By Ben Leonard

photo by sjearthquakes.com: The Quakes take a tough loss in Chicago to the Fire 1-0

With five defenders injured, the San Jose Earthquakes (5-5-7) fell to the Chicago Fire (3-5-7) 1-0 on a goal by Joao Meira in the 38th minute. Even with the win on Friday, Chicago remained in the Eastern Conference’s cellar.

“We didn’t play good, simple as that,” Earthquakes coach Dominic Kinnear said Friday. “We just kept giving the ball away; it wasn’t like we were under a tremendous amount of pressure. We just didn’t play good.”

San Jose was outplayed and out-shot 16-6 (7-2 on goal) by Chicago, a team that had been last in the East in goals scored this season (15). Down several key regulars, the defense struggled to compete with the Fire, but kept the team in the game.

This wasn’t by any means unpredictable: the results simply haven’t been coming on the road for San Jose.With the loss, San Jose is left still in search of its first road win, going 0-5-4 in enemy territory this season. However, Kinnear isn’t too worried about being away from the friendly confines of Avaya Stadium going forward.

“I think the overall performances of the team is more important than the stadium we play in,” Kinnear said. “Saying that, I know we are good enough to win a game on the road, we need to stop giving up the first goal and coming from behind. Sometimes we need a little bit of magic and things to go our way and we’re not getting those right now.”

The defense hasn’t necessarily been the main issue for the Earthquakes — opponents have scored multiple times in just five of the Earthquakes last seventeen contests.

San Jose will look to rebound at home in their next contest, taking on FC Dallas (9-5-4) on Friday.