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Galaxy and Chivas USA Fall Short
Chivas USA forward Maykel Galindo battles during last night's SuperLiga match against Tigres UANL. Photo by AP.
Galaxy and Chivas USA drop respective games by similar scoreline as the MLS season quickly approaches its halfway point and SuperLiga action got underway.
The Galaxy traveled to the Bay Area for a Saturday afternoon match against the San Jose Earthquakes at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum and suffered a 2 - 1 defeat. San Jose opened the scoring via a penalty kick suffered and converted by Pablo Campos at the 6th minute. The penalty was committed by Galaxy defender Gregg Berhalter, who, despite his experience, is proving to be as much of a liability as he is an asset. Berhalter's performance was reflective of an overall sub-par defensive performance on the day. It was complemented by a lackluster offense that generated just one shot on goal, giving the L.A. side little chance of getting on the scoresheet.
San Jose would expand their lead at the 54th minute after Campos headed the ball across the goal and towards Ryan Johnson. Galaxy 'keeper Donovan Ricketts scrambled to try to cover, but Johnson was able to tap the ball into the back of the net before Ricketts could recover, giving the home side a 2 - 0 lead. The Galaxy would get one back when Jovan Kirovski scored his first of the year at the 65th minute, but the 2 - 1 score in favor of the 'Quakes held through the final whistle.
In the evening, Chivas USA took on Tigres UANL of the Mexican league as the red-and-whites began their SuperLiga 2009 campaign.
Chivas USA almost opened the scoring early on as defender Claudio Suarez got his head on a corner kick and redirected the ball towards the Tigres goal at the 8th minute. His shot, however, ended up hitting a fellow teammate a yard or two in front of the goal, stayed out and gave Tigres the opportunity to clear the threat. The play would foreshadow the red-and-whites' night, frustrating Head Coach Preki Radosavljevic.
Only minutes after Suarez's miss, Tigres worked the ball into Chivas USA penalty area via a cross from the right flank. Tigres' Americo Rodriguez got a head on it and the Chivas USA defense was unable to clear. Tigres forward Armando Pulido got on the ball through a spectacular bicycle kick that sailed past Chivas USA 'keeper Zach Thornton, giving the visitors a 1 - 0 lead at the 11th minute.
Chivas USA pressed on and controlled much of the game, but were largely unable to break the Tigres defensive shell in the offensive third. Just before the break, Chivas USA appeared to have tied the score, but the goal was called back on an errant out of bounds call and Tigres took the 1 - 0 lead into the break.
Jorge Flores and Michael Lahoud entered the game at the break, then promptly made their contributions by participating in a play that did get the red-and-whites ont he board. Flores ran down the flank and put in a nice heel pass to Eduardo Lillingston deep in the Tigres penalty box. Lillingston would find Bojan Stepanovic wide open at the top of the box. The latter lined up a shot, but he skewed it. Luck would intervene and despite the mistake, the ball would make its way to Lahoud right in front of an empty net. Lahoud tapped the ball and knocked it into the Tigres goal to tie it at the 55th.
Chivas USA, however, would then go a man down after Lillingston got ejected due to a second yellow on a play that Preki described as "dumb." Tigres seized the opportunity and took it to Chivas USA from that point forward and pinned the red-and-whites in their defensive end for most of the remaining 23 minutes. Eventually the pressure would cause an error and Tigres would capitalize at the 82nd minute to take the lead which held through the final whistle despite a few more threats from Chivas USA.
Not a good start to SuperLiga action for Chivas USA, but they will quickly get a chance to redeem themselves when they travel to Toyota Park to face Chicago Fire on Tuesday night.