COLUMBUS CREW v CHIVAS USA
COLUMBUS CREW STADIUM, Columbus, Ohio
7:30 p.m. ET (ClbSN; FSN-PT)
May 12, 2007 (WEEK 6) / MLS Game #35
After suffering defeat for the first time in league play this season, the Columbus Crew return home to take on Chivas USA on Saturday night at Crew Stadium. The Black & Gold began the year with three draws before winning their first game of the year, the undefeated run then coming to an end thanks to a 90th-minute goal last weekend in Kansas City. Chivas USA face the second game of their two-game Eastern swing, having lost 2-1 at D.C. United last Sunday to remain winless in away games on the season.
REFEREE: Jorge Gonzalez. SAR (bench): Kermit Quisenberry; JAR (opposite): Peter Balciunas; 4th: Jozef Batko
MLS Career: 7 games; FC/gm: 28.3; Y/gm: 4.3; R: 1; pens: 0
Games involving Crew: P2 W2 L0 T0; FC/gm: 32.5; Y/gm: 4.5; R: 0; pens: 0
Games involving Chivas USA: P1 W0 L0 T1; FC/gm: 26.0; Y/gm: 4.0; R: 1; pens: 0
INJURY REPORT: COLUMBUS CREW - OUT: GK Will Hesmer (R hamstring strain); MF Jacob Thomas (L calf strain); DF Jed Zayner(L knee chondral defect) ... CHIVAS USA - OUT: DF Carlos Llamosa (L knee sprain); QUESTIONABLE: FW John Cunliffe (R shoulder sprain); PROBABLE: FW Maykel Galindo (L hamstring strain)
INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES: none
SUSPENDED: CLB: FW Andy Herron (through May 19)
WARNINGS:
SUSPENDED NEXT YELLOW CARD: CHV: Paulo Nagamura
SUSPENDED AFTER TWO YELLOW CARDS: none
HEAD-TO-HEAD
ALL-TIME (4 meetings): Crew 1 win, 4 goals ... Chivas USA 2 wins, 4 goals ... Draws 1
AT COLUMBUS (2 meetings): Crew 1 win, 4 goals ... Chivas USA 0 wins, 1 goals ... Draws 1
• This is the first of two meetings between the teams this season, the only one set for the Ohio State Fairgrounds. Their lone meeting at The Home Depot Center will come on July 14.
LAST YEAR (MLS):
6/18: CHV 2, CLB 0 (Razov 5; J.P. Garcia 85)
6/24: CLB 1, CHV 1 (Retiz 12 - J.P. Garcia 54)
• A year ago, the teams played in a home-and-home series over two weekends (though the Crew had a game in between), Chivas winning in southern California before playing to a draw in Columbus.
• After winning the first meeting between the teams, the Crew haven't won since, Chivas winning two of those (with one draw).
• Coaches record: Sigi Schmid vs. CHV: P2 W0 L1 D1 ... Preki v CLB: first game
COLUMBUS CREW
The Columbus Crew lost for the first time in league play in 2007, seeing Jose Burciaga Jr. hit for a last-minute goal as the Kansas City Wizards claimed a 1-0 victory at Arrowhead Stadium last Saturday afternoon. The Crew are now in fifth place in the Eastern Conference with six points from five matches, four behind the fourth-place Chicago Fire and six in arrears of the first-place Wizards.
LAST MATCH
• The Wizards returned home after completing the back half of their home-and-home sweep of Toronto FC to run their winning streak to two games, while the Crew were also unbeaten on the season after getting their first victory of 2007 in their last match, a 1-0 win against D.C. United following three ties.
• Along the way, the Crew had posted three shutouts and played to scoreless draws in their first two games, and it looked as if that might again be the case in the 70th minute. Jimmy Conrad got onto the end of an corner and beat Crew 'keeper Andy Gruenebaum with his header, only for Ned Grabavoy to hook the ball away off the line.
• The Crew were nearly handed a gift of their own in the 84th minute when a Kevin Hartman clearance bounced off Columbus substitute and rolled nearly into the goal, but Jack Jewsbury retreated to the line to escort the ball safely away from danger.
• Then with just seconds left before the clock turned over 90 minutes, Burciaga picked up the ball well out from goal and set off on a slaloming run through the Crew defense, skipping to his left past a couple of defenders before hitting a bounding shot past Gruenebaum for the game-winner.
• Crew coach Sigi Schmid made no changes to the team that defeated D.C. United 1-0 at Crew Stadium the previous Saturday.
• Here's Schmid's team (4-2-3-1): Andy Gruenebaum - Frankie Hejduk, Marcos Gonzalez, Ezra Hendrickson, Rusty Pierce - Ned Grabavoy, Danny O'Rourke - Joseph Ngwenya, Eddie Gaven (Robbie Rogers 88), Ricardo Virtuoso (Guillermo Barros Schelotto 65) - Kei Kamara (Jason Garey 74), . Substitutes Not Used: Stefani Miglioranzi, Duncan Oughton, Kenny Schoeni, Tim Ward
• "We're a team right now defensively that's reacting rather than initiating," said Schmid. "We need to hold the ball better, we need to supply the ball better."
TEAM NEWS
• The Crew have scored just three goals in their first five games. But that can be accepted if goals aren't going in on the other end, and the Crew were just seconds away from a fourth shutout in five matches before Burciaga's late strike.
• "It wasn't hard to prepare for their all-out attacking style. I just thought that they did a better job on the attack than we did. Their attackers are better at holding the ball and being able to put some pressure on us, and our attackers didn't do a good job of holding onto the ball," Schmid said.
• The Crew managed no shots on goal for the opening 45 minutes, but ended with four on the game. "I thought the first 20 minutes we had some good open field play, where we changed the point of attack. We managed to get behind (Jose) Burciaga a few times, but our guys didn't do anything with it," Schmid said. "We knew they were going to go to Eddie (Johnson) and for the most part I thought we did a good job of handling it."
• Of the Crew's three goals on the campaign, one has come from a forward (Kei Kamara), one from a midfielder (Ned Grabavoy) and one from a defender (Ezra Hendrickson).
• Said Wizards head coach Curt Onalfo: "We knew exactly what they were going to bring. They fight well for each other. Their positioning is good. They're very physical. They were playing (four versus one) in back much of the time. We knew we had to push people forward so we could advance the ball."
• "Even though our wingers are playing high they're also helping with the outside backs," said midfielder Ned Grabavoy. "I think it's a collective thing from all 11 guys on the field."
• Saturday was also the MLS debut of Guillermo Barros Schelotto, who played the final 25 minutes, moving into a central midfield role when he came on for Ricardo Virtuoso.
• "I have only trained two months with the team, so right now we don't know each other as well. After time and more practice, we will understand each other much more," Schelotto said. Said Schmid: "He helped us and he made some things happen. He still has to get used to the play in this league. There were some calls he thought he was going to get. We didn't get many calls today though."
• The Crew tried to go some way to remedy the goal drought on Wednesday when they obtained striker Alejandro Moreno from Houston Dynamo in exchange for Joseph Ngwenya. Moreno is a two-time MLS Cup champion, having won with the Galaxy in 2002 and Dynamo last year. He's scored 23 goals in his four MLS seasons, posting a career-high eight in 2005 with the San Jose Earthquakes. Ngwenya is in his fourth MLS season. He scored four times in his rookie year with the Los Angeles Galaxy in 2004, but failed to find the back of the net in 2005. After being traded to Columbus early last season, the Bulawayo, Zimbabwe native scored five goals. He has no goals and one assist this season.
• "Alejandro is a forward who holds the ball well and adds a physical presence up front," said Schmid. "He works very hard and helps address our needs up front. At the same time, it's disappointing losing Joseph, who provided our fans with some exciting moments over the last year. But you've got to give up quality to get quality and we wish him nothing but the best with Houston."
CHIVAS USA
Chivas USA scored a goal in Washington, D.C. for the first time ever, but still saw D.C. United come away with their first victory on the campaign, getting two second-half goals for a 2-1 win last Sunday at RFK Stadium. Chivas are in fourth place in the Western Conference with six points from five games, two points behind the first-place Colorado Rapids.
LAST MATCH
• D.C. United were still looking for a first victory in their fifth game, while Chivas USA were trying to recover from a heavy loss to in-stadium rival Los Angeles Galaxy the week before in the first Super Clasico of the year.
• Both goalkeepers were called upon to make some fine saves in the first half, but United took the lead just three minutes after the break. Ben Olsen put in a cross from the right, Guy-Roland Kpene made a neat flick to pop the ball up behind him, and Christian Gomez lashed a volley into the corner to give D.C. the lead for the first time this season.
• United doubled the margin in the 65th minute, when Lawson Vaughn dumped Kasali Yinka Casal in the area, and referee Kevin Stott ruled it a penalty. Jaime Moreno stepped up and hit a cheeky chip right down the center of the goal after Brad Guzan had dived, his second penalty conversion in four days and the 107th league goal of his career, now just one behind Jason Kreis.
• Chivas made for a tense 17 minutes when they scored the club's first-ever goal at RFK Stadium. Maykel Galindo took a pass on the right side of the area and skipped into the heart of the penalty area, driving an angled shot past Troy Perkins at the near post, but they couldn't find the equalizer and United won for the fifth time in five all-time meetings between the clubs.
• Chivas head coach Preki made two changes to the team that lost 3-1 to the Los Angeles Galaxy the weekend before. Amado Guevara was suspended, so that meant there was a place for the newly acquired Paulo Nagamura, obtained in a trade from Toronto FC. John Cunliffe also came into the team for his first professional start in place of Jason Hernandez as Preki reconfigured the team shape.
• Here's Preki's team (4-3-3): Brad Guzan - Alex Zotinca (Laurent Merlin 82), Claudio Suarez, Lawson Vaughn, Jonathan Bornstein - Jesse Marsch, Francisco Mendoza, Paulo Nagamura - Maykel Galindo, Ante Razov, John Cunliffe (Matt Taylor 60). Substitutes Not Used: Jorge Barrera, Preston Burpo, Jason Hernandez, Erasmo Solorzano
• "It's difficult to lose like this. [We had a] decent game plan, for most of the game we played the way we wanted to play. Unfortunately, we come out of the locker room and for one reason or the other we just don't play well for two or three minutes, and give a couple goals away and then they keep on top of us and they get a lucky bounce in the box and it's a goal, so not much you can say about that," Preki said.
TEAM NEWS
• Chivas USA remained winless on the road this season with the reverse in D.C., although one of those games did come at their Home Depot Center home, the 3-1 loss to the Los Angeles Galaxy as the visiting team. Chivas also lost 1-0 in Houston.
• "D.C. is a hard place to play. We knew they were under some pressure to get some points. Last week we played the Galaxy, and they needed some points. This week, D.C. needed some points," Preki said. " ... I thought we deserved something out of this game. I think we had the better opportunities. Some days things go your way, sometimes they don't."
• In the 4-3-3 scheme, Preki also put out a team with six different nationalities in the starting XI: U.S. (Guzan, Vaughn, Bornstein, Marsch, Razov); Mexico (Suarez, Mendoza). Cuba (Galindo), Brazil (Nagamura), England (Cunliffe) and Romania (Zotinca). The addition of Laurent Merlin added a seventh on the day (France), though he came on for Zotinca.
• "Overall I thought we did a decent job, I think in the locker room we showed a lot of character. ... I think we pressed it and scored one goal, we easily could have equalized it, and after that you never know," Preki said. "I guess it's one of those things were the ball's not bouncing our way enough, so we have to regroup and go forward from here."
• Paulo Nagamura joined the team on a trade with Toronto FC on Friday to partly replace Amado Guevara, and as an injury replacement for former U.S. international defender Carlos Llamosa - who is out for the season with a torn ACL. Nagamura seamlessly fit into the midfield that created so many chances going forward in the second half, helping to orchestrate the attack.
• "I am pretty happy to be here [with Chivas]. The guys welcomed me on the team and I feel very comfortable in the system that we play. I think this is a winning team," Nagamura said.
• Chivas have now lost three of their last four games after high expectations to begin the season. "We've got the pieces to the puzzle, we just have to put it together now," Guzan said. "We've got a bunch of good guys in here, a good locker room, and skillful players. Next week we get Sacha [Kljestan] back [from a two-game suspension] and if we put him back into the middle of the field, I think that will be good for us and hopefully we'll get three points [next week] at Columbus."
