No column today in observance of Labor Day, but I headed out to Chivas USA training Monday anyway for a few brief words and a riddle:

Q: What’s worse than losing in the preliminary round of a supposedly prestigious new competition few people yet care about?

A: Losing in the preliminary round of said competition to a team few have heard of from a small country undistinguished in soccer terms.

That’s the challenge facing Chivas USA Tuesday night in the return leg of their preliminary round CONCACAF Champions League match against Panamanian team Tauro FC.

Chivas USA lost 2-0 in the first leg so must win by three clear goals, although two goals would be enough to send the game to overtime and perhaps penalties. But as defender Bobby Burling pointed out, Tauro are likely to play with just one player up front and pack the defense so breaking them down could be difficult.

Here’s what Chivas USA are playing for: entry to the group stage of the tournament proper.

A small crowd of a few thousand is expected (parking is actually free, surely a first for a game involving an MLS team at the HDC) and tickets start at just $15. That crowd should actually be better than at the game in Panama where a few hundred attended at most, Burling observed:

“There wasn’t that many people there. The country didn’t seem to excited or to into the game itself.”

Here are the game essentials from the official Chivas USA blog and below are the quotes from the interviews conducted Monday as the pictures on Dentro del Rebano were taken.

Inspirational midfielder Sacha Klejstan, who received permission from former Chivas USA Coach Bob Bradley (it’s all about who you know, isn’t it?), to play tonight and become the last man to link up with the U.S. squad Wednesday before the Cuba World Cup qualifier, believes Chivas USA can come back:

“I think so. We created some chances early in the game against Tauro. No, we didn’t put them away. In this game we’re playing at home, we’ll feel confident that we’ll create enough chances to score at least two goals.”

On the key to the game:

“We’re not going to stress if we don’t get an early goal, but if we do get an early goal it’s really going to help us out a lot. As the game wears on we hope to wear them down a little bit. They didn’t seem to be the most fit when we played them the last time.”

The problem is Chivas USA still aren’t exactly healthy, once again giving Coach Preki major selection problems:

“I don’t know how long (striker) Ante (Razov) can go. I don’t know how long Esky can go. … Obviously, Claudio (Suarez) is out, (defender) Shavar (Thomas) is out with Jamaica (at World Cup qualifying).

On what he learned about their opponents:

“They play long ball, they try to counter-attack, they’re not much of a passing team. My concern is not them. My concern is us. Who can play, who cannot play, that’s the biggest concern I have.”

On how his team deals with the psychological hill of knowing it will take three unanswered goals to win the game:

“One goal at a time. We’re not going to win in the first five minutes. The thing is we’ve got to be patient. We’ve got a nice field, big field. We’ve got to move the ball fast. … They’ll have a tough time figuring us out.

Was he surprised by their speed on the counter attack?

“I was surprised how lethargic we were. If you give me too much time, I’ll look fast, too – and I’m not. We gave them too much time and space. That hurt us.”

Here’s Burling on how Chivas USA need to approach the game:

“We need to be smart. We don’t need to be forcing things, but at the same time playing with a little bit of urgency.”

Technically, I’m on staycation this week, but can I pass up going to the history-making first CONCACAF Champions League (qualifier) in L.A.? Nah. So I’ll blog, too.