Chivas USA got an early goal from rookie Justin Braun and hung on the rest of the way to beat the San Jose Earthquakes 1-0 Saturday night in front of a standing room only crowd at Buck Shaw Stadium. The win was Chivas' fourth in a row and clinches a place in the MLS Cup Playoffs, while San Jose's slim postseason hopes suffered what might be a fatal blow.
The Red-and-White got on the scoreboard in the seventh minute. From a deep midfield position, Alecko Eskandarian served a long ball over the top that found Justin Braun racing past the San Jose back line. Breaking in alone from the left side, Braun drilled an angled shot past goalkeeper Joe Cannon for his fourth goal of the season, and a Chivas USA lead they would not relinquish.
With Sacha Kljestan (U.S.) and Shavar Thomas (Jamaica) away on national team duty, and newcomer Dejair out with a groin injury suffered in training, coach Preki sent out his 26th different starting lineup in 28 games this season.
For the first half-hour, Chivas USA did a good job shutting down San Jose's wide threats, with Jonathan Bornstein marking Darren Huckerby, and Atiba Harris covering Ronnie O'Brien. And when the Earthquakes began to get some forward momentum, the Chivas defense was quick to respond.
The Quakes did have one chance when a mix-up between defender Claudio Suarez and goalkeeper Dan Kennedy allowed Arturo Alvarez to pounce on a loose ball, but the San Jose forward could only shoot tamely right at Kennedy.
The Earthquakes worked a nice combination in the 32nd minute, Eric Denton to Alvarez to Huckerby, but Francisco Mendoza recovered to tackle the ball away at the penalty spot before Huckerby could get off a shot.
Just after intermission, San Jose's Scott Sealy had what looked like a wide open shot from just inside the top of the box, but his blast was blocked by a sliding Suarez. Francisco Lima had a similar shot from inside the box just a minute later, but this time it was Alex Zotinca with a goal-line clearance.
As Chivas dug in to a more defensive posture, San Jose tried to amp up their offense in the 64th minute by replacing defender Eric Denton with forward Jovan Kirovski and switching to a 3-4-3 formation.
But the next scoring chance was Chivas USA's. Mendoza broke down the left wing, then fed a centering pass to Braun for an open shot from 20 yards, but Joe Cannon got down to make the save.
Chivas then withstood several San Jose attacks to take home all three points. In the 69th minute, O'Brien chipped a pass from the top of the arc to Huckerby breaking in from the left wing, but his volley from 15 yards went wide right.
In the 78th minute, it was O'Brien cutting inside from the right wing and hooking a left-footed shot just wide of the left post.
Chivas missed a chance to double their advantage in the 79th minute, when Jonathan Bornstein chipped a cross to Braun for an open header from 12 yards out. Cannon was able to tip Braun's shot over the crossbar.
San Jose had a couple other chances in the closing minutes, but couldn't find the target. An 89th-minute free kick from just outside the box, was hooked wide left by Alvarez. In stoppage time, Alvarez again fired wide left from 20 yards out.
Chivas USA's win is their sixth in the last seven MLS matches as they've surged up the standings. They now stand in second place in the MLS Western Conference with 42 points, with just two more games left on the regular season schedule, returning home to take on the Colorado Rapids next weekend. San Jose remains mired in sixth place with 30 points with two games next week, starting with a trip to Houston on Wednesday for a rescheduled game because of Hurricane Ike.
Pete Ratajczak is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
