Present Still Bleak for Chivas USA
Chivas USA looked to its Guadalajara roots and past Saturday night, paying homage to seven members from its Mexican league championship era.
And Chivas USA also looked to its future, introducing Mexican forward Juan Pablo Garcia as its newest acquisition.
Unfortunately for Chivas USA, its present is still pretty gloomy.
A red card to Orlando Perez in the 76th minute cost Chivas dearly and the Chicago Fire took immediate advantage on the restart, rookie defender Gonzalo Segares’ goal giving the Fire a 1-0 victory before an announced 11,976 at the Home Depot Center.
“There will come a moment when things will change,” said Chivas Coach Hans Westerhof. “Better times.”
Not on this night. Not when Chivas, which has surrendered a Major League Soccer-high 39 goals, fell to 1-13-3 and Chicago, which leads the league with 32 goals, improved to 10-6-2.
“It’s the same old story,” said Chivas rookie goalkeeper Brad Guzan, who gave his club a chance with a save of a Jesse Marsch penalty kick in the 69th minute. “We had chances, we just didn’t put them away. Right now it seems like we can’t even buy a break.”
Chivas, whose winless streak reached 11 games, outshot Chicago, 12-9, though the Fire had more shots on goal, 5-3. Chicago was playing without four starters in midfielders Chris Armas and Tony Sanneh, both of whom are with the United States national team for the CONCACAF Gold Cup, forward Nate Jaqua (bone bruise) and attacking midfielder Thiago (knee).
The momentum shifted when Perez stepped on Chicago’s Chris Rolfe and was shown the red card by referee Mark Geiger.
Perez said he did step on him, but it was accidental and came after Rolfe rolled into his legs while Perez was trying to jump over him.
“It wasn’t deliberate,” Perez said.
“If [Geiger] was watching the whole play he would know it wasn’t.”
By the time Perez arrived in the Chivas locker room, Chicago had already scored.
Marsch’s free kick from the top of the box found Jim Curtin to the left of the goal. Curtin quickly passed to an oncoming Segares in the middle and, with Guzan playing Curtin, Segares fired into an open net. It was the rookie defender’s second goal of the season.
Restarts have been a weak point for Chivas all season.
“It’s like we take too many mental breaks [on restarts],” Guzan said. “Physically, take a breath. But mentally, we lose track of runners and just like that, instead of walking out of here with at least one point [with a tie], we’re walking out of here with none.”
Chivas had two good chances in a matter of seconds in the first half.
In the 20th minute, Thiago Martins took a through ball in the box from Matt Taylor and had a good look at the net, but Zach Thornton came out to meet Martins and the Chicago goalkeeper got just enough body on the ball to redirect it.
On the ensuing corner kick, Ezra Hendrickson’s header was on line but Thornton again deflected the ball.
It is the sixth time Chivas has been shut out, and its scoreless streak reached 222 minutes.
All of which means Chivas is awaiting the arrival of Garcia, whose contract with Mexican club Atlas expired last week.
But with Garcia, 23, playing for Mexico in the Gold Cup, he would probably not join Chivas until the Aug. 6 game at Real Salt Lake if Mexico advances to the semifinals. Then, Garcia, who is still awaiting his work visa, would not play a home MLS match until Sept. 3, against Columbus.
But if Mexico fails to make it out of its group, Garcia could be available for Chivas on July 16 against the Galaxy. If Mexico loses in the quarterfinals, he could play at home on July 22 against New England.
