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Johnson, Corrales help Earthquakes stun Crew

Jun 8, 2008 - 3:14 AM COLUMBUS, Ohio (Ticker) -- Ryan Johnson scored in the 10th minute and Ramiro Corrales tallied in the 60th minute to propel the San Jose Earthquakes to a 2-0 triumph over the Columbus Crew on Saturday.

Ronnie O'Brien assisted on both scores and goalkeeper Joe Cannon recorded his first shutout of the season for San Jose (3-6-1), which entered the contest with a league-worst seven goals this season.

For its part, Columbus (6-4-1) was held scoreless in its fourth consecutive match (0-3-1). The last time the struggling Crew scored was in their 3-2 victory over the Earthquakes on May 10 - a span of and 368 minutes.

"Sometimes things happen," Columbus coach Sigi Schmid said. "Tonight we had chances - should have been goals, (but) good chances. We are not catching any breaks. I can't say we are not getting the ball in the attacking end or we are not creating chances. I think we are creating chances. But we are not catching the breaks when we need to."

"I don't think this team is thinking about the scoreless streak," Crew goalkeeper Will Hesmer said. "We are creating chances, the reality is we need to be more dangerous off set pieces because it seems that everybody's game plan right now is to come in and hack Robbie Rogers and Guillermo (Schelotto). We have to make teams pay for doing that and not let them get away with it."

In the 10th minute, O'Brien gained possession of the ball along the right wing and alertly fired a cross to Johnson, who headed it off Hesmer's hand and into the upper left corner of the net. It was Johnson's second tally of the season.

"I knew Ronnie had the ball on the right side (and) I know I have to be ready," Johnson said. "And I made the run and let him know I was going far post and he put it there. All I did was put my head on it. It was definitely a good ball by Ronnie."

The early advantage was something new for the Earthquakes, who had not tallied in the first 30 minutes of a match this season.

"I thought tonight was a good example of a good away performance," San Jose coach Frank Yallop said. "We made it miserable for the other team to play us; we took our chances when they come along. And we didn't roll over, we fought to the last whistle and that was excellent."

Making his first MLS start, Ned Zayner nearly leveled the contest in the 34th minute. But his left-footed strike bounced off the crossbar from 25 yards out.

San Jose doubled its advantage in the 60th minute as O'Brien fed Corrales off a set piece. Corrales neatly headed the ball past Hesmer and into the upper left corner of the net for his second goal of the campaign.

"I lost my guy and it was a good ball by Ronnie," Corrales said. "It was simple, a simple goal."

O'Brien was equally as giving with his compliments.

"We have Ryan Johnson up front who is a big boy," O'Brien said. "All I have to do is get the ball in the box and if he is anywhere around it, he is going to get his head on it. And the second ball, Ramiro made a great run. I think putting the ball in the box is the easy part."