making his Galaxy debut after his trade from the Colorado Rapids in the offseason -- both came up with some quality saves.
• Dynamo played a man down for the final 14 minutes after Ryan Cochrane was sent off with a straight red card after pulling down substitute Robbie Findley from behind as ran toward goal, but the Galaxy were unable to take advantage.
• With Ricardo Clark still out to a knee strain, Kelly Gray was given the holding role in the center of midfield. Alejandro Moreno partnered Brian Ching in attack in the only change from the Dynamo team that lost 5-2 to Mexican side Pachuca at midweek in the CONCACAF Champions' Cup, as he was preferred to Paul Dalglish.
• Here's Kinnear's team (4-3-1-2): Pat Onstad - Craig Waibel, Ryan Cochrane, Eddie Robinson, Wade Barrett - Brian Mullan, Kelly Gray, Brad Davis (Kevin Goldthwaite 87) - Dwayne De Rosario - Alejandro Moreno (Paul Dalglish 62) (Stuart Holden 78), Brian Ching. Substitutes Not Used: Mike Chabala, Patrick Ianni, Zach Wells, Chris Wondolowski
• "In the first half, we really didn't do much but in the second half we took control of the game," goalkeeper Pat Onstad said. "Unfortunately, we couldn't get anything in the net, but overall it was a good result considering."
TEAM NEWS
• Dynamo were suffering a bit of a hangover after their CONCACAF Champions' Cup semifinal match Thursday in Mexico, when they pushed Pachuca to extra time before losing 5-2 on the night, 5-4 on aggregate.
• "I think we can walk off the field tonight with a sense of pride," said Dynamo head coach Dominic Kinnear. "We just came off a pretty good showing in the international competition (CONCACAF Champions' Cup) and played a pretty good game here at home tonight. I think we knew we were going to be a little tired tonight from the game on Thursday and the travel."
• Said Onstad: "It was a long week for us, especially with the long travel day on Thursday. But we did what we could and it will be nice to have a day off tomorrow. It will be nice to recuperate, get things going and prepare for a big match against Chivas next week."
• Dynamo were really hoping to start off their season with a victory against their arch-rivals. "We've had a pretty good rivalry against these guys for a long time," said forward Brian Ching. "Going back to when a lot of our guys were together in San Jose, this is one we really wanted. Having said that, they really played well, but we did too. It's unfortunate that we were not able to convert any of our chances and not be able to get the extra points in the standings."
• Said Wade Barrett to the Houston Chronicle: "We started slow, but to be honest, I think as the game went on we had the majority of the good chances. Even after the red card, we were looking to get a goal. Of course we're disappointed that we only got a point tonight, but I think we've had worse ties. Given what we went through this week I don't think this is a terrible result for us."
• With Ricardo Clark still out to a knee sprain, Kelly Gray filled the holding midfield role in the center of the park. He has mostly played in defense - generally at right back - since coming to the club (while still in San Jose) from the Chicago Fire "I feel good; it's fun," Gray, 26, said to the Chronicle. "I've played there earlier in my career, with the U.S. youth national teams and in college I played there a lot." Clark is expected to be available this weekend.
CHIVAS USA
Chivas USA opened their third season with a victory, the second year running they'd opened with a win, defeating Toronto FC 2-0 on Saturday evening at The Home Depot Center. With the three points, Chivas are tied with the Colorado Rapids atop the Western Conference.
LAST MATCH
• Toronto FC were making their bow as the league's newest team, facing a team in Chivas USA opening just its third season. There was also the intriguing matchup of the head coaches -- Chivas USA's Preki and TFC's Mo Johnston both broke into the league together in the inaugural season of 1996 as teammates with the Kansas City Wizards.
• While Toronto had the best of the early exchanges, Chivas USA opened the scoring in the 35th minute by perfectly springing the TFC offside trap. Cuban striker Maykel Galindo got free in behind the defense and raced alone into the penalty area, before sliding a pass for the easiest of tap-ins for Ante Razov. It was the 99th league goal for Razov.
• Then two minutes from the end, Sacha Kljestan put the result beyond all doubt, collecting the ball well outside the area and hammering a long-range drive that sailed past TFC goalkeeper Greg Sutton inside his right-hand post.
• After suffering a knee injury early in preseason, 2006 MLS Rookie of the Year Jonathan Bornstein returned to the Chivas lineup, starting at left back. Cuban striker Maykel Galindo was also given his MLS debut, partnering Ante Razov in attack.
• Here's Preki's team (4-4-2): Brad Guzan - Alex Zotinca, Claudio Suarez, Lawson Vaughn, Jonathan Bornstein - Sacha Kljestan, Amado Guevara, Jesse Marsch, Francisco Mendoza - Maykel Galindo (Matt Taylor 85), Ante Razov (John Cunliffe 85). Substitutes Not Used: Preston Burpo, Jason Hernandez, Carlos Llamosa, Rodrigo Lopez, Erasmo Solorzano
• "I thought the guys went in to the game with a good mentality. From the get-go I thought we were decent, and moved the ball pretty good. On the other hand we had a couple of moments in the first half when we lost our discipline a little bit," Preki said. " ... I thought we were really disciplined and organized, and you know the guys worked really hard and it paid the price."
TEAM NEWS
• Goalkeeper Brad Guzan was called upon to make some early saves, and keeping a clean sheet then allowed Chivas to recover and get the first goal. It was the eighth shutout of Guzan's career.
• "Brad Guzan was the player of the game for me," Preki said. "He makes two big saves when we needed it and he kept us afloat at that point. After that we picked up and scored a nice goal."
• Said Guzan: "As a goalkeeper, it's good to be good but it's better to be lucky. That's kind of what they say. ... Obviously, good positioning and being able to stay calm and relaxed I think has really benefited myself and being able to understand the game more."
• For Chivas, already making an impression was Galindo, whose pace set up the Razov opener. "Certainly you see with Galindo that his speed is no joke. He's still working on some of the timing with his run and how to fit in with how we're trying to play," Marsch said. "He's a constant threat to get behind teams and it's a nice option to have and maybe not depend on Johnny Bornstein coming down the left but to have some other options going forward."
• Marsch said he brings a different dimension to players such as Francisco Palencia and Juan Pablo Garcia, both of whom returned to Mexico over the offseason. "As good as those guys were, the one thing that we lacked a little bit last year was team speed, that guy who could really get behind them and stretch the field a little bit longer," Marsch said.
• Sacha Kljestan had a solid game in central midfield - and then capped off the opening of his second MLS season with his first professional goal. "We've been wanting one of us to score for a long time so it was built up but we got it out of us. It takes a little bit of a load off my back. I wanted to score pretty badly last year," he said. Said Marsch: "Overall he had quite a good game in terms of finding gaps and making plays and covering my right side a bit when he needed to be. Take away the goal and he had a good game."
• Razov's goal brought him to the precipice of the MLS century club, currently containing two members: Real Salt Lake's Jason Kreis, who has 108 league goals, and D.C. United's Jaime Moreno, who has 105. Fourth on the all-time list is RSL's Jeff Cunningham, who has 92 goals after his double last weekend.
• "It's a nice thing. I hope it happens soon so we can kind of get past it," Razov said. "It will be a bigger deal when my career is over because I want to keep it going. I don't want to get stuck on 100 or 99 or whatever. I just want to kind of keep going whatever it ends up to be."
• Razov has played in each of the league's 12 seasons. He scored one goal in limited time with the Galaxy (six games in 1996-97) and Columbus (seven games in 2005) as well as six for the MetroStars after he joined the club from the Crew. His goal against Toronto FC was his 15th tally for Chivas USA. With Chicago, where Razov enjoyed most of his success, he netted 76 goals and is the club's all-time leading scorer.
• If Razov has stayed on the field he's been productive, more so than Kreis or Moreno. Entering this weekend's matches, Kreis has 108 career goals in 24,972 career minutes. Moreno, meanwhile, has scored 105 career goals over 20,438 career minutes. Razov has bagged 99 in 16,988 minutes, or roughly one goal every 171 minutes.
• On Thursday, the club announced the signing of French forward Laurent Merlin as a youth international, who was identified at an open tryout earlier this year. Merlin began his playing career at age 10 with the youth ranks of his hometown club, French powerhouse Olympique de Marseille, where he made his first division debut in 2002. In 2005 he moved to AC Ajaccio on the island of Corsica, where he played 12 first-division matches during the second half of the 2004-05 campaign, notching one goal. In 2006, Merlin joined second division club Châteauroux, where he played until 2006. He has also represented France at the U-17, U-18 and U-19 levels. He could be available for this weekend's match in Houston.
