Chivas USA efficiently routs Salt Lake
Cuban striker Maykel Galindo scored the first two goals of his Major League Soccer career Saturday night, including the sixth-fastest goal in league history, and teammate Ante Razov became only the third MLS player to notch 100 career goals as Chivas USA routed Real Salt Lake, 4-0, at the Home Depot Center.
Galindo, who defected to the U.S. from Cuba less than two years ago and was signed by Chivas in February, put the ball in the back of the net a mere 28 seconds into the game.
Taking a pass from Romanian right back Alex Zotinca, Galindo fired a shot from inside the penalty area that gave Salt Lake goalkeeper Nick Rimando little chance.
Zotinca and Galindo teamed again for the second goal 8:09 into the match and it appeared that the rout was on.
Chivas did not take full advantage of its domination, however, squandering a handful of other scoring chances while outshooting Salt Lake, 19-12, including 8-2 in shots on target.
Razov scored his milestone 100th goal just before halftime and the credit for setting it up went to Mexican midfielder Francisco “Panchito” Mendoza, who got past the defense on the left flank, saw the unmarked Razov signaling wildly from the far post and delivered the perfect cross.
Razov leaped high and sent a sharp downward header bouncing hard off the grass and past Rimando to make it 3-0 in Chivas’ favor 42:27 into the game.
“It’s great for him,” Galindo said. “Ante is a player I used to watch on TV, and now I’m playing alongside him.”
Forward Matt Taylor scored Chivas’ fourth goal in the 89th minute, banging home the rebound of his own shot after the first effort had been cleared off the goal line by Salt Lake defender Eddie Pope.
Despite the victory and his own achievement, which put him on the same 100-goal plane as Real Salt Lake’s Jason Kreis (108 goals) and D.C. United’s Jaime Moreno (105), Razov was not impressed by his team’s performance.
“I’m glad it’s done,” the former UCLA star said of reaching the century mark. “We put four on the board, but I think we could have played a little bit better.
“Overall, I don’t think we played as well as the score indicates. Preki [the Chivas coach] laid into us at halftime.”
And with considerable justification.
If Chivas had been playing a more cohesive team than Real Salt Lake, which is still looking for its first victory of the season and is 0-1-2, it could have struggled to win the game, despite Galindo’s early goals.
Time and again the ball was turned over in midfield and on defense. Time and again, passing of an unnecessarily casual nature saw the ball sent to opponent’s feet instead of to a teammate.
“Sloppy” was Razov’s description of the play.
There was other negative news too, with Galindo and midfielders Jesse Marsch and Sacha Kljestan each picking up yellow cards from out-of-form referee Hilario Grajeda, who appeared to make several blatantly bad calls on each team.
Kljestan’s card came after a hard foul on Real Salt Lake midfielder Andy Williams, who was carried off the field on a stretcher and taken to a nearby hospital for precautionary X-rays on his right leg, leaving Salt Lake a man short for the last 15 minutes.
The win left Chivas USA (2-1) in first place in the Western Conference heading into Saturday’s game against the Galaxy.
