Ante Razov’s deciding goal.

Photo by Scott Varley

Before we get started, take a deep breathe and read this fine piece of journalism on Chivas USA midfielder Sacha Kljestan and his father.

I’ll wait.

But then we figured Kljestan would be going to the Olympics, didn’t we? The squad will officially be announced at 10 a.m. today (Thursday).

Other nuggets:
*Midfielder Paulo Nagamura, who suffered a mild concussion during the match, and defender Jonathan Bornstein will be suspended for Sunday’s game against New England because of yellow-card accumulation (2 apiece).

*We were discussing in the press box about the tie-breakers in SuperLiga given the possibility Chivas USA, the Revolution and Pachuca could end up tied on six points at the end of the games Sunday.

Colleague Phil Collin kindly researched the issue (based on last year’s rules):
1. points
2. head-head
3. point differential
4. goals scored
5. drawing of lots

Now here’s the catch: if after the first four criteria, a team qualifies, that team advances. Then the process is repeated. For instance, if Pachuca wins 2-0 and Chivas USA wins 1-0, Pachuca advances on goal differential. Then you go back to the top and play the string out with the two remaining teams.

Got that?

Curiously though, Sunday’s pair of games aren’t played at the same time: the Revs and Chivas USA game is later than Pachuca-Santos Laguna. Not that I’m suggesting anything.

The game story is here.

And (for those of you who read until the end of the game story) it looks like yet another foreign veteran (Wicky) is a total bust in MLS, doesn’t it?

On to the quotes:

*Preki on the economy of shots for Chivas USA:

“We got one shot on goal tonight – we scored. We’re going to take that. We’re not going to complain about that. Sometimes things don’t go your way, you lose. Tonight, I thought the ball bounced our way. Sometimes in this game you have to be lucky. You’ve got to get a bounce.”

*Ante Razov on the ball Kljestan served him that led to the goal:

“It was good work out on the wing with Sacha and we’ve developed pretty good chemistry as of late, especially. I just wanted to try to set my guy up and get to the near post, and fortunately I was able to get a piece of it, I also think the defender got a piece of it too. Great ball.”

*Did Santos Laguna Coach Daniel Guzman think the 90th minute goal his team scored was offside?

“It was a goal. There was no-one offside on that play. That’s when we started the whole debate with the referee, but it’s over now.”

On the loss:

“They had a goal-scoring opportunity. They put it in. Sometimes soccer is that way. You play well. You don’t win. You play badly, you win.”

*Preki on how the team came out:

“I didn’t feel like we got a grip of the game in the first 10-15 minutes. I thought they were the better team, I thought they were moving the ball a bit better than us, I thought we were nervous, but I was expecting that given the fact that we’ve changed quite a few players from the other night to tonight.”

Finally, here’s the first half sitter Christian Benitez of Santos Laguna missed in the first half with Chivas USA goalkeeper Dan Kennedy and the net at his mercy.

Photo by Scott Varley