Chivas USA's Efforts Fall Short
By Luis Bueno / MLSnet.com staff FULLERTON, Calif. -– Chivas USA felt they had the better of play in Sunday’s SuperLiga group finale against the New England Revolution. Statistically, Chivas USA dominated as the Red-and-White had 17 total shots and six on goals and controlled the pace of the match. Despite its best efforts, though, the club had little to show for it. Shalrie Joseph’s goal offset Ante Razov’s third SuperLiga tally as the Revolution and Chivas USA tied 1-1 at Titan Stadium on Sunday. “Our soccer was pretty good given the conditions,” Chivas USA midfielder Jesse Marsch said. “We proved we were clearly the better team today and we walk away with a tie -- it’s kind of a real empty feeling. I actually feel like given everything we were the best team in the group and now it looks like we’re going to be outside looking in.” Santos needed to defeat Pachuca in the late match to send Chivas USA through. Chivas USA, though, tried to take the guesswork out of Sunday’s match. With a win, the Red-and-White would have been through to the semifinals irrespective of other results. As it stands, however, the club left it up to Santos, who had scored zero goals in their first two SuperLiga matches. Even with just three SuperLiga matches played, Chivas USA showed well in the tournament. “We’ve played three of our better games this season over the course of this tournament,” midfielder Sacha Kljestan said. “We’ve looked like a good team, we’ve played good games, we’ve gotten some good goals. Ante has been on fire.” The field was in relatively poor condition, players said. With a bumpy and uneven surface, the ball did not move quite right, players said. Despite that, however, the club was able to piece together some good passing and forced the Revolution to stay on their heels for much of the game. Marsch had a potent shot in the 42nd minute that Reis dived and knocked away while Razov had a pair of chances early in the second half that could have opened the scoring. It wasn’t until the 59th minute that Razov found the back of the net. Daniel Paladini played a well-placed through ball to Razov, who raced into the penalty area and fired a shot on goal. Reis deflected the shot but it fell right to Razov who easily knocked it into the back of the net. But the goal should have come earlier, Marsch lamented. “The good teams I’ve been on, this game would have been 3-0 and New England wouldn’t have had a chance to be involved in it still,” Marsch said. “It took us too long to get the first goal. We couldn’t get the second goal and then you keep them around the game. Give them credit for coming back but I felt like we were the better team.” In the 78th minute, Steve Ralston sent a corner kick to the front of the net where Shalrie Joseph rose and knocked a header on goal. The ball somehow got past both Dan Kennedy and Daniel Paladini. “We feel like we gave up a soft goal. We had a guy on the post and the goalkeeper gets his hands on it and it squeaks in,” said assistant coach Mike Matkovich, who was filling in for Preki. “We didn’t do well with it. Shalrie got free on the back side. It’s just disappointing because we played so well and we created more opportunities.” Marsch said the goal was devastating. “It’s a terrible goal to give up, one of the worst goals I’ve ever given up in a big game,” he said. A late rally led to nothing, however, as Chivas USA could only finish out the match and hope for the best from Santos Laguna. In the end, though, the players gave themselves a bit of confidence as they look forward to returning to regular season play, which begins again on Aug. 2 at Chicago. Following an Aug. 9 match in Kansas City, Chivas USA returns home to play the LA Galaxy on Aug. 14. “(Giving up the goal) feels bad but the good part is that we actually played really good in this tournament,” Marsch said. “Even though we’re not close to 100 percent I still feel like we played some really good soccer. Hopefully we’ll be able to take this in the rest of the season.” |
