Chivas USA spoil Rice-Eccles finale

Red-and-White hand Real Salt Lake first home loss of season

Atiba Harris (right) and Chivas USA topped Nat Borchers and Real Salt Lake on Saturday night. (AP Photos)

With the third-largest home crowd in RSL history on hand to witness the final match at Rice-Eccles Stadium, Chivas handed RSL a 1-0 loss on Saturday night, the club's first loss at home this season.

The result also had a huge impact on the MLS Cup Playoffs picture. Combined with Colorado's 1-1 draw with New England, Chivas USA is now in second place in the Western Conference, with the Rapids and Real Salt Lake tied for third place and the final automatic playoff spot.

Chivas scored the game's lone goal in the 72nd minute when Alecko Eskandarian had the simplest of goals gift-wrapped to him courtesy of a RSL defensive mistake.

Defender Nat Borchers chased after a long ball driven toward the RSL goal when he crashed into Nick Rimando as the Real 'keeper came out to snag the ball at the top of the penalty area.

The ball popped free and bounced to Eskandarian's feet. With nothing between him and an empty net, it was a simple matter of guiding it in.

A steady rain did not diminish the RSL attack in the early stages of the match. The club piled up scoring chances like they were raindrops striking the Rice-Eccles turf. Turning them into actual goals proved much harder to do.

Real nearly got on the board in the second minute when Yura Movsisyan put the ball to flight on a nice bicycle kick. He angled his shot at the far post, but the ball sailed wide over the upper corner.

Javier Morales created another nice chance on a free kick in the 10th minute. The Argentinean midfielder uncorked a powerful shot that easily cleared the defensive wall. It caught a little too much air, though, and cleared the crossbar as well.

Morales came up short on an even better opportunity a minute later. Forward Robbie Findley drove into the six-yard box and ripped a nice shot. Dan Kennedy came up with a nice save, but the ball bounced right into the path of Morales. It took only a split second for him to rocket it back on frame.

The ball nearly entered the goal, but it was stopped in midair on the line by Jonathan Bornstein and cleared away.

Chivas was nearly as active on the other end. The Red-and-White had a near-miss in the fourth minute when Eskandarian clamped onto a ball fed to him deep in the penalty area. Eskandarian one-touched it right at Rimando, who blanketed the ball for a save.

Another Chivas scoring chance materialized in the 24th minute. Atiba Harris tracked down the ball in the corner and sent it back to Francisco Mendoza just outside the top of the penalty area. Mendoza fired a bullet that was perfectly on target, but Rimando stood his ground and managed to knock it away with his fingertips.

RSL looked to finally have its first goal in the 31st minute when Movsisyan cut around a defender and curved the ball inside the near post. But his would-be score was waved off after Movsisyan was ruled offside.

Movsisyan's hard luck continued right up to halftime. He had a nice volley off a header in the 44th minute that was good enough to turn into a goal. But it went straight at Kennedy, who could not have moved out of the path of the ball even if he wanted to and deflected it to safety.

RSL continued to misfire in the second half. Will Johnson fed the ball to Andy Williams on a breakaway in the 54th minute. Williams had enough space to create something, but overran Johnson's pass. He recovered and corralled the ball before it bounced over the endline. But it left Williams with an awkward angle.

He tried to curve the ball up and bend it around the near post. Instead, the ball simply banged into the post and careened away.

After getting the opening goal, Chivas hung on through the final minutes. Real's last gasp came on a near-breakaway by Movsisyan in the 85th minute. He threaded the needle between a pair of defenders, but Kennedy covered up at the top of the goal area to make a timely save.

John Coon is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.

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