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MLS San Jose Earthquakes

Earthquakes Lose 3-1 to Viking in La Manga Cup

February 24, 2003 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
San Jose Earthquakes News Release


La Manga, Spain (Monday, February 24, 2003) - The San Jose Earthquakes were defeated 3-1 by Viking Stavangar of Norway in their final match of group play at the La Manga Cup. The Quakes finish the first round of the preseason tournament with a 0-2-1 record and earned a fourth place finish in Group A.

Ronnie Ekelund scored for the second straight match, Viking's Bjorn Berland netted a hat trick to give his team the victory. The Quakes wrap up play in the La Manga Cup on Thursday, February 27 at 12:00 p.m. local time against Lyn Oslo (Norway).

San Jose started quickly on Monday afternoon, as Ekelund netted the first goal of the game in the fifth minute after a good combination outside the box with Brian Mullan. Troy Dayak started the play by creating a turnover and moving the ball out to Manny Lagos. Lagos passed the ball in to Ekelund, who then played a give-and-go with Mullan. Ekelund finished the play with a well-struck shot over Viking goalkeeper Tore Shorteland into the upper corner.

Viking equalized in the 32nd minute after a throw in on the left wing. Peter Kopteff took the ball to the end-line and squared a low cross to Berland in front of goal. Berland then spun and shot into the lower right corner to tie the match at 1-1.

Late in the first half, forward Brian Ching and Ekelund each had strong efforts from long range to try and give the Quakes the lead back. Ching forced a save by Shorteland, while Ekelund's drive went over the bar.

Early in the second half the Quakes went forward looking to grab the lead back. In the 46th minute, a good pass from Ching gave Lagos an open look at the goal, but his low shot skidded just past the far post. Four minutes later Ching received a through ball from Richard Mulrooney and one-timed a shot toward the far post that Shorteland knocked down. Mullan nearly got to the rebound, but Shorteland recovered in time to end the threat.

Moments later, Mullan forced another save by Shorteland with a low shot to the near post after getting a pass from Ramiro Corrales.

Viking took the lead 13 minutes into the second half on a counterattack. Kopteff found Berland on the opposite side of the goal and he beat a Quakes defender and then fired a low shot into the near corner of Jon Conway's net.

Berland finished the scoring in the 85th minute after another quick attack by Viking. Tom Sanne collected a loose ball at midfield and fed it ahead to Berland. Berland got free of his defender and moved around Conway before putting the ball into the back of the net from a difficult angle. San Jose is now 1-2-1 in the 2003 preseason.

Notes:

-Ian Russell (knee sprain) sat out the match against Viking to rest his injury. Landon Donovan was not scheduled to play in Monday's game, but his toe injury healed enough to allow him to play 25 minutes as a sub against Viking.

-Landon Donovan and Richard Mulrooney fly out of Spain on Tuesday to return home. Quakes head coach Frank Yallop is giving the pair the remainder of the week off to rest and recover. Mulrooney and Donovan had been in training camp with the U.S. National Team since January 4 before immediately joining the Quakes for their trip to Spain last week.

Quotes:

Frank Yallop, on game: "At this point, we are not finishing our chances when we get them. We have been getting punished for little mistakes at the back and that happened again today."

Yallop, on Quakes preseason goals: "Overall, we are looking to gain fitness and to build up for the Champions Cup and the regular season. Obviously we don't like losing, but sometimes you need to lose to grow as a team." Yallop, looking ahead: "We aren't going to dwell on the negatives from the game. There are some positives that we can take from this game, such as the fact that we created a number of opportunities to score. We are looking forward to another game on Thursday."

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