CARSON, Calif. - On Aug. 19, Chivas USA opened up a four-game homestand that offered the opportunity to solidify their spot in the Western Conference table.
Four games later, the club is merely treading water. Chivas tied FC Dallas 1-1 on Saturday at The Home Depot Center and moved into a logjam in third place.
For the third time in this home stretch, Chivas dug their own hole. Kenny Cooper scored early in the second half to give the visitors a lead.
"The biggest frustration we have tonight is that it's another home game where we have the best chances to take the lead and of late we're always playing from behind," Chivas USA coach Bob Bradley said. "That's the difficult part."
Juan Pablo Garcia scored in the 81st minute to give Chivas a tie, but Garcia said afterward that the result was nonetheless frustrating.
"We don't have a killer instinct," Garcia said. "With a killer instinct, we could have scored a goal or two early and we could have made this a different result and not suffer as much going forward. We've been missing that all season and now it's really weighing on us, that lack of experience. We have left a lot of points behind and today we left two more on the table."
Chivas finished the game with 20 shots but just seven on goal. Too often, poor marksmanship cost Chivas opportunities to score. Jesus Morales was the club's most active player and came closest to scoring before Garcia's late equalizer when he nailed the crossbar from 25 yards out midway through the first half.
In the 54th minute, Chivas squandered a quality scoring chance. Jonathan Bornstein raced down the left side of the field and fed Francisco Mendoza at the top of the penalty area. Mendoza slipped a ball to the right side of the penalty area to Garcia but he failed to get a shot on goal. The ball bounced back around to Bornstein but FC Dallas 'keeper Dario Sala made the save.
One minute later, Cooper scored his goal.
"That's the way soccer works. That's the frustration. The play ... is a great opportunity and we don't capitalize," Bradley said. "(Mendoza) also had a couple of good chances in the first half. To create some opportunities, take the lead and get rewarded I think is something is pretty important and of late we have not found a way to do that enough."
Chivas now face a difficult Texas two-step. Wednesday Chivas play FC Dallas at Pizza Hut Park, then play Houston on Sunday at Robertson Stadium. Chivas can ill afford to hang their heads.
"Our mentality has been good. We haven't put our heads down when we're down. We keep playing. We keep getting after it," Chivas midfielder Jesse Marsch said. "Even sometimes I think we play better which is something if we can play that good from the beginning maybe we would not fall behind."
The only option Chivas have is to move forward, Marsch said.
"Right now, we've just got to keep going. I look at the game (Saturday) and I think everybody had a pretty good game," he said. "We can't finger-point. We've got to stick together. We've got to play hard. These are all tough games. If we stick together, good things will happen."
Luis Bueno is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
