MLSD Match Report: KC @ Chivas USA

Needing a win to keep pace with their closest Western Conference rivals, Chivas USA got strikes from a player returning from injury and a new acquisition in the first half and then held on for a 2-1 victory on Saturday night. The win keeps Chivas in second place in the Western Conference, closing their gap with the Houston Dynamo to four points.
Alecko Eskandarian continued his blistering form since returning from injury, tallying the opening goal of the match, while new acquisition Sasha Victorine – who played for Kansas City three weeks ago before being traded – tucked away the game-winner against his former team in first-half stoppage time. Kansas City’s Josh Wolff provided an acrobatic finish inside the box to bring Kansas City back into the game late in the second half, but that was a close as they would get.

Both sides would have opportunities in the opening stages of the match. Chivas nearly converted their first opportunity, as Eskandarian tried to connect with Ante Razov on a run at the top of the box. Defender Jimmy Conrad appeared to be in better position to deal with the threat, but Razov alertly poked the ball away from between Conrad’s legs, sending it toward the Wizards goal. Fortunately for Kansas City, goalkeeper Kevin Hartman was able to get just enough of the ball to keep it in front of him, ending the threat.

In the tenth minute, Herculez Gomez looked for the opportunistic strike on the other end, beating flu-stricken defender Francisco Mendoza to a ball over the top and quickly lacing a half-volley towards goal from 25 yards out. It didn’t miss by much, sailing just over the head of Chivas keeper Dan Kennedy and out of play.

Ten minutes later, Chivas was knocking on the door again through Eskandarian’s breakout run down the middle of the pitch. Seeing Sacha Kljestan to his left in a 4-on-3 opportunity, Eskandarian slotted the ball off to the US International, but Kljestan lacked judgment, rushing a curled shot to the far post, where Hartman easily made the save.

The game’s first goal came in the 26th minute, as Razov chipped a ball into space down the left side of the field for Victorine. Dribbling toward the endline, the midfielder alertly passed to a wide-open Eskandarian in the box, setting up the one-time MLS Cup MVP to easily convert the left-footed chance, propelling the home side into the lead with his fourth goal of the year.

“It was just another sequence,” said Eskandarian. “I was just trying to get myself in a good spot to finish the sequence. Sure enough, Sasha ended up down the line… put a perfect ball across the box and all I had to do was just finish it.”

Kansas City has a good opportunity to equalize before the half when Kennedy came well off his line to punch away an incoming cross from the right side. The ball squirted back out to Roger Espinoza on the left, allowing the winger to get a quick shot off with the keeper out of position that ended up just missing high.

Minutes later, Victorine made his homecoming worth remembering as he seared a shot past Kevin Hartman and into the top corner in first-half stoppage time to stake the Goats to a 2-0 lead at halftime. It was his second goal of the season, and his first since the trade that sent him from Kansas City to Chivas.

“I hit three of those shots in the warmup and missed them, so hopefully that was the one I saved for the game,” said Victorine. “[Preki] came up to me before the game and he said, ‘You don’t have anything to prove tonight,’ and I think that made me relax a little bit,” Victorine said. “Obviously, you’ve got a lot of emotion when you go out there and play against your old team.”

Victorine’s former coach Curt Onalfo echoed those sentiments in his assessment of the game: “Anytime there’s a trade, the first time that player plays against his former team they have a little extra bounce in their step,” Onalfo said. “He had a good performance.”

At the start of the second half, it was again Gomez threatening to draw one back for the visitors, but his well-struck free kick in the 50th minute failed to trouble Kennedy, again flying over the bar and out.

Herculez would again be a menace to the defense in the 68th minute, flicking a header toward goal from the top of the box, but right at a waiting Kennedy. As action traveled down to the other end, Eskandarian had a similar opportunity, but got similar results, redirecting his shot straight at Hartman.

The Wizards would get a much-needed goal in the 70th minute in the form of a highlight-reel strike from Josh Wolff. The American star, who had been plying his trade in Germany with 1860 Munich, successfully attempted a bicycle kick from inside the box, sneaking the ball just inside the far post and past a diving Kennedy.
“The ball came loose and I just tried a little kick and it went in,” admitted Wolff. “The goal gave us hope and energy and we had plenty of time but we didn’t do enough. We didn’t pull off the final pass or the final play at the right moment.”

The goal shifted momentum in the match, as Kansas City charged down the field with renewed energy. It looked as though the Wizards had drawn even just three minutes later, with Wolff winning a one-on-one battle with Mendoza before finding Davy Arnaud in the box, who finished the attempt, but the goal was waved off as the assistant referee had whistled for a foul against Wolff for jersey-tugging just seconds before the tally.

With time winding down, the visitors had one last good scoring opportunity, coming off the foot of second-half substitution Claudio Lopez. But like several most of Kansas City’s other attempts on the night, Dan Kennedy was able to watch the ball go over his head one final time, allowing Chivas to claim maximum points on the evening and hold on to their tentative playoff position.

“There were a lot of new faces again from last week and we had to scramble and make adjustments,” said Preki. “I give my guys incredible amount of credit because they fought, and they’re still fighting. The whole year, it’s been the same and they deserve what they’re getting.”

Scoring Summary:
CHV – Alecko Eskandarian 4 (Sasha Victorine, Ante Razov) 26’
CHV – Sasha Victorine 2 (Atiba Harris, Sacha Kljestan) 46’+
KC – Josh Wolff 3 (unassisted) 70’

Lineups:
CHV – Dan Kennedy, Claudio Suarez, Shavar Thomas, Francisco Mendoza, Alecko Eskandarian (Maykel Galindo 77’), Ante Razov (Justin Braun 30’), Jesse Marsch, Sacha Kljestan, Sasha Victorine, Alex Zotinca (Bobby Burling 67’), Atiba Harris

KC – Kevin Hartman, Michael Harrington, Abe Thompson (Kevin Souter 56’), Kurt Morsink, Jimmy Conrad, Josh Wolff, Roger Espinoza (Carlos Marinelli 73’), Tyson Wahl (Claudio Lopez 46’), Herculez Gomez, Davy Arnoud, Jonathan Leathers

Attendance – 14,783