Chivas USA attempted a comeback but fell short in the second match of the Honda SuperClásico on Sunday, losing to the LA Galaxy by a 2-1 score. Edson Buddle and David Beckham gave the Galaxy the lead in the first half, while Alan Gordon struck back for the Red-and-White in the second half, scoring his first goal for the club.

The result leaves Chivas USA with a record 7-15-4 (W-L-T) on the season, and officially eliminates the team from the playoffs. The Galaxy improve to 16-6-5 in 2010, and maintain their first place position in the Western Conference. Added to their win earlier in the season, the Galaxy were able to capture the Honda SuperClásico trophy for the fifth time.

Both teams hit the woodwork early in the match, with a deflected shot from Giancarlo Maldonado in the 8th minute striking the post to Galaxy goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts’ left and going out of play. Just one minute later, Buddle got behind the Red-and-White defense and shot over goalkeeper Zach Thornton, but the ball struck the crossbar and was then cleared.

The Galaxy took the lead in the 23rd minute, when Michael Stephens played a ball over the top of the Chivas defense. Buddle ran onto the ball and struck it with his first touch from just outside the box, finding the lower corner at the far post.

In the 39th minute, midfielder David Beckham doubled the Galaxy’s lead. Carlos Borja committed a foul just outside the box, and Beckham struck a free kick past the wall and just out of Thornton’s reach for his first goal of the season.

The Red-and-White introduced two new players at halftime, adding Jorge Flores and Rodolfo Espinoza in place of Maldonado and Zemanski, and the team responded with more chances and shots. Chivas finally broke through in the 63rd minute when a cross from captain Jonathan Bornstein found Alan Gordon, whose header was parried by Ricketts into the net. It was Gordon’s second goal of the season, and first in a Chivas USA uniform.

Chivas USA continued pushing forward and took a man advantage in the 76th minute when Eddie Lewis was ejected for stepping on Espinoza. The Red-and-White outshot the Galaxy 9-4 in the second session, and 15-10 in the match.

The Red-and-White will take Monday off, and then will train Tuesday through Friday at 10:00 a.m. PT on Field 6 at The Home Depot Center before Saturday’s match.

Next home game: Chivas USA faces off against Toronto FC on Saturday, October 9 at 7:30 p.m. PT at The Home Depot Center. For more information, or for tickets to the match, please call 1-877-CHIVAS-1 or visit cdchivasusa.com.  

Escuche aquí la reacción de Mariano Trujillo a la derrota de 1-0 ante el LA Galaxy en el Honda SuperClásico

Chivas USA Head Coach Martín Vásquez

On the match:

I’m disappointed with the result, but pleased with the second half, the effort especially. The response after being 2-0 down [was] we came out with a lot of energy, we created some chances… All season, they have been relying on Landon [Donovan], [Edson] Buddle and now David [Beckham], and when you allow them space or let them get behind the line of defense, you’re going to be punished.

On the team moving forward:

We’re going to take it one game at a time. There’s still a lot to play for, and we’re going to try to finish strong. I think to talk about next year right now it too soon. We have to focus on the next game, and after these last four games we’ve got to sit down, evaluate, and analyze, and talk about next year.

Chivas USA defender Jonathan Bornstein

On the match:

In the first half, we dug ourselves into a hole, which we didn’t want to do. We even had some chances before that; it was one of those games where both teams had some stuff going for them in the first half, it was kind of back-and-forth. The second half was way better for us. We were able to control the ball quite a bit. We got down the flanks, we had some success out there, and then got some crosses in and had some good header looks, but we just didn’t put them away. It was a little too little too late in the end, and the final goes 2-1.

On what the team is playing for after being eliminated from the playoffs:

“I think more than anything, you’re always playing for pride. Obviously, it’s a blow when you know you’re mathematically out of the playoff race – it’s something you shoot the whole year. We are going to try to work on the things [that we] messed up in the rest of the year. More than anything it’s for pride. You just want to go out winning.”

Chivas USA midfielder Paulo Nagamura

On the team’s performance:

“I think we were the better team on the field. We dominated most of the game, we created a lot of chances, but we could not put the chances away. Like I said before, they had two or three chances and they scored two goals. It’s very difficult to recover from two-nil down.”

On the play of the young players on the team:

“They did a pretty good job. I think even Ben [Zemanski] and [Michael] Lahoud did a very good job in the middle of the park. Like I said, we had possession of the ball, we created chances, but we could not put chances away. I’m disappointed with the result, but to be honest, I’m happy with the attitude the guys [showed] tonight. Even we were two down, we fought back and we almost got the tie in the end.”

On the team’s goals going forward:

“We’ve got to keep working. We do not know what’s going to happen next, so we’ve got to take one game at a time, and work game by game. We’ve got to get results, and let’s hope that next week we can get a win here at home against Toronto.”

Bornstein talks about not making the Playoffs for the first time in four years…

Mariano Trujillo habla sobre lo que queda del campeonato tras la derrota de Chivas USA en el SuperClásico…

Chivas USA Head Coach Martín Vásquez, defender Mariano Trujillo, and midfielder Paulo Nagamura give their reactions after tonight’s SuperClásico.