Chivas USA-Toronto Post-game

Chivas USA 3 Toronto 0

I came to this game to write Chivas USA’s season obituary; I may have seen the start of an unlikely resurrection.

“I feel like I haven’t smiled in a long time,” said a beaming Chivas USA Coach Robin Fraser in the locker room afterward.

Staff Writer Elliott Teaford took a break from the Lakers beat and has the game story.

Toronto Coach Aron Winter made the understatement of the evening when he said after the game that his player were “a little flat.”

D’ya think?

This was a horrendous performance by Toronto whose self-belief appeared completely shredded from the outset and was in total retreat all night long.

Every time Chivas USA playmaker Nick LaBrocca surged forward with the ball, Toronto’s back-pedaling players seemed on the verge of fleeing for the dressing room.

Still, Chivas USA took full advantage and now sit just four points behind New York for the final wild card spot with three games remaining – and all at Home Depot Center.

No fatal errors, no bad mistakes, no hurting themselves and a Chivas USA win was the worthy result.

Quotable:

“To see us start a game well and finish a game well, it’s what we need at this point in the season,” Fraser said. “To win convincingly is good for our confidence because we have a very tall hill to climb.”

Notable: Juan Pablo Angel has six goals in six games for Chivas USA and is only two behind top scorer Justin Braun, who also scored tonight.

Fraser is impressed by Angel since he came over from the Galaxy:

“He came here and looked at it as a challenge. We needed help. Big-time players like big-time challenges. His leadership has been invaluable to us.”

Watch that leadership on display here:

Next for Chivas USA: hosting Philadelphia Oct. 2.

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About Nick Green

South Bay-based Los Angeles News Group soccer columnist and blogger Nick Green writes at the 100 Percent Soccer blog at www.insidesocal.com/soccer and craft beer at the Beer Goggles blog at www.insidesocal.com/beer. Cheers!