Chivas USA Notes (2-0 Loss vs. San Jose Earthquakes, The Home Depot Center, Carson, Calif., 9/15/2012)

 

·         CARSON, Calif. (Saturday, Sept. 15, 2012) – Chivas USA (7-13-7) fell, 2-0, at The Home Depot Center Saturday night to the San Jose Earthquakes (17-6-5) before a crowd of 11,317. The Quakes were led by goals from Chris Wondolowski and Alan Gordon. Both Justin Morrow and Wondolowski recorded assists on Gordon’s goal.

·         The Rojiblancos started the match fast and got the ball into dangerous spots. In the eighth minute midfielder Miller Bolaños worked the ball from the left wing into the box and let loose a strike that was deflected by the San Jose defense. The Goats tested the Quakes’ defense often as they began to pepper the ball into the box. In the 23rd minute midfielder Nick LaBrocca centered a pass from about 35 yards out to forward Casey Townsend, whose header was saved by San Jose goalkeeper Jon Busch.

·         A minute later, Bolaños again worked the ball from the left, this time crossing it to a cutting Juan Agudelo near the short area. Agudelo´s sliding attempt at goal, however, was broken up.

·         San Jose broke the scoreless match in the 40th minute after it was awarded a penalty kick in the aftermath of a free kick. Wondolowski lined up and knocked in his 19th goal of the season. The Quakes went up a second goal in the 49th minute on Wondolowski’s and Morrow’s double assist to Gordon. Wondolowski and Morrow were credited with their seventh and third assists of the year, respectively. The goal was Gordon’s 12th this season.

·         Chivas USA looked to create opportunities in the second half as well and brought on forward Juan Pablo Angel and midfielder Ryan Smith as subs in the 66th minute. Smith immediately made his presence felt with the ball as he took a strike near the semi-circle in the 67th minute just wide right of the post and crossed a pass from deep in the right corner to Angel for a header attempt at goal in the 70th.

·         The Rojiblancos continued to knock on the San Jose door, as Bolaños´ right-footed strike in the 86th minute from the left side of the box needed a last second tip save from Busch, as it appeared on target to land inside the right post. A minute later, Angel received a long ball and worked it inside the box, but the Goats could not capitalize on the opportunity and the final marker remained at 2-0. 

·         Chivas USA has a short week as it travels east for a week-long two-game road trip. Up first for the Red-and-White is the Columbus Crew on Wednesday, Sept. 19, at Crew Stadium for a 4:30 pm PT kickoff. The game will broadcast on television, live on Prime Ticket in English. For more information please visit cdchivasusa.com. Follow us on Twitter @cdchivasusa and Facebook.com/chivasusa

 

THE WORD FROM THE TEAMS:

 

CHIVAS USA ASSISTANT COACH – GREG VANNEY:

 

Thoughts on the game: “Up until the penalty call I thought we were pretty good controlling the game defensively, they weren’t very dangerous. We found a couple of opportunities, one in front of the goal with Miller’s [Bolaños] ball rolled in and Casey’s [Townsend] header that [Jon] Busch made a great save. I thought we were creating good chances and we were in control of them in our defensive final third, they weren’t finding great opportunities on our goal I don’t think Kennedy had made a save until that point.”

 

On the referee’s call: “The frustration there is obviously having seen the replay one of our players put us in a tough situation. The referees make a call of frustration and none of the officials actually involved in the game really saw it. It was the fourth official I think called it from midfield. I’m not really sure how that plays out or who has what responsibilities. I know the other two linesmen and center referee didn’t actually see the play. That’s frustration on both sides in terms of where the call came from and obviously our player putting us in that situation.”

 

On the foul: “It’s a bad decision on John’s [Valencia] part. I don’t know that it was an elbow to the head from what I saw he stepped into Gordon’s run, he stepped in pretty firm into his run and put a forearm into him. I just think it was an unnecessary moment where we didn’t need to put ourselves in that situation or the referees. The play was contained; it wasn’t like Gordon was in a dangerous spot to put a header in.”

 

CHIVAS USA MIDFIELDER – SHALRIE JOSEPH:

 

Thoughts on the game: “It’s frustrating, we didn’t do enough to come out tonight with points. Offensively we created a little bit of chances; we just weren’t able to score.  The referee changed the game with a call like that [penalty], and after that we were in a hole and we were just trying to push numbers trying to create more opportunities and get a goal, but it didn’t come for us tonight. We need to hold our heads up and try for next week.”

 

On the penalty: “I don’t know what to say to be honest, I’m going to have to look at it again and I’m sure Coach [Fraser] is going to do the same. You don’t change a game like that; you don’t just make a call like that. The game was going fine until he [the referee] made a change like that. It was frustrating to have a penalty called with the ball not even close to the goal line. It’s frustrating, but the guys kept battling, the guys kept fighting and we weren’t able to pull it off tonight but we will be better next week.”

 

On Coach Fraser’s absence in the second half: “Robin has been there on and off the field, and Greg Vanney has done a great job being Assistant Coach. He can replace Robin like that, they work off each other. I understand why Robin had to do what he did, that’s just part of being a coach, sticking up for your players.”

 

On playoffs: “The good thing about it is that the possibility is still there, we just have to pick our heads up and keep working hard. We have a quick turn around next week in Columbus; we just have to pick our heads up and try to win the next one.”

 

CHIVAS USA MIDFIELDER – NICK LABROCCA:

 

Thoughts on the game: “I thought we played really good. The penalty changed the game a little bit. It changed how we need to come out, it opens us up a little more and we have to get that tying goal.”

 

On Coach Fraser’s absence in the second half: “At the end of the day it’s the players out on the field trying to do a job and get wins and we didn’t do that today.”

 

On playoffs: “We just need to get wins, we just need to win against the right teams. If we can get hot now then we can be in good shape.”

 

SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES HEAD COACH – FRANK YALLOP

 

Thoughts on the game: “I thought we moved the ball well, I thought we defended well. No matter where you go in our league, there is always a tough game. I thought we were good all around and I think we could’ve scored more goals in the end.”

 

On the Earthquakes confidence: “Winning brings confidence. I thought it was a tricky game tonight, we played them last game and actually I thought it was a pretty even game but we came out as winners. I made sure that we had a good meeting this morning, we worked on some stuff during the week to make sure that we are ready for anything that Chivas throws. I thought Jon Busch made an amazing save, it was a good spring ball for our game because if they score that then it’s a different game.”

 

Thoughts on Chris Wondolowski: “When you’re on a team that creates a lot of chances around the goal, Chris is always in good spots. He is always looking for his teammates where they are, making good runs, and he’s making good choices with the ball in the final third.”

 

SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES FORWARD – CHRIS WONDOLOWSKI

 

Thoughts on the assist: “I thought it was just a great team goal. We went down on the left side, connected some passes, saw Morrow making a run near post he had a great dumbie to me and Gordon was just feeling around on top. Great movement and I just had the easy job of laying it off and heck of a finish by Alan.”

 

On the team’s last five games: “The defense has done a fantastic job. I’m not sure of exact numbers, but a few goals have been scored in the last five games and that’s impressive. Throughout we’ve had a lot of different guys in there but I think it also comes with all eleven guys, we work hard we start with a lot of pressure and our midfield put in so much work and covered so much ground.”

 

On the team’s mentality: “We clinched, we said good job to each other, then it was back to business. Our goal goes beyond just making the playoffs. That was our initial goal, in the beginning of the year we wanted to make playoffs but we also want to win the Supporters’ Shield, but first and foremost we want to win the MLS cup. Those goals are still obtainable and they are still out there, we have a lot of work to do to get them.”

 

SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES GOALKEEPER – JON BUSCH

 

Thoughts on the game: “It was a very good team effort, we’ve been winning games but we’ve wanted to get a couple clean sheets and we got one last week. It was a total team effort, because [Chivas USA] is a very good team. You don’t even look at their record you look at how good they are and they created some good chances again tonight. We were fortunate enough and we played well, I think our back line and our midfielders doing all the dirty work in tracking guys and cutting balls out and it’s a total team effort and we got another clean sheet so it’s nice.”

 

On the team’s confidence: “Our focus is that Supporters’ Shield, we want that. We are taking it one game a time and nobody really said anything about clinching. It happened, and we want to keep our feet on the pedal and keep winning games until the end.”

 

Chivas USA (7-13-7) vs. San Jose Earthquakes (17-6-5)

Sept. 15, 2012 – Home Depot Center

 

Scoring Summary:

SJ – Chris Wondolowski 19 (PK) 40

SJ- Alan Gordon 12 (Chris Wondolowski 7, Justin Morrow 3) 49

 

Chivas USA – Dan Kennedy, James Riley, Danny Califf, John Valencia, Jorge Villafaña, Oswaldo Minda (Ryan Smith 66), Shalrie Joseph, Nick LaBrocca, Miller Bolaños, Casey Townsend (Jose Correa 76), Juan Agudelo (Juan Pablo Angel 66)

Subs not used – Patrick McLain, Bobby Burling, Ante Jazic, Ben Zemanski

 

San Jose Earthquakes – Jon Busch, Steven Beitashour, Victor Bernardez, Ike Opara, Justin Morrow, Mehdi Ballouchy (Ramiro Corrales 75), Sam Cronin, Rafael Baca, Simon Dawkins (Khari Stephenson 90), Alan Gordon (Steven Lenhart 62), Chris Wondolowski

Subs not used – David Bingham, Jason Hernandez, Jed Zayner, Brad Ring

 

Misconduct Summary:

CHV – John Valencia (yellow, off the ball) 39

CHV – Shalrie Joseph (yellow, dissent) 39

CHV – Head Coach Robin Fraser (dissent) 45

CHV – Jorge Villafaña (yellow, foul) 69

 

 

Referee: Chris Penso

Referee’s Assistants: George Gansner, Jeremy Hanson

4th Official: Alejandro Mariscal

 

Attendance: 11,317

Time of Game: 1:52

Weather: Clear and 88 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.