and heated protestations -- Prus waved play on, and Chivas closed the gap to two points on second-place Houston.
Chivas USA head coach Bob Bradley made three changes to the team that came back to snatch a late 1-1 draw with the Kansas City Wizards the weekend before. Juan Pablo Garcia and Francisco Mendoza were suspended, so Jesse Marsch returned from suspension in one place, and Jesus Morales made his MLS debut in the other. Brent Whitfield also made his first start since April 29, as Matt Taylor returned to the substitutes' bench.
Here's Bradley's team (4-4-2): Preston Burpo - Tim Regan, Jason Hernandez, Claudio Suarez, Orlando Perez - Brent Whitfield (Esteban Arias 81), Jesse Marsch, Sacha Kljestan, Jonathan Bornstein - Jesus Morales (Matt Taylor 71), Ante Razov. [Substitutes Not Used: Rene Corona, Brad Guzan, Drew Helm, Carlos Llamosa]
"It gets interesting for sure," Bradley said. "Everybody understands all these games are getting more important. In that regard, we know our big rivals now. Houston in our conference is obviously important. We've got games against Dallas coming up and we have the Galaxy."
TEAM NEWS
It was a vital victory for Chivas in their bid to maintain hold on a first-ever playoff place. After the match against United, six of the seven final regular season matches for the Red-and-White are against Western opposition - including a home-and-home matchup with FC Dallas over four days, and rematches with Houston and the Galaxy.
"We've only lost once though in the last 13 games. You can't go crazy too much either way," Chivas forward Ante Razov said. "We're not losing, that's for sure. ... The conference is tight and points are at a premium," Razov said. "If we can get on a little run, all of the sudden you are at the top end of the conference rather than battling for the playoff spot."
Bradley said it was good to see Chivas' biggest gun respond with a pair of goals. Razov hadn't scored since before the All-Star break, the first goal in the 3-3 draw with Real Salt Lake on July 26, but he pulled back into a tie for the league Golden Boot.
"He's had a little bit of a stretch where the chances haven't gone his way but like most goal scorers he can turn quickly," Bradley said. "It was nice to see him get a two-goal game. Physically for the stretch drive he's in very good shape. Hopefully that will pay off."
Jesus Morales made his Major League Soccer debut in the win. Morales, 20, signed with the club on Friday the same month he played for Chivas de Guadalajara in the Mexican club's Apertura 2006 opener. "For a first game I thought Jesus did well," Bradley said. "He's tricky. His mobility around the field I think caused trouble. It was nice to see players step in and play off of him."
Morales started in place of Francisco Palencia, who missed his third consecutive match due to a hamstring injury. "We're happy with the win," Morales said. "I think we've got room to improve but we played well tonight and had a lot of passes and created a lot of opportunities."
Of course, most of the post-match talking points revolved around the late rejection of claims for a penalty by Dynamo. Bradley said he didn't have a clear view of the incident. "That's part of the game. You hope the calls balance out," he said. "There are breaks. Sometimes you feel like you need a break and maybe tonight in that regard in was nice to get one and to get three points."
D.C. UNITED
D.C. United saw their winless streak extended to five games in their heaviest reversal of the season, falling 5-2 to the Los Angeles Galaxy at RFK Stadium on Saturday evening. United still have 47 points from 24 matches, still the best record in the league, leading the Eastern Conference by 15 points ahead of the Chicago Fire and FC Dallas by five points in the race for the MLS Supporters' Shield.
LAST MATCH
United hadn't won in four league games, but hadn't lost at home and hadn't allowed more than two goals in any league match on the season. The Galaxy, still with a hill to climb to reach the MLS Cup Playoffs for an 11th consecutive season, had lost just once in their last nine league games.
It didn't take long for the fireworks to begin, as the Landon Donovan show took center stage on East Capitol Street. Donovan found Cobi Jones with a fine through ball in the fourth minute, and though Troy Perkins saved the initial shot, Alan Gordon was there to push in the rebound.
United pulled level five minutes later when a Troy Roberts tackle on Jaime Moreno saw the ball crash off Chris Albright and into the corner of the goal, but just after the break the Galaxy again nosed in front when a cleared corner fell to Peter Vagenas, who laid the ball off for Albright to bang home from just outside the area.
The visitors doubled their lead in the 66th minute when Quavas Kirk was tripped up by Perkins as he tried to round him, and while the United 'keeper got a hand to Donovan's penalty, it was powerfully struck.
United got back to within one just three minutes when Facundo Erpen got the slightest of touches on a Christian Gomez free kick to head past Kevin Hartman, but two minutes later the Galaxy saw the margin restored when Bryan Namoff knocked a pass intended for Donovan into his own goal as he ran toward goal with the U.S. international. Donovan then finished off the scoring in stoppage time when he came in on a breakaway and rounded Perkins before slotting home.
United head coach Peter Nowak made three changes to the team that played to a 1-1 home draw with the Colorado Rapids the weekend before. Bryan Namoff returned from suspension, coming into the back three for David Stokes. Niggling injuries kept Freddy Adu and Christian Gomez out of the first XI, and so Jamil Walker and Clyde Simms came into the team in their place.
Here's Nowak's team (3-5-2): Troy Perkins - Bryan Namoff, Bobby Boswell, Facundo Erpen - Jamil Walker (Freddy Adu 61), Brian Carroll, Ben Olsen (Christian Gomez 46), Clyde Simms (Domenic Mediate 73), Joshua Gros - Alecko Eskandarian, Jaime Moreno. [Substitutes Not Used: Rod Dyachenko, Nick Rimando, David Stokes, John Wilson]
"We left too much space. We found a good rhythm after we scored, and from the bench it looked like it was just a matter of time before we scored again," Nowak said. "Like I said, this is a good cold shower for all of us: back to reality. If you don't scratch, if you don't fight, and if, defensively, you don't bring your 'A game,' you are going to have trouble, especially now going into a period when every game is important."
TEAM NEWS
It was United's first loss at home since Oct. 8 of last season when they lost 2-1 to the MetroStars in the penultimate week of the season. They last allowed five goals in a league game in a 5-1 loss at Dallas on July 24, 2004. It was the most goals allowed by United at RFK Stadium in a league game since Sept. 9, 2000, a 6-2 loss to Miami Fusion in the final game of that season.
"They haven't been going in against us all year, deflections and balls going off our own guys. It's unfortunate to have that happen in one game, or one every five games, not a couple in one game," Bobby Boswell said. "It's just unfortunate that we didn't put together a good game tonight because we wanted to play well against them. But you got to give them a lot of credit."
"We didn't do our job tonight. It's embarrassing to lose 5-2 at home. It's the first loss at home for us the whole year," Josh Gros said. "Once you're losing, you are embarrassed a little bit, and if the calls aren't going your way, you are going to get frustrated. That's the way it goes."
While both Gomez and Adu were suffering from knocks - Adu from a sore foot, Gomez with a strain to his popliteus - both came on as second-half substitutes.
"We gave Christian a good run in the second half. Freddy and him were coming back from injury and we didn't want to risk anything by playing them from the beginning. It was good to have them both on the field and we will look forward to the next week," Nowak said. "... It is a challenge for all of us - we want to make sure (Adu) is successful. The work he has put together in the past six or seven months is tremendous, and we have to continue to make sure that he is going to be consistent."
Gomez came on for Ben Olsen at halftime, who is also not at 100 percent. "Ben was struggling this whole week after the Colorado game. We gave him 30 minutes on Wednesday. He had a very good first half but we cannot force it and let him play the whole game because he will not [have time to] recover," Nowak said. "He has never gotten fully fit since coming back from the national team camp. He has played all of these games because of his heart. Sometimes it's difficult to go week by week, but we want to make sure he is 100 percent fit."
In Adu's place, Jamil Walker was given a start in a wide midfield role; he generally is an out-and-out spearhead striker. "I like it out there. I have a little bit more space sometimes," he said. "I get to run at the defense, going forward. We are working on stuff and trying to get a little better at that."
L.A. put only six shots on target but still handed United's league-leading defense its worst torching of the season, and the nightmare was capped by the injury to Domenic Mediate, who suffered a broken fibula in a tackle by Ugo Ihemelu that earned the defender a two-match ban. Mediate had entered the match as D.C.'s last substitute, thus the home side was forced to finish the match shorthanded, making it even easier for the Galaxy to wreak havoc on the counterattack.
"At that point in the last 20 minutes, we were so tired," said United defender Facundo Erpen. "We have to know we are the best team in the league. We have to play like that. But tonight, it was horrible."
L.A. has now gone undefeated in its last four trips to the nation's capital, but what's even more mystifying for United are the reasons for their own loss of form since the All-Star break.
"It's a wake-up call for all of us," said Jamil Walker. "We [haven't] lost at home at home in a long time and losing the way we did, it's back to the drawing board, basically. Getting back to what worked in the first half of the season, and get back to that mentality-winning is a habit and we're getting out of the habit right now. We've got to get back into it."
