Chivas USA 1 San Jose Earthquakes 2
A very deep Chris Leitch free kick caught Chivas USA completely napping, Yamith Cuesta guilty of letting Ryan Johnson stay all by his lonesome at the far post and head the ball over Zach Thornton (who appeared partially out of position, too) for the 58th minute go aheqad goal.
Preki has just brought striker Maicon Santos on for Jesse Marsch.
The marine layer is rolling in here, too.
Chivas USA 1 San Jose Earthquakes
Chivas USA really should be firmly ahead by this stage of the game after a typical Maykel Galindo breakaway goal gave them an early advantage they failed to build upon. Giving up a relatively soft equalizer was not what Preki envisioned.
Chivas USA saw a Justin Braun header cleared off the line in the 36th minute and a lashing Michael Lahoud shot from the top of the penalty box arc well saved by a leaping Andrew Weber a minute earlier.
All told Chivas USA had a commanding eight shots on goal, double the output San Jose has managed.
Meanwhile, there’s now a four-way tie atop the West, Seattle clinching a playoff spot in a 3-2 win over the Wizards with former Galaxy striker Nate Jaqua the hero with the winner.
Chivas USA won’t want to squander this opportunity tonight.
Chivas USA 1 Earthquakes 1
San Jose have pulled level after 21 minutes, former Galaxy defender Brandon McDonald heading home a Shea Salinas cross from close range, splitting two Chivas USA defenders in the process. A free kick on the right wing started the move.
No shutout for Chivas USA tonight then.
Chivas USA 1 Earthquakes 0
Maykel Galindo has put Chivas USA one-up after just seven minutes, after chasing down a long Sacha Kljestan ball that completely split the defense. Galindo outraced two defenders and put the ball past goalkeeper Andrew Weber from about 12 yards.
It’s Galindo’s fourth goal of the season and Kljestan’s third assist.
Sole possession of first place in the Western Conference is on the line for Chivas USA this evening (they’re tied with Houston and the Galaxy, who face each other at noon Sunday, with 44 points at the top of the table).
Chivas has returned to their early season form of late, with shutouts in four of their last five games just as they had six clean sheets in their first nine outings.
A gorgeous evening, but sadly another sparse crowd at Home Depot Center.
Two changes for Chivas USA Coach Preki with U.S. goal hero Jonathan Bornstein slotting into the center of defense in place of Claudio Suarez and Jesse Marsch making his first start in midfield since the Aug. 29 loss to the Galaxy in place of Jesus Padilla.
Up front Preki retains the striking partnership of Justin Braun and Maykel Galindo.
Chivas USA XI: Thornton, Talley, Bornstein, Cuesta, Jazic, Lahoud, Marsch, Nagamura, Kljestan, Braun, Galindo.
Former Chivas USA defender Bobby Burling starts in defense for the Earthquakes, while former Galaxy players Brandon McDonald and Simon Elliott (albeit from different eras) also start for San Jose.
It’s three games in nine days for Chivas USA to end the season.
Sacha Kljestan tweets at 12:15 p.m. that he’s putting his brother to work, BTW: Chillin on the couch watching soccer.. my usual game day routine… gordon is cooking breakfast
I’ll blog from the game tonight.
Meanwhile, the Galaxy is already making post-season plans for the third consecutive year to wring the maximum amount of cash out out of David Beckham before he takes off to Italy.
We can look forward to a Galaxy-Kaiserslautern game at 11:30 a.m. Thanksgiving Day (TV details TBA).
Meanwhile, USWNT Coach Pia Sundhage made two roster changes today for the team’s trip to Germany.
In women’s college action Friday it was:
Pepperdine 0 Portland 6
UC Riverside 0 Cal State Northridge 1
Men’s games Friday
Loyola Marymount 1 Santa Clara 1
A full slate of MLS games returns for the penultimate weekend of play after the WCQ break with the Galaxy on the road against the Dynamo (noon Sunday TeleFutura) and Chivas USA at home Saturday against the San Jose Earthquakes (7:30 p.m. KAZA, delayed 11:15 p.m. Prime), a team that returns to L.A. Oct. 24 to play the Galaxy.
How important are these games this weekend in determining playoff positions?
Check out the playoff standings.
Incidentally, Galaxy Coach Bruce Arena told reporters this week that midfielder Dema Kovalenko, who has had a right Achilles tendonitis issue, could figure in Sunday’s game, while midfielder Stefani Miglioranzi is out for the last two games of the regular season with a left groin strain.
While we’re at it, here’s the latest Chivas USA injury report (not including the half dozen long-term absentees):
QUESTIONABLE: GK Lance Parker (R quad strain); FW Maicon Santos (R knee injury); GK Zach Thornton (lower back strain); PROBABLE: FW Justin Braun (lower back strain); MF Paulo Nagamura (L foot contusion); FW Jess Padilla (R ankle sprain)
Meanwhile, Chivas USA defender Jonathan Bornstein continues to be the talk of the town – um, make that parts of Central America – in the wake of his equalizing goal for the U.S. Wednesday against Costa Rica.
Plenty to watch on TV, too.
The full slate of games is at the link to the right as always, but here are the ones I’ll be checking out in addition to the two already mentioned.
Saturday
4:30 a.m. ESPN2 Aston Villa-Chelsea
6:30 a.m. GolTV Freiburg-Bayern Munich
7 a.m. FSC Sunderland-Liverpool
11:30 a.m. FSC Montreal Impact-Vancouver Whitecaps (USL final, second leg)
1 p.m. GolTV Valencia-Barcelona
3 p.m. FSC New England-Chicago Fire
Sunday
8 a.m. FSC Wigan Athletic-Manchester City
11:30 a.m. FSC AC Milan-Roma
Monday
11:55 a.m. ESPN2 Fulham-Hull City
Prefer live college action?
The Long Beach State women (5-7-2) lost 3-2 in overtime up in Santa Barbara Thursday, but here are your options for games in the L.A. area this weekend:
Men’s Games
3 p.m. today Loyola Marymount-Santa Clara
4:30 p.m. today CSUDH-UC San Diego
7 p.m. today UCLA-California
11:30 a.m. Sunday CSUDH-Cal State East Bay
2:30 p.m. Sunday UCLA-Stanford
3 p.m. Sunday Loyola Marymount-Saint Mary’s
3 p.m. Sunday Cal State Northridge-UCSB (rescheduled from Saturday)
Women’s Games
12:30 p.m. today Loyola Marymount-Gonzaga
3 p.m. today Pepperdine-Portland
7 p.m. today CSUDH-UC San Diego
Noon Sunday Loyola Marymount-Portland
1 p.m. Sunday Pepperdine-Gonzaga
2 p.m. Sunday CSUDH-Cal State East Bay
Enjoy the weekend.
Now that the U.S.have qualified for South Africa the question arises: should you attend in person?
I will not pretty much for the reasons spelled out by excellent Sports Illustrated writer Grant Wahl, who just spent seven months in the country while writing the book “The Beckham Experiment,” in this article: crime, bad weather (it’s winter down there), a lack of transportation options and expensive, hard to come by accommodation.
Even someone who spent years living in South Africa – a certain L.A. Times scribe – cautioned me about going. And after experiencing Germany’s excellent transportation system in 2006 (press credentials doubled as unlimited first-class rail tickets to expedite travel between games) that included a memorable fruit and cheese plate/scrambled egg breakfast while whizzing along at almost 200 kph, South Africa is out for me.
Brazil in five years time will have several of the same problems, but at least they’re football mad down there.
And I need to save up for Germany 2011 when the Women’s World Cup will be held there (hopefully with the same train pass).
I wonder how many other fans will reach the same conclusion?
U.S. 2 Costa Rica 2
Carlos Bocanegra, left, and Jonathan Bornstein celebrate his dramatic last-gasp equalizer against a stunned Costa Rica that enabled the U.S. to win its World Cup qualifying group. (AP Photo)
One of the more magnificent tie games you’ll ever see had the U.S.’ young guns blaze back in the dying seconds against Costa Rica from two goals behind despite being down to 10 men after the injury to Gooch tonight in Washington D.C. And on a night where the manner of Charlie Davies’ absence provided an unprecedented note of (for want of a better word) emptiness the Americans seemed to want to fill.
Jozy Altidore, Davies’ roommate:
“I was very emotional the past few days. I am not going to lie, I just couldn’t get my mind off of it, you know what I mean. It is unbelievable to think how your life can change in one night, in one minute, in one second. It was tough to swallow for me. I played like he was out there with me tonight.”
Chivas USA’s Jonathan Bornstein of Los Alamitos struck for the winner from a corner kick by Robbie Rogers of Rolling Hills Estates, who had an inspired performance and led the comeback with key crosses.
Rob Rogers, Robbie’s dad, e-mailed me:
“I thought it was strangely ironic that Robbie initiated the attacks that caused both goals and he was wearing number 9-Charlie Davies number.”
Me too.
Said Bornstein:
“I think the whole team wanted to go out and put a good effort out there today, for Charlie, for his family and for everyone that was involved in the situation. To get the tie to go onto the World Cup as first in our group, I think it shows a lot about our team and what we’re all about. Hopefully, going forward from here we can keep getting better and prepare for the World Cup.”
Here’s goalkeeper Tim Howard on Bornstein’s goal:
“Guys like that work their tail off all qualifying and defend and do the dirty stuff so it’s good that he gets the glory.”
The CONCACAF skinny.
Here’s Coach Bob Bradley on Oguchi Onyewu’s injury:
“[Oguchi Onyewu has a torn left patellar tendon. Obviously, we’ve had two days of tough news and Gooch has been such an important part of our team. That’s normally three to four months, he’s young, he’s healthy, our doctors are good. He’s someone that we’re sure is going to get back and ready to go. But, nonetheless, it’s another setback for us.”
Notable: This was a U.S. triumph for a new generation: Robbie Rogers, Jonathan Bornstein, Jose Torres, Michael Bradley, Jozy Altidore – all players that have come of age under Coach Bob Bradley.
They’ve effectively augmented the established likes of Landon Donovan, Tim Howard and Carlos Bocanegra.
A thoroughly compelling game.
Highlights
U.S. lineup: 1-Tim Howard; 6-Steve Cherundolo, 5-Oguchi Onyewu, 3-Carlos Bocanegra (capt.), 12-Jonathan Bornstein; 7-Stuart Holden (9-Robbie Rogers, 69), 16-Benny Feilhaber (14-Jos Francisco Torres, 63) , 4-Michael Bradley, 10-Landon Donovan; 17-Jozy Altidore, 8-Conor Casey (Kenny Cooper, 79)
Bonus: Honduras, recent gracious hosts, are in; Carlos Pavon, perhaps our paths will cross again.
And a tip of the hat to SI’s Grant Wahl for the tweet regarding this video (stay to the end):
Go figure.
Next for Beckham – the Nobel Prize.
Oh, and Becks says his loan deal to AC Milan is “95 percent done.”
“It’s 95 percent done so I don’t know why it wouldn’t happen now,” Beckham was quoted as saying by AP. “It will be sorted out in the next month, and I will probably be going there at the end of December.”
WEMBLEY, England (AP) — David Beckham entered England’s final World Cup qualifier in the 59th minute and still was selected man of the match.
“I just told him it was like Obama getting the Nobel Prize after eight months of being
president of the United States,” England coach Fabio Capello said. “Beckham gets it after 30 minutes.”
Peter Crouch scored twice, Beckham got an assist after entering as a second-half substitute and England completed World Cup qualifying with a 3-0 victory over Belarus on Wednesday night.
Crouch scored in the fourth and 76th minutes, and Shaun Wright-Phillips got a goal in the 59th minute off a short corner kick from Beckham.
The selection of man of the match was made by television commentator Steve Bruce, Beckham’s former Manchester United teammate.
“I’m a little bit embarrassed,” Beckham said.
With his 115th international appearance, Beckham moved within 10 of the English record held by retired goalkeeper Peter Shilton.
England (9-1), which clinched a World Cup berth last month, finished first in Group Six with 27 points, six ahead of second-place Ukraine (6-1-3), which goes to next month’s European playoffs.
“Always it’s important to win,” Capello said. “We lost one game and it’s important for me to learn more things about the players. I am happy for the second half and for the goals that we scored.
“There were some good things, some not so good. It’s something the players know, but those ideas are for us. I’m not happy because we had to wait too many times to win back the ball. This is not the first time.”
The English played their final qualifier without injured regulars Wayne Rooney and Steven Gerrard. Substitute James Milner and Beckham both hit posts late in the match.