Chivas Doesn’t Get the Points
Chivas USA Coach Bob Bradley said that he felt the outcome Saturday night “was two points lost” after his team had squandered several scoring opportunities and had to settle for a 0-0 tie with the New York Red Bulls at the Home Depot Center.
It was the first time in the team’s 36-game Major League Soccer history that it had been involved in a scoreless tie.
Both teams had their chances, the best being Mike Magee’s consecutive shots for the Red Bulls just before the hour mark when he slammed the first against the crossbar and then saw Chivas goalkeeper Brad Guzan pull off an improbable foot-save on the second.
“He was probably 12 yards away and hit the crossbar,” Guzan said. “I turned around to get up. He hit another one and I somehow got a foot to it. I really didn’t see where it was going to go. I was hoping I didn’t kick it into the top of the net.”
No chance of that. On a night when the teams combined for 21 shots, 12 on target, the ball never crossed the line.
“Mainly I think we just missed the final play,” Bradley said. “I don’t think we were sharp on some of the advantages we created. It was a game where if you’re sharp and get the first one, then there’s more there, but we just weren’t able to do it.
“It’s nice for Brad to get a shutout, but it’s just that these are games at home that we have to win. Establishing ourselves so that we know how to win at home and take three points is something that’s really important in terms of us moving forward.”
Mo Johnston, who last season replaced Bradley as New York’s coach, had reason to be pleased after losing, 4-1, at home to D.C. United last week.
“Chivas is an improved team,” he said. “We came and we worked and it was a good point” to earn.
Chivas is 1-2-1 five weeks into the season and New York is 0-1-4.
Neither of the Red Bulls’ two marquee midfielders -- France ’98 World Cup winner Youri Djorkaeff and Honduran international Amado Guevara -- had significant influence.
For Chivas, meanwhile, Juan Francisco “Paco” Palencia worked tirelessly but to no avail. Top scorer Ante Razov and teammate Francisco Mendoza both were denied early and neither got another good scoring chance.
Juan Pablo Garcia, meanwhile, endured a torrid evening.
Six times Garcia stepped up to take a free kick for Chivas from a potentially dangerous position. Four times he sent the ball straight to New York goalkeeper Tony Meola, once he slammed it into the defensive wall and once he fired it wide right.
Six chances, all wasted.
“We weren’t sharp tonight,” Bradley repeated, “whether it was set pieces, whether it was the final pass, whether it was in some cases the finish. That’s the frustration that everybody feels. Those set pieces were important on a night like tonight because they were in good positions.
“His [Garcia’s] work’s been good. The team has confidence in him because his deliveries thus far have been really good.”
On Saturday night, they were not, and that, in the end, spelled the difference between one point and three.
