Chivas USA Post-Game

Suarez' miss from the penalty spot.

Photo by Scott Varley

Game story.

Box score.

Here's Claudio Suarez on missing the first half penalty kick:

"I feel bad for having missed it because it influenced the result. If I'd put it in it would have changed the game."

Preki thought the "silly free kick" in the 23rd minute against Panchito Mendoza (it looked like a dangerous two-footed tackle on replays to me) that resulted in the tying goal was the "changing point" of the game:

"They are a very good team. You give a team like that a moment or two they're going to punish you."

Suarez clearly wasn't used to the speed a team like Pachuca can play at:

"The match was played at a high rate," he said. "I hadn't played Mexican soccer for a while. Pachuca can pass ball around."

Jonathan Bornstein, who switched positions with Panchito Mendoza and played left half much of the game rather than left back, said Pachuca's speed on counter attacks was a handful:

If you turn the ball over they were very quick to transition and get down the flanks. They had those two full backs who were kind of playing high all the time. It worked for them I thought the game opened up a lot."

Preki conceded his team looked a "step slower" after Thursday's game against the Galaxy and couldn't quite match the speed and polish of Pachuca's possession-oriented game:

They are a very good passing team. Against teams like that you have to be patient. It's different than MLS. Not too many teams in our league base everything on passing like this team does."

He also observed that goalkeeper Lance Parker was drafted in after Guzan backup Dan Kennedy sustained a "knock" in Friday's reserve team game against the Galaxy. Preki on Parker's first ever start as a pro: "pretty decent."

U.S. Coach Bob Bradley was at the game, by the way, as was Mexico's new manager Sven-Göran Eriksson.

Sacha Kljestan: grounded.

Photo by Scott Varley