All is right for a night as Chivas USA rolls
Chivas USA Coach Martin Vasquez, chatting before Saturday night’s game, mentioned how his young players were beginning to come through for the team.
A couple of hours later, his faith in them turned out to be fully justified.
First-half goals by 23-year-old Justin Braun and 21-year-old Blair Gavin and a second-half strike by 22-year-old Carlos Borja earned Chivas USA only its fifth victory of the Major League Soccer season, 3-1 over the Columbus Crew at the Home Depot Center.
Columbus (10-4-4) came into the match with the second-best record in MLS, just behind the Galaxy, and leading the Eastern Conference. Chivas USA was in last place in the Western Conference.
But it was Chivas (5-9-3) that controlled the game from start to finish.
“This has been our biggest win this year,” Vasquez said. “It’s only five, but from the first minute to the 90th we played well, we scored some nice goals.”
A headed goal by Braun off a cross from the left by recently acquired Mexican midfielder Rodolfo Espinoza put Vasquez’s side on top in the 37th minute. It was Braun’s team-leading seventh goal of the season.
“He’s playing well and with confidence,” Vasquez said.
The second goal was a curious one. Chivas USA goalkeeper Dan Kennedy booted the ball three-quarters of the length of the field and Columbus defender Shaun Francis used his chest in an effort to direct it back to Crew goalkeeper William Hesmer.
Gavin, in an alert bit of soccer, rounded Francis, intercepted the intended pass and flicked the ball into the net.
“The timing of the goal was crucial,” Vasquez said. “The last 10 minutes of the first half, Columbus was pushing. He read the play well, he stayed with it and he took advantage of the miscommunication between their defender and goalkeeper. That goal was big for us.”
Chivas USA’s third goal came on a combination play involving Ben Zemanski, who fired a cross in from the right; Venezuelan forward Giancarlo Maldonado, who knocked the ball down, and Borja, who banged it into the net for his first MLS goal.
Steven Lenhart pulled a goal back for Columbus two minutes from the end, taking down a pass from Jason Garey with his chest and lifting the ball over the advancing Kennedy to ruin the goalkeeper’s shutout bid.
By then, though, Chivas USA was already celebrating only its second victory in its last 10 MLS games, or since early May.
“It was a great result for us,” Vasquez said.
