Earthquakes 1 – 0 Wizards

Yes! After four weeks, we finally won a game! Our last victory was at Philadelphia in July and our first at home since May. Wondolowski scored his 7th goal of the season and Stephenson got the assist with a brilliant cross. Unfortunately, I couldn’t watch the game, as away games are generally hard to watch. However, I do have a few things to note from the highlights (by the way, the highlight videos on the MLS site are awesome).

First, let's look at our new signing, Khari Stephenson. He is a midfielder from Jamaica who started his professional career with the Fire and Wizards, then moved to Europe to play in the Scandinavian, Swedish, and Finnish leagues before coming back to MLS with us. In the few years he spent in Europe, he only scored nine goals. This seems similar to Geovanni. Stephenson might also be a playmaker, and may be able to get the ball to the forwards who will score (in theory, at least).

Cannon replaced Busch in goal. Cannon hasn’t started in several weeks due to poor performance. Busch played the position well, but Cannon was given the start again after Busch's blunder against the Rapids. I can’t fault the Jabulani ball for that Rapids goal because the team has been using it since the start of the season. Busch simply misplayed it. He should stop whining and blaming the ball. Cannon made several excellent saves this game. When the Wizards beat the Earthquakes' defense, Cannon had to rush out and throw his body in front of the ball and luckily he blocked all the shots.

Cornell Glen missed a couple of shots on goal after beating the defense. On one of these occasions, 26th minute, Arturo Alvarez was wide open but Glen decided to try to slot the ball home under a charging Nielsen. He pushed his shot wide of the near post. I understand that forwards are supposed to be a bit selfish when they have the ball at their feet but how could Glen not notice that there was no one to his right but Alvarez?

Defensively, we got lucky on an offside call on Harrington’s “goal.” The backline was shaky as they let attackers through on the three occasions that Cannon had to come out and save their asses. Jason Hernandez was sent off in the 88th minute with a straight red card elbowing Bunbury in the throat.

Finally, the Quakes are undefeated against the Wizards at home since 2000.