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Red-and-White drop tough game to defending champs

March 27, 2011 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
Club Deportivo Chivas USA News Release


Chivas USA fell in a hard-fought match to the defending MLS Cup champ Colorado Rapids on Saturday night at The Home Depot Center, with a goal by Quincy Amarikwa in the 31st minute making the difference in the 1-0 game. The Red-and-White fall to 0-2-0 (W-L-T) on the season, while Colorado starts the season with a pair of victories.

The Red-and-White have little time to rest, departing for Portland, Ore. on Monday for a U.S. Open Cup match on Tuesday night against the Timbers at the University of Portland. The team will then travel on Wednesday ahead of Saturday's match at Toronto FC.

Chivas USA suffered an early loss in the first half, when midfielder Blair Gavin suffered a recurrence of his left hamstring injury and was forced to leave the game. While the Red-and-White were down a man, Rapids midfielder Jamie Smith threaded a ball through the defense to Amarikwa, who dribbled past goalkeeper Zach Thornton and scored into the empty net.

Midfielder Mariano Trujillo came in for Gavin, who will undergo tests in the coming days to determine the severity of his injury.

The Red-and-White had several chances, with Jimmy Conrad connecting on a header that went just over the net, but were unable to tie the game. Mike Lahoud made a great goal-line stop on a corner kick, and Thornton ended with one save on the night.

Forward Victor Estupiñan made the first start of his MLS career, and Ben Zemanski played as a central defender for the first time in his professional career.

Tuesday's match against the Portland Timbers in the U.S. Open Cup will not be broadcast on television, but can be found streaming on cdchivasusa.com. Saturday's game against Toronto FC will be live on Prime Ticket and W Radio 690 AM at 10:00 a.m. PT (1:00 p.m. ET).

Chivas USA Head Coach Robin Fraser, on tonight's match: "Obviously the result was disappointing, but even a lot of our play was disappointing I thought today. There was a lot of space given to us, and I thought we weren't aggressive enough." More from players and Fraser can be found on cdchivasusa.com.



Major League Soccer Stories from March 27, 2011


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