Chivas USA dropped its opening SuperLiga 2010 match on Thursday night at The Home Depot Center, falling 2-1 to Puebla F.C. of the Mexican First Division. Michael Umaña scored his first goal for the Red-and-White in the 85th minute, but Chivas USA could not complete the comeback.
The Red-and-White had three new signings start the match, with midfielder Paulo Nagamura making his return to the field for Chivas USA as he started in central midfield, playing 63 minutes. Rodolfo Espinoza and Giancarlo Maldonado both made their debuts for Chivas, with Espinoza playing the full match at outside midfield, and Maldonado playing 76 minutes at forward.
Puebla F.C. took an early lead in the 6th minute, taking advantage of a defensive miscue from Chivas USA to score. Andres Olivera finished a shot from about 15 yards off an assist from Gabriel Pereyra. Later in the match, Puebla executed a perfect counterattack to score its second, with Alvaro Gonzalez finishing a pass from Alejandro Acosta.
The only goal of the game for Chivas USA came in the 85th minute after a long attacking spell from the home team. The Red-and-White had narrowly missed scoring several times before Michael Umaña rose to meet a Rodolfo Espinoza corner kick and head home from 10 yards.
It was a physical match with a total of eight yellow cards dished out by referee Jose Molina, including two to Yamith Cuesta for Chivas USA, who was ejected and will miss Sunday’s match at Houston. Four of Puebla’s five yellow cards were for wasting time, receiving the warnings for delaying restarts.
Chivas USA Head Coach Martín Vásquez, on tonight’s match: “I’m disappointed because we felt that we deserved better… our objective was to get a good result. Overall, we’re not happy with the second goal we gave up and… the first goal, even though it was offside, we gave up the goal.”
Chivas USA travels on Friday to Houston, Tex., where it will play the Dynamo at Robertson Stadium in its second match of the SuperLiga 2010 group stage. The Red-and-White recently captured a U.S. Open Cup win on the road against Houston, topping the Dynamo 3-1 behind two Justin Braun goals on July 6.
Next home game: Following the match in Houston, Chivas returns to Los Angeles on Monday, and will train on Tuesday at The Home Depot Center. On Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m. PT, the Red-and-White face Pachuca of the Mexican First Division, featuring U.S. National Team stars José Francisco Torres and Herculez Gomez. For more information, or tickets to the match, please call 1-877-CHIVAS-1 or visit cdchivasusa.com.
