Chivas USA Notes (1-0 loss vs. Sporting Kansas City, The Home Depot Center, Carson, Calif., 4/1/2012)

 

·         Carson, Calif.  (Sunday, April 1, 2012) – Chivas USA (1-3-0) fell to Sporting Kansas City, 1-0, Sunday evening at The Home Depot Center in front of a crowd of 13,372. With the loss, the Red-and-White remains at three points in the Western Conference. KC forward C. J. Sapong scored off a header in the 47th minute.

 

·         Sporting KC broke a scoreless tie shortly after intermission when midfielder Graham Zusi unleashed a canon shot from outside the box, which Red-and-White goalkeeper Dan Kennedy tip-saved, causing the shot to bounce off the crossbar. Zusi recovered his own rebound and found Sapong inside the six-yard box for his third goal of the season. The assist marked Zusi’s fifth.

 

·         The Goats had a number of solid looks at finding the equalizing goal. Midfielder Nick LaBrocca’s shot in the 54th minute hit the left post and careened harmlessly out of reach.

 

·         The Rojiblancos look to bounce back in their second road match of the season when they face the Portland Timbers at JELD-WEN Field, Saturday, April 7, at 6:00 pm (PT). The match will broadcast on television, live on KDOC in English, and KWHY Channel 22 in Spanish. For more information about the game and for tickets, please visit cdchivasusa.com or call 1-877-CHIVAS-1. Follow us on Twitter @cdchivasusa and Facebook.com/chivasusa

 

THE WORD FROM THE TEAMS:

 

CHIVAS USA HEAD COACH – ROBIN FRASER

Thoughts on the game… “Disappointing for us, because certainly I felt like there were moments in the game that we could have been a little bit more aggressive, a little bit more decisive, and turned some of those moments into better opportunities.  Having said that, we were pretty solid for most of the game, obviously didn’t create enough chances for our liking.  In the second half we had a couple of decent moments but in the end, in the decisive moments, where things needed to happen we weren’t probably quite as positive as we needed to be.”

CHIVAS USA DEFENDER – ANTE JAZIC

Thoughts on the match… “Obviously disappointed not to come out with a win, we needed three points tonight.  It’s just frustrating; we competed but didn’t create enough chances to earn the three points.” 

Thoughts on opportunities missed… “We had some chances but overall I thought Kansas City dictated the play, we were a little bit hesitant.  We’ve been struggling at home lately but the effort’s there just the quality in the final third isn’t.”

Thoughts on Kansas City’s goal… “A weak goal that we shouldn’t give up, we were caught in a bad turnover in the middle of the park. We were caught sleeping as a backline when the ball hits the crossbar, just amateur basically.”

CHIVAS USA MIDFIELDER – LAURENT COURTOIS

Thoughts on the match… “Not much, we lost again at home, no point, no goal, very disappointed.”

Thoughts on missed opportunities… “[We need] To feel more comfortable about ourselves, I don’t have much to say I’m so disappointed.  I think we are not good enough everywhere and in every position, and at the end of the day, this is what you missed to at least get a tie.”

Thoughts on Kansas City’s goal… “You can’t get a goal against us starting from a throw in, that’s not possible and this we did again.” 

KANSAS CITY HEAD COACH – PETER VERMES:

Thoughts on how big it is to be 4- 0… “It’s good to be 4-0, it’s better than to be 0-4 that’s for sure, but I think for us it’s really just maintaining the idea that we have thirty games left. When you go away from home, I think a lot of teams’ objective is to drive the game. I think that in the first half, that wasn’t necessarily the case, they were a little bit conservative; they weren’t trying to press us to high off the field, so I think it made it a very middle of the field kind of game.”

Mentality entering the game… “We told ourselves that we didn’t want to go into the game exposing ourselves. There’s no reason for us to drive this game, they had to come at us, so it was more we let them have the ball were they had it, but I thought our lines, not only from east to west but north to south were very compact and we didn’t give them a lot of chance to play through us.”

KANSAS CITY GOAL KEEPER – JIMMY NIELSON:

Thoughts on the winning game going 4- 0… “It was a great win for us here today on the road. We talked about it before the game we have to be solid and be very organized, I think we did that very well.  Probably not the most entertaining game to watch, but we came here to get three points and we got the three points.”

On setting the tone early… “Yes it’s very important to set the tone early.  They had a dangerous run and we talked about it before the game, there was nothing that surprised us. Chivas USA is a dangerous team, they have really good players.  Again it’s a big win for us. “

KANSAS CITY FORWARD- CJ SAPONG:

Thoughts on 4-0… “It feels amazing, we probably haven’t played to our fullest potential yet, but we’re still grinding out those wins and that’s a good sign so hopefully we’ll just keep riding that and then by the middle of the season be playing our best soccer.”

Thoughts on Opponents… “It was a little bit of an awkward game. I think the wind was a little bit of a factor in the first half, but there’s going to be games like that that are pretty scrappy and credit to all the guys that grinded it out and that’s what’s it’s about.”

 

Chivas USA (1-3-0) vs. Sporting Kansas City (4-0-0)

 

April 1, 2012 – Home Depot Center

Scoring Summary: KC – C. J. Sapong 3 (Graham Zusi 5) 47

Chivas USA — Dan Kennedy, James Riley, Rauwshan McKenzie, Heath Pearce, Ante Jazic (Cesar Romero 80), Oswaldo Minda, Ryan Smith, Nick LaBrocca, Laurent Courtois, Alejandro Moreno (Miller Bolaños 72), Casey Townsend

Subs not used: Tim Melia, Scott Gordon, John Valencia, Peter Vagenas, Ben Zemanski

 

Sporting Kansas City — Jimmy Nielson, Chance Myers, Aurelien Collin, Matt Besler, Seth Sinovic, Kei Kamara, Julio Cesar, Graham Zusi (Paulo Nagamura 89), Roger Espinoza, Bobby Convey (Jacob Peterson 73), C.J. Sapong (Teal Bunbury 72)

Subs not used: Jon Kempin, Michael Harrington, Lawrence Olum, Luke Sassano

 

Misconduct Summary: KC – Seth Sinovic (caution, foul) 34

CHV – Rauwshan McKenzie (caution, foul) 84

Referee: Edvin Jurisevic Referee’s Assistants: Anthony Vasoli, Frank Anderson 4th Official: Allen Chapman

Attendance: 13,372 Time of Game: 1:58 Weather: Clear and 64 degrees

cdchivasusa.com

 

About Chivas USA

Founded in 2004, Los Angeles-based Club Deportivo Chivas USA has achieved remarkable success in seven full seasons in Major League Soccer. From 2006-2009, the Mexican-owned club qualified for the MLS Cup Playoffs in four consecutive seasons, to the delight of its passionate supporters. In addition, Chivas USA’s innovative grassroots programs demonstrate its deep commitment to the Southern California community, while the club’s youth teams and Soccer Academies offer unprecedented opportunities to the region’s best young talent. For more information on Chivas USA, please call 1-877-CHIVAS-1 or visit cdchivasusa.com.