Great flow from the technical area and a clean strike by Magnus Eriksson failed to lead the Quakes to their fifth-straight home-opener win. Two goals from Montreal Impact stars Ignacio Piatti and Saphir Taider to close the first half sunk San Jose on opening night 2-1, opening the Matias Almeyda era in slightly disappointing fashion.
That doesn’t mean there weren’t bright spots. Eriksson’s strike, for starts, was not the highlight of the Swede’s season-opening goal. [No, it wasn’t Almeyda’s fist-flinging, hair-flipping celebration, either … thought it’s close.] Anibal Godoy made a seeing-eye pass to Vako, who turned on a dime to distribute to a wide-open Eriksson.