SANTA CLARA – The San Jose Earthquakes just needed to hold on for one more minute.
But Chivas, the overwhelming favorite on Saturday night, showed why they are one of Mexico’s storied teams when Roberto Alvarado streaked into space and popped the ball into the top corner to equalize seven minutes into stoppage time at Levi’s Stadium.
After over an hour and a half, the team clad in red and white pinstriped jerseys finally gave its supporters something to cheer about.
But instead of falling apart after the score went 1-1, the Earthquakes stayed level in penalty kicks and won 4-3 to salvage three points in the Leagues Cup opener.
“Tonight, it felt different, like the guys were completely bought in,” San Jose coach Ian Russell said.
The Mexican powerhouse brought a long history of success to the South Bay.
The team from Guadalajara also employed the services of onetime Quakes wonderkid Cade Cowell, and enjoyed support from what seemed like 99 percent of the tournament-record crowd of 50,675, who made Levi’s sound like Estadio Akron with booming chants of “CHI-VAS” throughout the night.
The Earthquakes spent the majority of the match hunkered down in an unwavering back line of five defenders, with Rodrigues and Tanner Beason anchoring the defense and keeping Chivas from rallying in a chippy game that had five yellow cards between the teams.
Chivas, currently 2-1-1 in the Apertura section of the Liga MX season, was San Jose’s first opponent in the Leagues Cup, which pits MLS and Mexican teams.
The showdown had the opportunity to be something of a respite for the floundering Earthquakes, who entered the competition buried at the bottom of the MLS standings at 4-19-2.
And once the game kicked off, the Quakes did, in fact, look rejuvenated.
“They’re a historical team, Chivas is, but I knew that we could hurt them on the counterattack because we have a lot of speed up front,” Russell said.
Right winger Cristian Espinoza whipped a pinpoint cross to Jeremy Ebobisse, who flew in to the middle of the box and headed in the shot for a sixth-minute goal.
“There have been chances I’ve been frustrated I’m not converting,” Ebobisse said. “You can start to second-guess yourself, but my teammates don’t second-guess me, and that’s all you can ask.”
In the 26th minute, San Jose narrowly missed out on doubling its lead when forward Amahl Pellegrino snapped a cross to Ebobisse, whose powerful header was barely deflected by Chivas keeper Jose Rangel.
Despite enjoying nearly 60 percent possession in the first half, Chivas looked punchless aside from a few audacious runs by Cowell and midfielder Erick Gutierrez. The visiting team had only six shots, with two of them on target.
It had been over two decades since the legendary Mexican club had played San Jose. Guadalajara had traveled to the South Bay in 2003 and defeated the Earthquakes 2-0.
On the same day Russell started in midfield, Cowell was born in Ceres 100 miles away.
Cowell started the second half with a dogged determination to get forward, this time switching from the right to the left wing. But San Jose’s back line of Benji Kikanovic held up under pressure, even if Cowell did use a variety of feints and jukes to dash into space on a few occasions.
Not even high-powered second-half substitutes Armando González and Fernando Beltrán could help get one past San Jose’s keeper Daniel, who took multiple body shots when going up for aerial duels. That was until Alvarado broke San Jose’s heart and forced penalty kicks with under a minute left in stoppage time.
San Jose won’t have much time to prepare for the next group stage match. The Quakes will play host to the Los Angeles Galaxy at PayPal Park on Wednesday.
