For Chivas, a taste of the playoffs
Electric crowd, high stakes mimic potential postseason
The match featured controversial calls, physical plays and clutch goals and gave the Western Conference frontrunners a taste of what to expect in late October.
"Playing in games like that, we need that," Chivas USA defender Lawson Vaughn said. "That game is going to help us in the playoffs whether we like it or not."
Fire star Cuauhtemoc Blanco attracted thousands of fans in his first visit to Home Depot Center as a member of Major League Soccer. The Mexican national team legend and Club America icon was cheered loudly at levels that rivaled LA Galaxy star David Beckham's cheers in this same building.
Blanco's antics, though, did not sit well with some of Chivas USA's players. Blanco drew eight fouls. Despite his penchant for falling at the slightest contact, the hosts did well to keep it from disrupting them too much.
"As frustrated as we could have been, I still think for the most part our group stuck to our game plan and did our thing," Chivas USA midfielder Jesse Marsch said.
Chivas USA coach Preki said he felt that the officiating could have had less of an effect on the match.
"You don't really want good hard games to be decided by the officiating. You just want to let it go," he said. "It's a man's game and the players should decide who the better team is."
Blanco drew a foul in the 23rd minute that led to the game's first goal. Preki, though, questioned the call afterward.
"One play that I'm not sure was a foul, the referee calls it and Cuauhtemoc scores a pretty good goal," Preki said.
Before Blanco scored, Marsch was booked for dissent after having an animated discussion with referee Tim Weyland.
"That's ridiculous. They had four or five really hard fouls in the first seven or eight minutes of the game and he doesn't give a yellow card," Preki said. "We get the first foul and he gives a yellow card."
On the foul, Paulo Nagamura stayed with Blanco well outside the box. Nagamura slid and knocked the ball away from Blanco, who fell to the ground on the play.
"I don't think it was a foul," Vaughn said. "Paulo got the ball and maybe a touch of Blanco, but this is a contact sport. Blanco goes down pretty easy and the ref is behind him. A little bit of that I think is to protect the player and it led to a goal."
From 30 yards out, Blanco placed the ball just inside the right post and sent the thousands of Blanco fans in the stands into a frenzy.
Guzan said it was on overall breakdown in defending the set piece.
"It's just kind of one of those things that we need to do a better job, either myself setting it up and making sure it's in the place it needs to be or kind of as a whole unit taking care of that situation," he said.
Chicago turned away Chivas USA well until the 81st minute, when CJ Brown fouled Maykel Galindo inside the penalty area.
"I thought Maykel had a clear path of the goal and CJ gave him a little shove. I'm not so sure if that's a PK or not -- I have to have a look," said Preki, who added that he had not yet seen the replay.
Chivas USA skipper Claudio Suarez ripped the ensuing spot kick into the back of the net.
In stoppage time, Blanco ran into the penalty area and went down after contact with second-half substitute Alex Zotinca. When no call was made, Chicago's sideline erupted in apparent rage. The arguing cost the visitors as coach Juan Carlos Osorio was sent off.
Still, Suarez said the ball was correctly ruled to not have been a penalty.
"It was a controversial play, but I don't think it was a penalty," Suarez said. "Alex knocked the ball away cleanly even though there was contact. They argued a lot but to us who were a lot closer, we saw it wasn't."
Luis Bueno is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
