CARSON, Calif. – To prepare for their upcoming match against the Seattle Sounders, Chivas USA sat through what most people might consider a horror film.
But oddly enough, there weren’t many shrieks of terror when the Goats cued up the highlights of all the goals they’ve allowed in recent games. Just a simple explanation of what they need to fix, beginning Saturday (4 pm ET; watch LIVE online).
“The run of goals we’ve given up, they’ve all been preventable,” head coach Robin Fraser said. “It’s just been attention to detail, seeing plays out, a little bit different decision making but they’re all been preventable.”
“They’re all correctable,” Fraser added. “That’s the point and that’s why we look at them.”
Chivas have allowed 18 goals in their last five games, easily the club’s worst defensive stretch of 2012. And while mistakes can be dodged in April and May, at this point of the season that’s not quite the case.
“This late in the season, when teams find their strides, you get punished for mistakes a lot more than you do early in the season,” Chivas defender James Riley (above) told MLSsoccer.com. “Teams are in their full stride like a Seattle or a San Jose, and you get punished for every mistake.”
Quickly fading playoff hopes have forced Chivas to scrap and fight for each point, and that’s made the team put more of an emphasis on the attack. Has the defense suffered because of it?
“We’re putting a lot of numbers in the attack at this time of the season, but we just have to be aware and mindful of what we’re leaving behind,” Riley said.
No matter how the team goes about curing its defensive ills, here’s one thing the team won’t do: try a different approach.
“No time for that.,” Fraser said. “We have a game against a very tough team so we have to be able to fix it on the fly so the first part of that is everyone understanding what was not done as well as it could have been done and hopefully that means we go out and execute better the next time.”
Luis Bueno covers Chivas USA for MLSsoccer.com and can be reached by e-mail at buenodad@gmail.com
