CARSON, Calif. - For the first time in club history Chivas USA has a winning streak, but somehow it does not taste the way it likely should.
Chivas routed the visiting Colorado Rapids 4-1 on Saturday at The Home Depot Center but players and coaches felt it was not among the best performances of the season.
"Not our best game certainly," Chivas forward Ante Razov said. "We've played better this year and lost but it's finally good to start winning games when maybe we're not at our best. Hopefully we've kind of turned the corner but we also know that we've got some work to do, too."
Chivas' touch in their third of the field was a bit off in the second half as they struggled to maintain their two-goal edge. However, Francisco Mendoza and Francisco Palencia each put away a scoring chance in the final quarter hour to give the team a three-goal cushion.
Palencia, though, said there had been better games that resulted in losses.
"We have a good balance now but it's taken a lot of work to get there," Palencia said. "We've played well and not won and now we've won while not playing as well. Little by little, it's all coming together."
Nobody, however, is complaining about the two-game win streak.
"Eventually the bounces will go your way," Chivas 'keeper Preston Burpo said. "You'll get the goal or maybe you get a save. We've worked hard enough, we've played hard enough to feel like we've earned some of these bounces and getting these goals that we've been working hard for."
The Rapids got the ball rolling in the sixth minute when defender Mike Petke knocked a ball into his own net. Razov doubled the lead in the 24th minute when he raced from the middle of the field to the top of the area and ripped a 17-yard blast past Bouna Coundoul.
Dedi Ben Dayan scored later in the half to cut into the Chivas lead but Mendoza and Palencia scored in the final quarter hour to give Chivas the convincing win.
Chivas coach Bob Bradley said the team was improving after getting some positive results but the work needs to continue.
"We're improving. I still don't always feel we concentrate for 90 minutes," Bradley said. "I think the understanding on the field continues to get better. Johnny Bornstein and Pancho Mendoza on the left side tonight, I thought their work was very good both in attack and defense. The balance in the midfield between Jesse [Marsch] and Sacha [Kljestan] continues to improve in terms of Jesse being more the holding midfielder and Sacha having a little bit more freedom to move around. Those are things you want to see continue to improve because then maybe you avoid some of the little lapses we seem to have."
For the second consecutive week, Chivas used an early goal to its advantage. A week ago, Juan Pablo Garcia scored little more than 60 seconds into the game in the 1-0 win against Chicago. Saturday, Petke's own goal gave Chivas early confidence yet again.
"Things again kind of bounced our way tonight and guys up top finished their chances in the second half and put the game away," Burpo said. "It made our job a little bit easier in the back."
Perhaps now Chivas can build toward a happy medium. The club has played well and lost and now wins are coming despite average performances, players said.
"The hope is that we can continue to improve," Bradley said. "There is a long way to go here."
Luis Bueno is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
