When Chivas USA suffered injuries toward the end of the 2007 season, the club was crippled and could not overcome them.
After Saturday's match, though, the Red-and-White showed just how far the club has come.
Missing three starters, Chivas USA relied on some of the depth the club stockpiled in the offseason to kick off its 2008 home campaign with a 3-1 win against Real Salt Lake. Newcomers Atiba Harris and Alecko Eskandarian scored goals while Chris Pozniak and Jim Curtin held their own on the club's backline.
"Going through the preseason, we talked about how many guys we had that could step up and put the ball in the back of the net for us," Chivas USA goalkeeper Brad Guzan said. "You saw firsthand tonight that the guys did a great job."
Sacha Kljestan also scored a goal and had an assist in the victory as Chivas USA improved to 6-0-1 against Real Salt Lake all-time at The Home Depot Center.
However, despite walking away with three points, the Chivas players and coaches were hardly ecstatic with the way the club performed.
"We didn't play the way I want us to play but sometimes things don't work out the way you want them to work out," Chivas USA coach Preki said. "Salt Lake came in tonight and gave us a good game, a hard game. I don't think we were our best but remembering last year I don't think we were our best for quite some time the first couple of months."
Real Salt Lake controlled possession for large stretches of the second half. With RSL adding on attackers such as Yura Movsisyan, Andy Williams and Fabian Espindola in the final half hour, the visitors maintained their pressure on Chivas USA in search of an equalizer.
But the hosts did enough to walk away with the win.
"I would say that we didn't play very good. I would say they deserved some credit because they made it hard on us and they moved the ball pretty well," Chivas USA captain Jesse Marsch said. "But all that being said I don't feel like still in the end we didn't give up that many chances so we still kept things pretty tight in front of the goal."
Marsch said Chivas USA could have widened the lead before Eskandarian put the finishing touches on the win as the Red-and-White had several opportunities to drive a dagger through RSL before they eventually did.
"Maybe the game can be put out of reach a little earlier," Marsch said. "They had a good performance, they have a better team and we didn't play our best game. In some ways we should feel fortunate that we have three points."
Chivas USA made do without starters Ante Razov (strained left calf) and Lawson Vaughn (left hamstring) as well as Claudio Suarez, who attended his father's funeral in Mexico City earlier in the week.
Maykel Galindo and Harris started up top for Chivas USA. Along with Kljestan, Galindo set the tone for the attack.
"The way that Salt Lake plays, they play all over the place but their midfield is kind of interchangeable and a lot of times when the ball turned over I found myself in good position with the a lot of open space," Kljestan said. "The same with Maykel, he was pretty smart tonight finding gaps between himself and defenders. We did well of figuring that out early and being smart about it."
Kljestan was the beneficiary of the club's early offense. Francisco Mendoza started the play near the club's bench and fed Galindo in the middle of the field. Galindo darted across into space and slipped the ball into Kljestan's path. Kljestan ran onto the ball and tucked it in the back of the net.
It was Kljestan's second goal in as many home openers; he scored in last year's 2-0 win against Toronto FC. After Saturday's goal, he jogged back to the team's bench to rejoice.
"It's always nice to get a first goal in any game to start off with a 1-0 lead," Kljestan said. "Before the game our assistant coach Mike Matkovich told me he thought I was going to score tonight so I went to celebrate with him."
Mendoza and Kljestan connected with Harris on the eventual match winner in the 55th minute. Mendoza found Kljestan on the right side of the penalty area and Kljestan picked Harris out of a crowd. Harris easily redirected the ball into the back of the net.
"To me it felt sort of like a training session because I knew everyone there," said Harris, who spent the last two seasons with Real Salt Lake. "It's always important to score that first goal, to raise your confidence a bit to help you toward the season."
Kenny Deuchar, though, scored for RSL just two minutes after Harris' goal. From then on, the visitors put pressure on Chivas USA.
"We gave Salt Lake a little bit too much time tonight," Kljestan said. "They kept the ball a lot and whatever, we're going to win 3-1 every game and the other team keeps the ball more that's fine with us. But I think as we move forward we have to keep getting better this season if we want to win something. We're happy with three points but we're not happy with the way we played tonight."
It was not until Eskandarian darted past RSL goalkeeper Nick Rimando three minutes into stoppage time that Chivas USA let loose a sigh of relief. Eskandarian, who replaced Galindo in the 77th minute, walked in alone on goal and ripped a shot into the back of the net.
Eskandarian spent part of last season with RSL and unleashed some frustration in the end.
"I thought 'I'm going to try and put a hole through the net' especially because earlier in the week I didn't think I was going to play," Eskandarian said. "There was a lot of emotion and frustration getting to it so I had to hammer it into the back of the net."
As for having two former RSL players score goals against their former club, Eskandarian said his new team was better for it.
"We're just Real Salt Lake rejects is all I can say," Eskandarian said. "I know they said a couple of things, their general manager Garth Lagerwey said a couple of things when both me and Atiba left, so I don't think he'll be talking too much about tonight's performance."
Luis Bueno is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
