Highlights:
This was one of those it’s all about the three points games because there wasn’t much else to it. And it kept Chivas USA within striking distance (with games to spare) of the top of the Western Conference.
“Right now it’s all about points, right now it’s all about getting a position in the playoffs, and every game and every point is important, and today is no different,” said Chivas USA Coach Preki. “I’m very happy we got three points.”
See?
New England were impotent. And Eduardo Lillingston admitted he dived to draw the second half stoppage time penalty kick that led to the goal.
Bonus quotes
*Here’s striker Justin Braun, who played for the first time since June, on Chivas USA’s lack of truly dangerous opportunities in the game:
“A lot of times guys were rushing it a little bit. We rushed the ball to much and we should have slowed it down, played more possessive a little bit and get opportunities closer to goal. But those are all things we can fix.”
*Here’s Sacha Kljestan on the same topic:
“Sometimes we weren’t urgent enough when we were supposed to be urgent and sometimes we weren’t patient enough when we supposed to be patient. We’ve got to be get better at that. We’ve got to get better finishing chances. We probably had 10 chances today and in games coming down the stretch we’re probably going to have two or three chances and we’ve got to be able to put a couple of them away.”
*Here’s Carey Talley on his red card in what appeared a minor altercation between him and Edgaras Jankauskas in the 70th minute:
“I had my hand on him on the cross just to feel him. He put his forearm in front of my face there. I just shoved him in the chest. The referee said that’s good enough for him. It was more of a reaction, I should have just gone down. … I shouldn’t have pushed him.”
Here’s Preki on Talley’s ejection, Chivas USA’s sixth red card of the season and second in consecutive games:
“I’ve been trying to address the matter in different ways and that’s going to stay inside the locker room. But yes, … I’m very concerned. We’re showing a little lack of discipline on the field and if we don’t clean (up) our act in the key parts of the year we’re going to have a difficult time. So hopefully we can learn from these couple of mistakes and become a little more disciplined team.”
Chivas USA XI – Zach Thornton, Carey Talley, Jonathan Bornstein, Yamith Cuesta, Jorge Flores, Jesus Padilla, Michael Lahoud, Paulo Nagamura, Sacha Kljestan, Justin Braun (Mariano Trujillo 75), Maicon Santos (Eduardo Lillingston 51).
