Chivas USA Notes (Rojiblancos fall 4-0 vs. Real Salt Lake, The Home Depot Center, Carson, Calif., 9/29/2012)
- · CARSON, Calif. (Saturday, Sept. 29, 2012) – Chivas USA (7-16-7) fell, 4-0, Saturday night at The Home Depot Center to Real Salt Lake (16-11-4) before a crowd of 11,450. RSL was led by three Alvaro Saborio goals and one from Paulo Junior. Forward Fabian Espindola recorded three assists on the night and Javier Morales and Will Johnson also chipped in with assists.
- · Real Salt Lake took the early advantage with two goals in the first half, both with Saborio on the scoring end. In the eighth minute, Espindola crossed the ball from the right side of the box, where Javier Morales headed back the pass to Saborio who was well-positioned for the tap-in inside the left post. Three minutes later, Espindola again recorded an assist when his cross from nearly the same spot found Saborio in front of the net for the 2-0 advantage.
- · The Rojiblancos had solid looks at goal in the first 45. Midfielder Miller Bolaños took four shots on-goal – three coming inside the first 20 minutes. In the 18th minute, left back Ante Jazic crossed the ball from the left sideline to the right side of the box, where Bolaños nearly found the back of the net with his strike, but Salt Lake goalkeeper Nick Rimando got a hand on the shot at the last second.
- · In the 36th minute Bolaños again challenged Rimando, this time off a corner kick. The entry was headed back and nearly tapped-in inside the right post. The Goats continued to get solid looks early in the second half. Jazic’s cross into the box in the 47th minute was headed by forward Juan Pablo Angel, but the shot traveled out of bounds wide of the left post.
- · RSL added two more goals to pull further away, the third coming in the 65th minute when Saborio recovered a rebound inside the left side of the box, got into position and lofted a shot that caromed off the bottom half of the crossbar and bounced over the goal line. The final goal came in the 81st minute when Paulo unleashed a strike from about 25 yards out on Espindola’s third assist to wrap up the 4-0 victory. Johnson was also credited wth an assist on the sequence.
- · Chivas USA has a short week as it travels north of the border to face Vancouver Whitecaps FC on Wednesday, Oct. 3, at BC Place. The match kicks-off at 7:00 pm PT and will broadcast live on KDOC in English. For more information please visit cdchivasusa.com. Follow us on Twitter @cdchivasusa and Facebook.com/chivasusa
THE WORD FROM THE TEAMS:
CHIVAS USA HEAD COACH – ROBIN FRASER:
Thoughts on the game: “I thought we actually started off the game pretty well. First half I thought we were decent. We created a number of opportunities, but once again shot ourselves in the foot. It’s always difficult to compete if you make critical mistakes and give teams leads and it was disappointing because certainly we felt like throughout the first half we were dangerous very often. Obviously, we didn’t make good on our chances and we gave away too many chances.”
On the ‘fight’ in the team: “I think that this team has been pretty resilient, if not efficient, for many of the games down this difficult stretch. Giving away a couple opportunities early in a game where we’re actually playing pretty well, I think, is a season’s worth of frustration building up and probably coming to the surface in the last few minutes of the game. I think all throughout the year, we’ve made too many critical mistakes at critical points in games.”
On rebuilding the team: “You don’t have a season like this and go without changes. Certainly you evaluate everything and determine where you can make your changes. It’s a results-oriented business – I do understand that results are key and certainly there is a process that goes into rebuilding a team.”
CHIVAS USA DEFENDER – ANTE JAZIC:
Thoughts on the game: “We conceded four goals, a large number again. We didn’t play too poorly, we had some moments but in the end just individual mistakes and sloppiness in the back and just in possession in our final third where we conceded soft goals that put us behind the ball and it’s difficult to play from there.”
On Chivas’ opportunities: “We had some opportunities but we were down [2-0] in the first 11 minutes. We were forced in the game, we got stretched out a bit and they scored two more goals in the second half. We can’t start games like that. We can’t give teams a two goal lead and then expect to win that game. There were some positives in the [4-0] loss, we had some good moments going forward but when you lose four to nothing, nothing’s really good.”
On the missing element to improve team’s performance: “We just need to be able to score some goals. Get a lead for once and not always be playing from behind. It’s difficult when you’re chasing the game.”
CHIVAS USA MIDFIELDER – PETER VAGENAS:
Thoughts on the game: “They are a very good team to begin with. Normally when a game goes like that, the team that falls behind gets on the back foot, that’s just natural tendencies but I think we came into half time and the message was ‘the next goal is going to win this game.’ We felt it was that type of game. As the game went on, we had to continue to push because there’s no point in losing 2-0 and we left ourselves exposed again. They are a quality team with some quality players and they made us pay.”
On the team’s mindset: “It definitely is difficult, sometimes the simple things become harder when you’re in a streak like this and the only thing you can do is put your head down and continue to fight. There are a lot of prideful people on this team and you know we’re going to fight.”
On Chivas’ scoring opportunities: “It doesn’t feel impossible, but it doesn’t seem to be going our way in front of the goal. Their third goal where [Alvaro] Saborio spun [the ball] and then chipped it, had that been us it would have hit the post. That’s a feeling, and again, the only way to get out of that is to put your head down and continue to fight and try to manufacture something.”
REAL SALT LAKE HEAD COACH – JASON KREIS:
On Saborio’s performance: “I think the first two goals I saw him score, they don’t get much easier than that. I think that he has to be very appreciative of the work that the players around him did to set those up, because those were both tap-ins. The third goal was certainly something special. The performance by everybody tonight was very, very positive.”
Thoughts on the match: “For whatever reason, we had a good night. We went out there with the right mentality, we tried to press on their half of the field early on and won some balls there and made things happen. Obviously, the second goal was all about having people in their half of the field and winning it there. The direction from the coaching staff was taken on board by the players. We have to be very appreciative of that. I think a lot of things went right for us tonight, that’s a mistake that [Dan] Kennedy probably hasn’t made all year and he probably won’t make in the next four games that [Chivas USA] plays. All in all, our guys just really played well tonight.”
On keeping intensity throughout the match: “I think after the second goal we weren’t great. They had a lot of chances and a lot of dangerous plays from I think minute 15 to minute 45. I don’t think that we did well enough in that stretch of the game, but then our performance in the second half, after getting the guys in the locker room was very good again. I think that we’re still after 90 minutes of complete soccer, and I think tonight we got 65-70. I think we’re improving a little bit.”
REAL SALT LAKE GOALKEEPER – NICK RIMANDO:
Thoughts on the match: “A good offense was the best defense tonight. The guys fought hard, from the forwards to the defenders. They made my job easy. It was a good victory that we needed going into the playoffs.”
On the ability to score: “I think the quality of our finishes. Us playing simple when we needed to play simple and the threat of our strikers and our whole midfield getting into the offensive third.”
On the team’s mentality: “We knew this was a big game, not a must win – but a big game for us. At the end of the season you try to get as many points as you can and today that was the mentality going into the game. The guys capitalized on that. All week we talked about going forward an getting offensive threats and that’s exactly what we did today.
REAL SALT LAKE FORWARD – ALVARO SABORIO:
Thoughts on the match: “Very happy with the victory and performance of the team and the win on the road. We worked hard to create chances and score, the midfielders did their job to get chances.”
On the team’s mentality: “Very positive, we have to think that every game is a playoff game and keep it like that.”
Chivas USA (7-16-7) vs. Real Salt Lake (16-11-4)
Sept. 29, 2012 – Home Depot Center
Scoring Summary:
RSL – Alvaro Saborio 15 (Javier Morales 7, Fabian Espindola 5) 8
RSL – Alvaro Saborio 16 (Fabian Espindola 6) 11
RSL – Alvaro Saborio 17, 65
RSL – Paulo Junior 2 (Fabian Espindola 7, Will Johnson 3) 81
Chivas USA – Dan Kennedy, James Riley, Danny Califf ©, John Valencia, Ante Jazic, Miller Bolaños, Peter Vagenas (Ben Zemanski 73), Nick LaBrocca, Oswaldo Minda, Ryan Smith (Juan Agudelo 57), Juan Pablo Angel (Jose Correa 82)
Subs not used – Patrick McLain, Alejandro Moreno, Shalrie Joseph, Jorge Villafaña
Real Salt Lake – Nick Rimando, Chris Schuler, Nat Borchers, Tony Beltran, Chris Wingert (Kenny Mansally 45), Will Johnson, Javier Morales (Jonny Steele 83), Luis Gil, Kyle Beckerman, Alvaro Saborio (Paulo Junior 74), Fabian Espindola
Subs not used – Sebastian Velasquez, Kyle Reynish, Yordany Alvarez, Justin Braun
Misconduct Summary:
CHV – Miller Bolaños (yellow, dive) 15
RSL – Chris Wingert (yellow, foul) 20
CHV – Oswaldo Minda (yellow, foul) 21
Referee: Juan Guzman
Referee’s Assistants: Ian Anderson, Baboucarr Jallow
4th Official: Jesus Cisneros
Attendance: 11,450
Time of Game: 1:50
Weather: Clear, 77 degrees
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.
El Noticiero de Alvarez Galloso 