Blanco is focus; Chivas earns tie
To dive or not to dive? That is the question Chivas USA must be asking.
On a night that belonged to the Chicago Fire’s Cuauhtemoc Blanco, Chivas managed to earn a 1-1 draw, but players couldn’t believe the audacity of Blanco’s dives throughout the game.
“I asked him [referee Tim Wyland] before the game, ‘Now, you know Blanco likes to dive?’ ” Chivas midfielder Jesse Marsch said. “And he goes, ‘Oh yeah, you don’t have to tell me that.’ But Blanco takes, maybe, 10 dives in that game and gets calls on nine.”
One of them in the first half led to a free kick that Blanco buried from about 30 yards in the 24th minute to send the sellout crowd at the Home Depot Center into a frenzy. Most of the crowd of 27,000 came to see the former Mexican national team forward. It was only the second time that Chivas had sold out a game not involving the Galaxy.
Marsch liked the crowd, even if not all of them where cheering for Chivas. He also took a parting shot at Blanco when talking about the atmosphere.
“Blanco is a big draw, he’s a polarizing figure, so it’s good for this league. I just wished he stayed on his feet a little longer,” he said.
Said midfielder Sacha Klejestan: “I don’t like the way he plays, I don’t like players that play the game like that; it’s not the way the game it should be played.”
Blanco looked like his old self, both a good and bad thing. He was sensational in creating offensive opportunities but also showed his trademark temper and penchant for diving.
When he was told that Chivas players were critical of his tactics, he said he had nothing to comment.
“Look at the video and you be the judge,” Blanco told reporters.
Chivas players may have hated it, but the crowd loved it, chanting Blanco’s nickname-- “Temo, Temo, Temo”-- on many occasions. The crowd cheered him in pregame warm-ups and when he was introduced for the starting lineup.
A late goal by Chivas’ captain Claudio Suarez, and a phenomenal save by goalkeeper Brad Guzan in the final minutes, flipped the script and took away the luster of Blanco’s goal.
A kick to the back of forward Maykel Galindo’s legs by C.J. Brown gave Chivas the opportunity it hadn’t created during the match. Suarez stepped up and drilled a hard shot to the upper right corner to tie the score at 1-1 in the 82nd minute.
The game, which could be a playoff preview as both teams could meet in the first round next month, did not exhibit many offensive opportunities. There was plenty of action, a high level of intensity and many quick passes in the middle of the field, but the tactics only produced five shots on goal. Blanco’s free kick was the only shot Chicago had in the first half.
If the two teams do end up playing each other in the postseason -- which will happen if Chivas finishes first in the West and Chicago gets the No. 8 seeding -- it would figure to be an entertaining series. A bad seed between the teams seems to have been planted as screaming and shoving matches sprouted throughout the game, something Kljestan did not particularly appreciate.
“They fought hard, they are chippy, and every time someone get touched they lay down on the ground for five minutes,” he said. “I’m sure if we play them again in the playoffs it will be a hard-fought series, as you saw, tonight was one of the most feisty games we’ve played all year.”
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