Corrales, ‘Quakes dominate Chivas USA

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A pair of free kick goals from Ramiro Corrales paced the SanJose Earthquakes to a convincing 4-0 win over visiting Chivas USA at a soldout Buck Shaw Stadium. Victor Bernardez and Simon Dawkins also scored for theEarthquakes in the victory that extended their home unbeaten streak to 15games.It was a good night for defenders, said head coach FrankYallop after the match. The goal scoring was a bonus, but the clean sheet iswhat I am more happy about.Even without a goal from Chris Wondolowski, who almostnetted in the first half when his header glanced off the crossbar, theEarthquakes romped over their Southern Californiaopponent in fine fashion. The three goals directly from free kicks, all fromEarthquakes defenders, were the teams first in 2012. The club also set a newfranchise record for goals in a season as they pushed their total to 56. Theprevious season best was 55 goals in the 1997 season.The stats say it all, said Yallop. We are scoring a tonof goals from everywhere. If you had asked me that before the start of theseason, I would have said I am not sure we could do that.Corrales, the Earthquakes team captain and MLS original, hadan especially memorable night. Twice in the second half he lined up over freekicks in Chivas USAterritory and twice he sent the ball into the back of the net.It was the great team performance and I am happy I scoredtwo goals to contribute, said Corrales. I cant remember the last time Iscored two goals in a match. I couldnt be more proud to captain this team.Goalkeeper Jon Busch made a series of spectacular saves inthe first half to preserve an early 1-0 Earthquakes lead, and he remainedstrong through the second half to earn his sixth shutout of the season.Thats my job, said Busch. Some days you are called onmore than others and tonight I was glad I could help the team. It was nice toget the clean sheet.The Earthquakes extended their lead atop the MLS WesternConference over Real Salt Lakeand they separated themselves from Sporting Kansas City in the race for theSupporters Shield. However, with seven games remaining on the regular seasonschedule Busch knows the team still has work left to do.Especially at this time of year, other teams are startingto come on, said Busch, and we have to keep picking up three points everytime we play. Thats our focus right now, winning games. We know we are playingwell, but we have a long way to go.San Jose has a week off beforereturning to action on Saturday, September 15, away to the same opponent ChivasUSA.Sunday night at Buck Shaw Stadium, the Earthquakes made onechange in a line-up that beat the Colorado Rapids 4-1 a week earlier, with ironman Justin Morrow getting the night off in favor of center back Bernardez. Themove paid dividends almost immediately, as the Honduran opened the scoring onthe nght.Following a hard foul on Sam Cronin in the 11thminute by Chivas USAdesignated player Oswaldo Minda, Bernardez lined up a free kick from 30 yardsout. His shot stayed low and curled around the defensive wall and into net forthe opening score. For Bernardez, who will join up with the Honduran nationalteam ahead of a pair of CONCACAF World Cup qualifiers on Monday, the goal washis second of the season for San Jose.Earthquakes goalkeeper Busch was soon called into action ona couple of Chivas breakaways. In the 14th minute following a poorback pass from Ramiro Corrales, forward Juan Agudelo pounced on the loose balland carried it toward the San Josegoal. Making himself big at the top of the area, Busch sacrificed his body tosave Agudelos blast and keep his team up a goal.Twenty minutes later, it was Busch again stopping Agudelo,as a turnover in midfield led to another Chivas counterattack. BeatingBernardez to a through ball, Agudelo got a shot off before Busch could convergeon the play, but the keeper deftly deflected the 19-year old strikers shotattempt away.The Earthquakes doubled their lead in the 39thminute after a good hustle play from Alan Gordon forced a turnover in theChivas half. After tracking down a weak goalkick, Gordon passed the ball off toMarvin Chavez. The speedy winger dribbled the ball toward the area beforecutting the ball back to Wondolowski. The MLS leading scoring elected to threada pass to Dawkins inside the 18, and the English midfielder slotted home thegoal, his seventh of the season.A confrontation between Gordon and Minda in the waningminutes of the first half led to both being awarded yellow cards. Rafael Bacahad earlier been shown yellow for a delay of game infraction.San Josekept their foot on the gas in the second half and scored their third goal ofthe evening in the 72nd minute. After having had a goal called offminutes earlier, the Earthquakes continued their high pressure on Chivas andearned a free kick 25 yards from goal. Team captain Corrales sent a shotbetween two members of the defensive wall and just inside the near post toextend San Joseslead to 3-0.In the 81st minute, on another free kickopportunity deep in the Chivas USA half, Corrales again found the back of thenet for San Jose.With the defense still setting up a wall, Corrales took a quick restart andcaught goalkeeper Dan Kennedy sleeping. The shot bounced just beyond his reachand into the net for the 4-0 Earthquakes lead. The two free kick goals byCorrales were his first two goals of the 2012 season.With the game safely in hand, all that was left for theEarthquakes was to run out the clock on the 4-0 victory. The win restored San Jose to the top ofthe Supporters Shield standings and extended their lead in the MLS WesternConference to 7 points over second place RSL.

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