Goats Hit Back for Draw by TJ Boyce - September 7, 2007 |
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| ▪ The Offside Trap | |
Despite a pair Luciano Emilio strikes in the opening half hour, DC United was held to a 2-2 draw by Chivas USA on Thursday night at the Home Depot Center. |
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| Emilio's 15th and 16th goals on the season looked sure to doom Chivas USA to their first home loss of the season, but a late first half blunder by Troy Perkins and a deflected second half shot from a defender Lawson Vaughn was all the offense needed for Chivas to earn a share of the points. It was all DC in the early going, and they struck in the third minute when Jaime Moreno picked apart the Chivas defense with a pass to Emilio. The Brazilian made the most of the opportunity, hitting a rocket into the upper corner past keeper Brad Guzan to give United an early 1-0 lead. Reigning MVP Christian Gomez tried to catch Guzan napping off his line from his own side of the field in the 13th minute, launching a 60-yard blast that beat the keeper but floated just over the crossbar. Four minutes later, a much closer shot from Gomez was easily smothered by Guzan. In the 18th minute, Chivas tried to counter when Sacha Kljestan lined up a wicked shot from just outside the box that knuckled toward the top corner, but United keeper Perkins showed his quickness, sliding over to knock the effort away. Emilio, not content with one goal, found the back of the net again in the 26th minute by capitalizing on a mistake from Guzan. Charging down the right side of the field, Moreno pelted the Chivas keeper with a hard shot that Guzan spilled, gifting Emilio with an easy rebound to double his fun for his 16th goal of the season, most in MLS. The two-goal advantage for DC, however, would only last for five minutes, halved by a Perkins error in the 31st minute. With Ante Razov giving chase to a loose ball, Perkins came out, intending to clear the ball back upfield. Instead, the ball caromed off the onrushing forward, trickling back toward the open goal mouth. Perkins, realizing his mistake, hustled after the ball and slid at the line in a last-ditch effort to prevent the goal, but could not reach it in time. Six minutes before the break, Vaughn would spring Kljestan down the right side. The second-year player lined a cross through the box intended for Maykel Galindo, but was interrupted by United defender Bobby Boswell. The defender's clearance attempt resulted in a deflection that slammed the ball off the post before rolling out of danger. With the momentum firmly on the side of Preki's club, the Goats' search for an equalizer was brought to a halt by the halftime whistle. Minutes into the second half, Chivas nearly found the tying goal when two United defenders misplayed a long ball over the top, allowing Kljestan to gain control of the ball with one man left to beat. Using a sly toe-poke to evade the last defender, the US international found himself briefly alone with Perkins, but the DC keeper successfully slid out to cut down the angle and make the save. In the 58th minute, a series of one-touch passes propelled Galindo forward for an opportunity to test Perkins, but the blast from the Cuban defector sailed high into the stands. Just before the hour mark, Chivas again threatened when Jonathan Bornstein's cross from the left side went over nearly everyone's head to find Kljestan in the right side of the box. Steadying the ball and cutting back in the direction of the top of the box, Sacha laid the ball off for Vaughn, whose shot into the crowd deflected off DC's Clyde Simms, leaving Perkins flat-footed with no chance to pull off the save. After the tying goal, things settled down a bit, with both defenses tightening up to allow only a handful of shots over the final 30 minutes. In the second minute of stoppage time, Laurent Merlin played a beautiful ball through the DC backline to connect with Francisco Mendoza, who had been making a run. With Perkins left exposed, the referee's assistant inexplicably raised his flag. The linesman's judgment left head coach Preki beside himself, irate at the call as replays showed that Mendoza was clearly kept on by a DC defender. Chivas continued to pressure in the final seconds, but was unable to find the winning goal, having to settle instead for their second home tie of the season. With the point, Chivas moves into sole possession of second place in the West, within two points of Houston. Though DC United's winning streak was snapped at six games, they have not lost a league match since late July, and use the result to pull ahead of New England by a single point in the Eastern Conference standings. Scoring DC - Luciano Emilio 15 (Jaime Moreno, Christian Gomez) 3' DC - Luciano Emilio 16 26' CHV - Ante Razov 7 31' CHV - Lawson Vaughn 1 (Sacha Kljestan, Jonathan Bornstein) 60' Line-ups DCU - Troy Perkins; Bryan Namoff, Bobby Boswell, Marc Burch, Greg Vanney, Clyde Simms, Christian Gomez, Ben Olsen (Domenic Mediate 82'), Fred, Luciano Emilio, Jaime Moreno (Brian Carroll 76') CHV - Brad Guzan; Lawson Vaughn, Claudio Suárez (Jason Hernandez 85'), Shavar Thomas, Jonathan Bornstein, Sacha Kljestan, Jesse Marsch, Paulo Nagamura, Francisco Mendoza, Maykel Galindo (Laurent Merlin 76'), Ante Razov (Ramón Núñez 64') |
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