{"id":8624776,"date":"2022-10-02T13:20:53","date_gmt":"2022-10-02T20:20:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eastbaytimes.com?p=8624776&preview_id=8624776"},"modified":"2022-10-03T03:27:31","modified_gmt":"2022-10-03T10:27:31","slug":"earthquakes-shea-salinas-enjoys-storybook-home-finale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eastbaytimes.com\/2022\/10\/02\/earthquakes-shea-salinas-enjoys-storybook-home-finale\/","title":{"rendered":"Earthquakes’ Shea Salinas enjoys storybook home finale"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shea Salinas made his final home appearance with the Earthquakes memorable Saturday night at PayPal Park.<\/p>\n

The popular midfielder who has played 13 seasons for San Jose scored the game-winning goal in the 52nd minute of a 2-0 triumph over Minnesota United.<\/p>\n

Salinas, in his 15th season overall, holds the club\u2019s all-time assists record (50).<\/p>\n

On his climactic goal that broke a scoreless deadlock, Salinas seized the initiative. He took a direct free kick, and his low shot caromed off the leg of a Minnesota player and into back of the net.<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t taken a direct free kick my entire career,\u201d Salinas said. \u201cI was thinking that the grass is wet, the ground is hard, I\u2019m just going to try and hit it low and hope that it skips, and the goalie bobbles it into the corner.<\/p>\n

\u201cGod had a different plan. I tried to hit it with the inside of my foot to the corner and it got a good deflection and went into the back of the net. I think God had this all planned out and I got to celebrate,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n

Salinas, normally a reserve this season, asked interim head coach Alex Covelo if he could start in the run-up to the match.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said, \u2018Alex, I would love to start. I\u2019m feeling the butterflies in my stomach again.\u2019 So, I said, \u2018Let\u2019s go.\u2019 That\u2019s it. He did very well,\u201d the coach shared.<\/p>\n

Fittingly, on Sunday, Salinas received the club\u2019s Andrew Bedard Spirit of the Game Award\/Humanitarian of the Year for the fifth time (2009, 2012, 2014, 2015).<\/p>\n

San Jose (8-10-15, 34 points) rounded out the scoring on a goal by Benji Kikanovi\u0107, who sent a low shot just inside the far post.<\/p>\n

Covelo has come to expect good things from Salinas.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe always has been a role model on and off the field. I was on the bench in 2017 when Shea scored the second goal and gave us the victory (over the Galaxy) at Stanford. It has been a pleasure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Salinas says MLS has grown \u201ca ton\u201d these past 15 years. Early in his career not many people knew the league existed. Now it\u2019s an international brand, he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe quality of players has grown tremendously,\u201d Salinas said. \u201cI\u2019ve been lucky to survive for 15 years. We have 18 and 19-year-old kids that are way ahead of where I have been.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Earthquakes\u2019 club award winners: Jeremy Ebobisse, Offensive Player of the Year, and Player\u2019s Player of the Year; JT Marcinkowski, Defensive Player of the Year; Benji Kikanovi\u0107, Young Player of the Year; Tommy Thompson, Media Good Guy; Shea Salinas for the Andrew Bedard Spirit of the Game Award\/Humanitarian of the Year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Popular Quake scores the game-winning goal<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":878,"featured_media":8624777,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"subheadline":"Popular midfielder in 15th MLS season scores winner against Minnesota","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[10111,820,51713,165],"tags":[48735],"feature":[],"location":[3,2,114,102,7],"type-of-work":[50053],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"post_status":"","edit_last":0,"edit_lock":0,"highlights":"","original_byline":"","original_canonical":"","original_category":"","original_email":"","original_id":0,"original_pubdate":"","original_source":"","primary_section":"51713","primary_tag":0,"print_workflow_body":"","print_workflow_exported_ts":"","print_workflow_exported_username":"","print_workflow_shapes":"","print_workflow_side":"","really_short_title":"","short_title":"","market_neutral_title":"","social_title":"","dfm_hub_post_id":0,"paywall_level":"metered","featured_media_content":{"content_type":"image","content":{"id":8624777,"title":"BNG-L-QUAKES-0920-11","filename":"BNG-L-QUAKES-0920-11.jpg","url":"https:\/\/www.eastbaytimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/BNG-L-QUAKES-0920-11.jpg","link":"https:\/\/www.eastbaytimes.com\/2022\/10\/02\/earthquakes-shea-salinas-enjoys-storybook-home-finale\/bng-l-quakes-0920-11-2\/","alt":"","author":"878","description":"","caption":"SAN JOSE, CA – SEPTEMBER 19: San Jose Earthquakes’ Shea Salinas (6) leaps to kick a ball against Portland Timbers in the first half of their match at Earthquakes Stadium in San Jose, Calif., on Saturday, Sept. 19, 2020. 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