through a familiar combination. Brad Davis swung in a freekick from the right flank, and Brian Ching rose up unmarked in the penalty area before sending a header goalward that left Chivas 'keeper Brad Guzan flat-footed as it flashed to the back of the net.
• Here's Kinnear's team (4-3-1-2): Pat Onstad -Kelly Gray, Craig Waibel, Eddie Robinson, Wade Barrett - Brian Mullan, Ricardo Clark (Stuart Holden 88), Brad Davis - Dwayne De Rosario - Paul Dalglish (Alejandro Moreno 80), Brian Ching. Substitutes Not Used: Mike Chabala, Kevin Goldthwaite, Patrick Ianni, Zach Wells, Chris Wondolowski
• Here's Preki's team (4-4-2): Brad Guzan - Alex Zotinca (Laurent Merlin 89), Claudio Suarez, Lawson Vaughn, Jonathan Bornstein - Sacha Kljestan (John Cunliffe 78), Amado Guevara, Jesse Marsch, Francisco Mendoza - Ante Razov, Maykel Galindo (Matt Taylor 77). Substitutes Not Used: Desmond Brooks, Preston Burpo, Jason Hernandez, Erasmo Solorzano
HOUSTON DYNAMO
Houston Dynamo return to action after a weekend off, extending their winning streak to three games in their last league contest, a 2-1 home victory against the Columbus Crew on June 10. Dynamo have 16 points from 11 matches, good for third in the Western Conference, a point behind Chivas USA and six points adrift of first-place FC Dallas
LAST MATCH
• Dynamo were coming off back-to-back wins for the first time all season, after their MLS Primetime Thursday home win against Colorado, while the Crew were winless in their last five games, with just a single victory on the season.
• All the goals came in an eight-minute span midway through the first half -- and not without a touch of irony. Houston took the lead in the 22nd minute on a goal from Joseph Ngwenya -- against the club that dealt him away a few weeks earlier. Brad Davis flighted in a corner from the left, and Ngwenya glancing header from the near post bounced off the inside of the back stick and into the goal for his third goal in as many games.
• But three minutes later Columbus pulled level through Alejandro Moreno -- who was dealt to the Crew straight up in the deal for Ngwenya. The goal was also nearly identical: Guillermo Barros Schelotto whipped in a cross from the right side of the area and Moreno rose up to head home for his goal of the season.
• The match was decided four minutes through a cruel twist. Kelly Gray raced up the right flank and pulled back a rolling cross to the top of the six. Chad Marshall was racing toward his own goal ahead of a Houston attacker and deflected the ball inside the left post and into his own goal.
• Dynamo head coach Dominic Kinnear made three changes to the team that defeated the Colorado Rapids 2-1 four days earlier. With Brian Ching and Ricardo Clark off to join the U.S. national team for the CONCACAF Gold Cup, Chris Wondolowski and Kelly Gray came into the team. Pat Onstad though returned from suspension and international duty, coming in between the posts for Zach Wells.
• Here's Kinnear's team (4-1-3-2): Pat Onstad - Craig Waibel, Ryan Cochrane, Eddie Robinson (Patrick Ianni 62), Wade Barrett - Richard Mulrooney - Brian Mullan, Kelly Gray, Brad Davis (Corey Ashe 58) - Joseph Ngwenya, Chris Wondolowski (Stuart Holden 74). Substitutes Not Used: Mike Chabala, Nick Hatzke, John Michael Hayden, Zach Wells
• "We love playing beautiful, attractive soccer but to try and do that for 270 minutes in the course of seven days is a difficult thing to do," said Kinnear. "And results, in the end, are really what matters."
TEAM NEWS
• The Crew were thrilled by finishing a week-long stretch where they had three games with nine points, all coming by way of 2-1 victories. "I'm elated here with three, three and three (points), because you look at the schedule when the season starts and think 'Oh my goodness, Sunday-Thursday-Sunday, that's a tough week.' We picked up more points in seven days than we did the rest of the season, which is impressive," Kinnear said.
• But by the end, Dynamo were just hanging on, thankful to have grabbed the lead in the first half blitz. "Tactically, they did a good job of pinning us in and in the second half it just became an issue of fatigue. We're not a team that sits back when we're healthy. We never sit back when we're not tired, so it was a bit of a change. You could see it," said Craig Waibel. "I know I could feel and see it in my own game today and you could see it in a few of the other guys that fatigue definitely played a big role."
• Said Kinnear: "I think at the end you could call it a 4-6-0 because Joe (Ngwenya) was dropping back and Brian (Mullan) was dropping back. They were almost playing a 2-4-4. You almost just have to make sure you don't let guys go."
• Dynamo were also feeling there was a slight acknowledgement some of the earlier woes had turned around, getting the eventual match-winner through an own goal.
• "There's part of you that says, 'We've all been there' and then there's the part of you that says 'Third game in seven days; I hope this is an omen that means we're going to win.' At no point today did any of us feel 100 percent, so when that goes in, you kind of get that little glimmer of hope that maybe the soccer gods are going to be polite to you, and they were," Waibel said.
• Joseph Ngwenya scored for the third consecutive match, this one of course coming against the club that dealt him away.
• "If you look at all the goals, it's been really great balls from guys. The first was great work by Corey (Ashe) and Ricardo (Clark). The second goal was a great ball by Brian Mullan. Today was a great ball by Brad Davis. I've just been lucky to put them all away," he said. "... It's just another game, you know? It's against my former team, and it feels good to score against them. But three points is three points."
• "[Ngwenya] had a very good week for us," said Kinnear. "Obviously everyone wants to talk about his goals, but his whole of play gave them problems today."
• Another change was moving Kelly Gray a bit farther forward in the midfield, with Richard Mulrooney in the holding role behind. Gray's cross led to the Marshall own goal. "I've played pretty much everywhere in my career," Gray said to the Houston Chronicle. "It was a thing where (coach) Dom (Kinnear) needed me to step up into a little more of an offensive role while still getting the hard defensive work done."
CHIVAS USA
Chivas USA continued their hot streak with another shutout victory, getting two second-half goals for a 2-0 victory against the Colorado Rapids last Saturday at The Home Depot Center. Chivas USA leapfrogged two positions in the Western Conference, now with 17 points from 10 matches, a point ahead of Houston Dynamo and five in arrears of first-place FC Dallas.
LAST MATCH
• Chivas USA came in riding a two-game winning streak, unbeaten in four, while the Rapids had lost their last two matches.
• 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.
• Chivas USA head coach Preki made no changes to the team that got the game's only goal in a victory against the Chicago Fire the weekend before at Toyota Park.
• 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
• "I thought we were a little bit flat. They made it a little difficult for us. They pressed us a little harder than we expected. Give them credit," Preki said. "I thought they were going to come out and defend and they played a little differently. We got caught thinking we were going to attack and they were going to defend but it was the other way around."
TEAM NEWS
• The victory is the third consecutive Chivas win and matches a club record that began at around the same time this year's streak started - with a victory in late May.
• "We all knew the importance of playing an opponent from our own conference. In the first half, sincerely, we played bad, but at halftime we had a very serious talk about what needed to be changed and it was reflected throughout our performance on the last 45 minutes of play," said Claudio Suarez.
• Said Ante Razov: "We're starting to click. We're starting to get little bounces that maybe we weren't getting ... maybe two months ago when it wasn't as bad as I thought. We weren't losing that many games and we were hanging in there. It was just a matter of time before we started pulling things together."
• Guzan kept Chivas in the game with a couple of quality saves in the first half, then a couple more in the dying minutes as the Rapids tried to come back into the game.
• "Brad Guzan was big in a couple of saves and he kept the score 0-0 when we needed. That's why he is an international goalkeeper," Preki said. "Sometimes, you need a goalkeeper like him to keep you on the game and tonight he did a great job."
• Said Guzan: "Sometimes in games you don't have much to do, but at one point, the team needs a big save, then you need to come up and be ready to make those saves. Also, I need to give credit to the 10 guys I have in front of me as well as the guys that come from the bench, they are doing a great job."
• In the first half, Ugo Ihemelu did a good job of marking Maykel Galindo out of the match. But the Cuban striker began to find space out wide after the break. "We didn't intentionally push him (there)," Preki said. "We just told Maykel 'find the space, find the space' and obviously in the second half he found space where he could operate a little bit more. Give him credit - he scored one but he could have scored actually three goals."
• While Chivas admitted the own goal lifted the squad's spirits, players said it didn't come from sheer luck. "That was a result of actually having a little better understanding," Jesse Marsch said. "Between Sacha getting a little space, what kind of ball he's going to play, what kind of runs our forwards are going to make and in the end those balls that are in between, that tempt the goalie and are on the backline, are hard to deal with."
• There could be some issues with a back line that has seen three consecutive shutouts, however. Claudio Suarez was forced to leave Saturday's game with an ankle injury, and central defense partner Shavar Thomas also went off late with an ankle injury.
