Imagine how he would feel now.

While Ellinger had endured just two painful visits to the cathedral of Major League Soccer when he made his remark, his former team has continued its calamitous play there since he was fired last season. Heading into an especially intriguing battle with its expansion rival tonight, RSL still has not beaten Chivas USA in six meetings at the Home Depot Center - and has been outscored by an embarrassing 15-2 margin in that span.

"It's always hard to play there," RSL's Robbie Findley said.

And he should know.

Findley played much of his rookie season for the Los Angeles Galaxy, the other team that calls the Home Depot Center home. RSL has enjoyed some success against the Galaxy on the road, having won twice in six meetings - including the first road win in franchise history that snapped an 18-game winless streak.

But against the Goats?

Nothing but nightmares.

There was the controversial hand-ball that allowed Chivas a game-winning penalty kick in the first meeting between the teams, and several embarrassing blowouts since. Striker Maykel Galindo scored twice for Chivas in the opening minutes of a 4-0 rout last season, for example, and Ante Razov scored twice in a 3-0 landslide two years ago while pursuing Jason Kreis' since-surpassed all-time league scoring record.

But the worst might have been the 5-1 disaster in RSL's inaugural season - which featured an own goal and a penalty kick within the first 17 minutes and ended with former defender Brian Kamler playing goalkeeper in place of injured D.J. Countess.

"We've just been caught on the bad side every time we've played at Chivas," veteran midfielder Andy Williams said. "And we always make a couple of mistakes early in games against them."

Which is a killer.

With the field at the HDC larger than many in Major League Soccer, teams that fall behind and are forced to aggressively push forward in the effort to catch up can easily get exposed the other way - especially if they're not good possession teams, such as RSL the past few seasons.

"It presents some real tactical issues," Kreis said. "I don't think we've dealt with it well in the past. . . . If you don't do a good job possessing the ball, you're going to be very tired."

Now the coach, Kreis has spent the last 10 months or so building a team he hopes can handle possession much better than in the past.

mcl@sltrib.com

RSL at Chivas USA

At the Home Depot Center, Carson, Calif.

Kickoff: 8:30 p.m. MDT

TV: None

Radio: 700 AM, 1600 AM