Chivas USA – Season Opener!
March 12, 2012 -
On a beautiful day for soccer, the Home Depot Center in Carson, CA was rocking as Chivas USA supporters were geared up for the home opener of the 2012 MLS season. The Houston Dynamo were in town to play the goats. In addition to the play on the field, it was the debut of Automated Man as an “Official Sponsor” of Chivas USA Soccer.
The result of the game wasn’t what was hoped for, Chivas losing a heartbreaker in the 93rd minute 1-0. There were some good positive things to take from the game. Especially that of goalkeeper, Dan Kennedy. He was brilliant, superb and outstanding. He single handedly kept the Rojiblancos in the game with some incredible saves in the second half. For his superhuman efforts, Dan Kennedy was named the “Automated Man of the Match” as voted by the Chivas USA coaching staff. Congratulations to Dan for being the inaugural winner of the Automated Man of the Match. No doubt Kennedy’s efforts will probably earn him MLS player of the week. If not, they need to discontinue the award. Yes. He was that good!
And if Jurgen Klinsmann of the USA Men’s National team is doing his job, Dan Kennedy should be getting a call up very soon. Personally, I would rather see Kennedy in goal than Tim Howard. I am a very small minority who believes that Tim Howard is overrated. There I said it. Don’t hate, just keep an open mind. How many bad goals has Tim Howard given up in key international matches?
Chivas USA had chances, especially in the first half. Either a goal post got in the way, or the headers of Juan Pablo Angel and Oswaldo Minda were harmlessly struck over the crossbar or wide. At times Houston seemed to be in control of the match and Chivas seemed unable to mount any sort of attack. Missing two starters in Michael Lahoud and John Valencia didn’t help, but that is no excuse for the silly and unforced errors that the Rojiblancos continued to make. It seemed that the team just wasn’t in sync. It was this type of lack of intense play that allowed Houston to score off of a deflected corner kick. Leaving an unmarked Dynamo player, Andre Hainault, to pick up the loose ball and come in on Dan Kennedy unopposed to score easily. These are the type of mistakes that plagued Chivas USA all last year. And to have this type of lapse of defense in stoppage time, is a killer and cannot happen.
There were some good positives to take from the game as well. The Chivas debut of Ryan Smith who showed some flash as a second half replacement looked like he could be a difference maker as well as Casey Townsend making his MLS debut. It appears that the goats have some much needed depth on the squad, as opposed to last year. This bodes well for the rest of the season. With the veteran leadership that is there, the costly mistakes should disappear as the season moves on. The Western Conference is going to be tough and points are going to be at a premium. Chivas cannot afford to give them away like they did Sunday. But with that said, this fan is excited and extremely optimistic that the 2012 Chivas USA squad will be in the playoffs come October.
