As an assistant coach at Real Salt Lake last season, Fraser knows Morales well and wishes him all the best after the 31-year-old suffered a broken ankle in the first half of Saturday afternoon’s matchup.
“Its difficult to see a player like Javier go through an injury,” Fraser said. “Javier Morales the person is even better than Javier Morales the player. He’s the classiest player there is.”
Fraser made a point to express his condolences to Morales and Salt Lake coach Jason Kreis.
“You hate to see that happen to anyone, especially him,” Fraser said.
As the coach of Chivas USA, Fraser explained that Marcos Mondaini was not attempting to injure the Argentine playmaker when he picked up a red card for the play in the 38th minute. He added that Mondaini is good friends with Salt Lake’s Fabian Espindola.
“It was a clumsy challenge. It certainly wasn’t malicious,” Fraser said. “Marcos is torn up about it because he is not that type of player.”
Fraser said his bench thought that was Mondaini’s first foul of the season. As a forward, Mondaini was in an unfamiliar position trying to play defense.
“It was a very unfortunate play,” Mondaini said. “I want to tell Morales that I wish he recovers promptly. I never had the intention of hurting him.”
The red card to Mondaini was the second for Chivas USA of the first half. Centerback Andrew Boyens committed numerous tactical fouls, and eventually received his second yellow card in the 24th minute for throwing a shoulder into Alvaro Saborio on a set piece.
“I think I put myself in a vulnerable position,” Boyens said. “I made a mistake and put the referee in the position to send me off.”
Chivas held the match to a draw until Will Johnson finally scored in the 87th minute.
“The game was somewhat defined by the red cards,” Fraser said. “It was a really strange game. It was almost kinda surreal.”
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Chivas USA disappointed not only by the defeat but also Javier Morales’ injury