Rough Start to SuperLiga 2010 for Chivas USA

Mexican side Puebla FC earned a 2 - 1 victory over Chivas USA on Thursday night to kick off SuperLiga 2010 action at the Home Depot Center in front of 12,617 fans.

In its fourth iteration, the yearly tournament pits MLS and Mexican league teams against each other for a $1 million purse and local bragging rights. On Thursday, the rivalry showed a bit of its fire with referee Jose Molina issuing 8 yellow cards, two of them to Chivas USA defender Yamith Cuesta.

The resulting ejection of Cuesta had little effect on the outcome, given it occurred at the 93rd minute and only seconds from the final whistle, but it was reflective of the match’s chippy nature. A total of 25 fouls where called by Molina as the teams hacked at each other throughout the night.

Puebla had opened the scoring at the 6th minute through a soft, bouncing shot by Andres Olivera from close to the edge of the penalty box. The shot seemed harmless, but Chivas USA ‘keeper Dan Kennedy appeared to have been caught by surprise and failed to react, then saw it slowly bounce into the back of his net.