Chivas USA look to tame rebuilt RSL
First meeting of '08 between expansion class of '05
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THE HOME DEPOT CENTER, Carson, Calif.
April 5, 2008 | 7:30 p.m. PT (HDNet; FSN-PT)
WEEK # 2 | GAME # 12 The expansion class of 2005 meets for the first time this year with visiting Real Salt Lake aiming to get where Chivas USA has been. RSL has yet to reach the MLS Cup Playoffs in its history, while Chivas last year won the Western Conference regular season title. The teams opened their seasons with late draws but in opposite circumstances, Real pegged back by a late equalizer at home from the Chicago Fire, while Chivas scored a late tying goal to get the tie at FC Dallas.
REFEREE: Tim Weyland. SAR (bench): Corey Rockwell; JAR (opposite): Paul Scott; 4th: Baldomero Toledo
MLS Career: 77 games; FC/gm: 30.8; Y/gm: 3.6; R: 22; pens: 19
Games involving Chivas USA: P3 W0 L1 T2; FC/gm: 31.7; Y/gm: 3.7; R: 0; pens: 1
Games involving Real: P4 W0 L2 T2; FC/gm: 27.3; Y/gm: 4.3; R: 3; pens: 0
INJURY REPORT: CHIVAS USA - OUT: FW Alecko Eskandarian (L groin strain); DF Alex Zotinca (R knee ACL surgery); PROBABLE: FW Ante Razov (L calf strain) ... REAL SALT LAKE - NONE REPORTED
INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES: none
SUSPENDED: none
HEAD-TO-HEAD
ALL-TIME (11 meetings): Chivas USA 6 wins, 22 goals ... Real Salt Lake 2 wins, 11 goals ... Ties 3
AT CHIVAS USA: (6 meetings): Chivas USA 5 wins, 15 goals ... Real Salt Lake 0 wins, 2 goals ... Ties 1
• This is the first of three meetings between the teams this season, the first of two at The Home Depot Center. They next meet in Carson on June 14, with the lone trip to Rice-Eccles Stadium set for Sept. 20.
LAST YEAR (MLS):
4/21: CHV 4, RSL 0 (Galindo 1, 9; Razov 43; Taylor 89)
8/26: CHV 1, RSL 0 (Marsch 31)
10/6: RSL 2, CHV 3 (C. Brown 52; Findley 63 - Cunliffe 22, 54; Nagamura 58)
• Chivas USA won all three meetings between the teams in the expansion class of 2005 last year, winning the two encounters on Victoria Street and the lone game at the Wasatch Front.
• Chivas USA has not lost in the last seven meetings between the teams, over the past two seasons. Chivas USA won four of those games, with three draws.
• The last Real Salt Lake victory in the series came Aug. 6, 2005, their last meeting in their inaugural season. The teams split their four games that year.
• Coaches record: Preki v RSL: P3 W3 L0 D0 ... Jason Kreis vs. CHV: P2 W0 L2 D0
CHIVAS USA
Chivas USA came back to claim a draw on the road in their season opener, finishing at 1-1 with FC Dallas on Sunday afternoon at Pizza Hut Park. Chivas USA enter the week in a three-team tie for second place in the Western Conference, behind the Colorado Rapids, the division's only winner on the opening weekend.
LAST WEEK
• The prematch festivities for the season opener for FC Dallas and Chivas USA were highlighted by the announcement of the Sueno MLS winner for each club, Briant Reyes for Chivas USA and Gabriel Funes for FC Dallas.
• Juan Toja gave FC Dallas the lead in the 21th minute. A Bobby Rhine cross found Abe Thompson in the area, who slipped the ball quickly to the Colombian midfielder. Toja quickly turned back toward goal and lashed a shot past Chivas USA goalkeeper Brad Guzan.
• But six minutes from the end Chivas got the tying goal. A long ball out of midfield from Chivas newcomer Raphael Wicky was misplayed by another high-profile addition, FC Dallas defender Duilio Davino, just outside the area. Maykel Galindo quickly pounced on the loose ball and sent a low shot from just outside the box through Dario Sala's legs and into the FCD goal.
• Chivas USA coach Preki put out a very familiar team for the season opener. With Maykel Galindo still coming off offseason surgery, newcomer Atiba Harris was given the start alongside Ante Razov in attack. In addition, Jim Curtin was given the start in central defense with Claudio Suarez absent.
• Here's Preki's team (4-4-2): Brad Guzan - Lawson Vaughn (Raphael Wicky 71), Shavar Thomas, Jim Curtin, Jonathan Bornstein - Sacha Kljestan, Jesse Marsch, Paulo Nagamura, Francisco Mendoza - Atiba Harris (Maykel Galindo 55), Ante Razov (Justin Braun 73). Substitutes Not Used: Bobby Burling, Eric Ebert, Lance Parker, Keith Savage
• "I am happy with the performance of our team. I think we played very decent, we made one or two mistakes - we paid for one - but on the other side of things we created so many chances," Preki said. "I am a little bit disappointed that we didn't win the game, because we should have won that game. On the other side, I feel at least we deserved the point."
TEAM NEWS
• The big pregame team news was the absence of captain Claudio Suarez, who missed the game to be with his family in Mexico after his father died on Friday morning due to heart failure. The Chivas players wore black armbands for the game to honor the passing of Suarez's father.
• In addition, Galindo began the game on the bench as he continues to work his way back from sports hernia surgery during the offseason.
• "Physically, I don't feel great yet," Galindo said. "I didn't do a full preseason with the team and finally, now I am starting to get my physical capacity back. These minutes that Preki has been giving me have been really important for me because it gives me a lot more confidence and game speed, which is important. I'm feeling a lot better right now."
• Said Preki: "Maykel (Galindo) is always a threat. He's a lively player who knows how to get behind people. If you give him a chance, he knows how to score. I'm glad he put that one into his net for his own confidence."
• Preki said that both Galindo and Razov are yet to regain their full fitness. "Neither of them are 100 percent," he said. "It might be another week or two before they get their fitness."
• Chivas USA goalkeeper Brad Guzan was called upon to make three saves in all -- but didn't have to make one after the 53rd minute.
• "It (the result) was good," Guzan said. "It was hot out there. We felt a little bit unlucky to give up the first goal. We were shaky in the back during the first few minutes and let them get a few opportunities but nothing came of it. We still created chances and knew that in due time, a goal was going to come. Galindo had a good finish and we're able to get out of here with a point."
• With about 20 minutes left, Preki shifted his formation to a 3-5-2 and that alteration paid big dividends. Lawson Vaughn came off and Raphael Wicky was called upon for his MLS debut.
• "We moved the ball well and created a lot of opportunities," Preki said. "We switched our formation in the second half that gave us an extra body in the middle and that allowed us to move the ball better. Finally, we scored a goal that we felt we deserved a long time ago."
REAL SALT LAKE
Real Salt Lake were once again minutes away from a victory in their season opener, only for Cuauhtemoc Blanco to pull the Chicago Fire back into a 1-1 draw on Saturday afternoon at Rice-Eccles Stadium. Real are in a three-team tie for second place in the Western Conference heading into the second week, behind the Colorado Rapids, the division's only winner on the opening weekend.
LAST MATCH
• Real Salt Lake were looking to begin a season with a victory for the first time in club history as Denis Hamlett was in charge of his first match for the Chicago Fire without an "interim" tag.
• RSL had the majority of the quality chances over the initial three-quarters of the game, but it took a stroke of good fortune to take the lead in the 71st minute. Dema Kovalenko drove a half-cross, half-shot into the Fire penalty area, and as Bakary Soumare tried to clear at the near post, he deflected the ball into his own goal.
• For the second year running, it looked as if RSL would hold out -- until a stunning strike in stoppage time. This time it was from Cuauhtemoc Blanco. A cross into the Real penalty area was knocked back out by a defender -- but only as far as the edge of the area, and Blanco hit a curling first-time shot inside the left-hand post for the equalizer.
• The goal was the second at Rice-Eccles Stadium for Blanco; his first, last year, won MLS Goal of the Year honors. It was also another cruel First Kick blow for RSL, which last year saw Carlos Ruiz score deep into second-half stoppage time to grab a 2-2 draw for FC Dallas.
• RSL head coach Jason Kreis started two newcomers in his back four, Nat Borchers and Ian Joy each given starts.
• Here's Kreis's team: (4-3-1-2): Nick Rimando - Chris Wingert, Nat Borchers, Matias Mantilla, Ian Joy - Andy Williams (Dema Kovalenko 69), Carey Talley, Kyle Beckerman - Javier Morales - Fabian Espindola (Kenny Deuchar 73), Yura Movsisyan (Robbie Findley 62). Substitutes Not Used: Tony Beltran, Jamison Olave, Chris Seitz, Nathan Sturgis
• "For me tonight, there was one soccer team on the field. I think we played all the soccer, to be completely honest with you," said Kreis. "I thought Chicago came out negatively, sat in and really just tried to make things difficult on us. I thought our guys did a fantastic job of playing the game tonight."
TEAM NEWS
• RSL's record is now 0-1-3 all time in season openers, and it was the second successive year Real suffered late heartbreak. Last year a goal from Carlos Ruiz four minutes stoppage time gave FC Dallas a share of a 2-2 draw.
• "I thought our guys did a fantastic job playing the game; they took a lot of chances. And then at the end it's a special player who makes one special goal," Kreis said. "It wasn't about a breakdown on our part or a bad mistake in our penalty box. It was about one special player who made one special play and didn't do really anything else the entire game -- except run around and whine."
• RSL were the dominant team for much of the match, out-shooting the Fire 17-8 overall, with eight attempts on target to Chicago's two.
• "Basically, we were just taking it to them and being the more aggressive team," midfielder Kyle Beckerman said. "It's kind of like your best defense is your offense when that's going good. That's really what was happening in the first half." Added Carey Talley: "We had some pretty good spells in there. I think that our midfield definitely controlled the game in quite a few portions there. It's definitely something we can build on."
• Nick Rimando was called upon to make just one save. "It was kind of weird out there, where I didn't have to make six or seven saves a game. Borchers was strong in the air. Organization-wise, we were, I think, perfect. You know, a missed clear and they get the goal," said Rimando, who faced 183 shots last season, most among MLS goalkeepers. "I think all in all, our defense went in there and did exactly what Robin [Fraser] and Jason [Kreis] wanted us to do."
• Another of the club's newcomers, Dema Kovalenko, started the game on the bench. But just a couple of minutes after he came on, his low, driven ball into the Chicago penalty area led to RSL's goal.
• "I'm always excited to play, but when you get in, I don't know, 20 minutes, you're just trying make something happen. Bring some energy to the guys, because they've played 70 minutes. It doesn't matter, it's disappointing today, but we've got to move on," he said. "We know we have a good team, a good group of guys. No superstars involved here. We just have to get better this week and move on. This is done, it's only going to get better."
• While there are the inevitable comparisons between the way 2008 started and the way 2007 started, Kreis said there is no question his team will rebound in a positive fashion, that this year they are tougher mentally.
• "I know they are. I've got no doubt what kind of reaction we're going to get this week and what kind of reaction we get next week when we go to Chivas," said Kreis.
