Draw Settles Nothing for L.A. Rivals
Chivas USA players walked off the Home Depot Center field Saturday night knowing in their hearts that they had outplayed their co-tenant, the Galaxy.
But because it didn’t result in a victory, it left a sour taste as the teams settled for a 0-0 tie, the first draw in seven regular-season meetings of this Major League Soccer series.
Still, the fact that the second-year Chivas squad felt disappointed by its missed opportunities and a dose of tough luck can only be a good thing in any future fights for respect.
“For a good period of the game, I thought we played pretty well,” Chivas Coach Bob Bradley said. “The effort was quite good and it’s on those nights where you want to take three points, especially against your big rival.”
On this night, the Galaxy was happy to simply take away a point and to push its streak of not having given up a goal to 512 minutes, the second-best mark ever in MLS.
Chivas (6-6-6), which moved into a third-place tie with Colorado in the Western Conference, outshot the Galaxy, 10-3, including 4-2 on shots on goal.
“You got to take any positive away that you can,” Galaxy Coach Frank Yallop said. “I just said to the guys, you can’t play well all of the time. You have games off sometimes. We had a game off and we tied, nil-nil, so that’s a positive. But they had their chances though.”
Chivas hit the post twice and forced Galaxy goalkeeper Kevin Hartman into an acrobatic save in the 63rd minute on a shot by Juan Pablo Garcia.
Garcia took a long pass from midfielder Jesse Marsch and rifled a shot from the right that Hartman tipped just wide of the far left post.
In the 17th minute, Garcia dribbled in on the right, but instead of taking a hard shot, he chipped one to the far post that caught Hartman flat-footed. The ball glanced off the post and Hartman scrambled to cover it.
Sacha Kljestan also hit the post for Chivas when he took a through ball on the right from Garcia. Instead of waiting for the pass to reach his right foot, Kljestan toe-poked it with his left and the ball whizzed by Hartman and caught the right post flush for a deflection that was covered.
Adding to the frustration for Chivas was a yellow card issued to forward Ante Razov in the 25th minute. Because of yellow-card points accumulation, Razov, MLS’ leading goal-scorer, will have to sit out Thursday’s game at Colorado.
The Galaxy (5-10-4), which pushed its unbeaten streak to five games, also will be without two players, defenders Chris Albright and Tyrone Marshall, for its game at Columbus on Saturday for the same reason.
Although the Galaxy was glad to get a point, forward Landon Donovan had several chances to give his team a lead.
In the second minute, Donovan had a breakaway after running onto a well-placed through ball down the middle from Josh Gardner. Donovan outran Chivas defender Claudio Suarez but couldn’t get a shot on goalkeeper Preston Burpo as Jason Hernandez closed in from the right.
Donovan also nearly scored in the 23rd minute after a rolling cross from the right from Paulo Nagamura that barely eluded a sliding Donovan’s left foot.
In the 73rd minute, Donovan dribbled in free on the right and fired a shot. It was stopped, Burpo simply getting in the way of it, rather than making a skillful save.
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Super Clasico
After Saturday’s tie, the Galaxy and Chivas USA each have a win in this season’s city series, so the fourth game will determine this year’s Super Clasico winner:
* April 15 -- Galaxy 2, Chivas USA 1
* June 8 -- Chivas USA 2, Galaxy 1
* July 15 -- Chivas USA 0, Galaxy 0
* Sept. 30 -- 7:30 p.m., Home Depot Center
Source: MLS
