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The first California Clasico turned out to be a defensive stalemate as LA and San Jose drew 1-1 before a standing room only crowd Sunday afternoon at the StubHub Center.
#LAGalaxy XI: Rowe; Rogers, Steres, Van Damme, Cole; De Jong; Magee, Gerrard; Dos Santos; Zardes, Keane #LAvSJ pic.twitter.com/EnhiOccN8W
— LA Galaxy (@LAGalaxy) May 22, 2016
LA has their best chance of the first half when Steven Gerrard picked out Robbie Keane at the back post, but his header hit the turf too sharply and agonizingly bounced over the crossbar.
A few minutes later Wondolowski beat the Galaxy back four and fired a quick volley from the penalty kick spot, but Brian Rowe did well to stand tall and smother the attempt.
Rowe was once again on his game, perfectly positioning his body when a Daniel Steres error gave Wondolowski a one on one with Rowe, forcing Wondo to poke over the keeper and clang his shot off the crossbar.
LA exhibited clever passing and combination play in the midfield, but time and time again could not finalize attacks as the stubborn Earthquakes defense held firm.
RIght before the halftime whistle both teams exchanged chances, with Giovani dos Santos collecting in the box but firing a weak bobbler right at keeper David Bingham, then Wondolowski finding the ball deep inside the Galaxy box but hopelessly slicing shot into the stands.
Bruce.gif #LAvSJ pic.twitter.com/qyYe00FnqS
— LA Galaxy (@LAGalaxy) May 22, 2016
The second half was more of the same, but once the Earthquakes began to bunker, the Galaxy attack roared to life. Dos Santos was unlucky when Zardes headed down a cross down for the mercurial attacker, only for his first-time volley at the top of the box to crash off the crossbar.
Soon afterwards Robbie Keane got free and raced in alone vs. Bingham, but could fire a low shot into his path. A few minutes later Gio had his own breakaway, but lost concentration and the shot went high.
Finally, LA went ahead in the 83rd minute when a Sebastian Lletget cross was accidentally bundled in by Marvell Wynne.
However just four minutes later, Fatai Alashe was at the right place at the right time to re-direct a cross from the corner past a helpless Rowe, and the teams ended up sharing the points.