U.S. Soccer Team Loses to Chivas

The United States twice came from behind to earn a 2-2 tie with the Mexican club team, Chivas of Guadalajara, Wednesday night, then lost the international soccer game on penalty kicks, 7-6.

A sellout crowd of 11,000 at Santa Ana Stadium saw Chivas build leads of 1-0 and 2-1, but each time the U.S. national team was able to fight back and tie the match.

Guadalajara led, 1-0, at halftime on the strength of a 36th-minute goal by forward Rafael Chavez.

A free kick awarded against U.S. captain Rick Davis on the right wing was floated into the center by Benjamin Galindo, then chested down and rammed into the roof of the U.S. net from close range by Chavez.

The goal followed an extraordinary scene in which U.S. forward Eric Eichmann and a Guadalajara assistant coach were ejected from the game by referee Arturo Angeles. Eichmann was tossed out for committing a foul and the coach for leading the Guadalajara bench onto the field in protest.

Reduced to 10 men, the U.S. was unable to mount any sort of attack. In the 59th minute, however, a perfectly placed corner kick by Tab Ramos was headed home by Brent Goulet to tie the score at 1-1.

It took Chivas less than a minute to regain its advantage, Jose Gutierrez beating U.S. goalie David Vanole from 10 yards out after shrugging off a would-be tackle by Jim Gabarra.

The U.S. refused to buckle, however, and a fine individual effort by John Harkes was rewarded in the 78th minute when he found the back of the Chivas net with an acutely angled shot.

This was the second meeting between the teams this year. Last April 24, also in Santa Ana, they played to a 1-1 tie, with Chivas subsequently winning on penalty kicks.

Earlier this week, the U.S. team learned exactly what will be needed in order for it to qualify for the 1990 World Cup in Italy.

The schedule was drawn for the final round of qualifying play, in which five nations will meet in a round-robin series of matches, with the top two finishers earning a trip to Italy.

In addition to the United States, the nations are Costa Rica, Trinidad and Tobago, Guatemala and El Salvador.

The schedule for the U.S. team, with home-game sites not yet decided: April 16--U.S. at Costa Rica; April 30--Costa Rica at U.S; May 13--Trinidad and Tobago at U.S.; June 10--Guatemala at U.S.; July 9--U.S. at El Salvador; Oct. 8--U.S. at Guatemala; Nov. 5--El Salvador at U.S.; Nov. 17--U.S. at Trinidad and Tobago.