Chivas out to stay unbeaten in 2008
Western Conference power has never lost at Crew Stadium
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COLUMBUS CREW STADIUM, Columbus, Ohio
April 12, 2008 | 4:30 p.m. PT (ClbSN; FSN-PT)
WEEK # 3 | GAME # 17
The Columbus Crew return home to play host to Chivas USA, hoping Crew Stadium will finally be kind to them against their visitors. Chivas USA have never lost to the Crew in Columbus, the Red-and-White's 2005 victory at Crew Stadium the club's first-ever on the road. Chivas USA are undefeated on the season, defeating Real Salt Lake last weekend at home, while the Crew fell to the New York Red Bulls on the road after opening the year with a home win against Toronto FC.
REFEREE: Ricardo Salazar. SAR (bench): George Gansner; JAR (opposite): Greg Boles; 4th: Hilario Grajeda
MLS Career: 66 games; FC/gm: 30.6; Y/gm: 3.6; R: 14; pens: 23
INJURY REPORT: COLUMBUS CREW - OUT: DF Ryan Junge (R hamstring strain); QUESTIONABLE: DF Jed Zayner (L groin strain) ... CHIVAS USA - OUT: DF Alex Zotinca (R knee ACL surgery); QUESTIONABLE: DF Lawson Vaughn (L hamstring strain); FW Ante Razov (L calf strain); FW Alecko Eskandarian (L groin strain)
INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES: none
SUSPENDED: none
HEAD-TO-HEAD
ALL-TIME (6 meetings): Crew 1 win, 6 goals ... Chivas USA 3 wins, 7 goals ... Ties 2
AT COLUMBUS: (3 meetings): Crew 0 wins, 2 goals ... Chivas USA 1 win, 3 goals ... Ties 2
• This is the first of two meetings between the teams this season, the only one scheduled for Crew Stadium. Chivas USA will be the hosts when the Crew come to Victoria Street on May 31.
LAST YEAR (MLS):
5/12: CLB 1, CHV 1 (Grabavoy 18 - Razov 2)
7/14: CHV 2, CLB 1 (Razov 19; own goal 69 - Miglioranzi 23)
• Chivas USA claimed the season series for the second successive year in 2007, the teams playing to a draw in Columbus, then Chivas USA winning at The Home Depot Center.
• The Crew have never defeated Chivas USA on their home ground. Chivas USA won in their first-ever trip to Columbus, on Oct. 1, 2005 (the club's first-ever away win), with the teams reaching draws each of the last two seasons in the Ohio state capital.
• After winning the first meeting ever between the clubs, the Crew haven't claimed the full three points since, Chivas USA winning three of the five encounters with two ties.
• Coaches record: Sigi Schmid vs. CHV: P4 W0 L2 D2 ... Preki v CLB: P2 W1 L0 D1
COLUMBUS CREW
The Columbus Crew followed their 2-0 season-opening victory against Toronto with a 2-0 loss to the New York Red Bulls at Giants Stadium. Now with three points from their first two games, the Crew are one of three teams tied for fourth place in the Eastern Conference, behind the Kansas City Wizards and New England Revolution (6 points) and Chicago Fire (4 points).
LAST MATCH
• The New York Red Bulls were opening the season under new coach Juan Carlos Osorio, while the Columbus Crew were coming off a 2-0 victory against Toronto FC at home as they started their season the week before.
• The home side got the start they were looking for, scoring after just 47 seconds. Dave van den Bergh took the ball in midfield and paced forward before letting fly from all of 30 yards. The ball skipped off the turf and past Crew 'keeper Will Hesmer for the quickest goal in Red Bulls history.
• By eight minutes in, it was 2-0. A corner kick from the right sailed by the back post, but Juan Pablo Angel got to it first and knocked it back into the goalmouth. Defender Kevin Goldthwaite was there, beating a defender to the ball to tap it in.
• The Red Bulls had a glorious chance to make it 3-0 in the second half, when Jozy Altidore was pulled down by Columbus defender Danny O'Rourke in the area. But Hesmer saved Angel's penalty kick, the second spot kick stopped in as many weeks by the Crew goalkeeper.
• Crew head coach Sigi Schmid maintained the same first XI that defeated Toronto FC 2-0 at Crew Stadium to open the 2008 season.
• Here's Schmid's team (4-4-1-1): Will Hesmer - Frankie Hejduk, Chad Marshall, Danny O'Rourke, Stefani Miglioranzi (Ezra Hendrickson 66) - Robbie Rogers, Brian Carroll, Adam Moffat (Brad Evans 61), Eddie Gaven - Guillermo Barros Schelotto (Nicolas Hernandez 62) - Alejandro Moreno. Substitutes Not Used: Jason Garey, Andy Gruenebaum, Andy Iro, Duncan Oughton
• "They didn't do anything that we didn't expect. They played exactly the way we expected them to play," Schmid said. ".... (W)e knew they were going to spread the field. They were going to play long balls and isolate Angel and Echeverry. The problem was when we had the ball we didn't put them on their heels. That allowed them to keep the pressure on us. You have to credit them because they did keep the pressure and they were there to pounce on us when we made mistakes."
TEAM NEWS
• Schmid said his team had a plan to deal with the early minutes of the Red Bulls' home opener. However, they still allowed two goals within eight minutes of the start.
• "Part of it is the field, because it is a very matted-down turf, it's not a stand up turf, so it plays very quick. They watered it beforehand so it was very slick," Schmid said. "We told our guys not to play balls into feet of midfielders with their back to goal, which they did. We had three opportunities to clear the ball and we didn't use any of them, so now we find ourselves behind. It's a ball that our goalkeeper should save. He made some saves later, but after that we're chasing after the game."
• The Crew ended the match out-shooting the Red Bulls 20-12, but were able to get just four of those attempts on target, compared to eight for New York.
• "Towards the end of the first half, when we started to shake off the first eight minutes and then really started to play. In the last 15 minutes of the first half, we were pretty decent. In the second half, we were trying to push the game, force the issue, and create chances, and see if we could get a goal and make a game out of it, but we couldn't do that," said Alejandro Moreno. "We come out of here without anything, when we thought this was a game we could get something out of."
• In his second game as a central defender in the Crew back four, Danny O'Rourke conceded a penalty in the second half when he pulled back Jozy Altidore. But Hesmer came up big for the second successive week.
• "It's a transition. The biggest thing is positioning, but I'm learning every day from guys like Frankie (Hejduk), Chad Marshall and Stefani (Miglioranzi)," O'Rourke said. "It's definitely a process and I still have a lot left to learn."
• With a half-hour to play, Schmid made a key tactical switch. He took off his best playmaker, 2007 team MVP Guillermo Barros Schelotto, replacing him with a forward in fellow Argentinean Nico Hernandez. "We changed to a 3-5-2," said Schmid. "They were playing with a lot of energy and it was a pretty direct game. That's not necessarily Guillermo's game."
CHIVAS USA
After getting a draw on the road to start the season, Chivas USA returned home and won for the first time on the campaign, a 3-1 victory against Real Salt Lake last Saturday. With four points from their first two matches, the Red-and-White sit alone atop the Western Conference, a point ahead of Colorado and Los Angeles.
LAST MATCH
• The expansion class of 2005 met after each took a point from their season openers, Chivas USA coming back for a 1-1 tie in Dallas, while Real Salt Lake were pulled back by a late goal from the Chicago Fire.
• Chivas took a 32nd-minute lead when Sacha Kljestan opened his 2008 account. Maykel Galindo collected the ball in midfield and raced forward, sliding a through ball for Kljestan on the right and ran onto it and slotted the ball into the back of the net.
• After the break, it was one of the RSL old boys who doubled the lead for the Red-and-White. Kljestan took a pass on the right side of the area centered it to Harris, who knocked the ball past Nick Rimando from close range (55). But two minutes later RSL got back to within one, Kenny Deuchar scoring his first MLS goal, heading home a freekick swung in by Javier Morales from the left.
• It was the other former RSL striker now with Chivas, Alecko Eskandarian, who put the crowning touch on the win. He raced in alone on Rimando and rounded the 'keeper, carrying the ball almost to the goal line before gleefully thumping it home. Chivas USA is still unbeaten all-time against RSL at home, with six wins and a draw in seven meetings in Carson.
• Chivas USA head coach Preki made two changes to the team that came back for a 1-1 draw at FC Dallas the Sunday before. Lawson Vaughn was out with a hamstring injury, so Chris Pozniak made his Chivas debut on the right of the back four. With Ante Razov also out, Maykel Galindo made his first start of the year, partnering Atiba Harris in attack.
• Here's Preki's team (4-4-2): Brad Guzan - Chris Pozniak (Eric Ebert 80), Jim Curtin, Shavar Thomas, Jonathan Bornstein - Sacha Kljestan, Jesse Marsch, Paulo Nagamura, Francisco Mendoza - Maykel Galindo (Alecko Eskandarian 77), Atiba Harris (Raphael Wicky 69). Substitutes Not Used: Justin Braun, Bobby Burling, Lance Parker, Keith Savage
• "It was very important for us to get three points in our first home game. We didn't play the way we wanted to play, but sometimes games don't work out the way you want them to work out," Preki said. "On the other hand we are happy. I think we could play a lot better, but we got the three points."
TEAM NEWS
• Missing from the match were starters Razov (left calf strain) and Vaughn (left hamstring). Claudio Suarez, one of a few of players who did not have health concerns in the preseason, has yet to make his 2008 season debut. His father Vicente Suarez passed away days before the season opener and the Chivas USA defender did not return to the club until the day before the RSL match as he missed an entire week of practice.
• Additionally, players such as Francisco Mendoza (who started against RSL), Raphael Wicky and Alecko Eskandarian (both substitutes) are still dealing with some fitness and health issues.
• "It's something that has been happening to us the whole preseason. We've been missing guys the whole preseason and in a way you could tell," Preki said after his club's win. "In a lot of ways, we weren't in tune with what was going on in the field. It's going to take us a little bit of time before we start playing the way we are capable of playing."
• But Chivas made a point of building depth in the offseason. Newcomers Atiba Harris and Alecko Eskandarian scored goals while Chris Pozniak and Jim Curtin held their own on the club's backline.
• "Going through the preseason, we talked about how many guys we had that could step up and put the ball in the back of the net for us," goalkeeper Brad Guzan said. "You saw firsthand tonight that the guys did a great job."
• One player who did well despite nagging pain was Maykel Galindo. The Cuban striker was hobbled with an adductor injury at the end of last season and still has issues with the injury this season, yet scored the tying goal against FC Dallas in the opener and set up Kljestan's opener against RSL.
• "Everybody knows I am not at 100 percent," Galindo said. "Aside from that, though, I did not play well. I have to keep working and get healthy because it's not easy to play through pain."
• The final two goals came from players who spent last season with RSL. One, Atiba Harris, has started at striker in both games this season with Chivas after filling a number of roles with Real.
• "It's always difficult going into training not knowing where you are going to play next weekend," Harris said. "Sometimes I'd train in the midfield -- not just the midfield but defensive midfield -- and next week as a forward. Coming in here but my main focus is to be a forward and score goals."
• Eskandarian clearly showed his desire to finish off his old club, pounding the ball into the goal from almost the goal line for the Chivas third. But a groin injury has him questionable for this week - and going forward.
• "I still might need surgery next week. I just kind of fought through the pain (Saturday)," Eskandarian said. "We'll re-evaluate and see what I need to get better but (Saturday) was one of those cases where Ante was out with injury so I told Preki 'If you need me, I'm available.' I'm glad I got to get in and had an impact on the game."
