Giving up five goals is tough against anyone. But giving up that many to the Los Angeles Galaxy makes it substantially more painful for Chivas USA.
The Galaxy routed Chivas USA by 5-2 on Saturday at The Home Depot Center and won the first of three SuperClasico matches slated for 2008.
"It's tough, anytime you give up five goals it's tough whoever we're playing," Chivas USA midfielder Sacha Kljestan said. "This is one of the hardest games I've ever been a part of, just demoralized on the field."
The Galaxy scored took an early lead as Landon Donovan scored in the 18th minute but Kljestan responded with a goal in the 38th minute. Donovan again gave the Galaxy the lead in the 59th minute but Ante Razov countered three minutes later.
After that, however, the Galaxy took control as Alan Gordon scored two and Donovan completed his hat trick in the 77th minute.
"It's extremely painful," Chivas USA defender Jonathan Bornstein said. "Up to the 70th minute I felt like it was a game. Ante scored that second goal to get us back 2-2 and I felt like every time they had an opportunity they scored. It felt like they had five shots and they had five goals."
The Galaxy actually finished with nine shots on goal but the "hosts" took advantage of some sloppy defensive play. Donovan scored his first two goals after Chivas USA players failed to clear balls outside of the penalty area.
Defensive problems on Saturday were not limited to one or two players.
"The team made mistakes all over the place," Chivas USA coach Preki said. "It's not one guy, it's the whole team and when you make mistakes you get punished."
That the U.S. national team's all-time leading scorer was on the field to capitalize made it more difficult to deal with. Donovan's three goals on Saturday give him six all-time against Chivas USA.
"He's sharp right now," Marsch said. "We were too wide open when we'd lose balls. He was running like crazy at us. He's a good player and we didn't deal well with him as a group."
Donovan's first goal took the wind out of Chivas USA's sails and forced the Red-and-White to alter its game plan a bit. With neither side showing much danger in the first quarter hour, the Galaxy set the tone for the match in the 18th minute. David Beckham swung in a free kick but after a few bounces the ball deflected off a Chivas USA player and went to Donovan, who sent a 22-yard shot into the back of the net.
The goal marked the fifth time in five games that Chivas USA has allowed the first goal of the game.
"We wanted to apply a lot of pressure from the beginning and kind of put them on their heels," Bornstein said. "When you give up an early goal it's not really the way we wanted it to work out."
Kljestan scored a splendid goal in the 38th minute when he curled in a shot from the left corner of the penalty area. Through the first 45 minutes, the match was even at 1-1 and Chivas USA players felt good about themselves, Bornstein said.
"I thought we had some good fight. I thought we fought back and got our goal, tied the game up and kind of evened things out. Heading into halftime I felt good. I felt like everyone had the right mentality and everyone had the right intensity," Bornstein said. "Something happened late in the game so where it slipped away from us."
Donovan and Ante Razov exchanged goals near the hour mark. But the Galaxy scored three unanswered to close out the game. The intensity of the game helped keep Chivas USA in the match, however.
"Some of our emotions kept us in the game," Marsch said. "When we were down and kept clawing back and in that way I thought our team put a lot into it and tried to stick to the game and in the end it just caught up with us. It's a very emotional game and a very emotional loss."
Luis Bueno is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
