The San Jose Earthquakes had been hoping to garner their first victory in over a month, but instead a crushing breakdown in communication condemned the Quakes to a 1-0 loss at the hands of Chivas USA on Saturday night at Buck Shaw Stadium.
The Red-and-White's Justin Braun netted the game's only goal in the 53rd minute, but it had more to do with a Quakes' mental lapse than any brilliance on the part of the visitors. Jonathan Bornstein's harmless looking cross looked like easy pickings for the San Jose defense, but when neither goalkeeper Joe Cannon nor defender Nick Garcia dealt with the situation, Braun stole in to score his first goal of the year.
The Chivas defense then made the lead stand up, with goalkeeper Zach Thornton earning his fifth shutout of the season.
The Quakes came flying out of the gate, pressing Chivas high up the field, and they came within inches of breaking on top in the second minute. A sharp exchange of passes ended with Ramiro Corrales feeding Shea Salinas on the right side of the box, and his low shot was just touched off the post Thornton.
A spell of end-to-end action ensued, with Chivas' Eduardo Lillingston testing Cannon with a ninth-minute effort, but the Quakes responded by carving out another clear opening for Alvarez that he fired right at Thornton.
Chivas were back on the attack in the 12th minute with Lillingston's through ball forcing Cannon to save at the feet of Paulo Nagamura.
Both teams continued to create half-chances, but it was the Quakes who were making more headway. An innocuous high-arcing pass from Convey somehow landed at the feet of Alvarez in the 24th minute, but his attempted chip was touched over the bar by Thornton.
With the home side threatening to seize control, Chivas raised their game and responded with a glorious chance in the 36th minute. Braun's strike from a Bojan Stepanovic through ball was saved by Cannon, but with the goal gaping, Nagamura somehow contrived to hit his rebound attempt wide from point-blank range.
Chivas finished the half on the front foot, and a 3-on-2 break saw Lillingston poised to fire on goal, but a vital challenge from the Quakes' Garcia defused the threat.
The second half was barely two minutes old when the Quakes' Chris Leitch suffered an apparent concussion after getting tangled up with Chivas' Jonathan Bornstein. After a lengthy delay, Aaron Pitchkolan made his Quakes debut in place of Leitch in the 53rd minute, but before they knew it, the Quakes fell behind to Braun's opportunistic strike.
San Jose attempted to get right back into the match, but Corrales could only volley Simon Elliott's free kick straight at Thornton.
Quakes manager Frank Yallop brought on Ryan Johnson for the tiring Campos in the 58th minute, but it was Chivas who looked sharper. Jesse Marsch set the table for Braun to add his second, but the Chivas forward could only slide his shot wide.
The Quakes created two half chances in the next 12 minutes. Johnson's attempted cross was tipped over the bar by Thornton, and a neat one-two between Alvarez and Amarikwa saw Alvarez's header go wide.
The Quakes thought they had scored an equalizer in the 81st minute, but Johnson was adjudged to have been offside prior to heading the ball in off a goalmouth scramble.
The home side's last best chance of the net came in the 88th minute when Amarikwa won a duel with Shavar Thomas and found Johnson in the box, but the Chivas defense prevented the San Jose forward from getting a clean look at goal, and his shot went wide.
Chivas then saw out five minutes of stoppage time to claim their sixth victory of the season.
Jeff Carlisle is a contributor to MLSnet.com.
