Days after suffering a difficult, multi-goal defeat at home, Chivas USA hit the road and were right back in the same situation.
This time, they learned from their mistakes.
The Goats roared back from three goals down then held firm defensively in the second half of a 3-3 draw at New England on Wednesday. There would be no repeat of last Saturday’s 6-2 thrashing by Seattle.
“Every game is important for us and we’re trying to get three points every time we go out,” Chivas USA coach Robin Fraser told MLSsoccer.com via phone. “We’re unhappy with the way it started, spotted them two goals early and then eventually three but I’m really proud of the character the team showed in coming back.”
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The attack once again was the centerpiece of the evening. Los Rojiblancos scored on a set piece, from a stunning long-range strike and on a series of passes that culminated with a close-range blast.
The front six, which remained unchanged from Saturday’s outing, put New England’s defense on its heels throughout the evening.
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“Despite the result on Saturday, they were dangerous,” Fraser said. "They created a number of chances. I felt like if we could get that kind of productivity again, we’d put ourselves in a good position.”
Which is not to say everything went to plan – Chivas were down 3-0 inside 22 minutes, after all.
“It was incredibly frustrating,” Fraser said. “There needed to be more urgency with the balls that came in in the first half. We just weren’t urgent enough for the first 30 minutes of the game. It started to get better from there on in and we were much more solid in the second half.”
Actually, things seemed to pick up shortly after the third goal fell. Shalrie Joseph responded with his first of two goals, a header off a corner kick, in the 23rd minute. Joseph gave Chivas more hope heading into the intermission after ripping a left-footed shot past Matt Reis from some 25 yards out.
Miller Bolaños completed the comeback when he scored in the 47th minute when he fired a shot from in front of the goal, finishing off a series of passes beforehand.
The fight the club displayed after going down 3-0 was there against Seattle on Saturday – Chivas cut the deficit to 3-2 before things got out of hand – but it arose even quicker on Wednesday.
Now they just need to find it from the start.
“I’m very, very proud of that,” Fraser said. “It’s easy to fold your tents when you’re down 3-0. We’ve seen the team fight back a couple of times now and, obviously, in the end, we fell short on the weekend – but I thought today we did a very good job of getting back to even.”
Luis Bueno covers Chivas USA for MLSsoccer.com and can be reached by e-mail at buenodad@gmail.com
