With a goal by Jesus Padilla one minute after entering the match as a substitute and with seven saves by Dan Kennedy, Chivas USA tied Real Salt Lake 1-1 on Saturday night at Rio Tinto Stadium in front of a sell-out crowd of 19,469 fans.
The Red-and-White (4-9-3) has now an undefeated streak of three MLS matches and reaches 15 points in the Western Conference. The Red-and-White has earned five of their last nine points in league play.
Chivas USA forward Jesus Padilla entered the match at the 69 minute for Paulo Nagamura and scored one minute later with a 30-yard shot that Rimando tried to clear but the ball went between his legs for the tying goal. It was Padilla’s fourth goal of the season. Real Salt Lake midfielder Ned Grabavoy had given the lead to the MLS Cup Champions four minutes before with a spectacular volley from outside the box after a corner kick that forward Justin Braun had cleared out at the 66th minute.
Chivas USA goalkeeper Dan Kennedy (fourth start of the season) had a busy night with seven saves, six of those during the second half. Kennedy replaced injured goalkeeper Zach Thornton, who has a left ankle sprain.
Three players made their 2010 MLS debut tonight: midfielders Paulo Nagamura and Rodolfo Espinoza, as well as forward Giancarlo Maldonado. The three signed with the Red-and-White for this second half of the season and participated with Chivas USA during SuperLiga.
Chivas USA Head Coach Martín Vásquez on tonight’s match: “We came here with the attitude to win the game because we need to add points to stay close to all the teams in the Conference. We will take the point; it’s a good result considering the way things happened in the game. The effort and the load of nine games in 28 days, I think it was a good result and we will take it.”
Chivas USA will travel to Los Angeles on Sunday and will have the day off on Monday. The team will resume training on Tuesday at 10:00 am.
Next game: Chivas USA will face the Columbus Crew next Saturday, July 31, at 7:30 p.m. PT at The Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. For more information, call 1-877-CHIVAS-1 or visit cdchivasusa.com.
