Quakes return home to host winless Chivas USA

Aiming to finally break through on their Buck Shaw Stadium home ground, the San Jose Earthquakes return home to take on Chivas USA in a key Western Conference matchup. The Quakes had their unbeaten streak stopped at three games last time out, a 3-0 loss at the New York Red Bulls. Chivas have played to back-to-back scoreless draws, last in Vancouver, as the rojiblancos are still looking for their first win in 2011.

REFEREE: Jair Marrufo. SAR (bench): C.J. Morgante; JAR (opposite): Corey Rockwell; 4th: Fotis Bazakos

MLS Career: 110 games; FC/gm: 25.2; Y/gm: 3.3; R: 28; pens: 40

INJURY REPORT:SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES – OUT: MF Joey Gjertsen (R groin strain); MF Andre Luiz (L knee injury); DOUBTFUL: DF Tim Ward (R hamstring strain); QUESTIONABLE: FW Steven Lenhart (R knee arthroscopy);PROBABLE: FW Ellis McLoughlin (back strain) … CHIVAS USA – OUT: FW Tristan Bowen (L ankle sprain); MF Blair Gavin (L hamstring strain); DF Seth Owusu (R knee injury); QUESTIONABLE: DF Jimmy Conrad (concussion); PROBABLE: MF Paulo Nagamura (L calf strain)

INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES: SJ: Omar Jasseh (Gambia)

SUSPENDED: none

HEAD-TO-HEAD

ALL-TIME (11 meetings): Chivas USA 4 wins, 13 goals … Earthquakes 3 wins, 16 goals … Ties 4

AT SAN JOSE (5 meetings): Earthquakes 2 wins, 9 goals … Chivas USA 2 wins, 5 goals … Ties 1

RETURN MATCH: 7/6: Chivas USA vs. San Jose Earthquakes, 7:30 p.m. PT

LAST YEAR (MLS):

4/24: CHV 3, SJ 2 (Kljestan 25; Braun 54; Chijindu 87 – Wondolowski 41; Beitashour 90)

10/20: SJ 3, CHV 0 (Wondolowski 55, 59, 72)

San Jose’s 3-0 win at Buck Shaw Stadium last Oct. 20 was the first for the Quakes against Chivas USA since the 2005 season. Chivas USA had won four of the six games in between, with two draws.

When San Jose left the league following the 2005 campaign, they did so having never lost to Chivas (2-0-2).

After being shutout in their first four meetings against Chivas USA after their return to the league, the Quakes have scored seven goals in the last three contests. Four of those have come from Chris Wondolowski, including a hat trick in the second meeting last year.

Coaches record: Robin Fraser vs. SJ: first game … Frank Yallop v CHV: P14 W3 L7 D4

SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES

The San Jose Earthquakes saw their unbeaten streak halted at three games, falling 3-0 to the New York Red Bulls on Saturday evening at Red Bull Arena. The Quakes have 5 points from 5 games on the season, sitting in seventh place in the Western Conference.

LAST MATCH

The Red Bulls took the lead after just two minutes. A corner from the left was flicked on at the near post, falling to Dane Richards. He chipped the ball back into the center where Luke Rodgers was able to steer home a header.

Rodgers and the Red Bulls doubled their lead in the 15th minute. Thierry Henry stripped the ball from an Earthquakes defender on the right flank and slotted a teasing ball across the face of the goal where Rodgers raced in to hammer home his second goal of the night.

Henry got his long-awaited goal with three minutes to play. Rodgers returned Henry’s earlier favor, chipping in a cross to the far post. Henry snuck behind a San Jose defender and powered a header into the far side netting.

Earthquakes boss Frank Yallop made no changes to the team that reached a 1-1 result with Toronto FC at Buck Shaw Stadium.

SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES (4-1-4-1): Jon Busch – Jason Hernandez, Ike Opara, Brandon McDonald, Ramiro Corrales (Matt Luzunaris 77) - Sam Cronin - Bobby Convey, Simon Dawkins (Scott Sealy 64), Khari Stephenson (Chris Leitch 62), Ryan Johnson - Chris Wondolowski.

TEAM NEWS

The Quakes return home for the Chivas before heading back out on the road for back-to-back games. With a loss and two draws at Buck Shaw Stadium, the Quakes are one of two teams looking for a first home win in2011 – Chivas USA is the other.

“The first two (goals) that killed the game off (at New York) were basically our poor play,” Yallop said. “You’ve got to cut out the silly mistakes, especially in a game like this. I think that we’ll find out what we’re made of mentally, because we’ve got to now perform. We’ve got to win (next Saturday) against Chivas.”

The three goals scored by New York were the season-high conceded by the Earthquakes, who also allowed a season-high in attempts at goal and on target. Goalkeeper Jon Busch was forced to make seven saves

"We weren't ready to go from the beginning," said Busch. "We lost that game in the first half. They're a very good team. I thought they played very well tonight. They deserved all three points, but we didn't show up tonight."

A year ago, the Earthquakes set a club record with 13 shutouts. This year, they have just one after five games and have conceded seven goals.

“It’s the whole team,” Yallop said, “The whole team defends, and they didn’t defend [against New York] so [the ball] ends up in our net. But it starts at the front, to the midfield, to the back. Everyone was loose.”

With five goals scored in their five games, the Quakes have more goals than just three other teams heading into the weekend (Philadelphia and Columbus, 4; Chivas USA, 3).

“It’s five games we’ve had and it’s one that’s been terrible,” said Yallop. "The other four, I’ve been happy with. … I don’t mind losing, but you’ve got to lose in the right manner, when it’s not just kind of getting pummeled for 90 minutes.”

The Quakes have allowed five of seven goals in the first half this season, and they’ve allowed the first goal in four of five games. No team in MLS has yet won a game this season after conceding the opening goal.

“I like to think we’re going to come out flying and try to get that first goal that’s eluded us at home so far in thethree games," Yallop said. "We’ve got to make sure we break them down, score our goal, or score first if wecan and get a result.”

CHIVAS USA

Chivas USA played to a scoreless draw for a second consecutive week, their third draw in a row, this time with Vancouver Whitecaps FC on Saturday afternoon at Empire Field. Chivas USA have 3 points from 5 games on the season, sitting in ninth place in the Western Conference.

LAST MATCH

Both sides nearly took the lead twice in the opening 45 minutes. After just two minutes, a Marcos Mondaini header was cleared off the goal line by Vancouver’s Camilo. The 'Caps responded immediately, but Wes Knight put a shot off the post in the ninth minute.

Vancouver goalkeeper Jay Nolly ended the match with four saves, while Chivas USA 'keeper Dan Kennedy finished with two -- including a last-minute stop on Whitecaps FC rookie Omar Salgado.

Chivas USA head coach Robin Fraser made two changes to the team that played to a scoreless draw with the Columbus Crew at The Home Depot Center. Andrew Boyens came into central defense for Zarek Valentin and Simon Elliott replaced Justin Braun.

CHIVAS USA (4-4-2): Dan Kennedy - Michael Lahoud (Zarek Valentin 46), Heath Pearce, Andrew Boyens, Ante Jazic - Ben Zemanski (Paulo Nagamura 60), Simon Elliott, Nick LaBrocca, Jorge Flores (Francisco Mendoza 75) - Marcos Mondaini, Alejandro Moreno.

TEAM NEWS

While the only team still without a victory on the 2011 season, Chivas USA were able to grab their third point on the season.

“For a team that is young and building, we continue to see more and more positives,” Chivas coach Robin Fraser said. “In every game that we’ve played this year, we’ve had stretches of possession and we’ve dominated at times, but we struggle to turn possession into good chances.”

Goalkeeper Dan Kennedy was credited with his second consecutive shutout. Since taking over in goal for Zach Thornton, Kennedy has allowed just one goal in three games. Chivas conceded four goals in its opening two matches.

“On the road, you have to be happy with a point,” Kennedy said. “We had our chances, they had somedangerous moments and we dealt with it, and they dealt with us, so it was a pretty fair result.”

Chivas USA have not allowed a goal in 234 minutes, following back-to-back scoreless draws against Columbusand Vancouver. It’s the first consecutive shutouts for Chivas since Oct. 3-10, 2009.

“When you have a team on the ropes, you need to find a way to will one into the goal,” Fraser said. “Hopefully, as we continue to grow this season, we realize that these are critical moments in the game. Championship teams aren’t born overnight.”

Chivas maintained the clean sheet with Heath Pearce again playing central defense, for a fourth consecutive match. He again had a new partner, as Andrew Boyens returned to the back four.

Simon Elliott made his first start of the season after undergoing knee surgery in the offseason, filling the holding midfield role in a new 4-4-2 scheme.