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Controversial penalty leads to San Jose victory over Chivas USA

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Photo by ISIPhotos.com

By BRYAN ROBISON

Thanks to a bizarre sequence of events, which eventually led to a penalty call, San Jose was able to power past Chivas USA, as the Earthquakes increased their lead to eight points at the top of the Western Confrence thanks to a 2-0 victory in Los Angeles.

Chris Wondolowski returned to the scoring column for just the second time in two months, converting that penalty that occurred late in the first half. The call drew the ire of Chivas USA coach Robin Fraser, after San Jose's Alan Gordon was brought down in the box by Chivas defender John Valencia. The incident was not seen by the head referee Chris Penso, as play continued on for a while. After play was whistled dead, Penso consulted with the other officials, and awarded San Jose a penalty kick, along with handing out yellow cards to both Valencia and Shalrie Joseph. Wondolowski converted the penalty attempt to put San Jose up 1-0.

But that was not the end of the sequence for Fraser, who continued to argue with the officials, eventually being ejected while walking into the locker room for the end of the first half.

Gordon would get his revenge, as it did not take long for the former Chivas forward to put his former team away, as he knocked in an early second half goal, putting San Jose up 2-0. Chivas was never able to make a mark on the scoreboard, despite a flurry of chances throughout the second half.

The shutout extends their winless streak to seven matches, as they continue to play poorly at home. They will look to put an end to that winless streak on Wednesday, as they travel to Ohio to take on the Columbus Crew. San Jose will return home to take on the Portland Timbers, as the Earthquakes look to etch their names on the Supporters' Shield trophy for the first time since 2005, with just six games remaining in the season.

Here are the match highlights:

 

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What did you think of how the penalty call took place? Was it the right call to reward a PK? Will San Jose win the Supporters' Shield?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. If you commit a foul in your own penalty area the result is a PK. Does not matter where the ball is, the ball only needs to be in play.

    Reply
  2. i didnt hear what they say? what are the actual rules for this type of play? i always thought it had to be a scoring oppurtunity to get a pk? is it just any flagrant foul?

    i am confused. someone please explain the rules here.

    thx

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  3. Too bad we have to focus on the PK as the second goal was pure class and a great team goal. Watching the replay, chivas were lucky not to be a man down at half.

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  4. Ref got it absolutely right. Calling the PK controversial makes it sound like there was any doubt about the call. Maybe the call would be controversial if SJ had not gotten all three points because it was clearly worthy of a red and Valencia only got yellow. When journalists refer to these incidents as controversial just because some double-digit IQ’d supporters of the penalized team say it is, they are doing a disservice to the sport and their audience. It is no different to how the media doesn’t call BS on politicians when they try to characterize proven facts as “controversial” to better suit their own narrative.

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  5. Yes absolutely, he should’ve been sent off just like John Terry was in the Champions League for his cheap shot. This was arguably worse.

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  6. Meaningless? Are you telling me those stats weren’t at least interesting? Plus I didn’t even get to my favorite one.

    Gordon: Ratio of how good the player thinks he is to how good he actually is – 1.

    Wondo: Ratio of how good the player thinks he is to how good he actually is – infinity.

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  7. Calls are called “Controversial” when idiots sit around and debate them.

    Thanks to the commentating crew for knowing the laws of the game and setting everyone straight. Oh wait they didn’t even know anything…ANYTHING about the Laws of the Game, they were morons.

    Reply
  8. I was pleased by the editing of the highlights. Really didn’t want to see the referee “consort” with the linesman before that penalty was awarded. But thanks to Christian Miles for giving me the er, umm, heads up.

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  9. Nothing controversial about the penalty. It was a clear forearm to the head of Alan Gordon. I expect Valencia to pick up a suspension at some point this week from the league.

    Just a really stupid play and if Robin Fraser had the benefit of seeing this on replay, he would probably agree with the call.

    (SBI-forearm to the head? You might want to look again.)

    Reply
  10. Alan Gordon: 34 shots/21 shots on goal, so that’s a goal rate of 35.29%/57.14%

    Wondo: 96 shots/39 shots on goal, so that’s a goal rate of 19.79%/48.71%

    Reply
  11. Alan Gordon: 12 goals in 1023 minutes of play, or a goal every 85.25 minutes.

    Wondo: 19 goals in 2332 minutes of play, or a goal every 122.68 minutes. If you don’t count his four penalties it’s a goal every 155.4 minutes.

    Reply

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