CHIVAS USA NOT FEELING LIKE A MILLION BUCKS AFTER DRAW SOCCER: GOATS ELIMINATED FROM SUPERLIGA TOURNAMENT. CHIVAS USA 1, NEW ENGLAND 1.

Byline: Phil Collin

Staff Writer

CARSON -- One moment, Chivas USA was still in the hunt for a million bucks. The next -- well, put it this way. The budget won't have to be adjusted for extravagance.

Trying to protect a one-goal lead that would have jumped them into the final four of SuperLiga, Chivas' momentary lapse enabled the New England Revolution to pull out a 1-1 tie in the final game of Group B play Sunday in front of 4,738 at Cal State Fullerton.

Until Pachuca drew with Santos Laguna later in the evening, Chivas still had a shot at advancing if Santos had pulled out a victory.

The tie on the ragged field at Titan Stadium was more like a defeat that flustered Chivas. In fact, co-owner Antonio Cue had a sheepish look on his face after he inadvertently almost entered the Revolution locker room after the game.

The frustration was palpable for Chivas, which will not play again until resuming the MLS schedule Aug. 2 in Chicago.

The Goats were hoping to face the Houston Dynamo on the road in the semifinals July 29.

"I think we had a lot of the play and we played really well tonight and we played well enough to get out of this group," said Chivas midfielder Sacha Klestan, who leaves today to join the U.S. Olympic team.

Boosted by Ante Razov's goal in the 59th minute -- Razov's sixth goal in the past six games -- Chivas couldn't make the goal stand up.

From a free kick to the right of the Chivas goal in the 78th minute, New England's Steve Ralston directed his pass to the players in the box. Shalrie Joseph was the only one who found it and headed a shot to the lower left corner of the goal.

Goalkeeper Dan Kennedy got a hand on it but it trickled beneath him. Midfielder Daniel Paladini, hugging the post, flailed at the ball but couldn't send it out of the net.

"We're 12 minutes away, we lose a mark on a dead ball," said Chivas assistant coach Mike Matkovich, who was filling in for Preki as the head coach dealt with family concerns in his native Serbia. "We feel we gave up a soft goal."

Chivas finished 1-1-1 in the eight-team tournament but couldn't erase the bitterness of the finish.

"It's a terrible goal to give up, one of the worst goals I've ever given up in a big game," midfielder Jesse Marsch said. "That feels bad.

"The good part is we actually played really good in this tournament and given that we're still not close to 100 percent, we're still playing pretty good soccer so hopefully we'll be able to take this into the rest of the season."

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CHIVAS USA

AUG. 2 at Chicago, 5:30 p.m., Toyota Park.

TV: FSN West.

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Photo:

(color) Chivas USA's Jonathan Bornstein, left, tries to keep the ball away from New England's Sainey Nyassi in Sunday's SuperLiga game.

Bruce Hazelton/Staff Photographer