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Plenty of drama to go around for playoff-bound Chivas USA

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Jones is a Times staff writer.

There were three moments of high drama for Chivas USA on Saturday night, and the first occurred not in Carson but in Commerce City, Colo.

There, in a gut-wrenching game in which the next-to-last Major League Soccer playoff spot was on the line, the Colorado Rapids had a post-season ticket in their back pocket with less than one minute remaining in regulation.

They led, 1-0, on a 19th-minute goal by Conor Casey, and had only to see out the clock.

Then, out of nowhere, former Pasadena City College standout Yura Movsisyan scored for Real Salt Lake to snatch a 1-1 tie and steal the playoff place from the Rapids.

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As a result, Chivas USA, which heard the news during halftime of its eventual 1-1 tie with the Houston Dynamo, will open the playoffs against Real Salt Lake in Sandy, Utah, next Saturday at 3 p.m.

The second match in the two-game Western Conference semifinal series will be played at the Home Depot Center at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 8.

The second dramatic moment came in Carson and definitely affects the playoff series.

It occurred in the 52nd minute when Dynamo forward Nate Jaqua went in one on one against Chivas goalkeeper Dan Kennedy.

The pair tumbled to the ground in a tangle of legs, seemingly trying to avoid each other, but referee Terry Vaughn pointed to the penalty spot.

It was the third penalty kick called against Chivas USA in two games. Worse still for Chivas Coach Preki, Vaughn red-carded Kennedy, meaning the team’s starting goalkeeper will miss the first playoff match.

Backup and former starter Zach Thornton came into the game, with his first task to stop Dwayne De Rosario’s penalty kick. Thornton dived to his left, De Rosario shot to his right and Houston had the lead.

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Thornton later made two exceptional saves, both of which proved crucial in the 90th minute when the final dramatic scene occurred.

With Chivas pressing for the tying goal, Sacha Kljestan sent the ball out wide to Carey Talley on the right flank. Talley fired the ball into the goal area, and Dynamo defender Eddie Robinson stuck out a leg to block it.

The ball deflected toward the Houston net. Goalkeeper Pat Onstad batted it down with one hand. Chivas USA’s Jim Curtin and Houston’s Wade Barrett both charged the ball, and Curtin bundled it over the line.

The goal not only earned Chivas USA the 1-1 tie but allowed it to finish the season with a winning 12-11-7 record. Defending MLS champion Houston finished 13-5-12.

Afterward, Preki said he did not believe there had been any foul and that no penalty kick should have been called.

“I thought he spoiled the game,” Preki said of Vaughn, adding that he would appeal Kennedy’s ejection to the league. “If there was contact, it was very, very slight. Even if the referee decides to call a penalty, that’s not a red card.”

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Vaughn defended his call.

“As Jaqua was jumping over, the goalkeeper reaches up and trips him with his arm,” Vaughn said, thus denying Jaqua “an obvious goal-scoring opportunity.”

Replays did not seem to support that, but Vaughn’s viewpoint might have been better than the camera’s.

Even so, Houston Coach Dominic Kinnear was all over the fourth official, protesting the decision. Kinnear said he thought Kennedy had tried to play the ball and should not have been tossed out.

“I didn’t want to see the guy get sent off,” he said.

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grahame.jones@latimes.com

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