Chivas USA headed to Houston on Saturday, seeking to end their goalless streak, and were successful in that respect. However, they could not get any points, losing 2-1 to the Dynamo on a second-half own goal by Heath Pearce. Chivas left the match regretful over their sloppy play and inability to capitalize on Houston’s own sloppy play. Neither team looked like world beaters in this match, but Houston were able to take advantage of Chivas’ mistakes and make them pay.
The game started off with a spark as it appeared Houston’s Bobby Boswell scored on a header off a corner in the third minute, but the goal was disallowed for infringement. Four minutes later, the first goal to count came from Chivas’ Marcos Mondaini, who punished Houston defender Hunter Freeman on a terrible backpass. Mondaini pounced on the ball, ran past goalkeeper Tally Hall, and scored on an open net. Chivas had finally broken their five-year goalless drought at Robertson Stadium, and Mondaini continued the stellar play since he has returned to the lineup following his four-game suspension. It was his second goal in two games, and his third for the season.
From there, Chivas could not stop making mistakes. Their set piece defending was very poor, and it first cost them in the 29th minute when Hunter Freeman headed the ball in off a free kick by Brad Davis, and the Dynamo knotted the score. Then in the second half, Houston went ahead on another set piece, as a corner kick into the box led to the ball pinballing before Pearce’s touch sent it into the net for an own goal. Although Pearce was surely unhappy to put Houston ahead, it was one of those unfortunate mistakes that happen to defenders from time to time. For the remainder of the second half, Chivas were lucky to escape without more goals from the Dynamo, as Will Braun had a long-distance shot barely saved after Chivas defender Michael Lahoud sent a terrible pass into space straight at Braun. Meanwhile, Chivas could not click in the offensive end, and were unable to really put a good chance on goal in the second half.
From this match, Chivas need to think about their defensive woes and work on maintaining a lead, something that has emerged as a problem in the past month. And while their set-piece defending in particular is cause for concern, Houston is a very good set-piece team and is a particular strength of theirs, so perhaps Chivas’ defending in that regard is not totally to blame. Besides the clear defensive problems, Chivas cannot dwell on the loss, however. As I mentioned in the preview, Houston is one of the most unpredictable teams in the league, and on this day, they rose to the occasion. Chivas need to move on and think ahead to the upcoming match against FC Dallas.
(image courtesy of Getty Images)
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