Commerce City, CO (Sports Network) - The San Jose Earthquakes were not in
action last weekend, but they will face the Colorado Rapids at Dick's Sporting
Goods Park on Wednesday rejuvenated by the return of some key players.
Striker Chris Wondolowski, who is tied with Kenny Cooper for the Major League
Soccer scoring lead, comes back into the fold after a stint with the United
States national team, and he will be looking to continue his positive impact
on the club's fortunes to impress Jurgen Klinsmann.
"He said that he's going to be watching my MLS games and just keep doing what
I'm doing," Wondolowski said of the U.S. boss.
San Jose will welcome defenders Victor Bernanrdez and Shea Salinas back to the
squad as well. Both players were injured in the club's 2-2 tie with Red Bull
New York on April 14 and have not appeared in a league match since.
Earthquakes head coach Frank Yallop is looking forward to getting the players
back into the swing of things after conceding that their respective injuries
slightly derailed the team's impressive form.
"If you look at the Shea-Victor injury situation, both were out eight weeks,
and I thought both were having a really good start to the season," said
Yallop. "Not just Victor, I think the whole team took a hit, because it was
solid and it was playing well."
San Jose could be poised for a strong defensive outing on Wednesday as the
club is set to face a Colorado Rapids side that struggled in front of goal
last time out.
The Rapids are coming off of a 1-0 loss at Vancouver Whitecaps FC, a match
that Hunter Freeman insists the visitors dominated.
"[Saturday] was maybe one of our best games in terms of being intense and
dominating," Freeman told MLSsoccer.com. "All those things come around full
circle, soccer's not always a fair game.
"It's disappointing to walk out of there with not even a point, I thought we
deserved at least a point, maybe three."
Rapids boss Oscar Pareja offered the simple solution on how to take all three
points next time out.
"You have to put the ball in the back of the net, that's the way it is,"
Pareja told MLSsoccer.com Saturday night. "That's how you get points. We were
not sharp in front of the goal, we hit the post and you can call that unlucky
but we have to be more effective."
The Sports Network