After rolling through the regular season, Chivas USA went out of the MLS Cup Playoffs with a whimper.
The Red-and-White failed to score in two games against the Kansas City Wizards and were eliminated following a scoreless draw at The Home Depot Center on Saturday.
The Wizards' lone goal in two games, a free kick from Davy Arnaud in the 35th minute of the first game, was enough to send Chivas USA packing.
"This game sometimes can be cruel. I felt totally tonight that it was cruel to us," Chivas USA coach Preki said. "Apart from the first six or seven minutes of the game, we totally dominated and created many opportunities. To play like that for that period of time, it was unbelievable."
But the elusive goal did not fall. Chivas USA hit the woodwork multiple times and had a ball cleared off the goal line. Kansas City goalkeeper Kevin Hartman turned away all seven shots he faced as the hosts fired a total of 16 shots in the game.
Ultimately, though, the club's effort was for nothing.
"We're at home against Kansas City and thought 'We're going to get our chances and we've just got to put them away,'" midfielder Sacha Kljestan said. "Kansas City bunkers in tonight and we get a few chances and can't put them away and we just feel real disappointed. We thought this team we had, the relationships we had and the way we fought for each other, it was the quality of a championship team."
Whether or not this club could have pulled off winning MLS Cup will never be known. The quality was there, players said. But the aim and luck was not.
"It's a great sadness. I have a lot of memories of what we did in the regular season. We had a great season and this team deserved to go further," captain Claudio Suarez said. "I don't know if it was bad luck or bad marksmanship but we couldn't score that goal we needed."
Chivas USA threw nearly everything they had at the Wizards. Maykel Galindo started and played all 90 minutes. Injuries did not stop Francisco Mendoza nor Jesse Marsch from playing. Ramon Nunez started up top in an attempt to help generate offense, which he did.
The Chivas players were stunned their effort did not amount to a result.
"It's a tough loss," midfielder Jesse Marsch said. "This may be the toughest one of my career just because it felt like this team had so much potential left in it. It felt like today we couldn't catch a break. I'm very pleased with the way the whole series went. We just couldn't score a goal."
Chivas USA's best scoring chances of the first half came in the 25th minute. Paulo Nagamura and Ramon Nunez each tested the Wizards' goal from long range but Hartman left his feet to make a pair of saves.
Late in the first half, the Wizards appeared to catch a break. Jack Jewsbury appeared to have pulled down Kljestan inside the penalty area but no call was made. Mendoza slipped a shot on goal but Hartman turned it away and Kljestan eventually hit a side volley that went off a teammate and out of bounds.
The second half was more of the same domination from the hosts. Galindo hit the post in the 69th minute after he beat a pair of defenders and Hartman from 15 yards out but the ball rolled slowly, bounced off the post and out of bounds.
Kurt Morsink saved the Wizards when he cleared a header off the line a few minutes later as Chivas USA maintained their fierce pressure on Kansas City.
"We feel very unlucky," Kljestan said. "We hit the post a couple of times. I wish the goals were a little bit bigger tonight."
Galindo has been slowed by an abdominal strain for more than a month and said he might require surgery on his injury in the offseason.
"After all the things that happened," Galindo said. "I gave everything I could. I forgot about the pain but unfortunately we didn't get the result we wanted."
Preki, though, said Galindo was not even at three-quarters of his strength. But he neglected to lay the blame on the loss on his injury or any injury.
"If Maykel Galindo wasn't as sore as he was -- I would say he played at 60-65 percent tonight -- on one breakaway he had in the second half he probably scores a goal but it is what it is right now," Preki said. "We have a lot of guys who had a lot of little issues ... but I've got to give my locker room full credit. There are no excuses. We played really good but the ball just didn't go in for us tonight."
Luis Bueno is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
