but disheartening - early-season refrain for the Earthquakes.
The Fire took the lead in the 58th minute when a Justin Mapp cross on the left intended for Nate Jaqua was headed over San Jose goalkeeper Pat Onstad by teammate Craig Waibel for an own goal.
But the Quakes drew level with seven minutes left through some hard work. Ronald Cerritos found Brian Ching in the penalty area, and after he was bundled over to the turf, he somehow managed to shield the ball before rising and slipping a nifty little pass to substitute Alejandro Moreno, who drove the ball under Fire 'keeper Matt Pickens.
Yet there was one more bit of late magic: Substitute Chad Barrett jinked his way down the right flank before driving a low cross into the heart of the six-yard box where Thiago slid in to poke the ball past Onstad for the match-winner (91+).
It was the third time in three games the Quakes saw points lost after a late goal, after two second-half goals canceled a two-goal lead in their opener against New England, and a stoppage-time equalizer gave Chivas USA a 3-3 draw a week later.
Here's Sarachan's team (3-4-1-2): Matt Pickens - C.J. Brown, Jim Curtin, Samuel Caballero - Kelly Gray, Jesse Marsch, Chris Armas, Ivan Guerrero - Thiago (Logan Pause 89) - Nate Jaqua, Justin Mapp (Chad Barrett 86)
Here's Kinnear's team (4-4-2): Pat Onstad - Craig Waibel (Alejandro Moreno 77), Troy Dayak, Eddie Robinson, Wade Barrett - Brian Mullan, Ricardo Clark (Dwayne De Rosario 70), Danny O'Rourke, Brad Davis - Brian Ching, Ronald CerritosHISTORY
A year ago, the Fire won the third and final meeting between the two teams after they played to draws in the first two. The 2003 MLS Cup finalists played to a scoreless in their first meeting after that game, April 10 in San Jose, then on June 19 played to a 1-1 draw at Soldier Field (Jaqua 7 - Ching 66)
Then on Aug. 11, the Fire claimed a 2-1 victory in Chicago (Williams 41, Ralph 81 - Ekelund 76 pen)
The Fire haven't lost to the Earthquakes in their last seven league meetings, over the last two-plus seasons - Chicago has claimed three wins while they've drawn four times. Of course, it was San Jose who was victorious in that 2003 MLS Cup Final, a 4-2 triumph at The Home Depot Center.
San Jose has won just one match in the last 13 regular season meetings, dating back to the 2000 season. Since a San Jose win in the final of four meetings in 1999, the Fire have won five matches with seven draws - the lone Earthquakes victory coming July 24, 2002 (1-0).
Coaches record: Dave Sarachan vs. SJ: P7 W3 L0 D4 ... Dominic Kinnear v CHI: P4 W0 L2 D2SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES
The San Jose Earthquakes extended their winning streak to five matches and stretched their league unbeaten run to nine games, snatching a late 2-1 victory against Chivas USA at The Home Depot Center on Saturday night. The Quakes now have 53 points from 27 matches, 14 ahead of the second-place tie between FC Dallas and the Los Angeles Galaxy in the Western Conference and two points ahead of the New England Revolution in the race for the MLS Supporters' Shield signifying the league's best overall record.
The Earthquakes finished off their home-and-home sweep of Chivas USA - but only under the cruelest of circumstances for the expansion team.
After a scrappy first half, Ramon Ramirez put Chivas into the lead seven minutes after the break when he bent home a free kick from well outside the area.
But the Earthquakes showed the kind of resolve that has characterized them all season, and pulled level eight minutes from the end when a corner kick was headed back across the face of goal to Danny Califf, who popped a header from almost on the goal line into an empty net just before getting a boot to the face for his effort.
Then three minutes into stoppage time, Alejandro Moreno rose up to hit for the match-winner with a diving header after Brian Mullan wriggled free on the right and sent in a cross to unmarked striker in the heart of the area.
Earthquakes coach Dominic Kinnear made no changes to the team that defeated Chivas USA 3-0 at Spartan Stadium the previous Saturday. Here's Kinnear's team (4-3-1-2): Pat Onstad - Kelly Gray, Danny Califf, Eddie Robinson, Wade Barrett - Brian Mullan, Ricardo Clark, Mark Chung - Dwayne De Rosario - Ronald Cerritos (Brian Ching 70), Alejandro Moreno
"It was a sloppy game in the first half," said Kinnear. "There wasn't too much buildup play, just one team would attack and then the other would attack. We had a bunch of chances to score but [Brad] Guzan made some good saves and we missed the target a couple of times but I always felt that we were going to get a goal."TEAM NEWS
The victory for the Earthquakes was a good example of the kind of gritty performance the club has put together over the course of the season.
"I give all the credit to the players," said Kinnear. "I just told them to play all 90 minutes. You have to give yourself a chance to win the game. You can't fault these guys - they try to win games every single Saturday and we've been rewarded for it."
Whereas most teams would be content with stealing a point on the road, the Earthquakes had one thought on their mind: winning.
"After (Califf's goal) I told the guys that we have to shore it up in the back and if they give us a chance to get going, let's get going forward," said Kinnear. "That's how we've played all year."
The Earthquakes also guaranteed they will have home-field advantage for their Western Conference semifinal series, meaning the second game will be played at their Spartan Stadium home.
"I think we've exceeded expectations," said Kinnear. "However, when we have everyone healthy, we have very high expectations and we do expect to win games on the road."
The Quakes have now finished the last 16 games - exactly half the season - with just one loss and four draws. Over that time they've allowed just 13 goals.
"I don't think we played our best game tonight. The effort was there but obviously guys can't play brilliant every week," Kinnear said. "However, we're always playing for three points. The guys push each other for that - they're a proud group."CHICAGO FIRE
The Chicago Fire played just their second match since Aug. 20 - and won for the second game in a row, grabbing a late 2-1 victory from the Columbus Crew on Saturday evening at Crew Stadium. Having played three games in their five-match, 56-day road swing, the Fire are now in third place all alone in the Eastern Conference with 45 points from 27 matches, two behind D.C. United, six out of first place and two ahead of fourth-place Kansas City Wizards.
The Fire won for the second consecutive league match on their long odyssey away from Soldier Field, all but killing off the postseason hopes of the home side.
Chris Rolfe was another two-goal hero on the night. He gave the Fire the lead after just five minutes, stabbing home from close range on the second attempt after a free kick was played into the mixer.
But the Crew found their way back and leveled the match 10 minutes from the end. Kyle Martino's perfectly weighted through ball putting Knox Cameron in behind the Chicago defense and he made no mistake with his cool finish from inside the area.
Yet just four minutes later Rolfe's second gave the Fire the all-important full points. Logan Pause set off on a long overlapping run on the right, finding Andy Herron in the area. He spun and sent a shot-cum-cross to the far post where Rolfe slid it to jab it home for the winner.
Fire coach Dave Sarachan made three changes to the team that defeated the Los Angeles Galaxy 2-1 in Carson two weeks earlier. Jim Curtin returned to the heart of the back four and Chris Armas and Lubos Reiter were back after international duty, as John Thorrington, Jesse Marsch and Chad Barrett returned to the substitutes' bench.
Here's Sarachan's team (4-3-1-2): Zach Thornton - Logan Pause, Samuel Caballero, Jim Curtin, Gonzalo Segares - Justin Mapp (Jesse Marsch 86), Chris Armas, Ivan Guerrero - Thiago - Lubos Reiter (Andy Herron 72), Chris Rolfe (Jack Stewart 85)
"I am proud of my team. After they get the goal in the 79th or so minute, we didn't hang our heads," said Sarachan. "We kept playing and we got the second goal."TEAM NEWS
While some teams would prefer a steady flow of matches into the postseason, the long gap between games has helped the Fire.
"I think (the rest was) clearly a bonus for us because we had hit the wall physically and mentally," Sarachan said. "I think we've caught a great time to get our breath, get our batteries charged, get a few guys back healthy and rest a few guys that had had some knocks and bruises."
Then getting off to the great start with Rolfe potting his chance after just five minutes helped as well. "As you get down to the last six or seven games, the points are very important. We knew it would be a real dogfight, a battle, with a team like Columbus coming at us," said Sarachan. "Getting the first goal was very important for us."
The Fire still have two more games on the road - the match against the Quakes in San Jose, then a visit to face the Wizards in Kansas City on Oct. 1, before returning to Soldier Field for the first time since Aug. 13 when they take on the MetroStars on Wed. Oct. 5.
"We've got a good mentality when we play on the road," Sarachan said. "It's never easy to come in to Crew Stadium and get a win, so this was big for us. We might have 56 straight days on the road, but it doesn't bother us."
A resident of Kettering, a suburb of Dayton, Ohio, Rolfe is on pace for a hat trick for the Fire's first visit to Crew Stadium next season. On May 30, he scored his second goal of the season in the Fire's 2-0 win. He followed up that performance with goals seven and eight during this Ohio trip.
"It is awesome getting a couple goals in Columbus. It is only an hour from where I went to college," said Rolfe. "My family lives there too. I had a lot of friends and family come out. I don't know how many people were here, but I gave away a lot of tickets tonight, that's all I'll say."
Even though the Fire were able only to secure sole possession of third place, with the K.C. draw with Los Angeles and the D.C. United victory, they felt the road win would mean a lot coming down the stretch.
"After they scored, we didn't back down and came right back at them. We got a goal and it says a lot about our team to get this win," said Rolfe. "It is a six-point swing and we needed it." Added Chris Armas: "This is a great three points for the team. I think this win will prove its value down the stretch. When you see what happened in the conference tonight, I think these will turn out to be three big points."
