Late penalty kick hurts Earthquakes

FRISCO, Texas -- For more than 30 minutes, the San Jose Earthquakes looked poised to leave Pizza Hut Park with a win against FC Dallas. But a late penalty kick converted by Kenny Cooper canceled out Ryan Johnson's 58th-minute goal and left the teams with a 1-1 draw on MLS Primetime Thursday.

The penalty was awarded after FC Dallas rookie midfielder Eric Avila sent a cross in from the right flank. His ball struck San Jose defender Francisco Lima in the midsection and then looked to carom off his arm. Referee Abbey Okulaja took notice and quickly awarded the penalty kick, which Cooper stepped up and converted in the 89th minute.

However, that wasn't the only controversial call. In the 71st minute, FCD center back Duilio Davino was caught flat-footed as a ball was chipped over his head. San Jose's Scott Sealy appeared to be heading clean through on goal, but Davino threw his arms above his head and knocked down the ball just outside the area. Much to San Jose's consternation, Okulaja gave Davino only a yellow card.

"In general, I think we did a good job of possessing, counterattacking and created some great chances," San Jose head coach Frank Yallop said. "But the handball when Scott is going to go in, (he will) probably get a shot off or maybe score. That makes it 2-0 and it doesn't get the right call. It hurt tonight."

Johnson, who had put the Earthquakes with his fifth goal of the season mere seconds after coming on as a substitute, felt the penalty kick call was a tight decision.

"It was close," he said. "I give the referee a little bit of credit with it being close. I'm going to say it was 100 percent here or 100 percent there. It was a difficult call to make at the 87th minute. Yeah it's the home team that you're reffing but you should be neutral. A call at that time should be 100 percent. If he wasn't 100 percent on that, he shouldn't have called it. That's just the way it is. Hopefully this doesn't determine our season and hopefully, we can bounce back and use this as a little bit of fuel. Hopefully we can use this."

The San Jose midfielder said his goal was probably the quickest he had ever scored, just after coming on for Ronnie O'Brien. Jason Hernandez sent a long ball that Scott Sealy tried to flick and missed, putting Davino out of position as the ball skipped past.

"When Jay (Hernandez) got his foot to it, it was a solid ball," Johnson said. "So, the ball got split between the two defenders, I knew I had a chance. I saw the guys didn't anticipate it too well. They didn't think I was going to run onto it. It was just anticipation in my part and me taking my one opportunity and putting it away.

"It was probably on my first touch too," he continued. "It was probably a little bit of luck but if I get a chance, I always try to put it away. I know that in a game, you only get one chance, maybe two and if you don't put them away, it could be a different result. We could have lost today."

Signed just before the start of the season, Johnson spent much of the early part of the season as a striker, though midfield is his preferred position.

"Ryan's done a terrific job for us this year, whether it's starting a game or coming off the bench," Yallop said. "One of the roles he's been asked to do is he always uses his back. He's a big strong kid and he loves to play. He wants to get on the field and play. He's like a caged animal really. He's ready to go every time I put him on and it showed tonight. It was a great finish to come off the bench with his first touch. I was pretty happy with his performance."

Despite only leaving Frisco with one point, Yallop still saw plenty of positives in his side's performance.

"I thought we possessed the ball well," he said. "In the first half, I didn't quite feel the urgency was there. We were fighting for our lives but I didn't get that feeling and I told them. We can talk about tactics and all the stuff we're going to talk about, but if you don't apply yourself, you're not going to win the match. I thought they did well in the second half."

The single point still leaves San Jose at least four points out of the last playoff spot with four games to play, though all the teams at the top of the conference still have yet to play this weekend. For Johnson, he and his teammates admit that the thought of a tie never entered their minds.

"I thought we could have held onto it once I saw the time going down after the 80th minute," he said. "I thought we would hold on. That's the way it is sometimes. Next time when we do have the lead, we can't think we're going to get the win in the 85th minute. We've got to definitely lock it down in the back and just stay tough."