Chivas USA Clinches Playoff Spot!

Chivas USA forward Justin Braun put in a great performance and scored a goal to lead the red-and-whites to victory last night. (Getty Images)

Chivas USA secured its fourth consecutive trip to the MLS playoffs by defeating the Kansas City Wizards 2 - 0 last night at the Home Depot Center. The match closed out a great day of soccer that began with some favorable results for the red-and-whites and further included the U.S. Men's National Team securing their sixth consecutive World Cup appearance with a 3 - 2 victory over Honduras.

Earlier in the afternoon, San Jose gave Chivas USA a hand by tying Toronto FC. With that result, Chivas USA only needed a victory -- by any margin -- over the Wizards in order to claim their spot in this year's playoffs. Play in the first half seemed to indicate that some sense of the importance of a win had been lost.

Although the red-and-whites managed to double the Wizards on shots,only 2 were on goal and posed little threat to veteran Wizards 'keeper Kevin Hartman. Their best moments came in the middle third of the first half, but the team struggled to retain possession in the midfield. Fortunately for Chivas USA, Kansas City no better and the teams went into the break tied at zero.

Afterwards, Chivas USA head coach Preki Radosavljevic described play as poor and sluggish, adding "luckily we survived until half time and went into the locker rooms 0 - 0. We made sure that we talked about things we needed to do better in the second half."

The second half was dramatic change from the first. Veteran midfielder Jesse Marsch and defender Mariano Trujillo entered the game at the restart and immediately influenced play. Marsch's presence helped the red-and-whites gain control of the midfield and soon enough, Chivas USA found itself retaining possession for longer periods of time and generating some better offensive threats.

Chivas USA turned it up a notch at the 55th minute, bringing in Eduardo Lillingston in hopes of capitalizing on the improved offensive play. However, it would be Kansas City who would have the best chance only seconds later when Wizards forward Claudio Piojo Lopez sent a blast from about 25 yards out that look destined to go in, but the crossbar intervened.

The red-and-whites shook off the scare and began to threaten the Kansas City goal on a more frequent basis. Hartman kept his team in the game with some great saves, including a beautiful one handed save that led to the first goal. Chivas USA defender Yamith Cuesta jumped on the resulting rebound from Hartman's save and served a great ball to teammate Justin Braun -- the hands down man of the match -- who buried his second of the year from close range at the 72nd minute to open the scoring.

Cuesta's assist was his first in MLS and when asked about it, he was alls smiles. "I am really happy," he expressed, further commenting on how it was a team victory and a result of the support received from everyone on and off the pitch, player and fan alike.

The second goal came only minutes after Cuesta's assist. Trujillo sent a long ball down the flank and into space for Lillingston. Wizards defender Michael Harrington stumbled in his attempt to contain Lillingston and he was off to the races. Lillingston carried it into the right edge of the box before finding Sacha Kljestan at the semi-circle. Kljestan smoothly gained control and weaved his way through three Wizards defenders, nearly walking into the Kansas City goal. He calmly picked his spot and easily beat Hartman as he entered the six yard box for a final score of 2 - 0 in favor of Chivas USA.

With the victory, Chivas USA secured its spot in the 2009 MLS Playoffs and also puts them into a three team tie for first place in the Western Conference standings -- Houston and the Galaxy are the other two teams -- and only two weeks left in the season.