Alan Gordon Scores Third Straight Late Goal, Prompts ‘Goonies’ Reference from Steven Lenhart

San Jose’s reserve striker Alan Gordon took advantage of some slack defending by his former team, the LA Galaxy, to nod in a dramatic, 94th-minute goal and lift the Earthquakes to a come-from-behind 3-2 win at the Home Depot Center last night.

The Galaxy took a 2-0 lead on goals by Hector Jiminez and Mike Magee, and held that advantage into the 75th minute, despite being down a man after Jiminez was red-carded at the hour mark for a studs up challenge on San Jose defender Steven Beitashour.

But in the 76th, San Jose turned the tide.

Highlights here:

In his previous two games, Gordon bagged tying goals in the 88th and 90th minutes. This latest last-gasper marks the fifth time this year that the Quakes have scored in the 88th minute or later, with four of those games ending in either a win or a tie.

As Lenhart told Soccer by Ives:

“We just like to make the game exciting. Goonies never say die. I think we are prepared this year. We have put in the work in training and we like each other, we show up every day and we all know we are committing to the 90 minutes, to play together and work for each other. It may not look that pretty but we know we are going to get the most out of our guys at the end of the day.”

We appreciate that Goonies reference:

Wonder if he and Jimmy Conrad have discussed this before.

In any event, the Quakes, who were missing U.S. national teamer Chris Wondolowski, roll on with the win, taking over sole possession of first place in the West with an 8-2-3 record.

For LA, which fielded a reserve-heavy lineup in this one (Landon Donovan and Robbie Keane are both with their respective national teams), things can hardly get worse: The Galaxy drop to 3-7-2 with the defeat and continue to prop up the Western Conference table.

They’ve officially entered crisis mode.

Andy Gruenebaum Was Unconscious vs San Jose On Saturday

The San Jose Earthquakes struggled for 90 minutes to solve Columbus keeper Andy Gruenebaum—much like the San Jose announcers struggled with the pronunciation of the Crew backup’s name all game long.

After seven saves from the 29-year-old University of Kentucky graduate, the Quakes finally got it right, thanks to a superhero sequence from substitute forward Alan Gordon in the 90th minute:

With the result, San Jose (7-2-3) held on to sole possession of second place in the West, while Columbus (3-4-3) moved ahead of Montreal on goal difference and into seventh in the East.

MLS Had Itself Quite an Entertaining Wednesday

There was a highlight-filled, eight-goal thriller in San Jose, another goal for EJ and a 35-yard golazo from Fredy Montero in Seattle, and a solid bounce-back in New England.

First, the San Jose–DC United carnival of soccer fun, which went to the Quakes 5-3, and included Dwayne De Rosario’s curling one-timer, his spectacular bicycle kick that was saved—even more spectacularly—by Jon Busch, his devastating late assist to Hamdi Salihi, and Daniel Woolard’s diving header.

That was just from the losing team. The winners got two goals apiece from Big Bird, aka Steven Lenhart, and league scoring leader Chris Wondolowski; some slick work from speedy winger Marvin Chavez, and a sweet passing sequence in the DC box to set up Wondo’s first goal.

Enjoy:

In Seattle, the Sounders blanked a second-choice Los Angeles side 2-0 behind Fredy Montero’s magical 48th-minute strike.

Take a look:

In Foxboro, the up-and-down Revolution rediscovered their goal-scoring touch to rally from a 1-0 deficit and defeat Colorado 2-1 behind a pair of fine goals from Saer Sene and first-time starter Fernando Cardenas.

Highlights:

Not a bad night. The league will try to top it when this round of play resumes on Friday night, with Chivas USA taking on Chicago. Week 9 continues through the weekend, with seven games on Saturday and one on Sunday.

You Seem Like A Regular Joe, Does this Look Like A Foul to You?

Real Salt Lake defender Jamison Olave was shown a straight red for the following play against San Jose striker Steven Lenhart (at the 55-second mark):

Leaving aside the homerism of the local broadcast team (we watched it originally on the San Jose feed, where there was little to no questioning of the call), we do think the ref got this one wrong.

It’s just two big, fast guys in pursuit of the ball, and the contact—apart from Lenhart’s shorts-grab—is shoulder-to-shoulder. Okay, Olave is slightly behind, and puts his shoulder into the back of Lenhart’s shoulder, but still, there’s not much from Olave that’s out of the range of normal jostling-for-possession on the play.

Indeed, Lenhart bounces right back up and shoots on goal—not necessarily the action of a man who believes he’s been denied an obvious goalscoring chance by the last defender back. That, of course, is the language of the rulebook that dictates a red card be shown to said defender. Which is exactly what happened: Olave was sent off; and it was RSL’s second red of the night, reducing them to nine men and opening the door for San Jose to score twice in stoppage time and win the game 3-1.

It’s a tough call to make in real time, chasing the play (the linesman was playing catch-up, too), and the officiating crew got it wrong. Seems to us that Lenhart drew this foul and card, Dennis Rodman–style.

Do you agree or disagree? Let us know in the comments.

Seattle’s Pregame Viewing Material

Trailing Real Salt Lake 3-0 heading into tonight’s Western Conference semifinal second leg (1o:00 ET, ESPN2), Seattle Sounders FC will need an extraordinary result to advance.

Coach Sigi Schmid told MLS’s Matt Doyle that he’s been talking to his players about famous recent comebacks, such as Liverpool’s three-goal blitzkrieg of a rally against AC Milan in the 2005 Champions League final.

Oddly, though, Schmid says he hasn’t talked to his team about the greatest comeback in MLS history, one that he was involved in, albeit on the wrong side.

In second leg of the 2003 Western Conference semis, Schmid’s LA Galaxy held a 2-0 lead over Landon Donovan, Jeff Agoos, and the San Jose Earthquakes. They quickly increased that to 4-0 on aggregate, scoring two goals in the first 13 minutes of the second leg.

Curtains for LD and Co., right? Unbelievably, no: Agoos and Donovan each scored before halftime, and San Jose added two more—including a 90th-minute (180th, really) equalizer by Chris Roner–to force extra time. Quakes striker Rodrigo Faria completed the sensational rally with a goal six minutes into the extra session.

Here are the (grainy) highlights:

There’s another reason Schmid’s men may want to take their cue from the 2003 Quakes. After completing the historic comeback, San Jose went on to win the MLS Cup that year.

Seattle’s task will be made more difficult by the absence of Mauro Rosales, the team leader in assists (13), who was ruled out today because of a knee strain. But it’s not impossible—as Schmid knows better than most.

DC, Portland Miss Opportunities In Playoff Chase

Playing at home, with a chance to gain an advantage over New York in the playoff race, both DC United and the Portland Timbers surrendered leads and stumbled to ties, against Chivas USA and San Jose, respectively.

In DC, the Black-and-Red took a 2-0 lead through Dwayne De Rosario and Ethan White, only to give up two second-half goals to Chivas striker Juan Pablo Angel.

De Rosario then had a penalty saved by the Goats’ superhero goalkeeper, Dan Kennedy, and the match ended 2-2, leaving DC one point behind New York in the playoff standings instead of one ahead.

At Portland’s usually impregnable fortress known as JELD-WEN Field, the home team took a 1-0 lead after rookie Darlington Nagbe set up Kenny Cooper nine minutes in. But the Timbers couldn’t add to their lead, and San Jose tied it up in the 70th on Khari Stephenson’s seeing eye shot from the top of the box.

Had they won, the Timbers would have been three points clear of New York in the tenth and final playoff spot.

As it is, they have a one-point edge heading into their pivotal visit to Red Bull Arena on Saturday night.

(DC has two games in hand on both New York and Portland. Click here for the current playoff standings.)

This Week in Golazos

Yesterday, we mentioned Mexico’s impressive 3-2 win over Germany in the U-17 World Cup semifinals, but we didn’t note that El Tri battled back in that game, and then won it on a bicycle kick. In the 90th minute.

Here is that goal, which caused the announcer’s voice to go all quavery:

Sure, they were playing at home, with the full force of 100,000 of their nation’s citizens behind them, but still, the young Mexicans—who went on from this triumph to down Uruguay 2-0 in the final—are impressive.

Almost as impressive, in a very fluky sort of way, is this goal from San Jose Earthquakes reserve goalkeeper David Bingham in a friendly against West Bromwich Albion last night:

The embarrassed keeper is West Brom’s Boaz Myhill, who was born about 50 miles east of San Jose, in Modesto, Calif. The Quakes won the game 2-1.

MLS Cup 2010: Colorado vs Dallas

An alternate heading above might be: “Big Names, Big Markets Shut Out … as Don Garber Tears (Remaining) Hair Out*.”

With the league’s two biggest stars, Landon Donovan and David Beckham, standing 90 minutes away from advancing to a second successive MLS Cup final—and representing the 2010 title game’s last best hope for major-media, major-market exposure—the Los Angeles Galaxy got routed 3-0 by FC Dallas, a team with no designated players and probably the most lukewarm fan-base in MLS.

But that’s why they play the games, as the cliché goes. (And we know MLS results are not rigged, that’s for sure.)

Dallas deserved their victory, even though they were outplayed for the first 25 minutes or so. When David Ferreira opened the scoring in the 26th, after a mixup by LA defenders Sean Franklin and Omar Gonzalez at the top of the box, the Hoops seized control of the game and never let go.

At the start of the second half they had the LA backline in total disarray, like woozy boxers on the ropes, unable to find their footing.

It was only a matter of time before Dallas delivered the knockout blows, which they did in the 54th minute through lanky defender George John (after a great cross by Brek Shea) and the 73rd, via greased-lightning winger Marvin Chavez.

On a chilly night in Commerce City, Colo., the Rapids dispatched San Jose 1-0 on a goal by right back Kosuke Kimura. Omar Cummings nearly got a touch to Kimura’s cross, which ended up bouncing into the goal on its own.

Cummings should have increased Colorado’s lead in the 65th minute after taking a great pass from midfielder Jeff Larentowicz. He rounded San Jose keeper Jon Busch and, incredibly, hit the bar from 12 yards or so, with only a Quakes defender standing in the goal.

Colorado had two other golden opportunities but despite failing to cash them in, held on for a 1-0 win and their first trip to the MLS Cup since 1997, when the tireless Chris Henderson ran the flanks for them.

For more on these games, including highlights, click here, here, and most importantly, here, where we roll out potential nicknames for Colorado keeper Matt Perkins’s strange beard, now that it’ll be on the national stage next Sunday night.

That thing gives Perkins a real ‘don’t sign for a package from me’ kind of look.

(*We know that last ‘out’ is in the wrong place, editors, but…it makes for more symmetrical phrasing in that spot.)

Red Bulls Pregame: Quick-Hits

• The weather is not cooperating, not at all, in advance of tonight’s Eastern Conference semifinal second leg between New York and San Jose at Red Bull Arena.

It’s been raining pretty much non-stop since dawn. It’s also on the chilly side, with the temperature hovering around 45 degrees. Is this going to impact attendance, and how the game looks on television (ESPN2, 8:00) tonight? Yes and yes.

But we, and hopefully at least 15,000 others, will make the trip for what could be a landmark result for the franchise: win or tie tonight and New York will be hosting the Eastern Conference final next week—in their gorgeous brand-new stadium, with their marquee foreign signings, and with a very good chance to advance to the final.

All of that, as former MetroStars PR man and current ESPN scribe Jeff Bradley elaborates here, makes tonight a potentially historic occasion. (Bradley also reflects on the bad ol’ days of the franchise, circa 1996. It’s worth a read.)

• The local papers are not on the same page regarding tonight’s game, with the Wall Street Journal asserting Red Bulls Plan to Press Attack while the New York Daily News claims, With Juan Pablo Angel slumping and Thierry Henry hurting, Red Bulls rely on defense against San Jose.

C’mon guys, which is it?

We say the former, mainly because Hans Backe does, too, but also because Juan Pablo Angel is not really slumping (more on that in a second)—and since the Red Bulls were able to dominate San Jose on the road, they should be able to dictate the terms at RBA.

As for Angel, sure, he hasn’t scored in the run of play in a while (July 31 vs Houston) but he has been very useful to the Red Bulls lately by dropping back, collecting the ball in midfield, and bringing teammates into the action. He set up Dane Richards’ goal against New England in the season finale and should have had more assists after springing others with great passes.

Beyond that, he’s motivated to make a statement, in this, his final stretch with the team.

• Who starts, who sits?

Thierry Henry has been cleared and is available for selection tonight (sound the trumpets), but he may not start after such a long layoff. Salou Ibrahim is also back to 100% and could take the starting spot alongside Angel up top.

There’s also the possibility (intriguing) that Backe could return to 17-year-old Academy product Juan Agudelo, who got the start by default in the first leg and performed extremely well, especially considering it was his starting debut, in a playoff game, on the road.

Don’t be surprised if he gets out there again tonight at some point.

There are questions in the midfield as well: Tony Tchani returns from injury and may force someone, likely Mehdi Ballouchy, to the bench. That would put Lindpere out on the left, his preferred spot.

Whatever lineup Backe chooses to start, he has much more firepower at his disposal tonight than he did in the first leg.

Now, if someone can do something about the weather…..

Wondolowski Seizes Lead in Golden Boot, MVP Races with Two-Fisted, Three-Goal Lunge

He didn’t even start the game, and might not have played at all if not for an injury to teammate Cornell Glen.

But when the Quakes’ Chris Wondolowski did enter last night’s match against Chivas USA, just before halftime, boy did he make the most of it.

Ten minutes after the break, Wondolowski got the ball in the box with his back to goal and was bearhugged to the ground by Chivas defender Michael Umana in what might have been the season’s most clear-cut penalty call (Umana protested anyway, of course).

He rifled the penalty home for his 15th goal of the year, which tied the San Jose club record set by Salvadoran great Ronald Cerritos back in 1999 (when they were known as the Clash).

Just four minutes later, Wondo struck again, on a San Jose counter led by Eduardo, who cut the ball perfectly into No. 8’s path to set up a finish from 14 yards on the right.

Wondolowski rounded off his spectacular evening by turning in Ryan Johnson’s excellent 72nd-minute cross with a leaping side-footed volley (see above) past Chivas keeper Kevin Guppy (who is actually a “pool” keeper, Zach Thornton having been given the night off).

The hat-trick left Wondolowski with 17 goals on the season, tied for the league lead with Edson Buddle (both players have one game remaining), and put him in the lead of the MLS MVP race: Wondolowski has scored the last nine goals by San Jose and more than half of the Quakes 33 goals on the year. Those are some MVP credentials right there.

The win put the Quakes one point ahead of Colorado and two behind Seattle in the playoff standings with one game to play.

Highlights here, and the man of the hour, postgame, here:

Sidenote: Most Unfortunate Quote of the Broadcast, and Possibly the Season, by a San Jose Announcer:

After Wondolowski nearly headed in a cross by Ryan Johnson:

“Wondolowski knows Johnson’s going to service him, and, uh, he goes to the right places.”

Uh, yeah, something like that….