San Jose's two early goals held as Real Salt Lake had the ball

San Jose Earthquakes beat Real Salt Lake 2-1 at Avaya Stadium, scoring twice in the first 17 minutes and holding on with less of the ball than usual.

Ousseni Bouda gave San Jose Earthquakes the lead in the second minute, and Benjamin Kikanovic doubled it in the 17th, finishing a move that Jamar Ricketts started. Real Salt Lake were chasing the game almost from the start. Juan Sanabria pulled one back in the 23rd minute, and that was as close as the visitors came to changing the shape of the match.

The more striking figure is possession. San Jose had 44% of the ball, well below the 49.5% they usually have at home. Real Salt Lake had 56%, comfortably above their away average of 48.4%. So the side that scored first spent most of the evening without the ball, and the side that had it could not make it count on the scoreboard.

Real Salt Lake also had more shots than usual, 16 against an away average of 13.8. San Jose took 14, a little above their home average of 12.7. Both sides hit the target five times, and each had six shots blocked, so neither keeper was overworked in the way the totals might suggest.

Shots alone do not tell us how good they were. Expected goals, or xG, is a rough score for each chance based on where and how it was taken, where a value near one means a fair chance to score. San Jose's total of 1.28 was close to their usual 1.23, so their chances were about as dangerous as normal. Real Salt Lake's 1.45 sat below their usual 1.52, meaning more attempts of slightly lower quality.

San Jose scored two goals from that modest total, which is the clearest sign of a side making the most of its moments. Real Salt Lake scored one, and they conceded chances worth 1.28 when they usually concede 1.19, so their defending was a touch looser than normal. The match produced three goals, slightly below the league average of 3.3 per game. Rafael Cabral made three saves for the visitors, and Bouda was rated 8.2, having scored and put three shots on target.

The table fits the result without making it a surprise. San Jose sit fifth with 49 points from 32 games, while Real Salt Lake are ninth on 42.

Player of the matchJ. Sanabria1 goal8.2

O. Bouda1 goal8.2

B. Kikanovic1 goal7.6

J. Ricketts1 assist7.1