SANTA CLARA – San Jose Earthquakes players were visibly perturbed as they made their way to the sidelines after the referee blew the full-time whistle to signal that penalty kicks were up next.
With the Leagues Cup match against Chivas extended into a shootout after the Mexican team scored late in stoppage time to pull even 1-1 – yet another gut-punch in a season filled with them for the Quakes – San Jose players reacted in a variety of ways.
A few appeared to argue fruitlessly with one of the other officials, some gestured and others looked despondent as they shuffled off the pitch at Levi’s Stadium on Saturday night.
“There were a lot of emotions after that, and a lot of frustration with our team,” Earthquakes coach Ian Russell said. “I had to bring them together and tell them that everybody needed to calm down.”
So when he got them all together, Russell didn’t mince his words.
“We’ve played a great game,” he told his team, before adding, “But we need to calm down.”
Calmness ultimately turned to a San Jose celebration as the Earthquakes, who are dead last in the Major League Soccer standings, bounced back to win the shootout 4-3 in a Leagues Cup opener.
Before the triumphant finish, San Jose players had good reason to be irate.
After leading for over 90 minutes thanks to an early Jeremy Ebobisse goal and stout defense, Chivas thrilled most in the tournament-record crowd of 50,675 – who had taken over the South Bay stadium – and devastated the Earthquakes when Roberto Alvarado equalized in the 98th minute.
Chivas had spent the previous 20 minutes hammering away at San Jose’s defense, but gritty keeper Daniel had fought through bumps and aerial fouls by the opponents to keep a clean sheet.
Turns out, he wasn’t superhuman.
Daniel could only watch as his defense conceded approximately 30 seconds before stoppage time ran out.
In a season that has seen the Earthquakes lose 19 games, tie two more and win only four times in the MLS season, the late-game debacle was just another miserable chapter in the awful season.
Different competition, same sad result, right?
Well, perhaps not. Once all the players and coaches formed a circle in the short break before the PKs, Russell’s message of calmness had the desired effect on his team.
“There was a little bit of disappointment at the fact that we happened to concede,” Ebobisse admitted. “We wanted to close it out and find a way to get it done. There was an acknowledgement that there was a lot going on, and now we needed to play the game that was in front of us.”
The Earthquakes coolly converted four of five shots, while Chivas missed two. Former Earthquake Cade Cowell skied his penalty kick several yards over the top crossbar, while a calm and collected Daniel saved another to doom Chivas.
“They were so emotional that it wouldn’t have went well if they hadn’t kind of gotten together and talked about it,” Russell said.
