Chivas USA 2 : 0 Sounders FC

Sounders Receive Salutary Lesson in Finishing

April 18

Seattle got a bit of a wake up call in Los Angeles. They outshot Chivas by 11 efforts to six, but only two of those were on goal. As expected, Chivas were physical, amassing 18 fouls. Sounders had plenty of possession but a goal in each half for the home side decided the encounter.

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James Riley was unfortunate to redirect a cross from the Chivas left into his own net, leaving debutant Chris Eylander little hope, although Nate Jaqua came very close to leveling on the stroke of half time. Six minutes from the end, substitute Chukwudi Chijindu completed the scoring having just beaten Zach Scott to a loose ball from Serbian, Bojan Stepanovic.

Seattle made the better chances but only two were directed on goal. Many will rue Fredy Montero’s tenth minute attempted chip which went clean through. His delicate effort beat the goalkeeper Thornton but went wide of the left hand post. Three minutes later, a similar effort lacked power, direction and height and went tamely wide.

Sigi Schmid looked back at the match ruefully, “I thought we had a chance right at the end of the first half where Zach Thornton came up with a save on the near post off the cross from Nate Jaqua; we could’ve made it 1-1 there. I thought in the second half we had a couple of opportunities. Steve Zakuani provided us a couple of opportunities on the left, and got in behind their defense, so I think we’re getting there, we’re just missing the final pass, and as I said, we’re missing our ability to sustain our attack when we attack them. It seemed like once our attack ended, and once they got the ball, then we had to go all the way back into our defensive third before we could attack again.”

No Cause for Panic

Some will be bandying about phrases such as Seattle’s bubble has burst. This is premature. This was the side’s first game on grass. It was also only their second away game. The players are still getting to know each other, and this was still only the second game where Ljungberg and Montero have both started, and the first where there were eleven men on the Seattle side for the whole game. And nine points from five games is still beyond expectations for an opening haul.

Chivas are a physical side and there was always going to be an aspect that the strictness of the refereeing would control their efficiency. Sounders can have no complaints. With 18 free kicks awarded against Chivas, plus the amount of possession they held, the rave green should have created more chances. The final ball was not good at the Home Depot, but credit for reading the game can also be given to the Chivas defenders. They closed down well and their apparent lack of pace was insufficiently exposed.

Sounders come home next week and face San Jose Earthquakes. Kickoff is 7.30pm on Saturday.

Sides:
Chivas: Zach Thornton; Mariano Trujillo, Shavar Thomas, Carey Talley, Jonathan Bornstein; Atiba Harris, Sacha Kljestan, Jesse Marsch (captain), Bojan Stepanovic; Alecko Eskandarian, Eduardo Lillingston.

Seattle: Chris Eylander, Zach Scott, Tyrone Marshall, Jhon Hurtado, James Riley; Osvalso Alonso, Freddie Ljungberg, Brad Evans, Seb Le Toux; Fredy Montero, Nate Jaqua

Attendance: 15, 463

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