Chivas plays its end game
Chivas USA Coach Preki did the soccer equivalent of pushing his entire stack of chips out into the center of the table Saturday night, betting everything on one turn of the card.
Desperately needing a goal to stay alive in Major League Soccer’s playoffs, Preki went to a two-man defense to get two more forwards onto the field, giving him four in all.
It was a daring gamble, but it didn’t work.
In the 77th minute of an absorbing match at the Home Depot Center, Argentine midfielder Javier Morales scored the goal that gave Real Salt Lake a 2-1 lead in the game and a 3-1 lead in the two-game, total-goals series.
Justin Braun managed to grab a goal for Chivas off a pass from Francisco Mendoza in the 83rd minute, and Sacha Kljestan came desperately close to sending the game to overtime when his 89th-minte shot sailed just over the crossbar.
The 2-2 tie was not enough, however, putting an end to Chivas USA’s season.
At the final whistle, Kljestan was on the turf exhausted, holding his head in his hands. Eventually, he was helped to his feet by Real’s Yura Movsisyan and trudged to the locker room.
Teammate Jesse Marsch finally joined him there, but not until he had bid fans a lengthy farewell, holding a Chivas scarf high above his head and accepting their cheers. He was the last man off the field.
It seemed a sign that Marsch, 35, might call it a career and he probably would not be the only Chivas player to do so.
In the Western Conference final, Real Salt Lake will play the winner of today’s match between the defending MLS champion Houston Dynamo and the New York Red Bulls.
Real playmaker Kyle Beckerman told Fox television that he was not concerned about which team Real plays.
“We showed we’re a class team, we’ll just keep it going,” he said. “Obviously, we’d like New York to win so that we could play at home. We’re just excited to be in the conference final.”
Movsisyan said Real Coach Jason Kreis had sent the team out to attack and build its lead, not to defend.
“We came here not to sit back,” Movsisyan said. “We scored two great goals. We wanted to play. It was a great result for us.”
The game had playoff intensity from the outset, with Real Salt Lake showing the confidence gained by its one-goal lead from the first game in Utah and Chivas determined to get back on level terms.
The first 20 minutes or so were a bit dour, and the then the game opened up.
Just before the half-hour mark, Chivas got the equalizer it wanted. Ante Razov took a corner kick from the right, the ball was cleared out by the defense and Razov again collected it.
He ran into the penalty area and was taken down by Morales as the two did a little arm wrestling. It was a so-so call by referee Michael Kennedy and could have gone either way.
In any event, after some loud protests by the Real Salt Lake players, Kljestan stepped up and slammed the penalty kick into the upper right corner of the net, beyond the reach of goalkeeper Nick Rimando.
The goal, which caused the announced crowd of 19,265 to erupt, put Chivas ahead, 1-0, in the game and tied the series at one goal apiece.
Chivas didn’t have long to celebrate, however. Dema Kovalenko tied it up in the 39th minute with an excellent glancing header off a pass by Morales.
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