Coming off a well-earned 2-0 win against the New York Red Bulls at Giants Stadium on Thursday, Chivas USA seemed to be living well after 23 minutes of their match against the Kansas City Wizards on Sunday night.
Jonathan Bornstein had put Chivas up with his first goal of the season and goalkeeper Brad Guzan had stopped Carlos Marinelli's 23rd-minute penalty kick to hold onto the lead at Arrowhead Stadium. But 14 minutes later, things began to unravel.
Wizards' midfielder Kerry Zavagnin, not known for his scoring prowess, launched a shot from over 30 yards that bulged the upper right netting to tie the match for the home side.
"I thought we played pretty good; thought, in all honesty, we were the better team. But sometimes that's the luck of the draw. Just because you're the better team, you don't always get the good result," said Chivas USA's head coach Preki. "The goals they scored were like one of those nights like everything they shoot is going to go in."
As amazing as Zavagnin's goal was, the Wizards' second was as unfortunate. Davy Arnaud played in a free kick from near the left touchline in the 53rd minute that bounded past a lunging Jimmy Conrad, past a startled Brad Guzan and into the Chivas goal with no one touching it.
Playing on only two days rest, Chivas were cooling off the red-hot Eddie Johnson defensively and creating chances through Francisco Mendoza, Bornstein and halftime substitute John Cunliffe.
It was the Englishman, Cunliffe, who would bring his team level only two minutes after Arnaud's seeing-eye goal with his first MLS goal.
"It was good to get my first goal," said Cunliffe. "Obviously, I had a couple of chances. On another day I think I would score a second."
Some missed chances continued the misfortune Chivas suffered, topped only by the Wizards' 89th minute winner. Late substitute Yura Movsisyan's shot from the right of Guzan deflected off defender Shavar Thomas, who had a fine match, and past the Chivas' netminder.
"I wouldn't blame Shavar on that one. That happens in a game," said Preki. "They scored a couple of fortunate goals tonight. Off a free kick, the ball bounces, nobody touches it and it goes in the net. I thought we had enough to win this game, not tie. ... We should have won this game, period.
"The group really played hard. They fought for 90-plus minutes, and they didn't get the break. We could have had a penalty kick, but we didn't get it," Preki said, referring to a possible Arnaud handball in the Wizards' box in the second half. "That's the story of our season because so far we've played 17 games and we're one of the only teams to have no penalty kicks. Maybe one of these days we'll get a break or two."
Chivas USA will have nearly three weeks to gather themselves after going three games without a loss. They don't play again until Aug. 18 when they visit Toronto FC.
"We'll give the guys a few days off so they can refresh themselves. We'll come back, get some fitness for the final part of the season and the playoffs," Preki said.
Bob Rusert is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
