CHIVAS USA v NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION
THE HOME DEPOT CENTER, Carson, Calif.
7:30 p.m. PT (FSN-W; TV38)
June 30, 2007 (WEEK 13) / MLS Game #83
It's the front end of a home-and-home series over two weekends for Chivas USA and the New England Revolution, with Steve Nicol's band making the trip West after he was confirmed as coach of the MLS team for the Sierra Mist MLS All-Star Game. Chivas USA saw their five-game unbeaten streak come to an end in their last league game 10 days ago; they will also have a midweek clash with FC Dallas in between the meetings with the Revolution. It's the first road contest for the Revs after a four-game homestand, one where they didn't record a victory until the last game.
REFEREE: Michael Kennedy. SAR (bench): Corey Rockwell; JAR (opposite): Peter Manikowski; 4th: Ramon Hernandez
MLS Career: 87 games; FC/gm: 32.7; Y/gm: 4.1; R: 15; pens: 34
Games involving Chivas USA: P3 W1 L0 T2; FC/gm: 34.0; Y/gm: 6.0; R: 1; pens: 2
Games involving Revolution: P25 W8 L12 T5; FC/gm: 32.5; Y/gm: 3.6; R: 3; pens: 8
INJURY REPORT: CHIVAS USA - OUT: DF Carlos Llamosa (L knee ACL surgery); DF Desmond Brooks (L hamstring strain); PROBABLE: DF Lawson Vaughn (L ankle tendonitis) ... NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION - OUT: MF Joe Franchino (R ankle surgery); FW Arsene Oka (R MCL sprain); DOUBTFUL: GK Doug Warren (concussion); MF Jeff Larentowicz (R eye injury); MF Shalrie Joseph (L groin strain); PROBABLE: MF Khano Smith (R ankle sprain); MF Bryan Byrne (L hand contusion)
SUSPENDED: CHV: Shavar Thomas (through July 1)
WARNINGS:
SUSPENDED NEXT YELLOW CARD: CHV: Paulo Nagamura ... NE: Jeff Larentowicz
SUSPENDED AFTER TWO YELLOW CARDS: CHV: Sacha Kljestan, Claudio Suarez, Alex Zotinca ... NE: Andy Dorman, James Riley
INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES: CHV: Jonathan Bornstein, Brad Guzan, Sacha Kljestan (USA; Copa America) ... NE: Taylor Twellman (USA; Copa America); Amaechi Igwe (USA; FIFA U-20 World Cup)
HEAD-TO-HEAD
ALL-TIME (4 meetings): Chivas USA 1 win, 3 goals ... Revolution 2 wins, 5 goals ... Draws 1
AT CHIVAS USA: (2 meetings): Chivas USA 1 win, 2 goals ... Revolution 0 wins, 1 goal ... Draws 1
• This is the first of two meetings between the teams this season, the only one set for The Home Depot Center, and both coming within a week's time. They meet again next Saturday at Gillette Stadium, though Chivas have a July 4 date with FC Dallas in between.
LAST YEAR
5/13: NE 3, CHV 1 (Dorman 23; Joseph 53; Twellman 86 - Mendoza 19)
8/6: CHV 1, NE 1 (Marsch 22 - Twellman 16)
• Last year, the Revolution won the season series, winning in New England while playing to a draw in southern California. The season before, the teams split their two inaugural encounters, each winning by 1-0 scorelines on their own ground.
• Last year's Chivas USA home match was played as part of a doubleheader with a friendly matching FC Barcelona and Mexico's Club America, and drew the largest crowd ever to see a regular season Major League Soccer game, 92,650 flocking to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for the 1-1 draw.
• It surpassed the crowd of 92,216 that saw the Los Angeles Galaxy take on the Tampa Bay Mutiny at the Rose Bowl on June 16, 1996, which was also part of a doubleheader, that involving a USA-Mexico international friendly.
• Chivas USA has now played in front of two of the three largest regular-season crowds in MLS history, playing in front of 88,816 last Aug. 10 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in the "Doble Super Clasico" that also included a match between CD Guadalajara and Club America.
• Coaches record: Preki v NE: first game ... Steve Nicol vs. CHV: P4 W2 L1 D1
CHIVAS USA
Chivas USA saw their three-game winning streak come to crashing halt, falling 4-0 to Houston Dynamo in their last league game, last Thursday at Robertson Stadium. Chivas have 17 points from 11 matches, good for third place in the Western Conference, now five points behind Dynamo and two ahead of the Colorado Rapids entering the week.
LAST MATCH
• Dynamo had followed a three-game losing run with three consecutive wins, while Chivas hadn't lost in five consecutive games.
• From the start, it was nearly all Dynamo, and the Orange took the lead after just five minutes. Brad Davis drove a free kick into the Chivas USA, but the deflection fell to Brian Mullan all alone at the top of the box, and he placed his shot just inside the right post for the opener. It was his first league goal since July 8, 2006 - also against Chivas - a span of 26 games.
• After the break, it was the Brad Davis show, as he hit for his first professional hat trick. In the 55th minute, he chased down a ball on the left flank, laid it back to Wade Barrett, then raced unmarked into the area to collect the return pass. From an angle, he hammered a rising blast inside the far upper corner for his first league goal in 26 games, since July 15, 2006 (against the Kansas City Wizards).
• Laurent Merlin saw a snap shot on the turn crash off the bar, then the game completely turned in the 66th minute. Joseph Ngwenya raced behind the Chivas defense, Shavar Thomas pulled him down just before the area from behind, and referee Jorge Gonzalez sent off the Chivas center back.
• Davis then made it 3-0 with his second goal in the 70th minute. Ngwenya had shown good link-up play all night, and laid the ball back to Davis, who lashed a low drive past Chivas 'keeper Brad Guzan from outside the area.
• Brian Mullan was then hacked down as he skipped along the top of the Chivas penalty area, and Davis finished off his triple by converting from the penalty spot in the 75th minute.
• For the second consecutive match, Preki made no changes to his team, maintaining the group that defeated the Colorado Rapids 2-0 the weekend before.
• Here's Preki's team (4-4-2): Brad Guzan - Alex Zotinca, Claudio Suarez, Shavar Thomas, Orlando Perez - Sacha Kljestan (Matt Taylor 60), Jesse Marsch (Jason Hernandez 69), Paulo Nagamura, Francisco Mendoza - Maykel Galindo, Ante Razov (Laurent Merlin 60). Substitutes Not Used: Preston Burpo, John Cunliffe, Anthony Hamilton, Rodrigo Lopez
• "I think, obviously, the better team won outright. From the first minute of the game, you could tell that they were the team that wanted it more than us, and they came for 90 minutes," Preki said.
TEAM NEWS
• There were no excuses in the Chivas USA locker room after the disappointing loss that ended the Red-and-White's five-game unbeaten streak and three-game win streak.
• "We didn't win tonight, and we didn't deserve to win. I don't think we played particularly well as a team, from top to bottom," said goalkeeper Brad Guzan. "It was just one of those nights where we didn't come ready to play, and right from the get-go they were ready."
• Said Ante Razov: "Coming into this place, we didn't really have the right mentality, and we didn't match their intensity and aggressiveness. We didn't match their intensity and aggressiveness like we'd have to if we wanted a chance to win tonight. We played really poorly, and we probably got what we deserved."
• Chivas USA are now 0-2-1 in games played in Houston, and striker Ante Razov said the team will have to learn to beat Dynamo at home if it wants to get farther along in the MLS Cup Playoffs.
• "This was a big game and we didn't rise to the occasion," Razov said. "We know that Houston's the one place you're going to have to win if you're going to get your team into the playoffs."
• After having allowed just eight goals over the entire season to that point, Chivas allowed four against Dynamo. They had not allowed more than one goal in any single game since May 6.
• "We got a little bit lazy. On Davis' first goal, he had a great finish and put it in the corner. On the third goal, again, good finish, and we were all over the place and we couldn't recover, and they made us pay. When you play a good team like that, that's what happens," Guzan said.
• And after that performance, three-fifths of the Chivas rearguard will be gone for the match against New England - which is tied for the league's most lethal attack. Jonathan Bornstein and Guzan have been called into the U.S. national team for Copa America, while Shavar Thomas will be suspended after being sent off in Houston.
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION
The New England Revolution put an end to a three-match winless run with another emphatic home victory against Toronto FC in Foxborough, this time by a 3-0 scoreline last Saturday. With the victory, the Revolution moved into first place in the Eastern Conference with 22 points from 12 matches, one point ahead of the New York Red Bulls and two ahead of the Kansas City Wizards, and in the process handed Steve Nicol head coaching honors for the Sierra Mist MLS All-Star Game.
LAST MATCH
• The Revolution were finishing off a four-game homestand after recording a loss and two draws in the first three games, while Toronto FC were heading out on a six-week road swing after having played seven of their eight previous matches at home, claiming all four victories on the season in that time.
• But just as they had done in a 4-0 victory against TFC in April, the Revolution dominated from the outset, and took the lead after just 13 minutes. Avery John sent a cross to the top of the Toronto area, but a fortunate bounce off defender Kevin Goldthwaite saw the ball bounce right into Andy Dorman's path, and he gleefully pounded home from 12 yards.
• The Revolution doubled their lead just after the half-hour mark. Jeff Larentowicz swung in a cross from the right and Pat Noonan rose up to athletically send a looping header inside the left-hand post and double the lead. It was Noonan's second goal in 2007, both in the past two weeks.
• New England finished off the rout as Dorman claimed his second nine minutes from the end. A wonderful tic-tac-toe passing movement finished with a heel to toe play, as Khano Smith's pass was back-heeled by Adam Cristman into Dorman's path in the area and he toe-bashed the ball past Srdjan Djekanovic inside the near post.
• Nicol ran out the same team for the second consecutive match, with his trio of internationals still away on CONCACAF Gold Cup duty.
• Here's Nicol's team (3-4-1-2): Matt Reis - Jay Heaps, James Riley, Avery John - Wells Thompson, Shalrie Joseph, Jeff Larentowicz (Gary Flood 46), Khano Smith - Andy Dorman - Pat Noonan, Adam Cristman. Substitutes Not Used: Bryan Byrne, Kyle Helton, Brad Knighton, Marshall Leonard, Arsene Oka, Ryan Solle
• "It's good to get a win at home. I think we deserved it. I think 3-0 flatters us a wee bit. I think if you look at 3-nil on paper it looks like an easy win, but it wasn't easy," Nicol said.
TEAM NEWS
• Heading into the match, the Revolution defense was a topic of discussion, after having allowed seven goals in their last three games. But they held TFC to few clear-cut chances and recorded a third clean sheet in five games.
• "The last couple of games we've been disjointed and have been all over the place, but today we were compact and our spacing was very good. It was definitely back to how we had been defending all year before these past results," said goalkeeper Matt Reis. "I think everyone in the back took it upon themselves to get the job done."
• Nicol was particularly pleased with how his defense finished out the contest after allowing an 85th-minute equalizer to the Crew's Alejandro Moreno a week ago to give away two points.
• "They put us under a lot of pressure in the second half, but we're talking about closing games out," Nicol said. "It was important in the second half, particularly, that we didn't go gung-ho and charge forward and leave holes and then we lose a goal. And I think we did that."
• Still, Reis was called upon to make a number of key saves - including one late in the match on Andy Welsh, after he had twice stopped Jeff Cunningham when clean through.
• "It was like when I was 10 and I was flying around. I felt like I had a computer chip in my gloves and that's how it was tonight," Reis said. "No, in all seriousness, I think we did a good job closing them down and the shots they did get on me, I was able to get a good read on. And it was extremely important to make those saves and keep it 0-0 rather than fight back like we've had to these past few weeks."
• Dorman's double gave him five goals on the season, after he hit for a career-best six last year, his third in MLS. But his recent run of form (he had an assist against Columbus the week earlier) came after a spell when he was struggling, Nicol said.
• "That stretch of being on the road took its toll on Andy," Nicol said. "He makes his living by being late into the box. There were two or three weeks where he wasn't at his best ... A lot of his game is coming in late. He has more freedom than before to do that [because of the position change]. He's a good finisher."
