KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- An opportunistic goal with the final kick of the game Saturday by Kansas City Wizards midfielder Herculez Gomez helped end officially ended the San Jose Earthquakes' playoff hopes. But it was a five-week stretch that effectively erased the Earthquakes postseason dreams.
"We're not good enough," said Earthquakes coach Frank Yallop. "The table never lies, really."
The Earthquakes had pulled themselves back into contention with a nine-game unbeaten streak, and twice fought back from one-goal deficits Saturday. But Gomez scored on a corner kick three minutes into stoppage time to move the Wizards back into the lead in the wild card race.
"Tonight was just too many mistakes," said Earthquakes goalkeeper Joe Cannon. "They (the Wizards) should have put the game away in the first half."
The last stretch has left the team and their fans wondering what happened. What happened is that the Earthquakes are winless in their last five games. The answers aren't easy to find.
"I'm truly speechless," Cannon said. "I'm never really speechless."
The Earthquakes fell behind quickly to the Wizards, as Claudio Lopez scored in the 18th minute. The intensity was evident from the outset of the match.
"Yeah, we took a while to settle in," said Earthquakes forward Scott Sealy. "They came at us right out of the gate and created a couple of chances."
But the Earthquakes came back and pulled level when Sealy scored two minutes after the opening goal by his former team.
"That's huge," Sealy said. "That's when you know teams are vulnerable, when they score. We came back right away and were able to answer their goal. Then for some reason, we fell asleep again and they were able to take advantage of that moment and go up 2-1."
The team showed character in the match, coming back with a second-half goal by substitute Shea Salinas to again tie the score after Davy Arnaud gave the Wizards the lead midway through the first. But somehow the match got away once again from the Earthquakes.
It was the second game in a week where the Earthquakes conceded the winning goal in stoppage time. On Wednesday, Stuart Holden scored his second goal of the game three minutes into added time to give the Houston Dynamo a 2-1 win at Robertson Stadium.
"This road trip we don't have the (guts) to step up and carry us over," Cannon said. "We haven't been coming to play. This game doesn't lie."
The Earthquakes will be facing some truths in the offseason. There's one game left on the schedule, at home against Toronto FC, which was also eliminated from the playoff race on Saturday, and one more chance to show their loyal fans what could have been.
"We have to work as hard as we can in the offseason to make sure things go our way," Cannon said.
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