Slumping San Jose Earthquakes lose 2-1 to Real Salt Lake after controversial call
The San Jose Earthquakes winless streak extended to six games Saturday night after an official s controversial call helped lead to a late game-deciding goal in a crushing - loss to Real Salt Lake in Sandy Utah Real Salt Lake s Braian Ojeda scored his first goal of the season to snap a - tie in the st minute roughly two minutes after San Jose was forced to briefly play a man down after an official ruled Cristian Espinoza took too long to come off the field after being replaced by Ousseni Bouda With San Jose playing with just players because of the substitution infraction Ojeda received a pass yards out and raced toward goal before blasting a low shot from outside the area that bounced off San Jose goalkeeper Daniel and into the net to cap the scoring Rather than belabor the game-changing call by agents with reporters afterward San Jose coach Bruce Arena wants to hear the opinions of those who should know best The Professional Referee Organization should look at the battle and let them critique it disclosed Arena whose squad hasn t won an MLS match in a month What bothered us was on the winning goal they didn t allow our substitute to come on the field while three other players went on and they scored a goal with us playing with men I ll let PRO analyze the battle I d be interested to hear their comments Espinoza who played well again after shining in Wednesday s MLS All-Star Competition where he assisted on a goal joined Arena in searching for answers after the battle I don t know what had happened to be honest announced Espinoza I gave the captain s armband to Chicho Arango so I had to waste a little bit more time just to go off a scarce meters away to give it to him Then I just jogged out of the field I didn t understand why they gave us I don t know if it was a minute or two minutes with a man down San Jose - - which hasn t won an MLS competition in a month and has just one league win in nearly two months fell to th place in the West with points Real Salt Lake - - jumped into eighth place and into position for the th vs th play-in that determines the final playoff berth San Jose scored the meeting s first goal in the st minute when former Real Salt Lake star Arango created the scoring chance Arango who heard constant booing from the crowd of fans in Utah caused a turnover that resulted in Espinoza corralling the ball Espinoza then gave the ball back to Arango who floated a pass from the right wing that Josef Martinez headed in from close range for his th goal of the season and a - lead However it took just six minutes for RSL to even the total as an unmarked Diogo Goncalves low cross from the left wing caused an own goal by San Jose defender Jamar Ricketts to make it - Related Articles MLS without Messi beats Liga MX - in All-Star Encounter as Espinoza comes on Seattle beats San Jose - to push Earthquakes winless streak to six games SJ Earthquakes tally late to tie FC Dallas remain in play-in position as MLS All-Star break nears Quakes captain Cristian Espinoza named MLS All-Star for second time Tani Oluwaseyi helps Minnesota hand San Jose Earthquakes a - defeat San Jose now takes a two-week break before resuming MLS play on Saturday Aug at p m against the Vancouver Whitecaps FC at PayPal Park San Jose s captain commented he and his teammates need to do what it takes to get back on track It s really frustrating to be honest We re working really hard but it s not enough disclosed Espinoza Everyone has to step up a little bit more including myself We have to try to do things better and go back to the basics and go back to how we played at the beginning of the season with that intensity It s very clear When everybody is engaged in the same way with the same intensity it s a different band Wire services contributed to this document
