Since I spent most of the time in the locker room interviewing Claudio Suarez and Panchito Mendoza – the team’s two Mexicans – about next Sunday’s SuperLiga opener against Pachuca for Tuesday’s column, my opportunities to get quotes about tonight’s game were limited.

Still, there weren’t many talking points anyway.

Chivas USA were fortunate to get a 1-0 win from an 88th minute Ante Razov free kick against the San Jose Earthquakes, the league’s worst team. But so tight is the Western Conference, with the top six teams separated by just three points, that Chivas USA has zoomed from sixth to first.

Here’s Chivas USA Coach Preki on goalscorer Ante Razov’s performance:

“I thought tonight was his best performance (of the season). He looked calmer on the ball.”

On Corrales’ ripping shot that hit the post:

“It hits (Chivas USA defender Paulo) Nagamura in the shoulder, it changes direction and it hits the post. We were a little bit lucky.”

On the possibility of bolstering the strike force given the injuries to Maykel Galindo and Alecko Eskandarian and the limited options in reserve:

“There’s always talks. Right now they’re just talks. … Hopefully in a couple of weeks time we’ll have (Galindo, etc) back so we’ll see what happens in the meantime.”

He certainly didn’t rule out a trade did he? Carlos Ruiz perhaps? We’ll see.

Game story here.

Check out the game action.

By the way, Pachuca played a friendly Saturday against Toronto. Read about it here.