facing his own goal -- he quickly turned and set off on a 50-yard run through the Chivas defense, ripping a low shot inside Burpo's right-hand post from the edge of the area for his team-leading 10th goal on the campaign.
Chivas USA head coach Bob Bradley made two changes to the team that held on for a 3-2 victory against Houston Dynamo the weekend before in Carson. Juan Pablo Garcia and Francisco Mendoza returned from suspension, coming back into the team in place of Brent Whitfield and Jesus Morales.
Here's Bradley's team (4-4-2): Preston Burpo - Tim Regan, Jason Hernandez, Claudio Suarez, Orlando Perez (Jesus Morales 46) - Juan Pablo Garcia, Sacha Kljestan (Juan Francisco Palencia 64), Jesse Marsch, Francisco Mendoza - Jonathan Bornstein, Ante Razov. [Substitutes Not Used: Rene Corona, Brad Guzan, Carlos Llamosa, Matt Taylor, Brent Whitfield]
"In all ways, this is a frustrating loss," Bradley said. "We felt it was a really important game. We never really gave ourselves a good chance. We got behind early and worked pretty hard to get back on the game and then we let them come back. Then breaking them down it was a difficult job. They had everybody back and that requires the right play at the right time and on the day we just were not sharp enough to make the final playTEAM NEWS
It was a tough day for Burpo, who heard about the two goals he allowed from the crowd at The Home Depot Center for the rest of the afternoon.
"(Gomez) hit it over the wall, the wall jumped, it went over the middle guy," Bradley said of the first goal. "The goalkeeper's job at that point is still to be protecting the other side. It hooked into the near corner. There's not much you can say." Then on the second goal, the Chivas boss said: "I think it's a ball that Burpo saves 999 times out of 1,000. This one wasn't saved."
The second United goal came just seconds after Chivas had pulled level, ending a 292-minute scoreless drought against D.C.
"We committed the kind of mistakes you can't make in a big game when you draw even and you allow them to come right down and score," Bradley said. "Loco [Juan Pablo Garcia] was coming inside on the right and gave the ball away. They played the ball forward to Gomez. Both Pancho [Francisco Mendoza] and Jesse [Marsch] I thought were in position to take care of him right away, but he spun away from those two and made a great run. Jason [Hernandez] came over and wasn't able to quite do enough."
Chivas are now in fourth place in the West, just two points ahead of the fifth-place tie between Real Salt Lake and the Los Angeles Galaxy. While it was the first loss since July 8 for the Red-and-White, Chivas has only eight wins - low in the West. They have 10 draws, the most in the conference.
"You could also turn it around the other way and say we have the fewest losses in our division," Marsch said. "I'm not so much worried why we're not winning games, why we've lost so few. It's just a matter of getting results at home (and) on the road. We need to be a consistent team down the stretch."
Said Garcia: "We've got to fight against everyone because things are getting tight in our conference. The three points that we let go tonight may be the ones that we will need at the end of the season. Tonight we showed our lack of experience; we looked very innocent on their second goal. They got away from us at midfield and that's something that we can't let happen."
FC DALLAS
FC Dallas won for the second consecutive match after a three-game losing streak, getting a late goal to defeat Houston Dynamo after playing a man up for nearly an hour in a 1-0 win on Saturday evening at Pizza Hut Park. The Hoops extended their lead atop the Western Conference to nine points ahead of Houston, still trailing D.C. United by five points in the race for the MLS Supporters' Shield.
LAST MATCH
The Texas rivals were meeting for the fifth time on the season, and FC Dallas had yet to get the better of their southern foes, Dynamo winning two games (with one draw) in league play and also their U.S. Open Cup quarterfinal meeting. The clubs were separated by six points at the top of the Western Conference.
The match changed on the half hour, when Dynamo defender Eddie Robinson was booked twice within the space of a minute for fouls of FC Dallas striker Carlos Ruiz as the two tangled, first near the Houston goal after a shot went wide, then seconds later at midfield.
Dynamo seemed to have survived the disadvantage for the final hour until the 86th minute, when Arturo Alvarez ran onto an Abe Thompson pass on the left flank. He cut inside Houston defender Adrian Serioux and ripped a low shot inside the far post to give the Hoops their first victory against Dynamo.
FC Dallas head coach Colin Clarke made three changes to the team that defeated the Colorado Rapids 2-0 in Denver the Wednesday before - all in the back four. Bobby Rhine was suspended, and Justin Moore made his first career MLS start in his place at right back. Greg Vanney and Alex Yi made up a completely new central defense partnership, coming for Clarence Goodson and Drew Moor, a late scratch because of food poisoning.
Here's Clarke's team (4-4-2): Dario Sala - Justin Moore, Greg Vanney, Alex Yi, Chris Gbandi - Ronnie O'Brien, Richard Mulrooney, Simo Valakari (Abe Thompson 80), Ramon Nunez (Arturo Alvarez 64) - Kenny Cooper, Carlos Ruiz (Aaron Pitchkolan 90). [Substitutes Not Used: Michael Dello-Russo, Shaka Hislop, Dominic Oduro, David Wagenfuhr]
"It was a tough game," Clarke said. "I thought they were good, they played well. They had their opportunities. We came out a little flat and were slow to move the ball. We kept our patience and ended up getting the goal."TEAM NEWS
After Robinson was sent off, FC Dallas should have had a distinct advantage. Before the Alvarez goal, they came closest in the in the 79th minute when Kenny Cooper streaked up the left side of the field only to see his blistering shot hit the post. But they couldn't find the breakthrough.
"We're a man up. Everyone expects you to win but it's never that easy. We still have to fight, do the right things -- keep the ball moving, keep it from side to side and try to spread them as much as possible," Clarke said. "You also have to be careful that you don't get caught going the other way. I thought we had a good balance tonight."
Finally, the goal from the Houston native gave the Hoops the victory. "It was the fourth game, they've beaten us in the last three and it just feels good to know we can beat them," Alvarez said. "It was a good thing to get a win coming home off a big road trip. Coming home and getting three points is a good thing."
FCD had ended a string of four road games in a row with a victory in Colorado, which followed three successive losses on their travels. The victory also moved FC Dallas nine points ahead of their in-state rivals in the Western Conference with seven matches remaining in the regular season -- and they have a game in hand.
"I think we always think (we can win) heading into any game no matter who we're playing," he said. "This was a big game for us and there was a lot of pride at stake. It was important to our fans and to us as well. It had a playoff atmosphere. Hopefully we will meet again in the playoffs."
Justin Moore made his first career start, coming in at right back for Bobby Rhine. A Clemson product, the second-round pick (15th overall) in the 2006 MLS Super Draft had previously seen time with the FCD first team only on July 15 at Chicago. In that contest, he entered the game in the 21st minute after David Wagenfuhr suffered a concussion and had to leave the field.
"Tonight I came in pretty confident. A bunch of the guys talked to me before the game, Ronnie [O'Brien], [Greg] Vanney and others," he said. "It also helped having them get a red card, giving me more time on the ball and with Ronnie always coming to the ball it gave me an easy outlet. I was able to soak it all up and really enjoyed it."
For Alvarez, it was his first goal since the opening game of the season. "It feels good personally, it gives me a lot more confidence," he said. "It's something that I kind of forgot that feeling. I've been going through tough times. It feels good to score and help the team get three points."
