Guzan doesn’t hold back as Chivas USA triumphs
Thirteen minutes into the Major League Soccer season, Chivas USA goalkeeper Brad Guzan hit midseason form.
Throwing himself to the ground in a purely instinctive move, Guzan snared a hard shot from Toronto FC’s Edson Buddle that seemed to be a sure goal.
That was just the start of it Saturday night as Chivas opened its third season with an impressive 2-0 victory over the league’s newest team and first Canadian franchise.
Within minutes, Guzan pulled off consecutive saves on Paulo Nagamura and Buddle, both on close-range shots, then flung up an arm to deflect a blistering shot by Alecko Eskandarian.
“He just crushed it,” Guzan said of Nagamura’s shot. “He hit it where there was no spin on it and it just took off on me. It started coming at me, then it started going left and at the last second it came back right.
“At that point I wasn’t thinking about trying to catch it.... I kind of swatted at it and knocked it off to my left. I looked up and saw Buddle running at me at full speed. I really didn’t have time to gather my thoughts. It was just kind of a reaction thing.”
The saves were vintage Guzan, who parlayed some excellent play last season into a spot on the U.S. national team. Saturday night’s performance, coming in front of 14,351 at the Home Depot Center, will only have cemented his high standing in the pecking order of MLS goalkeepers.
Guzan said being in camp with the national team this spring had helped tremendously.
“You learn about composure, about being relaxed, about reading the game and seeing things before they happen,” he said.
As sharp as Guzan was, Ante Razov managed to match him at the other end of the field. The Chivas USA striker, who led the team with 14 goals last season, scored his first of 2007 in the 35th minute.
The goal was the 99th of Razov’s 12-year MLS career.
Only two players, Real Salt Lake’s Jason Kreis (108) and D.C. United’s Jaime Moreno (105) have surpassed the 100-mark.
The goal was also the 29th game-winner for Razov, a former UCLA player who won an MLS championship with the Chicago Fire in 1998. Only Kreis, with 31, has more game-winning goals.
Razov and Chivas USA Coach Preki were happy with the way Razov and rookie Maykel Galindo combined up front. It was Galindo who provided the pass from which Razov scored.
“I think it was good,” Razov said. “You could see the threat he is [with his speed]. He can run away from people pretty easily. We’ve got to get the timing down. We’ve still got to combine together a little better, but for our first time it was good.”
Midfielder Sacha Kljestan underlined Chivas USA’s superiority in the 88th minute when he beat Toronto goalkeeper Greg Sutton with a 25-yard shot for his first MLS goal.
“I thought we played pretty well,” said Preki, who won in his debut as an MLS head coach. “After we scored the goal, we closed the game down pretty well, pretty disciplined.”
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