Jesse Marsch proud of Chivas USA's effort

Some stared straight ahead. Some stopped to share a word or two with friends. Some kept their heads and eyes lowered. Some managed a weak smile.

The end of a season is always like this -- disappointment tinged with a tired kind of relief. Veteran midfielder Jesse Marsch put it best when describing the locker room scene after a 2-2 tie with Real Salt Lake on Saturday night had ended Chivas' playoff run.

"We're just an exhausted, exhausted group," Marsch said. "It's physical exhaustion, but it's mental and emotional too. It's been a long haul, man. It's been 10 months that have felt like 10 years."

In a season in which Coach Preki's team had to overcome one adversity after another, most of them injury related, Saturday night's game was typical. Chivas took the lead, Real tied it up, Real took the lead, Chivas tied it up.

Preki dug deep into his bag of coaching tricks, seeking an answer. He took off two defenders and replaced them with two forwards, throwing caution aside in search of goals.

Marsch applauded the move.

"We certainly went for it," he said. "It was a little chaotic on the field at times because I think everybody was like, 'What are our roles?' But I think guys understand Preki, and we always adjust pretty well to him. There's a good relationship there, and we just try to put our heart and soul into it. I think that showed tonight, but it just wasn't enough."

In the end, the one goal that would have forced overtime and kept Chivas' hopes alive never came, and now there is only 2009 to look at.

"I feel like this game was a microcosm of our year," Marsch said. "We get a lead and we get a little momentum and then we have a setback. And we fight to keep going and then we get another setback. The guys never gave up. We got back in the game.

"The whole year was like that. We'd get a little momentum, something happens, a couple of guys drop, get hurt, we're missing guys, we stick to it, we put everything we had into it.

"Listen, I'm proud. There are plenty of teams in this league over the years that get injuries and they just fall apart. I felt like every guy around here put everything he had into trying to get this thing going in the right direction."

Chivas made the playoffs for the third year in a row and came within seconds of reaching the Western Conference final. Had it not yielded a goal in the final minute of the first game, Saturday's tie would have forced overtime and possibly penalty kicks.