Chivas USA Notes (0-1 vs. Real Salt Lake, The Home Depot Center, Carson, CA, 8/27/11)
 
·         Carson, CA – Chivas USA finally returned to The Home Depot center after an absence of over a month as they faced off with Western Conference power house Real Salt Lake before a crowd of 14,127. Tonight was the home field debut for three new Goats; Colombian striker Juan Pablo Angel, Frenchman midfielder Laurent Courtois, and Brazilian defender David Junior Lopes. Unfortunately for the Red and White they were unable to capitalize even after RSL was down a man because of a red card in the 25th minute as Chivas USA dropped a heartbreaker to Real Salt Lake 1 nil.

 
·         The only score of the match would come in the 11th minute after a miscue from Goats defender Ante Jazic as he attempted to return a ball to fellow defender David Lopes. Lopes was unable to clear it and Real Salt Lake’s forward Alvaro Saborio put it in the back of Kennedy’s net. As the match progressed the action intensified as the Red and White had several opportunities they were unable to convert.

·         In the 25th minute Nat Borchers, defender for Real Salt Lake pulled down the Goats midfielder Nick LaBrocca as he had a clear path to the goal just before the box. This foul earned Borchers an early shower via the red card. The first half ended with the score Chivas USA 0 – 1 Real Salt Lake.

·         The second half for the Rojiblancos began with a substitution as defender Mariano Trujillo entered the match for Costa Rica’s Michael Umaña who was called up to his national team earlier this week. The next substitution for the Goats came in the 61st minute as USMNT defender and All Star Heath Pearce was banged up and Frenchman Laurent Courtois made his debut at The Home Depot Center for the Goats.

·         As the action continued both teams had clear opportunities including a shot by Angel that would hit off the crossbar. Jorge Flores would also have several opportunities that just would not go.  

·         With this loss Chivas USA’s record is now 7-10-10 with 31 points, that occupies the seventh place in the Western Conference. As the season draws closer to its end Chivas USA will return to action on Saturday September 10 after the Labor Day and well deserved lay-off and face off against East Coast foes DC United in Carson at The Home Depot Center. The match is scheduled for kick off at 7:30 pm (Pacific Time), and will be broadcast on TV through KDOC-TV and KWHY Channel 22, and Radio on W Radio 690 AM. For information on the game, please visit cdchivasusa.com

THE WORD FROM THE TEAMS:
 
·         CHIVAS USA – Head Coach Robin Fraser

On the game: “Really the only thought is that you can’t be up a man for that long and not score a goal. So that’s the story of the game.  I thought tonight we were pretty decent the first half, energy was really good we won the ball back a lot on their end of the field were very aggressive, and as a result we created a number of very good scoring opportunities that we didn’t capitalize on and in the second half I think we didn’t play with the same sort of energy and urgency, and when you don’t do that it is difficult to find opportunities to score against an organized team.”

On the goal: “Are you asking me about the mistake that led to a goal? Outside of  that it wasn’t that bad it was pretty good but it doesn’t matter you can play 89 great minutes as a defender and you make a mistake and obviously that’s what will be remembered.”
 
On making it to playoffs: “It’s still within our ability to make it, if we do the things we need to do. We have to play better we have to be more dangerous. We’re all here to win. Everyone does this to win, so when you have all these opportunities and you think you might be able to get three points and you don’t capitalize on them certainly they do hurt.”
 
CHIVAS USA – Forward Juan Pablo Angel
 
In taking advantage of opportunities: “That is the difficult part to digest in here because I think we know we were in control for pretty much the majority of the time especially in the second half, after we have to be smarter in establishing strategies. We must assure that at home we make the right decisions and we bury this game.”
 
On the possibility of still make the playoffs: “We still have a chance to make the playoffs, it’s still up to us but we got to make sure we take care of this type of situation in order for us to make it a better chance.”
 
CHIVAS USA – Forward Alejandro Moreno
 
On the game: “After the red card they played very well defensively and made it hard for us to find space, and especially because they were very well organized.  We needed to create space, and with that create opportunity for a goal.  We failed to be organized and with that came failure and by that time the game is over.”
 
REAL SALT LAKE – Head Coach Jason Kreis
 
On the key to defending 65+ minutes a man down: “I think a lot of it is tactical; 50% and 50% hard work.  I think the guys have to be in the right shape, the guys have to have a real sense of the passes they’re going to allow, and the passes they’re not going to allow.  On top of that, they’ve got to work extremely hard.  So all of the players for me tonight, after we got them in at halftime, had a real good idea of how we wanted to defend, and all of them were willing to do the defending.”
 
On what was the most impressive part of the performance: “For me, it’s just the guys believing, because it takes a lot of belief to go down a man as early as we did.  It takes a lot of belief from the guys, a lot of willingness to stay together as a unit.  To be through the stretch we’ve just been through, it would be extremely easy [to have not believed], and I think eighty or ninety percent of the teams in this league couldn’t have been as mentally tough as we were.”
 
On how proud he is of his team: “I’m really, really pleased.  Just pleased with the response that we got from the group tonight, pleased that they came out with such a positive mentality, pleased that they worked so incredibly hard, and pleased that they stayed together and believed.”
 
REAL SALT LAKE – Goalkeeper Nick Rimando:
 
On the result: “It was a good one for us.  We knew we could come in here and get a result, we’ve done it before.  The objective was to get a zero.  We know when we play good defense we’re capable of getting results on the road and that’s exactly what we did.  [Saborio] came in and got a good goal for us.”
 
On his feelings after going down a man: “The first thing you want to do is make sure that everyone is pitching in, giving that extra ten percent. We don’t want to drop and invite them to play, we wanted to make sure to stay high.  So I was trying to get our defenders and midfielders to step up and make sure we still play the same game, but with that extra ten percent [effort].”
 
On whether the game can be a turning point: “We had a couple bad games.  I think this is a good win for sure, we showed a lot of guts for us.  But we’re capable of these type of results and just this game isn’t going to turn our season around.  I think it’s everybody pitching in every game.”
 
REAL SALT LAKE – Defender Nat Borchers:
 
On the red card: “It was a situation where I put myself at the referee’s mercy.  I took a bad first touch, LaBrocca positioned himself well and he was in on goal, so I fouled him.  I haven’t seen the replay; I haven’t seen where Tony Beltran was at the time that I fouled LaBrocca.  Could have been a yellow card, definitely, but I’m definitely to blame for putting myself in the situation.”
 
On his teammates performance after the red card: “I thought we responded really well.  It was a tough situation for them.  Being a man down for sixty plus minutes in game is obviously very difficult.  So I thought they really responded well, and I’m very proud of them.”
 
Chivas USA (7-10-10) vs. Real Salt Lake (11-7-6)
August 27th 2011- The Home Depot Center
Scoring Summary:
RSL — Alvaro Saborio 7 (unassisted) 11
Misconduct Summary:
RSL — Nat Borchers (ejection; Denied Goal Scoring Opportunity (Foul)) 24
RSL — Kyle Beckerman (caution; Reckless Tackle) 73
CHV — David Junior Lopes (caution; Reckless Foul) 79

Lineups:
Real Salt Lake — Nick Rimando, Robbie Russell, Jamison Olave, Nat Borchers, Tony Beltran, Arturo Alvarez (Chris Schuler 32), Kyle Beckerman, Luis Gil (Andy Williams 86), Will Johnson, Fabian Espindola, Alvaro Saborio.
Substitutes Not Used: Jean Alexandre, Paulo Araujo Jr., Blake Wagner, Collen Warner, Tim Melia.

Chivas USA — Dan Kennedy, David Junior Lopes, Michael Umana (Mariano Trujillo 46), Heath Pearce (Laurent Courtois 61), Ante Jazic, Blair Gavin, Simon Elliott (Marcos Mondaini 72), Nick LaBrocca, Jorge Flores, Juan Pablo Angel, Alejandro Moreno.

Substitutes Not Used: Justin Braun, Chris Cortez, Ben Zemanski, Zach Thornton.
Referee: Kevin Stott
Referee’s Assistants: Peter Balciunas; Jason Cullum
4th Official: Allen Chapman

Attendance: 14,127
Time of Game: 1:54
Weather: Clear and 75 degrees
cdhivasusa.com