Thursday, October 2nd, 2008
The San Jose Earthquakes headed into Thursday night’s match at FC Dallas with one objective, earn three points. The season is winding down and there are only 5 matches remaining. If the Quakes win all 5 then they will definitely make the playoffs but short of that, things become much more complicated. Dallas entered the match having defeated a good DC United side 3-0, while San Jose suffered a disappointing home loss to Real Salt Lake 3-2.
In their first meeting this season the Quakes and Dallas battled to a 0-0 draw in Santa Clara. However, the Earthquakes brought a much more potent attack to Texas Thursday. They were not the same team they were when the teams first met; still victory is always elusive on the road in MLS.
In the end the teams tied 1-1 but it is the Earthquakes who must feel that they were robbed of the win when a controversial call gave Dallas a penalty kick in the 89th minute. An FC Dallas cross was judged to have hit the arm of Francisco Lima at the side of the area. The ball actually appeared to hit Lima on the ribs but his arms were outstretched. Even if the ball had hit his arm, he was only 10 feet away from the player making the cross and it should have been considered a case of the ball playing the arm.
Kenny Cooper stepped up and buried the penalty. In the fast and furious four minutes of injury time that followed both sides had chances, the best of which was a Jovan Kirovski header that went barely wide of the post off a nice cross by James Riley.
The goal for the Quakes came from second half sub Ryan Johnson, who had only just entered the game, when a throughball from Jason Hernandez that appeared to get a flick off the head of Scott Sealy found Johnson with the ball at his feet and the FC Dallas defense split wide open. He slotted his shot low from the top of the penalty box and it went through Dario Sala’s legs and into the net. The scoreboard read 1-0 to San Jose with 59 minutes gone.
Shortly afterwards Dallas center back Duilio Davino deliberately knocked a ball that was bouncing over his head down with his hand at the top of the area. The action prevented Sealy from a clearcut opportunity to shoot at goal. It deserved a red card but was met with only a yellow and the ensuing free kick was squandered.
To be fair FC Dallas had a reasonable shout for a penalty earlier in the second half when Riley grabbed Jeff Cunningham’s arm as he tried to get goalside in the area. Cunningham went down but the referee made no call. Perhaps he was playing advantage. It is possible that the later penalty was a make up call.
In the first half both sides had a couple of golden opportunities to score. For the visitors Darren Huckerby saw his one time blast curl just over the bar from inside the area. Later he found himself sprung and in on Sala, however he appeared to stumble a bit just has he shot, with a defender closing in, and the ball went out for a corner. Dallas had a nice free kick saved by Joe Cannon and had several other opportunities go begging. At the end of the day the result is probably a fair one but the penalty with victory only a few minutes away will keep the Quakes from sleeping.
The playoffs are still possible but San Jose cannot afford to drop any more points. It will be a very difficult feat to pull off but it isn’t impossible.
Ben Sizemore (email)
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