Half Time: Chivas USA-Galaxy
The difference in this game is again the easily flustered Galaxy defense, who froze as Sacha Kljestan, proving why he was a deserving pick in today's announced MLS All-Star XI, ran menacingly at them to lay the ball back to Ante Razov, who sent an assured, perfectly-placed strike out of the reach of Cronin for the 113th goal of his career.
Of course, Kljestan ran through the Galaxy midfield as well, almost single handedly creating the goal.
Chivas USA had the upper hand early on, but the Galaxy slowly clawed their way back into the game, the half finishing with Chris Klein lashing a vicious shot off the post that had Brad Guzan beaten.
In between, Panchito Mendoza cleared a Troy Roberts header off the line, while Ely Allen should have done better than just firing the ball straight at Guzan, when a lovely David Beckham dummy of a direct Chris Klein through ball deserved better.
The worst moment of the first half came when Ante Jazic went down with what looked a serious injury while battling for the ball with Atiba Harris. The early diagnosis was back spasms, but he was stretchered off and it looked much worse than that.
Jazic, a Canadian international, was starting just his fourth game after a long lay-off with an ankle injury.
About 100 Percent Soccer
Sportswriter Nick Green has written the 100 Percent Soccer column since 2005 for the Daily News, Daily Breeze and other Los Angeles area newspapers. The blog of the same name began in 2007. A native of England, he began writing about soccer in the mid-1980s and in 2000 permanently exchanged a seat in the stands for one in the press box. He lives six miles from Carson's Home Depot Center, home of the Los Angeles Galaxy, Chivas USA and the training headquarters for U.S. Soccer and is married to a long-suffering soccer widow. Join Nick on FaceBook and follow him on Twitter.
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