Almeyda’s high pressure offense no match for Mile High on Carlos Fierro’s debut

San Jose came into Dick’s Sporting Good’s Park in Colorado on a five game unbeaten streak. The quakes have only lost once in their last 12 league matches.The last time these two squads faced off the Quakes came out on top with a 3-1 victory at home. San Jose has not beaten Colorado in their last four games in Mile High.

To the surprise of many, San Jose came in playing at a fast pace even though they were playing at a high altitude. It didn’t take long before the quakes high powered offense would alert Colorados keeper. Valeri Qazaishvili would find Chris Wondoloski in the 4th minute, after which Wondo composed himself, turned and took a shot on goal. The ball deflected off the keeper, hitting the right post and bouncing back to the keeper who stopped the danger.

In the 21st minute, San Jose’s Judson Silva Tavares took a shot outside the 18 yard box that deflected off the right post, with the Quakes getting the rebound and attempting another shot on target, but Colorado’s keeper cleared it keeping the game leveled. The clearest opportunity of the half for San Jose came in the 25th minute when Wondo received a ball inside the 18 yard box, but it bounced before he could make proper contact and it went over the cross bar.

Colorado couldn’t get anything going for them but kept the pressure on. In the 45th minute, Kellyn Acosta would take matters into his own hands. Diego Rubio would find Acosta, who would bring the ball down towards the middle, and after seeing the keeper out of his mark, took a shot on goal. San Jose’s keeper stretched out and managed to get a hand on it but it was not enough and the ball went in giving Kellyn his second goal of the year.

At the half, the Quakes had 65% of possession with 11 shots but trailed heading into the locker room. SJ did a great job in the beginning of the half splitting the midfield allowing them to keep the defense on their feet owning 70% of possession in the first 20 minutes.

Almeyda would give his Starting XI an opportunity to redeem themselves for the first ten minutes of the 2nd half before making his first substitutions. Carlos Fierro would replace Shea Salinas in the 58th minute to make his along awaited MLS debut.

San Jose would even things up in the 62nd minute. Magnus Eriksson would put a ball into play but the Rapids defense would fail to clear the danger. Danny Hoesen recovered the ball playing it back to Valeri Qazaishvili who took a shot on goal to even things up for the Quakes.

In the 67th minute there would be a penalty controversy that would heat things up between both squads. Ultimately the play would not go to VAR but it would’t matter for the Rapids. A few minutes later in the 73rd minute Keegan Rosenberry would play the ball to Diego Rubio. The San Jose defense wouldn’t put pressure allowing Rubio to create the space needed, who then took a shot on goal putting the home team up 2-1.

The high altitude might have been a factor and got the best of the Quakes. They pressured for 45 straight minutes which eventually caused them to make all of their substitutions in the first 20 minutes of the second half. The Colorado Rapids have now won their last two games at home as they get set to visit Minnesota United. For their part, San Jose continue on their road trip as they get set to visit Sporting KC before playing MLS’s best, LAFC.