Chivas USA returned to the Home Depot Center on Sunday night to face Eastern Conference leaders Sporting Kansas City in the hope they could stop the visitor’s impressive winning run and start their own. However, after a shock 1-0 away win last week, The Goats decided to revert back to their poor home form and Sporting Kansas City left Carson with all three points. A Sapong goal just after the start of the second half meant Chivas USA lost 1-0 at home for the third time this season.
Confidence was high amongst the Chivas USA camp last week after a stunning 1-0 victory on the road to Real Salt Lake. Their next fixture then, against SKC, was the perfect opportunity to prove to the rest of the MLS that they could compete with the best teams in the league this year. With two 1-0 defeats already at the HDC, The Goats were under a lot of pressure to provide their home fans with not only their first home goal of the season but also their first points.
The story of this match though was incredibly familiar to the previous games here. Chivas kept good possession of the ball throughout and when under pressure defended well. However, once again, they offered very little in attack and in the 2nd half lost focus and conceded. What will certainly infuriate Head Coach Robin Fraser, though, is the fact that Chivas USA did not look out of their depth against SKC but failed to take anything from the game.
The Rojiblancos started the game well and, with the expected defensive line-up, began to control possession early on. The first half began slowly though and it took a collision between Ryan Smith and Chance Myers to liven things up. As the half progressed SKC started to control the match and had a penalty claim turned down on the 39th minute when McKenzie looked to have fouled Sapong when he was challenging for a cross. Chivas USA’s best opportunity to open the scoring came just before half time when Ryan Smith went one-on-one with Nielsen in the 44th minute but lost control and failed to test the Sporting goalkeeper.
Another first half ended at The Home Depot Center with Chivas USA performing adequately, but failing to excite anyone with a familiar 0-0 score line. In the previous two games at the HDC, when Chivas USA found themselves 0-0 at halftime they failed to hold on and were punished in the 2nd half. This was also the story on Sunday, and after the whistle went to start the 2nd half, it took SKC only 2 minutes to find the back of the net. The goal came on the 47th minute after Zusi beat Ante Jazic in the air and sent the ball over to Sapong to head the ball past the helpless Dan Kennedy. The attack, which was a result of lost possession in midfield, shouldn’t have been a problem for the Chivas defense but at least it gave them enough time to find an equalizer. The Goats piled on the pressure and although hitting the post in the 54th minute they were again guilty of poor finishing. With a lack of real scoring opportunities SKC were able to hold on for the 1-0 win.
Everything in this game was all too familiar from Chivas USA. It was again a decent, controlled performance with some good defensive work that was eventually undone from a single attack in the 2ns half. Chivas USA have now played three games at home this season failing to score and allowing the visitors to leave with a 1-0 victory. Their result in Utah last week renewed confidence amongst players and fans alike, but their poor form at home continues to frustrate. They have showed they can compete with the teams they have faced so far and a positive result against SKC was not out of the question. However, with all the good defensive play the stats do not fail to show where the problem lies. There were only six shots on goal from Chivas USA in the entire, all off target, and all coming in the 2nd half. The Goats go back on the road in their next game, traveling to Portland for their 2nd away fixture of the year. Robin Fraser’s men might just be relying on creating some away form to try and keep their season alive.
Chivas USA: Dan Kennedy; James Riley, Rauwshan McKenzie, Heath Pearce, Ante Jazic (Cesar Romero, 80); Nick LaBrocca, Oswaldo Minda; Ryan Smith, Alejandro Moreno (Miller Bolaños, 72), Laurent Courtois; Casey Townsend. Unused subs: Scott Gordon, Tim Melia, Peter Vagenas, John Alexander Valencia, Ben Zemanski.
Sporting Kansas City: Jimmy Nielsen; Chance Myers, Aurelien Collin, Matt Besler, Seth Sinovic; Julio Cesar, Roger Espinoza; Kei Kamara, Graham Zusi (Paulo Nagamura, 89), Bobby Convey (Jacob Peterson, 72); C.J. Sapong (Teal Bunbury, 72). Unused subs: Michael Harrington, Jon Kempin, Lawrence Olum, Luke Sassano.
Chivas USA Sporting Kansas City
6 Attempts on Goal 19
0 Shots on Target 6
6 Shots off Target 10
0 Blocked Shots 3
1 Corner Kicks 7
11 Fouls 15
8 Open Play Crosses 17
3 Offsides 0
1 Yellow Cards 1
0 Red Cards 0
386 Total Pass 371
67% Passing Accuracy % 72%
50.1% Possession 49.9%
(image courtesy of Getty Images)
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