Sep 21, 2008 - 1:27 AM
0 shoutsSALT LAKE CITY (Ticker) -- Alecko Eskandarian scored in the 72nd minute to lift Chivas USA to a 1-0 victory over Real Salt Lake on Saturday in the final MLS game played at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
Eskandarian, who played with Real Salt Lake for 17 games last season, blasted a right-footed shot from the left penalty area after defender Nat Borchers and goalkeeper Nick Rimando collided with the ball in the backfield, leaving the net wide open.
"It was bad, communication was a bit of a problem," Rimando said. "I said 'leave it' and (Borchers) gets in my way. But it's one of those things where you have to stay positive because if you start pointing fingers, it's not a good thing."
Rimando finished with two saves for Real Salt Lake (8-10-7), which fell for the first time at home in 13 matches (7-1-5).
"A huge, huge disappointment for us; very disappointed now to drop below Chivas (in the standings)," Real Salt Lake coach Jason Kreis said. "We've dug ourselves a bit of a hole and made things very difficult for the last five games. I think the mentality has to be that we have to go on the road and pick up a win now.
"We had kind of counted on getting three wins at home and now, obviously, we're not going to have that, so we have to go on the road and pick up a win there."
Ironically, Real Salt Lake's lone victory on the road was a 1-0 triumph over Chivas USA (9-10-6). The side is 1-9-2 on the road.
With Real Salt Lake's new stadium in Sandy, Utah set to open for the team's next home match on October 9 against the New York Red Bulls, 26,391 fans were on hand for the send off - a team record for a single MLS match.
"Goodbye and good riddance," Kreis said jokingly. "No, we're just really excited to get into the new building. October 9 will be a huge date for us, and I know all of our guys are looking forward to that first match there."
Eskandarian's 25th career goal handed Real Salt Lake its first home loss since a 1-0 setback against the Houston Dynamo on October 15, 2007.
"We got a fortunate goal," Chivas coach Preki said. "Sometimes, in this game, you have to be lucky and get one of those things. This year luck hasn't been on our side too often, so tonight we'll take it. It's that time of year that we'll take the points, it doesn't matter how they come."
Chivas USA, which is 3-7-3 on the road, improved to 8-3-3 all-time against Real Salt Lake and 2-2-2 at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
"We always knew that we had a good team," Preki said. "It was just a matter of getting everybody healthy and getting everybody playing. I don't think we played our best tonight. It was our first time we put this group together in a long time."
The loss extended Real Salt Lake's losing streak to two games, while the win makes Chivas USA unbeaten in its last four matches.
From the Bleachers
-
CHIVAS USA: 1
REAL SALT LAKE: 0
Final
Sep 20 11:30 PM -
MLS
CHIVAS 1
REAL SALT LAKE 0 FINAL
Sep 20 11:30 PM -
MLS
CHIVAS 0
REAL SALT LAKE 0 44:00 LEFT, 2ND HALF
Sep 20 11:29 PM -
CHIVAS USA: 0
REAL SALT LAKE: 1
Final
Sep 20 11:26 PM -
MLS
CHIVAS 0
REAL SALT LAKE 1 13:00 LEFT, 2ND HALF
Sep 20 10:41 PM -
CHIVAS USA: 0
REAL SALT LAKE: 0
Halftime
Sep 20 9:52 PM
