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Chivas scores early, holds on in draw with Rapids

Sep 17, 2007 - 2:17 AM COMMERCE CITY, Colorado (Ticker) -- Sacha Kljestan scored his fourth goal of the season in the 13th minute as Chivas USA held on late for a 1-1 tie with the Colorado Rapids on Sunday.

The 22-year-old midfielder took advantage of a red card in the 12th minute when Rapids defender Facundo Erpen took down Chivas' Laurent Merlin from behind on a breakaway attempt.

Kljestan blasted a penalty kick through the right side for the game's first tally when Rapid goalkeeper Bouna Coundoul anticipated a shot to his right and Kljestan kicked it to the open side on the left side of the goalkeeper.

The penalty kick was good," Kljestan said. "I was going to go left but I saw the keeper move early so I went to the right, so it was an easy finish. It was a good play by Laurent (Merlin) to draw the penalty kick on the red card so I give a lot of credit to him."

Colorado (7-10-8) head coach Fernando Clavijo saw the red card a bit differently than Kljestan.

"I'm going to definitely send a tape to the league and expect a decision to be made," Clavijo said. "It was a dive. Absolutely a dive. That red card changed the whole momentum of the game. Thank you, Mr. Referee."

Colorado tied up the match at 1-1 in the 76th minute as Colin Clark scored on a kick at the top right corner of the goalie box, breaking free off a pass from the right by Conor Casey. Chivas goalkeeper Brad Guzan tried to meet Clark at the point of attack but was too late as the ball ricocheted off Guzan and into the middle of the net.

"It was a long first touch," Clark said. "As soon as I touched it, I thought Guzan was going to beat me to it. I got a couple good steps towards it and I was fortunate enough to beat him to it. He got a little touch on it."

The tie extended Chivas' unbeaten run to seven games (6-0-1), but the one point gained for the tie left them one point behind Houston (13-7-6) in the Western Conference standings after the Dynamo defeated the Los Angeles Galaxy, 3-1. Chivas (13-6-5) is 3-0-3 in its last six games against the Rapids.

"I wasn't really happy with a tie," Chivas USA head coach Preki said. "I thought that after we took the lead we should have found a way to get a second goal. We had plenty of opportunities to get a second goal."