San Jose Earthquakes vs. Chivas USA | MLS Match Preview

SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES vs CHIVAS USA
BUCK SHAW STADIUM, Santa Clara, Calif.
July 2, 2014 (WEEK 17, MLS Game #149)
7:30 p.m. PT (CSN-CA; TWCD-LA)

The San Jose Earthquakes and Chivas USA meet for a second time this season when the Western Conference foes face off Wednesday evening at Buck Shaw Stadium. The Quakes have been shut out in back-to-back matches after beginning their set of southern California challenges with a 1-0 loss to the LA Galaxy on Saturday at Stanford Stadium. Chivas USA put an end to a four-game winless run at home over the weekend with a 1-0 win against Real Salt Lake.



REFEREE: Ricardo Salazar. AR1 (bench): Greg Barkey; AR2 (opposite): Eduardo Mariscal; 4th: Daniel Radford
MLS Career: 188 games; FC/gm: 26.8; Y/gm: 3.4; R: 54; pens: 67


SUSPENDED: none
WARNINGS:
SUSPENDED NEXT YELLOW CARD: none
SUSPENDED AFTER TWO YELLOW CARDS: SJ: Steven Lenhart, Sam Cronin … CHV: Carlos Alvarez, Bobby Burling, Marky Delgado, Donny Toia, Erick Torres
DISABLED LIST: SJ: Tommy Muller … CHV: Thomas McNamara
INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES: SJ: Chris Wondolowski (USA)


HEAD-TO-HEAD
ALL-TIME (20 meetings): Earthquakes 8 wins, 30 goals … Chivas USA 6 wins, 20 goals … Ties 6
AT SAN JOSE (10 meetings): Earthquakes 5 wins, 18 goals … Chivas USA 3 wins, 8 goals … Ties 2
FUTURE MATCH: 10/26: Chivas USA vs. San Jose Earthquakes, 12 noon PT
• The teams are meeting for the second time this season. Yannick Djaló scored the game’s only goal in the 66th minute to lead the Quakes to a victory April 26 at Buck Shaw Stadium.
• The last Chivas USA victory in the series came July 6, 2011, a 2-0 win in Carson; San Jose is 5-0-2 in the all-time series since.
• Coaches record: Mark Watson v CHV: P3 W3 L0 D0 … Wilmer Cabrer vs. SJ: P1 W0 L1 D0


LAST MEETING (MLS)
4.26: SJ 1, CHV 0 (Djalo 66)
• The game's lone goal came in the 66th minute. Running onto a lofted cross from Shea Salinas from the left touchline, substitute Yannick Djalo volleyed the ball first-time at the far post to put the Quakes into the lead.
• The Chivas struggle was made even more difficult in the 77th minute when goalkeeper Dan Kennedy was shown a red card for an intentional handball outside of the box as he attempted to stop an Alan Gordon breakaway.
• SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES (4-4-2): Jon Busch - Andreas Gorlitz, Clarence Goodson, Victor Bernardez, Jordan Stewart - Atiba Harris (Yannick Djalo 46), JJ Koval, Sam Cronin, Shea Salinas (Cordell Cato 86) - Chris Wondolowski, Alan Gordon.
• CHIVAS USA (4-2-3-1): Dan Kennedy (ejected 77) - Eric Avila, Bobby Burling, Carlos Bocanegra, Donny Toia - Oswaldo Minda, Agustin Pelletieri (Tim Melia 79)- Mauro Rosales (Adolfo Bautista 69), Carlos Alvarez (Luke Moore 86), Leandro Barrera - Erick Torres.


SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES

The San Jose Earthquakes suffered their second consecutive loss by a 1-0 scoreline, this time against the LA Galaxy on Saturday evening at Stanford Stadium. The Quakes are in eighth place in the Western Conference with 16 points from 14 games.


LAST MATCH
• The game’s lone goal came just after the hour mark. From a ball played into the Quakes penalty area, Marcelo Sarvas teed up Gyasi Zardes at the penalty spot and he banged in the goal with a thumping strike.
• Galaxy goalkeeper Jaime Penedo was called upon to make just one save -- the Quakes nearly matching their usual California Clasico late dramatics from a free kick, but Penedo parried Steven Lenhart's header over the crossbar.
• Quakes head coach Mark Watson made three changes to the team that fell 1-0 to Toronto FC at BMO Field. Jason Hernandez came into central defense in place of Clarence Goodson, and Khari Stephenson and Yannick Djalo came into the team for Shea Salinas and Alan Gordon.
• SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES (4-4-1-1): Jon Busch - Brandon Barklage (Mike Fucito 73), Jason Hernandez, Ty Harden, Jordan Stewart - Cordell Cato, Jean-Baptiste Pierazzi, Khari Stephenson, Sam Cronin (JJ Koval 90) - Yannick Djalo (Alan Gordon 73) - Steven Lenhart.


TEAM NEWS
• The Quakes have suffered back-to-back losses for the first time since the second and third games of the season, and have been shut out at the attacking end in consecutive games for the first time this season. They have gone 225 minutes since scoring their last goal.
• “Our performance wasn’t what it needed to be in the first half. I thought the guys responded well in the second half,” said Quakes head coach Mark Watson. “Aside from the goal, I felt like we were the better team in the second half. We probably had an equal number of good scoring chances, but we just couldn’t finish them. It was just a matter of who could put them away.”
• There was a forced lineup change before the game even started when center back Clarence Goodson suffered a groin strain during pre-match warmups.
• Jason Hernandez came into the match into central defense, his first league appearance since the opening match of the season, when he started at center back.
• “Jason is a big time seasoned professional and he did a great job. You don’t want to lose someone during warm up, but occasionally that happens, and I thought we dealt fine with that,” Watson said. “I thought the [defense] played great tonight. I didn’t have much to do. It’s unfortunate that one play fell for [LA] and the guy finished it well.”
• Shea Salinas was held out of the match after he was unable to overcome an abdominal muscle strain.
• “Shea is day to day right now,” Watson said. “He’s trying to recover from an injury he’s been carrying all season. We hoped the break would give him enough time to heal completely and he wasn’t there. We hope he improves over the next couple days and can hopefully play Wednesday, but we’ll wait and see.”
• Yannick Djalo was able to return to the lineup after a strained right groin kept him out of the Toronto FC game, but he was forced to come off at the 73-minute mark.
• “He’s been a frustrating one for us because he’s very dynamic and as you can see on the field he’s a very good player,” Watson said. “He’s got great feet, he gets past people, and he really changes our team when he’s on the field. Once again he had a little something that forced him to come out of the game tonight and hopefully we can heal him up for Wednesday and for the future because we want him on the field.”
• Victor Bernardez was available for duty after returning from the FIFA World Cup where he played with Honduras, but he did not figure.
• “He played Wednesday in Brazil, and it’s a long flight,” Watson said. “He didn’t feel he could give us 100 percent. So, we decided to not include him, but he should be ready for Wednesday.”


CHIVAS USA

Chivas USA put an end to their league winless run after four games, getting the game’s only goal for a victory against Real Salt Lake on Saturday evening at StubHub Center. Chivas USA sit in ninth place in the Western Conference with 14 points from 15 games.


LAST MATCH
• Real went a man down just nine minutes into the match when Luke Mulholland was sent off with a straight red card for a studs-up tackle on Martin Rivero in front of referee Kevin Stott.
• The game's lone goal came in the 35th minute, and it was beauty. Tony Lochhead served in a long cross from deep on the left flank and Erick Torres hammered a first-time right-footed volley from just inside the penalty area that thundered under the bar and to the back of the net.
• Chivas USA goalkeeper Dan Kennedy was called upon to make two saves in recording his first shutout of the year.
• Chivas USA head coach Wilmer Cabrera made no changes to the team that reached a 1-1 draw with the LA Galaxy at StubHub Center.
• CHIVAS USA (4-4-2): Dan Kennedy - Donny Toia, Bobby Burling, Carlos Bocanegra, Tony Lochhead - Mauro Rosales (Carlos Alvarez 81), Martin Rivero, Agustin Pelletieri, Eric Avila (Marky Delgado 73) - Erick Torres, Leandro Barrera (Ryan Finley 84).


TEAM NEWS

• Chivas USA put an end to a four-game winless run, their first victory since May 11 (going 0-2-2 in the span). They have yet to win back-to-back games this season.
• “We know each other better. Now the team is more compact. The players are working better and we know how to do the job so when we go out, when we go away, we are more compact and we are more synchronized,” said Chivas USA head coach Wilmer Cabrera. “We needed to win at home and that’s what we were looking for. We needed to win at home and today, against a very good rival, we got the three points and we have to look forward now … for our next game against San Jose.”
• Erick Torres scored his 10th goal of the season – of the 15 league goals scored by Chivas USA this season. He is third in the MLS Golden Boot standings, behind New York’s Bradley Wright-Phillips (12) and Sporting KC’s Dom Dwyer (11).
• “Cubo is a player that wants to score and works hard every day to try to score,” Cabrera said. “He loves to be around the goal. He tries all these possibilities and he’s been scoring a lot this year. It’s good for him and good motivation for the rest of the team to have him.”
• Said Torres: “It was a play that I actually took a chance. It was an entire play that developed from a team effort. I just saw the ball coming down and I took the opportunity and scored the goal. From the moment that I saw the ball coming down I just had in mind taking a volley and that’s what I did.”
• Added goalkeeper Dan Kennedy: “It was something out of nothing. Tony [Lochhead] whips in a good ball and it gets over the defender’s head, but everyone is still thinking [Torres] has got to take a touch.”
• Torres also became the all-time leading Mexican-born goalscorer in MLS history, with 17 goals in 30 league games since coming to MLS. He surpassed legend Cuauhtémoc Blanco, who netted 16 goals in 62 games over three MLS years.
• “I’m extremely happy and thrilled to have been able to score that goal and I’m very happy to be able to make history in Major League Soccer,” Torres said. “I grew up watching Cuauhtemoc play. He was one of my idols growing up and obviously being able to surpass him is something that I cannot even describe.”
• Chivas USA also recorded a defensive shutout for the first time this season, the last team in MLS this season to record a clean sheet.
• “As a team, it’s not like I had a lot to do,” said Kennedy. “As a team, it’s important that if we’re going to grind out results, shutouts are key. It takes a little pressure off the four line to get multiple goals in a game. It was nice to start this tough week off with this result.”