Chivas USA could not overcome a pair of Christian Gomez goals and fell to D.C. United 2-1 at The Home Depot Center on Sunday.
Gomez scored goals in the third and 33rd minutes, the latter just one minute after Claudio Suarez had evened the score with a penalty kick.
With the result, the Red-and-White remains on 34 points, just two points ahead of both Real Salt Lake and the Los Angeles Galaxy in the Western Conference. D.C., meanwhile, won for the first time in six games.
Things got off to a rough start for Chivas USA. Sacha Kljestan tripped up United's Freddy Adu on the left flank, a few feet from the edge of the penalty area. Gomez curled the ensuing free kick inside the near post as Chivas goalkeeper Preston Burpo dived a fraction of a second too late, deflecting the shot into the net.
United continued with physical play for the early part of the first half. D.C.'s Ben Olsen and Chivas USA's Francisco Mendoza shoved each other after a foul on D.C.'s Jaime Moreno but neither player was booked for the incident. Later, D.C.'s Bobby Boswell saw yellow for a hard challenge on Chivas' Ante Razov.
In the 23rd minute, Razov was again the victim of a hard foul as United forward Alecko Eskandarian flattened Razov from behind. Eskandarian also received a yellow card for the foul.
Razov played United's punching bag again, but this time Chivas received more than a yellow card. In the 29th minute, Juan Pablo Garcia swung a cross from the right flank into the center of the penalty area. United defender Facundo Erpen tried to clear the ball but struck Razov in the face instead as Chivas was awarded a penalty kick.
D.C.'s Gomez was given a yellow card for dissent after the play.
Chivas captain Claudio Suarez stepped up and converted the spot kick. The goal was Chivas USA's first-ever score against United. A year ago, Chivas fell by scores of 2-0 and 3-0 to the then-defending champions. Earlier this year, United handed Chivas a 2-0 loss.
The score did not stay even for long. Less than one minute after Suarez equalized, Gomez collected the ball at midfield, darted past a pair of Chivas defenders and outraced Jason Hernandez to the penalty area. From the right side of the box, Gomez slipped a shot past Burpo's outstretched arms into the far post to give D.C. a 2-1 lead.
At halftime, recent Chivas acquisition Jesus Morales entered the game in place of Orlando Perez. Chivas rookie Jonathan Bornstein moved from left midfield to left back, Garcia from forward to the midfield line as Morales lined up alongside Razov.
Francisco Palencia returned for Chivas USA after missing three games with a hamstring injury. Palencia came on for Kljestan in the 64th minute.
Gomez, meanwhile, was taken off the field on a stretcher after falling injured to the ground in the 69th minute. He was immediately taken out of the match as Clyde Simms came into the game.
In the 90th minute, an altercation broke out inside United's penalty area. Palencia and D.C.'s Josh Gros were each sent off while Mendoza and Hernandez each picked up yellow cards.
Luis Bueno is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
