Fire makes most of chances, down Earthquakes 3-0
Rookie defender Steven Kinney scored Chicago's first goal on this header off a Freddie Ljungberg corner kick. Photo: Joe Nuxoll, centerlinesoccer.com
Center Line Soccer’s complete coverage of the match includes a photo gallery here and audio interviews (after the jump).
SANTA CLARA — Thanks to tenacious defending and opportunistic attacking, the Chicago Fire ended a seven-game winless streak by defeating the San Jose Earthquakes 3-0 on Wednesday night. While the score line may have flattered the visitors — the outcome of the match was very much in question until Chicago found the net in the 74th minute for their second goal — the Earthquakes were understandably disappointed at letting what they saw as a winnable game slip away.
“Not a good result for us, obviously,” said Earthquakes head coach Frank Yallop. “I thought we had a couple of good chances early. Wondo (Chris Wondolowski) had a good chance, an unlucky handball non-call, and then Khari (Stephenson) had a pretty header. Then once we got scored on we just didn’t get back in the game so it was a little disappointing. Hopefully it was just one of those games where you just put it down to being… just one of those games.”
The Earthquakes ran out the same starting lineup that prevailed on Saturday against Toronto while embattled Chicago coach Carlos de los Cobos made three changes to his back four after their 1-0 weekend loss to Seattle. Joining Chicago’s starting eleven were Steven Kinney and Krzysztof Krol, who hadn’t even been on the bench against the Sounders, and Dasan Robinson.
More contrasting than changing lineups, however, were the differences in the two teams’ fortunes. San Jose entered the match on a hot streak, having posted a sterling 5-1-1 record in their last seven matches. It was a stark contrast to the Fire’s recent form, having gone winless since August 21 en route to a record of five losses and two ties in their last seven. On paper, it looked like an easy match for the Earthquakes, but it proved to be just the opposite in reality.
“I think we learned something tonight, that you can’t just show up every week and get a result. Any team in this league can beat anyone else at any time,” said Earthquakes goalkeeper Jon Busch. “It’s not like any other league in the world, where you have a Chelsea, Manchester United that are going to win 90 percent of the time. It doesn’t matter where a team is in the table, any team is close and if you don’t show up and put a solid 100 percent effort in, things like that happen.”
The opening quarter hour of the match was largely dominated by San Jose and featured several sequences where the confident Quakes strung together long periods of possession, but neither team produced anything more than half chances until the 16th minute, when Geovanni took a single touch to control a pass before unleashing a 30-yard rocket that Fire goalkeeper Sean Johnson parried over the end line after a desperate dive. Khari Stephenson gave Chicago an anxious moment on the ensuing corner as he sent a solid header just over the net from eight yards.
San Jose’s next chance came in the 23rd minute, when Bobby Convey curled in a cross to the far post that found the head of a darting Chris Wondolowski only a yard or two from goal. The ball caromed off the arm of Fire defender Kwame Watson-Siriboe and over the end line, but referee Abbey Okulaja awarded a corner kick, ruling that the ball played the hand and not vice versa.
12 minutes later, it was Convey with a carbon copy of his earlier cross, this time picking out a far-post run from Ryan Johnson. The Jamaican international headed back across the face of goal, wrong-footing his namesake opponent, but the ball trickled just wide of the post.
Against the run of play, the Fire opened the scoring in the 39th minute off a corner kick. It was the rookie defender Steven Kinney, making just his sixth start, who got on the end of a perfectly placed corner from Freddie Ljungberg and headed high into the net, just out of the reach of Jon Busch.
The goal rattled the Earthquakes for a few minutes and Chicago tried to take advantage of their wavering confidence, but the Earthquakes seemed to recover before the half ended and went to the locker room trailing 1-0.
The Earthquakes’ first chance of the second half came in the 51st minute, in a play that started with a free kick after Krol earned a yellow card for an errant challenge on Wondolowski. After the restart and a failed clearance from the Fire, Geovanni played Wondolowski into the area and the Earthquakes’ leading goal scorer fired a shot at the near post, but found the wrong side of the side netting.
Minutes later, Busch made a play that kept San Jose in the game. The San Jose goalkeeper and Fire midfielder John Thorrington raced from opposite directions towards a long ball that was bounding into the San Jose penalty area. Thorrington won the race but his attempt at goal was redirected by Busch just before the two collided. Despite the impact, Busch scrambled to gather the rebound just before it was reached by Ljungberg.
San Jose nearly leveled the match in the 57th minute. In a play that looked remarkably similar to one of their tallies on Saturday, Ryan Johnson beat his marker on the left wing and floated a cross to the far post to a waiting Wondolowski, whose first-time strike was on frame but saved by Sean Johnson.
Unable to find an equalizer, Earthquakes head coach Frank Yallop took opportunities in the 58th and 64th minutes to change things up, first bringing on Arturo Alvarez for Khari Stephenson, with Wondolowski moving to central midfield, and then substituting Eduardo for Tim Ward — with Convey moving to left back.
Busch came up with another big save in the 66th minute, as Fire and former Cal forward Calen Carr chased down a long ball and rocketed a shot at the San Jose goal that the Earthquakes netminder could only push over the top of the net.
Despite the advancing clock, San Jose remained composed as they searched for a goal. A nice buildup resulted in a shot in the 72nd minute as Geovanni fired a 25-yarder at the Fire net, but Johnson again came up with the save.
That all changed two minutes later, as Chicago tallied their second goal of the evening. Patrick Nyarko, holding the ball on the left wing, spotted a run from Ljungberg and played a square ball at the edge of the area that met the sprinting Swede in stride. The former Arsenal man split Jason Hernandez and Brandon McDonald with his first touch, then chipped a shot over Busch after the San Jose keeper came out to close down the angle, the ball finally coming to rest in the side netting.
The Earthquakes made their final substitution in the 75th minute, with Cornell Glen coming on for Ryan Johnson. Despite the presence of yet another forward on the field for San Jose, however, the Quakes couldn’t find the net.
Brian McBride came on for Carr in stoppage time, marking what was almost certainly the final appearance of the U.S. and Fulham legend in the Bay Area. The final whistle blew moments later, but not before Patrick Nyarko tallied a third for the Fire as he and Ljungberg combined to take advantage of the heavy legs in the San Jose defense.
The Earthquakes travel to Columbus to take on the Crew on Saturday for their third match in eight days. Despite the potential problems with fatigue brought on by the tight schedule, though, the team was already looking forward to the match moments after the final whistle.
“We did do a lot of good things tonight, we had chances, plenty of them tonight,” said Busch. “I think we lacked that killer mentality that we showed last Saturday in Toronto. I think we may have just thought we were going to show up and get our points, and maybe this is good, sometimes you need a wake-up call. We maybe got brought back down to earth, and we need to get after it on Saturday. Columbus is another good team and we need to be ready.”
His thoughts were echoed by Ryan Johnson. “This is lesson learned for us, because there were a lot of things that went wrong, and this will be a learning experience for us. We can take positives out of this, and it is better that this happens now, rather than later, or maybe even in the playoffs. We just need to learn from it and move on. We just need to get back and watch tape and just keep trying to improve on what we did wrong and correct those things. There were some good things tonight, some good opportunities that didn’t fall today, and did for (Chicago). We just get ready for Saturday and move forward.”
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Game notes: At halftime, former Earthquake Ronald Cerritos was inducted into the team’s hall of fame. Cerritos, who was also a star forward for El Salvador, leads San Jose with 61 goals over the course of his career. He was named to the MLS Best XI in 1997 and won an MLS Cup with the team in 2001.
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Post-game interviews
San Jose Earthquakes
Head coach Frank Yallop
[audio:http://www.centerlinesoccer.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/100929Yallop.mp3|titles=Frank Yallop]
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Jon Busch
[audio:http://www.centerlinesoccer.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/100929Busch.mp3|titles=Jon Busch]
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Chris Wondolowski
[audio:http://www.centerlinesoccer.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/100929Wondolowski.mp3|titles=Chris Wondolowski]
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Chicago Fire
Calen Carr
[audio:http://www.centerlinesoccer.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/100929Carr.mp3|titles=Calen Carr]
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Freddie Ljungberg
[audio:http://www.centerlinesoccer.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/100929Ljungberg.mp3|titles=Freddie Ljungberg]
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• • •
San Jose Earthquakes (11-8-6) vs. Chicago Fire (7-10-8)
Sept. 29, 2010 – Buck Shaw Stadium
Attendance: 9,829
Scoring Summary: CHI – Steven Kinney (Freddie Ljunberg) 39; CHI – Freddie Ljunberg (Patrick Nyarko) 72; CHI – Patrick Nyarko (Freddie Ljunberg) 92+.
Misconduct Summary: CHI – Kryzsztof Krol (caution) 50; SJ – Geovanni (caution) 75
San Jose Earthquakes – Jon Busch, Tim Ward (Eduardo 64), Brandon McDonald, Jason Hernandez, Chris Leitch, Bobby Convey, Sam Cronin, Khari Stephenson (Arturo Alvarez 58), Chris Wondolowski, Geovanni, Ryan Johnson (Cornell Glen 75).
Statistics: Shots: 16; Shots on Goal: 6; Saves: 4; Fouls: 5; Offsides: 1; Corners: 9.
Chicago Fire – Sean Johnson, Steven Kinney, Dasan Robinson, Kwame Watson-Siriboe, Kryzysztof Krol, Bratislav Ristic, Logan Pause, John Thorrington (Wilman Conde 82), Marco Pappa (Patrick Nyarko 61), Calen Carr (Brian McBride 91+), Freddie Ljungberg.
Statistics: Shots: 10; Shots on Goal: 7; Saves: 6; Fouls: 11; Offsides: 4; Corners: 8.
This match report is too milqeutoast…..sometimes you just need to call out players, refs and coaches for their bad mistakes and their behavior….by name. It’s a little disingenuous to spend a week talking up RJ and then when he plays badly again plus spends most of the 2nd half with his arms outstretched, whining and bitching at his teammates as if all his mistakes are their fault, just conveniently ignore these negatives. Out-of-control on-field egos are bad.
It wasn’t a great cornerkick by Ljunberg that resulted in the first goal, it was the lack of interest in BMac in even trying to mark his player. This was his worst game all season–that needs to be said.
And you need to say Okulaja got the handball call wrong—they can’t fine you the way they can a coach. If you go in to block a ball with your arms out, instead of by your side or tucked behind your back, that’s a deliberate action. When you put your arms their deliberately, the ball can’t just “play the arm.” It’s not rocket science and it’s also a “streak” on the part of this particular ref. And it was a game changer, which is why it’s important in it’s own right no matter how bad we played in the 2nd half.
Be brave, say that Khari and Geo had their worst games as Quakes. Call Yallop out on poor squad management and playing players that were jet lagged and tired instead of rested ones when we’re playing Sat-Wed-Sat.
Point out that expensive salary Arturo Alvarez contributed NOTHING when he came in as a sub. This match report tries so hard not to offend that doesn’t reflect much that was actually important or interesting about this game.
This seems like a good time to explain the difference between reporting and opinion as it relates to a publication such as Center Line Soccer.
When I’m writing a match report, my objective is to provide a description of the events that occurred in the match, as neutrally as possible. More than that, I try to tell the story of the game, to give readers a sense of being there from moment to moment.
If a coach or player has an opinion about what happened during a match, they get quoted. Those are the opinions that show up in my match reports, because they’re the ones who were the participants in the match. As a reporter, it’s not my job to put my opinions into a story. (As a columnist, yes; as, well, whatever it is I do for the podcast, yes. But not as a reporter.)
So, if you don’t think I editorialized in the match report, I suppose the most appropriate response from me is this: Thank you for the compliment!
Spot on, Jay!
Match reports and columns/editorials are indeed two different things.
well when you have players saying “lesson learned” after the 26th game! on the season it’s troubling. Yallop is a very mellow coach and at times it shows out there on the field. The only guy i saw give a 100% was convey and maybe wondo. Then again this is mls, no consistancy at all, nothing surprises me anymore in this league. no one to call out the coaches or players or front office in the local media or anywhere for that matter. so, as they say if a tree falls in the forest, and no one hears it, does it make a sound?!
and by the way….thx, Jay.