Chivas USA-Colorado Rapids MLS post-game (with video lowlights)

Chivas USA 0 Colorado Rapids 1

Just two games into Chivas USA's season the locker room already felt like a mid-season morgue, with the dispirited club seemingly on a trajectory similar to last season.

There were few hopeful signs in this one and players slumped next to their lockers with vacant looks that suggested they didn't have any answers.

"This is when you really find out about a team's character," said Chivas USA Coach Robin Fraser. "It's not about pointing fingers at ourselves. It's not about looking at the next guy - it's about accountability.

Reporter Phil Collin has the game story here.

Lowlights are here:

How bad was it statistically?

Chivas USA had two-thirds of the possession, but were limited to just two shots on goal by the Rapids, who never looked likely to lose control of the game despite the modest one-goal deficit.

Notable: Ben Zemanski played as a central defender for the first time in his pro career.

Fraser sounded annoyed at the likes of Ecuadorian forward Victor Estupinan, who had boasted of his goal scoring prowess in preseason, but has so far showed precious few flashes of it:

"It was an eye-opening experience for him that in this league he can't just show up and expect to score goals."

And Fraser suggested, with an air of desperation, he was willing to try different things:

"We're not married to any system," he said. "We'll take any system right now that will not give up goals and will score goals."

But the U.S. Open Cup game Tuesday against the winless Portland Timbers, the lone team below Chivas USA in the Western Conference, now takes on even greater import, Fraser said:

"For our confidence we need to come out and play well," he said. "For a young team to grow you need to see the fruits of your labor at some point."