Chivas sucker punch floors Quakes

Ante Razov’s controversial free kick goal was all that separated Chivas USA from the Earthquakes on Saturday night. Photo: Michael Janosz, isiphotos.com.

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The final score at the Home Depot Center read: Chivas USA 1, San Jose 0, but the Earthquakes weren’t the only losers Saturday night, as that increasingly vague (and some would argue quaint) notion called “Fair Play” was dealt another body blow.

The issue wasn’t so much the manner of Ante Razov’s game-winning goal in the 88^th minute. The Chivas forward’s sublime free kick was a match-winner worthy of much loftier stages than this run-of-the-mill midseason match.

But the buildup to Razov’s strike will certainly offer plenty of grist for discussion. San Jose midfielder Ramiro Corrales was clearly laboring a good ten seconds with a leg injury before Chivas’ Atiba Harris collected the ball just outside his team’s attacking third. Corrales then raised his hand and went to the ground, but instead of playing the ball out of bounds, Harris embarked on a mazy run that took him around the prone Corrales and towards the San Jose goal. That is before an incensed Ronnie O’Brien upended Harris with a tackle that was an understandable as it was late.

Understandable because it was O’Brien himself who played the ball out of bounds in the 63^rd minute when, with the Quakes in possession, Chivas midfielder Jesse Marsch went down injured. Marsch was eventually able to continue, unlike Corrales, who was substituted immediately after O’Brien committed his foul, one that earned the Irishman a yellow card for his brand of frontier justice.

Harris was far from the only guilty party however. San Jose was actually in possession when Corrales was initially injured and could have, and perhaps should have, played the ball out of bounds. But once the free kick was given, did Chivas opt to simply play the ball back to San Jose and admit to a simple misunderstanding? Apparently that kind of thinking escaped Razov, who showed no hesitation in depositing the ball over the wall and past Quakes goalkeeper Joe Cannon for the game’s only goal.

One person who can’t be faulted is referee Terry Vaughn. The game’s arbiters have been instructed not to blow the whistle for injured players, and to leave it up to the remaining participants to play the ball out of bounds. Of course, given the competitive nature of the game’s professionals, an incident such as this would seem inevitable. That’s what happens when the lunatics are asked to police at least part of the asylum.

One can only wonder now at what kind of karmic retribution the soccer deities will bestow upon Chivas USA. At the least, it wouldn’t surprise this writer to see teams in future games refuse to play the ball out of bounds when a Chivas player is injured.

Controversy aside, San Jose basically got what they deserved in this game, at least based purely on the result, and they now find themselves firmly entrenched in last place. Chivas were dominant in the first half, as San Jose reverted to their “grit-your-teeth-and-defend-like-heck” approach.

“We allowed [Chivas] to play too much, I think,” said San Jose manager Frank Yallop. “We showed them a little bit too much respect.”

The match began with midfielder Kelly Gray seemingly hell-bent on getting sent off. He was booked in the 10^th minute for a foul on Razov, and could have easily earned another yellow two minutes later for a late challenge on Paulo Nagamura.

The first clear chance of the game fell to Chivas in the 17^th minute, when defender Jonathan Bornstein forced a diving save from Cannon after good approach work by Razov and Marsch.

Chivas continued to have the upper hand for most of the half, but in the 37^th minute San Jose nearly broke on top. Aggressive pressure from Ryan Johnson forced Chivas’ Carey Talley to cough up the ball to Corrales, who unleashed a 40-yard dart that caromed of the Chivas post. The rebound fell to Kei Kamara, who proceeded to show that it’s harder for him to hit the target from 12 yards than it is for Corrales to do the same from more than treble that distance.

The Goats were quickly back on top however, with Panchito Mendoza’s header in the 40^th minute grazing the cross bar, and Cannon saving Razov’s daisy-cutter on the goal line two minutes later.

San Jose began the second half in somewhat better form. Kamara appeared to be hauled down by Bobby Burling in the 51^st minute as he attempted to latch onto Johnson’s flick-on header, but was whistled for a foul instead.

Chivas were then denied by the woodwork again two minutes later, as Razov’s curling effort hit the post after being set up by Harris.

With San Jose’s goal under siege, Quakes’ manager Frank Yallop brought on John Cunliffe for Ivan Guerrero, and the game began to tilt a bit in San Jose’s favor. O’Brien tested Guzan with a few shots from distance, before a Denton cross in the 70^th minute was deflected towards goal by Gray, forcing Guzan into a diving save.

Chivas were soon back on the attack, and appeared poised to go ahead in the 80^th minute when Sacha Kljestan broke the San Jose offside trap courtesy of a Razov through ball, but Cannon bailed the Quakes out again with a sprawling save.

Cunliffe nearly grabbed a priceless winner two minutes later when, after being put through by Gray, the Englishman danced around a pair of Chivas defenders, and moved the ball to his favored left foot, only to put his shot wide.

The miss was to prove costly as Razov served up his heroics with just two minutes remaining, condemning San Jose to their nine loss of the season in 15 games, and leaving Yallop at a loss for words.

“What can I say to the guys there really, because they gave everything they had,” said Yallop. “At half time we discussed a few things that we weren’t doing well…That second half we thought we stepped in a little bit, created some good chances, but didn’t take them. I think a draw would have probably been fair but that’s the way it goes at the moment.”