Magnus Eriksson scored on a pair of second-half penalty kicks, Chris Wondolowski added another late goal and the San Jose Earthquakes continued their impressive MLS is Back tournament run with a 5-2 win over Real Salt Lake on Monday night.
The Earthquakes advanced to the quarterfinals of the tournament and will face either Columbus or Minnesota United on Saturday in the final eight.
Eriksson scored on a penalty drawn by Tommy Thompson in the 49th minute to give the Earthquakes a 2-1 lead. A dozen minutes later, Vako Qazaishvili found Andres Rios on a diagonal run behind the Real Salt Lake defense. Rios passed back in front of goal where Vako had continued his run and easily beat RSL goalkeeper Zac MacMath.
Real Salt Lake pulled within 3-2 in the 75th minute on Damir Kreilach’s left-footed shot. Kreilach was twice denied earlier in the second half by great saves from San Jose’s Daniel Vega.
Get a weekly recap of the latest San Francisco Bay Area housing news. Sign up for NBC Bay Area’s Housing Deconstructed newsletter.
But that was as close as RSL would get. RSL finished with 10 men after Marcelo Silva was given a red card in the 84th minute for a rough tackle San Jose’s Jackson Yueill, and two minutes later Wondolowski scored on a rebound. It was the third straight game with a goal for the league’s all-time leader in goals scored, although stats from the knockout stages of the tournament are not part of season or career statistics.
Erickson added another penalty in stoppage time after video review ruled Kyle Beckerman should have been called for a handball in the penalty area. Beckerman was shown a red card moments later by referee Drew Fischer at the final whistle.
San Jose was the first team to arrive in Florida in late June and the win assured it will spend part of three months in the MLS bubble.
Sports
Cristian Espinoza gave San Jose an early lead with his goal in the 21st minute on a shot MacMath should have saved. RSL answered immediately with Douglas Martinez scoring barely a minute later when his chipped shot beat Vega.
___
More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/Soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
