Photos by Sean Hiller
It was a glorious draw, um, defeat.
Chivas USA and Real Salt Lake drew 2-2 Saturday, but the Goats lost 3-2 on aggregate to go down to another first round playoff exit.
Still, Preki and his team threw everything they had at RSL, including removing defenders Jim Curtin and Cary Talley in the second half for attackers Alecko Eskandarian and Justin Braun and going with a three-man back line. But even being urged on by a frantic crowd of 19,265 wasn’t enough and Preki still doesn’t have a post-season win on his resume, despite his team pouring forward in a desperate attempt to get the third goal that would have tied the aggregate score.
Striker Ante Razov, who is out of contract and may not return next season, said the team gave everything they had:
“I think every guy walked off that field exhausted tonight. It just wasn’t meant to be. We pushed and we pushed and we pushed. We left ourselves open and that’s how they got that second goal. This is soccer.
“We went down swinging,” he added. “We threw it all out there, gave it our best shot and sometimes things don’t bounce your way. I thought we pressured them well. They countered well, give them credit. You’ve got to gamble when you need a goal, they punished us on that second goal. But these guys never gave up and we should be proud of what we accomplished in an unbelievably difficult year.”
Highlights:
Bonus quotes:
*RSL Coach Jason Kreis on the Chivas USA attacks in the second half:
“We were under an extreme amount of pressure. There were a lot of balls cleared out of our box. (Goalkeeper) Nick Rimando was an absolute monster for us.
“If this game had happened earlier in the season I think we would have been in some real big trouble.”
At right: Justin Braun gives Chivas USA hope.
*Preki, on why he went with goalkeeper Zach Thornton instead of Dan Kennedy, who had impressed in the veteran’s absence and had returned from suspension:
“Before he got injured Zach was the number one. Kennedy had a good spell. Then he gets a red card. Zach, we thought, he had a good game in Salt Lake, was sharp and we always feel it’s not a good thing for the group to change the goalkeeper every week. He played the last game, he was solid, so we keep him in.”
*Kreis, on the impressive play and late season goal scoring exploits of Pasadena’s Yura Movsisyan who had grabbed seven goals in nine games, including two consecutive 90 minute goals, coming into the game:
“He’s just coming into his game. The coaching staff looked at each other in preseason and said ‘this guy can score 10 goals for us.’ We really thought he was going to be our goalscorer and then at the beginning of the season he picked up a little bit of an issue with his knee. … He just didn’t look 100 percent for a long time (and had surgery). In hindsight, I think that was a fantastic decision. It got him away from the game, away from some of the frustrations he was feeling and then he came back very, very strong. He’s a guy who works extremely hard, he’s a player who wants to stay after training every time and you have to like that. As a former forward I think I have a few things to offer him and he’s taking the messages and really working on them and putting them into his game.”
*Razov, on what Chivas USA needs to do in the off-season:
“I think everything needs to be assessed from training methods from guys’ professionalism maybe, to our workout programs. Everything has to be looked at. Each and every guy has to look at themselves and see where their breakdowns were and what caused that. A lot of times injuries happen – you can’t really prevent some of them – but I think all of that has to be looked at and see why this was going on, what particular type of injuries we were having. That’s all to be assessed at a later date.”
*Razov on whether he’ll return next year with Chivas USA:
“I’m not retiring. My contract is up with Chivas. There’s some other things out there, so I’m going to have to look and see maybe whether it’s time to move on. I’m proud of what I’ve done here. I’ve been in the playoffs every year with a team that had one of two games before that. I feel good with my run with Chivas. We’ll sit down and see how things work out.”
BTW: Overheard in the Chivas USA locker room was this comment by the classy Jesse Marsch: “Ante, if this is the last time we played together, it’s been a pleasure.”
Ante was pretty choked up at that moment, but to his credit returned to continue with interviews. One observer called it “a pretty awesome moment you don’t always get to see between such veteran achievers.”
My wife is just upset one of the hunks of the team is apparently leaving.
Sacha Kljestan sums up the night of Chivas USA after missing an opportunity in the 89th minute.
