Earthquakes flex defensive muscles

CARSON, Calif. -- The San Jose Earthquakes stayed close to Chivas USA throughout Saturday night's match at The Home Depot Center. But on a late free kick goal from Ante Razov, two minutes from the end, they eventually succumbed 1-0 as their winless streak reached five games.

The San Jose players have learned one irrefutable truth in their difficult return to Major League Soccer -- they can't lose if the other team doesn't score.

Perhaps that was coach Frank Yallop's thinking when building the team from the back with strong defensive players. The effort certainly paid off against Chivas USA in the first half, as the stout defense of the Earthquakes kept the game scoreless in spite of generating very few chances in the entire period.

"I think we should have had more points than what we've got, to be honest. Some of the games we've had, we should have gotten more points out of, but we're the bottom of the league, so the table doesn't lie," Yallop said. "We're doing something wrong by losing games, but I think you saw tonight that our spirit is very good. We don't lay over and die against anybody and that's a great building block for any team."

Defense starts with a strong goalkeeper, and Joe Cannon turned away all four of Chivas USA's efforts on goal in the first half.

The most dangerous threat came in the 17th minute, when Cannon had to stop two dangerous chances as both Jonathan Bornstein and Atiba Harris beat the Quakes defensive line for an attack into the box. Though Cannon gave up a rebound for the second chance, he smothered the shot by Harris.

"I didn't think we came out as aggressive as we usually do, I thought it took us a little while to get into it and find a way to establish ourselves," said San Jose defender Jason Hernandez. "I thought in the second half we were a lot stronger. It's a road game; you try to do your best to attack with purpose and keep a clean sheet, and for the most part we were keeping the zero on the board and we just got a little unlucky at the end."

Yet if Cannon and the Quakes defense in general were stalwart, their attack was downright stagnant. With the midfield finding it difficult to control and possess the ball, forwards Kei Kamara and Ryan Johnson saw little service.

O'Brien attempted to generate chances off shots from distance, but these were handled with relative ease by Chivas USA goalkeeper Brad Guzan.

One long-distance try by Ramiro Corrales caught Guzan off guard, however. Corrales hit the ball first-time from about 40 yards out in the 37th minute, beating Guzan, but not the post.

After the second half began, it was clear that the Earthquakes remembered another truth about soccer -- a team can't win without scoring. They came out aggressively, opening up the match as they created more chances.

"We allowed them to play too much, I think -- we gave them too much respect in the first half. You can't let any team dictate the game like that," said Yallop. "That second half we thought we stepped in a little bit, created some good chances, but didn't take them."

Of course, pressing forward on the attack exposed the Quakes to the Chivas USA counter.

Razov nearly made them pay in the 53rd minute. Cannon rushed out to shut down Harris' run into the box, but Harris passed the ball to Razov for the shot. This time, it was the Earthquakes' turn to get a favor from the post, as Razov's shot hit off the woodwork.

The Quakes actually generated more shots total than Chivas USA in the second half. Yet Guzan managed four saves of his own, while all the other efforts of the Quakes couldn't find their target.

Yallop tried throwing in more attacking players into the mix, hoping one could produce a goal. John Cunliffe was one who knew the Chivas USA team well, having played with them last season, but even this extra knowledge couldn't lead to a game-changing opportunity.

"We've had a few injuries at wrong times, especially up front, and I think that's the thing that's obviously been hurting us -- we can't score in the right times," Yallop said. "It's not just the guys that play up front, but it's important for them to be slipped in, in better positions, but just in general I think we need some help up there."

The defense of the Quakes managed to turn aside a number of corners that Chivas USA earned, but it was a set piece that eventually undid them. It was a controversial sequence that started when Corrales crumpled to the ground with an apparent injury in the 87th minute.

Harris continued the Chivas USA attack, until O'Brien came in hard and late on a tackle, yelling at Harris immediately afterwards, upset that the unwritten code to put the ball out of play when someone is hurt had not been followed. O'Brien got a yellow card for the tackle and Chivas USA set up for a free kick.

Razov placed it perfectly out of the reach of Cannon, into the side netting.

"You always second-guess the balls that go in," Cannon said. "But it was a good strike."

With that goal, the Quakes' hopes to come away with a good road result faded.

"I guess it's been the story of our year: we have a pretty good chance when John [Cunliffe] just misses the target, and then a terrific free kick, to be honest," Yallop said. "But Joe was big tonight, Joe Cannon was excellent, and it took a good goal to beat him, and it was. Just the timing of it, right at the end of the game, was tough for us to get back in the match."