CARSON, Calif. – At long last, the nightmarish home calendar is complete.
Chivas USA have had a forgettable season overall, but nowhere has that been more apparent than at home. Chivas fell 2-0 to Colorado Rapids on Saturday at Home Depot Center to close out their home slate, and while the result was certainly poor, it was not a departure from the norm for the Goats.
“Indescribable really,” Chivas coach Robin Fraser said. “Certainly you want to at least close out a season on a positive note and for our last home game we show moments of promise, very good moments and some very bad moments. When you finish this way it’s going to leave a sour taste for a while.”
FULL LINEUPS AND BOX SCORE
Chivas are finishing the season with some ghastly figures – the Rojiblancos will end 2012 3-11-3 at home, earning the fewest points of any team at home this season. Worse, Chivas were outscored 30-9 by their visiting opponents.
“It’s insane. It has to be up there with one of the worst campaigns at home to date,” Chivas defender James Riley told MLSsoccer.com. “That, we’re not proud of but we definitely created opportunities in those games.”
Opportunities came and went, particularly down the stretch, and on Saturday the chances were there as well. Juan Agudelo had a couple of looks at goal while second-half substitute Laurent Courtois also tested Colorado’s Steward Ceus. But in a season like Chivas have had, those chances were probably never destined for the back of the net.
“We’ve sat and had this press conference many times before,” Fraser said. “We do some things well, didn’t capitalize on our opportunities, made some really critical mistakes and the story plays out as we’ve seen before. It was just a disjointed effort that at times were promising.”
A poor defensive effort led to Colorado’s first goal. Goalkeeper Tim Melia, who made his MLS debut, was unable to find the handle on a ball near the top of the goal area, and the ball eventually went out to Tyson Wahl. A few touches later and Martin Rivero was unmarked on the right side of the goal to give the visitors the lead.
A bad giveaway led to Colorado’s second goal as Omar Cummings took an errant pass and found Kamani Hill unmarked, and Hill buried a header past Melia with 40 minutes gone to account for the final tally.
OPTA Chalkboard: What went wrong for Chivas USA?
“It’s kind of been the theme of the year to be honest,” Riley said. “It’s unfortunate that we come out and play and have kind of given goals away so we’re always in a hole.”
Chivas failed to piece together a second half like their previous one, when the club scored a goal to come from behind and tie FC Dallas on Oct. 7. Chivas closed out their home slate with a whimper and were shut out for the 10th time at the Home Depot Center.
Like it or not, the statistics at home were unsightly, whether or not their work in training and in games merited such disastrous outcomes.
“Facts are facts and you’re not going to change that. If we can hit the reset button and start from Day One, we would try and do some things different,” Chivas midfielder Peter Vagenas said. “Is it fair? Who knows but it is what it is, those are the stats and you can’t say it’s not true because it is.”
Luis Bueno covers Chivas USA for MLSsoccer.com and can be reached by email at buenodad@gmail.com.
