First-place Chivas face Rapids
COLORADO RAPIDS v CHIVAS USA
DICK'S SPORTING GOODS PARK, Commerce City, Colo.
1 p.m. PT (TeleFutura; FSN-W; Altitude)
Sept. 15, 2007 (WEEK 24) / MLS Game #157
Riding a six-game unbeaten streak and in first place at the latest point in the season ever in club history, Chivas USA hit the road for a match against the Colorado Rapids in a crunch match for both teams. Chivas moved into first place with their Thursday win against the LA Galaxy - which gave them victory in the season series against their in-stadium rivals for the first time - and can clinch a playoff spot with a win and the failure of Columbus to win on Saturday. The Rapids come into the game a point out of the top eight and the playoff spots, tied with Columbus for ninth in the overall table.
REFEREE: Richard Heron. SAR (bench): Corey Rockwell; JAR (opposite): Michael Salyers; 4th: Ben Chouaf
MLS Career: 46 games; FC/gm: 33.4; Y/gm: 2.5; R: 10; pens: 10
Games involving Rapids: P13 W8 L4 T1; FC/gm: 34.9; Y/gm: 3.0; R: 4; pens: 6
Games involving Chivas USA: P3 W2 L0 T1; FC/gm: 30.0; Y/gm: 2.0; R: 0; pens: 0
INJURY REPORT: COLORADO RAPIDS - OUT: DF Dan Gargan (R knee ACL tear); FW Herculez Gomez (R ACL and meniscus tears); QUESTIONABLE: DF Brandon Prideaux (L hamstring strain); PROBABLE: FW Conor Casey (R knee swelling); MF Pablo Mastroeni (illness); FW Omar Cummings (L shoulder separation) ... CHIVAS USA - OUT: DF Carlos Llamosa (L knee ACL surgery); GK Justin Myers (L foot fracture)
SUSPENDED: none
WARNINGS:
SUSPENDED NEXT YELLOW CARD: COL: Mehdi Ballouchy, Facundo Erpen, Ugo Ihemelu, Pablo Mastroeni ... CHV: Maykel Galindo, Jesse Marsch, Orlando Perez
SUSPENDED AFTER TWO YELLOW CARDS: COL: Bouna Coundoul, Mike Petke ... CHV: Jason Hernandez, Paulo Nagamura
INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES: none
HEAD-TO-HEAD
ALL-TIME (9 meetings): Rapids 3 wins, 14 goals ... Chivas USA 3 wins, 15 goals ... Draws 3
AT COLORADO: (4 meetings): Rapids 1 win, 7 goals ...Chivas USA 0 wins, 6 goals ... Draws 3
• This is the second of three meetings between the clubs this season, the only one set for Commerce City. They will play the season series finale on Oct. 14 on Victoria Street.
• A year ago, Chivas USA won the season series, winning two games with the other two played to draws. Both Chivas wins came at The Home Depot Center; the two draws were at Invesco Field at Mile High.
• The Chivas success came after Colorado won the first three meetings ever between the clubs, with the fourth a draw, including wins in both matches in Carson.
• Coaches record: Fernando Clavijo vs. CHV: P9 W3 L3 D3 ... Preki vs. COL: P1 W1 L0 D0
2007 (MLS):
6/16: CHV 2, COL 0 (Cooke og 49; Galindo 63)
• Chivas USA got two second-half goals on their way to a 2-0 victory at The Home Depot Center in the first meeting this season.
• Chivas 'keeper Brad Guzan made a stunning save after a poor clearance left Herculez Gomez all along in front of goal midway through the first half, and more Colorado misfortune gave the home side the lead just after the break.
• Sacha Kljestan curled in a cross from the right and it skipped through the area, bounding off the chest of a retreating Terry Cooke at the far post and past Bouna Coundoul for the 49th-minute opener.
• Then in the 63rd minute, a terrific through ball from Jesse Marsch freed Maykel Galindo behind the Rapids back line and he raced in clean on goal, sliding a shot under Coundoul from inside the area for his sixth goal on the campaign and third in the last four matches.
• Here's Preki's team (4-4-2): Brad Guzan - Alex Zotinca, Claudio Suarez (Jason Hernandez 65), Shavar Thomas (Matt Taylor 81), Orlando Perez - Sacha Kljestan, Jesse Marsch, Paulo Nagamura, Francisco Mendoza - Maykel Galindo (Laurent Merlin 84), Ante Razov. Substitutes Not Used: Preston Burpo, John Cunliffe, Anthony Hamilton, Rodrigo Lopez
• Here's Clavijo's team (4-4-2): Bouna Coundoul - Dan Gargan, Ugo Ihemelu, Mike Petke, Brandon Prideaux - Terry Cooke, Jovan Kirovski, Nick LaBrocca (Jose Cancela 66), Jacob Peterson (Roberto Brown 57) - Conor Casey, Herculez Gomez (Nicolas Hernandez 80). Substitutes Not Used: Zach Thornton, Greg Vanney, Daniel Wasson, Chris Wingert
COLORADO RAPIDS
The Colorado Rapids saw their four-game unbeaten run come to a crashing halt, falling 3-1 to the Los Angeles Galaxy last Sunday at The Home Depot Center. With the loss, the Rapids fell out of a tie for eighth place in the MLS overall table and contention for the final playoff spot; with 28 points from 24 matches they are still tied with Columbus, but now in ninth place, a point behind the Chicago Fire.
LAST MATCH
• The Rapids came in riding a four-game unbeaten streak on the heels of a 10-game winless run, while the Galaxy were in the throes of a six-game league losing run and eight games without a win in MLS play.
• After a quiet first half, the game sprang to life just after the break. Peter Vagenas played a ball over the top into the Rapids area, and as 'keeper Bouna Coundoul came off his line to try and claim it, it somehow skidded past him and Alan Gordon raced around him to tuck it home.
• On the play Coundoul was injured and soon had to leave the game. In the 63rd minute Galaxy striker Edson Buddle beat substitute Zach Thornton as he raced in on a breakaway, chipping the ball over the MLS original to finish off a quick counterattack.
• Seven minutes later the Galaxy made it 3-0 on a great goal. Chris Klein overlapped on the right and hooked in a cross to the back post where Kyle Martino came diving in to power home a header inside Thornton and the near stick.
• The Rapids pulled a goal back a minute from the end when Mehdi Ballouchy stormed in to blast home a half-cleared free kick sent in from the right corner, but that was all Colorado could get.
• Rapids head coach Fernando Clavijo made two changes to the team that played to a 1-1 draw with the Columbus Crew the previous Sunday. With Pablo Mastroeni ill, Terry Cooke came back from injury as Tony Sanneh filled the holding midfield role, and Herculez Gomez came in for the injured Conor Casey up top.
• Here's Clavijo's team (4-1-3-2): Bouna Coundoul (Zach Thornton 58) - Ugo Ihemelu, Facundo Erpen (Jacob Peterson 71), Mike Petke, Brandon Prideaux - Tony Sanneh - Terry Cooke, Mehdi Ballouchy, Colin Clark - Herculez Gomez (Omar Cummings 86), Jovan Kirovski. Substitutes Not Used: Jose Cancela, Nicolas Hernandez, Stephen Keel, Daniel Osorno
• "We didn't finish the chances we created," Clavijo said. "In the first half, we had two chances pretty much one-on-one with the goalkeeper and we didn't put them away and we gave them life. They managed to score an early goal in the second half and it changed the momentum completely of the game."
TEAM NEWS
• It was the first time in 10 games the Rapids had allowed more than two goals - and even in that stretch, it's something they had done only once. They lost to D.C. United 4-1 on June 28, then tying the Kansas City Wizards 2-2 on July 22; in the other eight games, the Rapids had allowed just three goals.
• "It puts you behind the 8-ball," Herculez Gomez said of the early second-half opener. "Now you're on the road in the first minute of the second half in a position you definitely don't want to be in. The last thing you want to do on the road in the first couple minutes of the second half is let them get a goal and get into the game."
• For Gomez, it was his first game at The Home Depot Center (along with Ugo Ihemelu) since being traded from the Galaxy to Colorado. "A mixed bag of emotions, a little bittersweet but I'm more disappointed in how we let the game get away from us. I don't want to take anything away from the Galaxy but I felt it was more of what we didn't do than what they did. I felt we gave them the opportunity and credit to them; they capitalized."
• Zach Thornton finally made his league debut when he came on just before the hour mark for Bouna Coundoul. Signed just before the start of the season, he had played only in U.S. Open Cup matches for the club. Thornton has been on an MLS roster in every year's of the league's existence, but missed playing in a game in 2004, when he was with Benfica of Portugal for most of the year before re-joining the Chicago Fire late.
• Shortly after coming on, Thornton was beaten for the second and third Galaxy goals. "It's tough. You're on the bench and you should be ready," Thornton said. "No excuses. It happens sometimes. As a number two, you have to be ready for that."
• Said Clavijo: "It's hard to come into a game but I thought he played well. I don't blame him for any of the goals. There is nothing you can do, when you play a game in LA and you have chances you have to finish them."
• After seeing the unbeaten streak come to an end, the Rapids now return home for one game before again hitting the road for a pair, traveling to Real Salt Lake and New England on back-to-back weekends.
• "It does not even cross my mind that this team is going to allow this result to affect how we are going to play the next game, absolutely not," Clavijo said.
• The Rapids received some devastating news, however, when Herculez Gomez was lost after a significant knee injury during the week in training, suffering tears to the anterior cruciate ligament and meniscus in his right knee. He will out for the remainder of the season, his return not expected for 6-9 months.
CHIVAS USA
Chivas USA extended their unbeaten streak to six games, won the Super Clasíco season series for the first time and moved into top spot in the Western Conference all on the same night, after a 3-0 win against the LA Galaxy on Thursday at The Home Depot Center. Chivas USA have 43 points from 22 matches, one ahead of Houston Dynamo in the West, and six behind overall leader D.C. United. With a victory against Colorado, and if the Columbus Crew fail to defeat Kansas City on Saturday, Chivas will clinch a place in the MLS Cup Playoffs for the second year in a row.
LAST MATCH
• Chivas USA had won for the fourth time in five games in their last outing, a 3-0 win against New York, while the LA Galaxy had put an end to an eight-game, two-month league winless streak with a 3-1 win against the Colorado Rapids in their last outing.
• Chivas took the lead midway through the first half. Lawson Vaughn sent a long ball over the top from the Chivas end and Ante Razov ran onto it. Dribbling into the right side of the Galaxy area, he wrongfooted Abel Xavier by staying on his right foot and sent a drive past goalkeeper Joe Cannon and off the inside of the back post for his ninth goal on the season and the 107th of his league career.
• Chivas rattled the crossbar with a flurry midway through the second half, then put the game away with two late goals. In the 88th minute, Sacha Kljestan sprung Francisco Mendoza with a pass on the left side, and he raced unmolested into the Galaxy area before firing a low shot past Cannon inside the far post to double the lead.
• Then a minute into stoppage time, Troy Roberts saw his clearance from inside the area go right to Laurent Merlin in the right side of the box. The Frenchman fired a quick, low shot back inside the far post for his first MLS goal to seal the victory.
• Chivas USA head coach Preki made one change to the team that defeated the Red Bulls 3-0 the previous Sunday at The Home Depot Center. Claudio Suarez returned to the lineup, coming into central defense in place of Jason Hernandez.
• Here's Preki's team (4-4-2): Brad Guzan - Lawson Vaughn, Claudio Suarez (Jason Hernandez 46), Shavar Thomas, Jonathan Bornstein - Sacha Kljestan, Jesse Marsch, Paulo Nagamura, Francisco Mendoza - Maykel Galindo (John Cunliffe 80), Ante Razov (Laurent Merlin 82). Substitutes Not Used: Preston Burpo, Jorge Flores, Anthony Hamilton, Orlando Perez
• "Obviously it's a tough game, a tough opponent. We knew from the first moment that it was not going to be easy," Preki said. "I feel the Galaxy is a quality side and had their moments and somehow we dealt with all those moments. ... In all honesty, we created five more chances and we were more dangerous. We withstood the pressure they put on us, caught them on a break in the end a couple of times and finished the game off."
TEAM NEWS
• As expected, the Chivas players were euphoric after having taken the Super Clasíco - and the trophy named for former Galaxy president Doug Hamilton - for the first time. After the Galaxy won the first five league meetings between the teams, Chivas have won four of the last seven, including the last two by 3-0 scorelines.
• "It's massive for the club, massive for the fans. We've been taking a beating from those guys for a couple of years and eventually it was going to turn," Ante Razov said. "It can't go on forever. We showed that right now we're the better team in Los Angeles. We're happy with that and we're proud of that."
• Razov opened the scoring with the 107th league goal of his career, putting him just a goal behind the once-mythical 108 posted by current Real Salt Lake head coach Jason Kreis. Of course, D.C. United striker Jaime Moreno now has 110 goals for the all-time lead.
• "He reached in with his right and I was able to drag him to my right and catch him off-step," Razov said. "I knew Cannon would come and it was one of those shots you just aim at the far post. He got a little piece of it."
•In addition, Chivas are in first place after the early days of the season for the first time ever. The latest they had ever held first place in the Western Conference was after Week 3 this season, following a 4-0 win against Real Salt Lake that left them with six points.
• "It means a lot for more than one reason," Chivas USA goalkeeper Brad Guzan said. "Obviously first place; right now we've got the points and we've got a couple of games in hand too so that's always good. The whole rivalry thing, the last two games 6-0 -- words can't describe the feelings in the locker room."
• For the sixth time in their eight games, Chivas USA posted a clean sheet. Two of those have come against the Galaxy, and Chivas have 11 shutouts on the season to lead the league.
• "They're a dangerous team. Their points don't show how capable they are of creating chances and scoring goals," Guzan said. "Being able to kind of contain that -- yeah, they get chances, but you know maybe getting an arm on them or making sure they're a little off balance. Those are little things that don't go on the stat sheet but make a big difference."
• Merlin put the final touches on the rout with his stoppage-time strike. Merlin, who came to Los Angeles to try out for the Galaxy in February, scored his first MLS goal.
• "My personal goal was to play as much as I could," Merlin said. "Chivas is a very good team with a great atmosphere and my goal is to get all the way to playoffs and we're proving right now that we're the best team in Major League Soccer."
