Chivas USA Notes (4-0 loss @ San Jose Earthquakes, Buck Shaw Stadium, Santa Clara, Calif., 9/2/2012)

 

·         SANTA CLARA, Calif. (Sunday, September. 2, 2012) – Chivas USA (7-11-7) fell, 4-0, Sunday evening at Buck Shaw Stadium to the San Jose Earthquakes (16-6-5) before a crowd of 10,545. The Quakes took a two-goal advantage in the first half behind goals from Victor Bernardez and Simon Dawkins. In the second half San Jose knocked in two more goals on Ramiro Corrales’ two free kicks. With the loss the Red-and-White remains with 28 points in the Western Conference.

·         Chivas USA started the match getting into dangerous spots and creating several goal opportunities. Midfielder Tristan Bowen – making his third consecutive start – was active on the right side and crossed several dangerous passes into the box. In the 6th minute Bowen’s cross to forward Juan Agudelo reached Quakes’ goalkeeper Jon Busch’s door step, but he was able to make the stop.

·         Agudelo was able to get Busch on two separate one-on-one attacks (14th and 34th minutes), but again the Goats were not able to capitalize on the attack. In the 28th minute Bowen again served a dangerous cross into the box, this time to forward Casey Townsend, who’s header sailed right of the post.

·         As the second half got underway, the Rojiblancos continued to pepper the ball into the San Jose box in search of a score. In the 52nd minute, midfielder Miller Bolaños’ corner kick was headed backwards by Agudelo to Danny Califf, whose shot was just over the crossbar. The Goats were able to move their numbers forward throughout the match, as they outshot San Jose 18-14 and took more corner kicks (6-3).

·         In the second half, the Quakes scored their third and fourth goals thanks to two Corrales’ free kicks, coming in the 71st and 81st minutes. On both strikes Corrales placed the ball into the net from impressive distances. 

·         Chivas USA continues its Western Conference push when it travels to the Pacific Northwest to face conference rival Seattle Sounders FC, Saturday Sept. 8, at CenturyLink Field for a 1:00 pm PT match. The game will broadcast on television, live on Prime Ticket in English and KWHY Channel 22 in Spanish. For more information please visit cdchivasusa.com. Follow us on Twitter @cdchivasusa and Facebook.com/chivasusa

 

THE WORD FROM THE TEAMS:

CHIVAS USA HEAD COACH – ROBIN FRASER:

General thoughts on tonight’s game: “It was a difficult one to swallow. In the first half, we certainly played well to create a number of chances, and if we convert on those chances we are probably in a different place. We made a number of mistakes that led to goals and we found ourselves down 2-0 after playing what was a pretty good half.”

On San Jose’s free kicks: “Probably the better question is how are we giving up free kicks or how are the free kicks coming about? Losing on 3 free kicks; certainly San Jose executed well, but the first one was pretty far out, the second one, I think a player doesn’t jump in the wall, that might have been the third one, but it is frustrating. It is frustrating no matter what the goals are. If you play pretty well and you put yourself in a position to go ahead and you don’t, and you turn around and make mistakes, it’s a difficult situation.”

On generating opportunities: “For a lot of the year we weren’t creating opportunities, and in the last three games we’ve created quite a few, but we have not scored as many as we have liked to. Really the goals that we have given up in the past three games have been just subpar, and inexcusable to be quite honest. As I said, for most of the year we have been talking about the fact that we are not creating enough, and over the past couple of games we have created enough chances, but we have given up some really, really poor goals.”

CHIVAS USA DEFENDER DANNY CALIFF

Thoughts on San Jose’s free kick goals: “Certainly on the last one we could have gotten organized a lot quicker; that would have given Dan [Kennedy] a lot more time to get his positioning sorted. When you are chasing the game you end up committing fouls in dangerous areas because you are throwing a lot of numbers forward and it’s fire alarm defending half the time. Certainly midway through the second half it was fire alarm defending the entire time, so in those situations you give up fouls in dangerous areas and they did a good job.”

On state of the locker room: “Winning fixes everything. There’s going to be stretches in the season when you don’t play well and you don’t get results, even though you feel like you don’t play all that poorly. You get beat down too many times and the confidence erodes.”

CHIVAS USA FORWARD TRISTAN BOWEN

General thoughts on tonight: “It was tough to come in and play tonight. San Jose is a good team. We’ve been struggling finding our identity in terms of defensively and offensively. I think we fought, we had some chances early on and we didn’t capitalize on them, and a good team like San Jose, if you don’t score goals, they are going to score on you and that’s pretty much what happened tonight.”

SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES HEAD COACH FRANK YALLOP

On game: “Tonight was a fantastic performance from the whole team. I talked to the guys about maintaining the standard that we have set this year every game and we certainly did that tonight. As a group, we kept pushing the entire game and never took our foot off the gas. We really wanted a clean sheet and we worked hard for it.”

On team’s chemistry: “The biggest thing for this squad is the chemistry and it really shows in our play right now. The guys are together and on a mission to do well. As a coaching staff, we love going out to training every day with this group. They do all the little things right and they are very focused right now on winning the league. It is a tight race and we have to keep winning to accomplish that goal.”

SAN JOES EARTHQUAKES DEFENDER RAMIRO CORRALES

On two-goal performance: “It was the great team performance and I am happy I scored two goals to contribute. I can’t remember the last time I scored two goals in a match. The defense stepped up today scoring three of our four goals, adding to that a clean sheet. I couldn’t be more proud to captain this team and defensive unit.”

On win: “It was an important three points, and this was a game we had to have. The team is playing great at the moment; we work for one another and we will continue to play good soccer for the rest of the season. We know it is difficult for opponents to win at Buck Shaw Stadium. Our fans bring out the best in the team and they showed the home field advantage in front of the national spotlight tonight.”

SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES GOALKEEPER JON BUSCH

On shutout: “The back line played great tonight. Each week they seem to make the plays that turn the result in our favor. The spotlight was on them tonight as they kept the shots to a minimum, and they even scored three of our goals. They have played organized all season and they make my job easier. This night was about them.”

On maintaining high level of play: “Our focus has never changed; we go out there expecting three points every night. We have worked hard since the offseason to put ourselves in the position we are in right now. The schedule is winding down, and we cannot get caught looking ahead into a possible postseason match-up. We are focused on the now, and we know that when we play our style of soccer, more often than not we will end up with three points.”

Chivas USA (7-11-7) vs.  San Jose Earthquakes (16-6-5)

Sept. 2, 2012 – Buck Shaw Stadium

 

Scoring Summary:

SJ – Victor Bernardez 2 (FK) 11

SJ – Simon Dawkins 7 (Chris Wondolowski 6) 39

SJ – Ramiro Corrales 1 (FK) 71

SJ – Ramiro Corrales 2 (FK) 81

 

Chivas USA – Dan Kennedy, James Riley, Rauwshan McKenzie, Danny Califf, Ante Jazic, Tristan Bowen (Nick LaBrocca 69), Shalrie Joseph, Oswaldo Minda (Ben Zemanski 84), Miller Bolaños, Casey Townsend (Jose Correa 72), Juan Agudelo

Substitutes Not Used: Tim Melia, Jorge Villafaña, John Valencia, Alejandro Moreno

 

San Jose Earthquakes: Jon Busch, Steven Beitashour, Victor Bernardez, Ike Opara, Ramiro Corrales ©, Marvin Chavez, Rafael Baca (Mehdi Ballouchy 82), Sam Cronin (Brad Ring 85), Simon Dawkins, Alan Gordon (Steven Lenhart, 60), Chris Wondolowski

Substitutes Not Used: David Bingham, Sercan Guvenisik, Justin Morrow, Khari Stephenson

                                                  

Misconduct Summary:

SJ – Rafael Baca (caution, time wasting) 31

CHV – Oswaldo Minda (caution, argument) 45+3

SJ – Alan Gordon (caution, argument) 45+3

SJ – Chris Wondolowski (caution, dissent) 70

 

Referee: Mark Geiger Referee’s Assistants: Greg Barkey, Mike Rottersman 4th Official: Daniel Radford

Attendance: 10,545 Time of Game: 1:51 Weather: Clear, 81 degrees

cdchivasusa.com

 

About Chivas USA

Founded in 2004, Los Angeles-based Club Deportivo Chivas USA has achieved remarkable success in seven full seasons in Major League Soccer. From 2006-2009, the Mexican-owned club qualified for the MLS Cup Playoffs in four consecutive seasons, to the delight of its passionate supporters. In addition, Chivas USA’s innovative grassroots programs demonstrate its deep commitment to the Southern California community, while the club’s youth teams and Soccer Academies offer unprecedented opportunities to the region’s best young talent. For more information on Chivas USA, please call 1-877-CHIVAS-1 or visit cdchivasusa.com.