For Chivas USA, the focus lately isn't on improving but rather maintaining.
Chivas USA are 3-0 in their last three matches and are within three points of the top of the Western Conference table. A win against D.C. United on Thursday would launch Chivas to first place and would serve as a reaffirmation that things are moving forward in the right direction.
"We should feel pretty good about our team," Chivas USA midfielder Jesse Marsch said.
Confidence is soaring with Chivas. The club beat Toronto FC 2-0 after a 19-day layoff and returned to The Home Depot Center to thump the Los Angeles Galaxy 3-0. Four days later, the Red-and-White beat Real Salt Lake 1-0 to improve to 11-5-3 and 36 points.
But the highs attained over the last three weeks are better off left behind, Chivas coach Preki said.
"The last three weeks were the last three weeks," Preki said. "I talked to the group had a tremendous week in terms of working and playing and getting the results. That's all behind us. We're focusing for the game on Thursday. The guys are realizing that we are in a good position right now but not everything is in our hands."
While Chivas did well to gain nine points and outscore their opponents by 6-0, players said there is definitely room to improve.
"We'll learn a lot about ourselves this weekend in general," Chivas forward Ante Razov said. "We've got to come prepared and the things we've been doing good we've got to do better and the things we haven't been doing good we've got to definitely improve."
After the D.C. tilt on Thursday, Chivas will play host to New York on Sunday.
Even if Chivas do surge to the top of the Western table, players said the focus is not on the table but rather what happens when it's all said and done.
"At this point I feel it's more of a big-picture thing than just one game," Marsch said. "We've talked a lot about our habits, our style, what we're trying to get defensively, what we're trying to get done offensively and I think more than any time I've been here, at this point of the season we're more aware of what we're trying to do than we've ever been before. That part has been good and we've kind of just got to keep it going."
How can the club keep it going?
"Keep the focus. Keep the mentality the same way. Never get ahead of ourselves. Never think that we made it," Preki said. "There is a long way to go. Every game is important. Every point is important and we're addressing this game like any other game."
This current three-game win streak is not the first time Chivas have reeled off nine points from three games this season. Chivas beat FC Dallas, Chicago and Colorado in successive matches in late May and early June, also all by shutout.
However, when faced with a challenge following that stretch, Chivas failed miserably, hammered 4-0 in a road loss at Houston. Facing a similar test this time around, Chivas players drew back from the Dynamo experience.
"We're kind of aware of that. I drew a comparison to when played Houston in that 4-0 game a few months ago," Marsch said. "Things had been going really well for us, doing well and playing well and so now it was time to go into Houston and see how we'd hold up. Right away you could tell that we were a little overconfident and we weren't able to do the things we had been able to do in easier games in a tougher game."
Now, Chivas players said they can't relax against any opponent and that their output must improve from game to game.
"The things we've done lately have been really good," Marsch said, "so we kind of have to continue what we've been doing but understand that in the really tough games it's going to take more than what we've been doing."
Luis Bueno is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
