker. An unnecessary foul that was rightly met with a second yellow forced San Jose to play out the rest of the match with 10 men.

Phoenix almost immediately capitalized on the advantage as Darius Johnson headed in a cross off the free kick. For a brief second, Phoenix smelled blood but the would-be momentum was quickly extinguished when the goal had been disallowed due to a Phoenix foul.

To start the second half, Phoenix Rising substituted both full backs and brought on Biasi to replace Flores and Charlie Dennis to replace Ramirez. To account for the player sent off San Jose substituted in Beau Leroux for Werner to provide more stability in the midfield.

Early on in the second half, Phoenix looked to kickstart the comeback and get dangerously close. Trickery from Ihsan Sacko in the box created space for a low driven cross to Hope Avayevu who got the shot off but was denied by Earl Edwards.

In the 58th minute, a ball over the top to Sacko presented another dangerous opportunity but the shot, while struck with venom, was only able to find the gloves of Edwards once again.

As expected, the sending off affected the game greatly as San Jose was forced to defend more, thus inviting pressure. The pressure however, was not more than Edwards could handle as he came up with four big saves throughout the match. Edwards’s performance was a huge factor for why San Jose was able to hold on to their advantageous position.

Although Phoenix ultimately were not able to get back into the match, the performance of Johnson was dazzling. On multiple occasions he was able to beat his opponent with a step over or a nutmeg but unfortunately nothing manifested from his creativity.

Despite winning by a two-goal margin and earning a clean sheet, coach Bruce Arena believed his team should have done better. 

“We didn’t play particularly well tonight,” he said. “We shot ourselves in the foot by having a player sent off.”

With a goal and an assist, Fernandez had a stellar performance that garnered the title of man of the match as well as the plaudits of his coach. 

“He’s a good player. He’s been a good player for us,” Arena said. “He’s played a lot of second-team games, he’s gotten in a little bit this year now… he’s very versatile. He could play a number of positions in the midfield. So, he’s been good.”