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Double fixture week ends as it began for Chivas USA
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...with a loss.
Coming into Thursday nights match up against the Chicago Fire, the Goats had lost three straight matches to them in all competitions going back to last August. Looking to jump ahead of the pack that is known as the Western Conference, the Fire came out victorious in front of 17,537 rain drenched fans.
Thanks in part to the wet conditions, the match was slow in the first half. Plays had problems developing and players had a hard time finding the net. The Fire did find the post late in the 1st half though.
Much was the case in the second half. Though by this point the Fire had already been all of the corner kicks. Mexican International Cuahtehmoc Blanco entered as a substitute in the 64 minute. Three minutes later he directed another Fire corner kick (14 total) into the penalty box where Goats forward, Eduardo Lillingston attempted to clear the ball. Rather than clearing it over the crossbar as he intended, he re-directed the ball down to the ground passed Zach Thornton for the own goal.
On Sunday, the Goats could at the very least finish second place in the Western Conference with a win over Houston. That would put them in a first round playoff series with the Seattle Sounders. A team whom they've dominated this season. A draw or loss would put the Goats against their neighbors down the hall. This season it has been the Galaxy, who in turn have dominated the Goats.
With that in mind, the Goats came out attacking. If not for the efforts of the Houston defense, and goalkeeper Pat Onstead, the Goats might have scored a couple of goals by the 20th minute mark. However in a two minute span between the 26th and 28th minutes, Houston put up a pair of goals by Canadian international Andrew Hainault off a corner, and Dominic Oduro following a counter that caught United States international Jonathan Bornstein off guard.
Things got worse for the Goats at the start of the second half, as six minutes in, Paulo Nagamura failed to clear a Houston cross out of the box, which Geoff Cameron in turn sent a cross in the direction of the far post, to an awaiting Abe Thompson. Thompson (who had entered the match late in the first half as a substitute for Mexican international Luis Angel Landin) tapped in the 3rd goal for Houston.
"There was only one team on the field who had chances and that team lost," Coach Preki said. "Quite a few times the game can be cruel. We are not putting our head down."
That they didn't as Michael Lahoud scored his 2nd goal of the year (1st goal coming in the Superliga), and Eduardo Lillingston's 88th minute penalty brought the Goats within one goal of a draw. That is not to be though and Preki's men will now take on the LA Galaxy in the 1st round of the MLS Western Conference playoffs. Rather than finish the season with the 2nd seed in the west, they will enter the postseason as the 4th seed instead.
"If we would have beaten New York and San Jose, we would have done it. But we tied both games and we had so many chances and we don't put away goals." lamented Bornstein after the match.
The Goats will play "home and away" against the Galaxy starting next weekend at "home". The following week, the Goats will be the "away" team. Tranlation, tickets for the 1st leg at "home" will be sold by the Goats ticket sales department. That match will take place next Sunday, November 1st, at 2pm. Tickets for the "away" leg will be sold by the Galaxy ticket sales office, which will take place the following Sunday, November 8th, at 4:30pm.
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