A Leagues Cup attendance record was set Saturday, as 50,675 fans watched San Jose Earthquakes vs. Chivas de Guadalajara at Levi’s Stadium.
They were treated to a thriller, with San Jose winning 4-3 on penalty kicks after Roberto Alvarado's 98th-minute equalizer canceled out Jeremy Ebobisse’s sixth-minute opener in a 1-1 draw.
The environment wasn’t exactly pro-Earthquakes, though. Interim coach Ian Russell readily admitted as much post-game.
“We're playing at home, but we're not really at home,” Russell said. “This is mostly Chivas fans here. We wanted to try and take the crowd out of the game. We got that early goal and then held on. It was unfortunate they got the goal in that last minute, but we won on penalties and got two points, which is going to be really big.”
Russell played for San Jose during the early 2000s and recalled a similar experience from a friendly.
“I was fortunate enough that in 2003, we played Chivas in a smaller stadium,” Russell said. “I think it was 25,000 fans, it was packed. When we went on the field in that game, we were the team getting booed.
“I got them ready for that. I told them it's going to be a massive crowd. There's a lot of Mexicans who live in San Jose, especially a lot of people from Jalisco here. It was a great crowd. The players would love to play in an atmosphere like that every weekend. Even though it was against them, you can still feed off that energy.”
The biggest challenge, Russell said, was keeping his players focused after Alvardo’s late goal. San Jose center back Rodrigues was held on the sidelines by the referee, sparking some controversy.
“I've never seen that before,” Russell said. “I thought the ref was actually one of the best refs we've had ever. I thought the ref was excellent.
“But I think he was maybe frustrated with a couple of the injuries we had and he didn't want to let the player on. He knows that. I told him that. He understands that. But I didn't think that was fair. I think he could have just added time on, but let the player back on the field.”
Nonetheless, the Earthquakes navigated the PK shootout. Daniel, returning from a four-month injury layoff, saved Alvardo’s spot kick and former San Jose homegrown star Cade Cowell skied his attempt over the crossbar.
From there, Vitor Costa scored the winner from the spot. San Jose, last in the overall MLS standings, could now advance in Leagues Cup with another result on Wednesday vs. the LA Galaxy (10:30 pm ET | Apple TV - Free).
“It's been a frustrating year and conceding late, it was like, 'Man, we just conceded another one,’” Russell said. “But if you look at our overall games, we've been in a lot of games. We make mistakes, we don't score at the right times or we miss chances.
“Tonight I felt different. It felt like the guys were completely bought in. I think we can use this to go forward with confidence.”
