The Home Depot Center is usually where Sacha Kljestan displays his skills to the world. Yet on Thursday, as Kljestan's Chivas USA side took on arch-rival Los Angeles Galaxy, the stadium was not the place he wanted to be.
"I'd rather be playing in the quarterfinals but that's life," Kljestan said. "That's soccer."
Kljestan was a key member of the U.S. Olympic team that failed to advance to the quarterfinals of Beijing 2008. Despite two goals in the first round, Kljestan could not help the U.S. get out of the group stage. After a 1-0 win against Japan, the U.S. tied the Netherlands 2-2 and lost to Nigeria 2-1 and finished just out of the running for a knockout-round spot.
Still, the youngsters' once-in-a-lifetime experience was cut short, and while the sting of defeat and the abruptness of the after-effects -- parting with teammates, returning home, settling back to the business-as-usual grind -- the Olympic experience was one Kljestan won't soon forget.
"I was just very proud to be out there on the field with some of my best friends and to just share the Olympic moments with everybody on the field was really truly amazing," Kljestan said. "It was an experience I'll never forget."
Being the competitor that he is, Kljestan said he wanted to play in Chivas USA's game on Thursday. Logistically, however, it was never an option. Kljestan arrived in Los Angeles at 6:30 p.m. local time -- about 90 minutes before kickoff -- and immediately called coach Preki.
"I told him if he wanted he could put me on the bench and maybe throw me in the second half," Kljestan said. "But he said he didn't want to put me through that and that my legs would be tired and stuff."
Instead, Kljestan watched the game from the stands and missed out on a chance to step right back into the mix.
But Kljestan won't fully return until Thursday at the earliest as he was one of 17 players called into the U.S. national team for Wednesday's World Cup qualifier at Guatemala. He'll take a few days to try and recover from jet lag before meeting up with the senior team.
"I'm very honored to be called in for a World Cup qualifier again," Kljestan said. "I'll take off on Sunday and we hope to start off our semifinal qualification on a good note with hopefully three points in Guatemala. We know it's going to be tough but I'm very honored to be called in for that and happy to represent my country again."
Kljestan and former Chivas USA star Brad Guzan were two of four Olympic players called up for the qualifier. Having just played in an intense competition, Kljestan might be as battle-ready as he could be.
"I tried to gain a lot of experience and see how I did in games like that. I thought I did pretty well in the second and third game," Kljestan said. "I felt that I played pretty well and I showed myself against some of the best competition in the world and I feel very confident having played in that tournament and done well."
Still, the tournament did not go well for the United States. Kljestan's goal against the Netherlands in the second match put the U.S. ahead 2-1. The lead stood until stoppage time, when the Dutch leveled the match with a goal off a free kick.
The U.S. would have qualified for the quarterfinals had the lead stood but instead needed to pull out a result against Nigeria to get through. Early in the decisive match, defender Michael Orozco was sent off and the U.S. played a man down for 87 minutes. Nigeria took a 2-0 lead but Kljestan's late penalty kick cut the lead in half. The USA, however, could get no closer and lost.
Kljestan said neither he nor his teammates blamed Orozco for the team's early departure.
"We're a team and we stick together. We don't point fingers even when two goals were scored on us," Kljestan said. "We don't point at each other and say 'It was your fault' or 'You didn't mark your guy.' We're a team. We gave up the goals together. We got the red card together and we didn't qualify together."
Luis Bueno is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
