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.
• 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
• Here's Yallop's team (4-1-3-1-1): Joe Cannon - Ian Russell (Santino Quaranta 78), Ty Harden, Tyrone Marshall, Ante Jazic - Nathan Sturgis - Chris Albright, Kyle Martino, Cobi Jones (Robbie Findley 60) - Landon Donovan - Nate Jaqua. Substitutes Not Used: Steve Cronin, Mike Randolph, Shavar Thomas, Josh Tudela, Kyle Veris
LOS ANGELES GALAXY
The Los Angeles Galaxy saw their postseason chances take a blow while losing on one more chance to claim a piece of hardware, falling 3-0 to Chivas USA on MLS Primetime Thursday and losing the Super Clasíco season series for the first time. The Galaxy now have 17 points from 21 matches, still 12 points out of the last playoff spot and still a point behind Real Salt Lake in the Western Conference.
LAST MATCH
• Chivas USA had won for the fourth time in five games in their last outing, a 3-0 win against New York, while the LA Galaxy had put an end to an eight-game, two-month league winless streak with a 3-1 win against the Colorado Rapids in their last outing.
• Chivas took the lead midway through the first half. Lawson Vaughn sent a long ball over the top from the Chivas end and Ante Razov ran onto it. Dribbling into the right side of the Galaxy area, he wrongfooted Abel Xavier by staying on his right foot and sent a drive past goalkeeper Joe Cannon and off the inside of the back post for his ninth goal on the season and the 107th of his league career.
• Chivas rattled the crossbar with a flurry midway through the second half, then put the game away with two late goals. In the 88th minute, Sacha Kljestan sprung Francisco Mendoza with a pass on the left side, and he raced unmolested into the Galaxy area before firing a low shot past Cannon inside the far post to double the lead.
• Then a minute into stoppage time, Troy Roberts saw his clearance from inside the area go right to Laurent Merlin in the right side of the box. The Frenchman fired a quick, low shot back inside the far post for his first MLS goal to seal the victory.
• Galaxy head coach Frank Yallop made two changes to the team that defeated the Colorado Rapids 3-1 at home the previous weekend. With Landon Donovan back from international duty, he came into central midfield for Kevin Harmse, while Carlos Pavon started up top in place of the injured Edson Buddle.
• Here's Yallop's team (4-3-1-2): Joe Cannon - Chris Klein, Ty Harden, Abel Xavier, Mike Randolph - Cobi Jones (Troy Roberts 58), Peter Vagenas, Kyle Martino (Israel Sesay 89) - Landon Donovan - Carlos Pavon (Gavin Glinton 66), Alan Gordon. Substitutes Not Used: Mike Caso, Steve Cronin, Josh Tudela
• "Obviously the result is not good, but I thought the team was good. From start to finish, we created some good chances. The team was moving the ball well. Not that you can take the goals out of it, but on the whole, I thought it was a pretty even game, to be honest," Yallop said. "I think the score flatters them. A 3-nil loss is a 3-nil loss, and that's what we are looking at."
TEAM NEWS
• Stricken by injuries, once again facing a two-game stretch over four days, it was a seventh loss in eight games for the Galaxy.
• "It's difficult to put your finger on it because you, I feel, you really haven't had a team. Usually you have a team, and you can figure out where your problems are if everybody was healthy," Yallop said. "We are just putting guys in. We played a 17-year old kid tonight to try and have a bit of a spark, and he didn't even know anybody. It's difficult for him, but he's a winger that might do something, so it's tough."
• While the dreams of making it back to the postseason, after missing out last year for the first time in club history, get more remote with each passing result, Yallop said his team is still fighting.
• "We haven't bowed our heads down and quit, and got beat three-nothing - easily. That was a tough game for them. They were relieved when that second goal went in," Yallop said. "That shows the character of the team. We are naïve at times, but you can work on it all you want. You just have to get it in your mind that you can overcome that.
• After the Houston game, the Galaxy begin a stretch of four road games over their next five; while they have a home game against FC Dallas, currently third in the West, they do have one more trip to Houston.
• "It's going to be hard to be honest. We have probably have to win most, if not all, of the remaining games. We needed to get three points tonight. It's been a long year. It's been like this from really the start if you like. The first game against Dallas the same. We play naïve in a couple of spots, and we get punished for it," Yallop said. "That is football, and we have to get better at that. You can't keep doing it, its bad play, as a team. And, its not one individual doing it, we seem to lose the ball in bad areas that cost us. Playoff-wise, we are obviously going to keep going until we are out of it."
• The loss also meant that Chivas USA claimed the Super Clasico season series, the first time in the short history of the derby that the title of best team in Los Angeles has been wrestled away from the Galaxy.
• "I'm just incredibly disappointed. Anytime we face Chivas where we don't walk away with three points is a disappointment," said Kyle Martino. "To feel like we had a lot of the run of the play and not capitalize on chances where we could have put some pressure on them adds to that disappointment."
• Two of the three Chivas goals came after the 88th minute, and the Galaxy actually outplayed Chivas through the first 45 minutes. Forced to press forward in search of an equalizing goal, the Galaxy defense was left exposed to the Chivas counterattack -- and they capitalized.
• "I thought we played well for the most part, but we're still naïve in certain parts of the field," said Landon Donovan. "I think Chivas has done that all year. They wait for you to make that mistake and then they make you pay. I thought we played well overall, but we still have a lot to learn."
HOUSTON DYNAMO
Houston Dynamo ran their unbeaten streak to four games, scoring four goals for the fourth time in a game this season in a 4-3 victory against Real Salt Lake on Saturday evening at Robertson Stadium. Dynamo now have 42 points from 25 matches, now in second place in the Western Conference, a point behind Chivas USA. However, with a victory against Los Angeles, and if both the Colorado Rapids and Columbus Crew fail to win on the weekend, Dynamo will clinch a spot in the MLS Cup Playoffs.
LAST MATCH
• Houston Dynamo were looking to recover from a stretch that had seen them win just once in seven games, while Real Salt Lake were coming off back-to-back wins for the first time all season.
• It didn't take long for Jaqua and Dynamo to provide a preview of coming events. Corey Ashe picked up a loose ball on the left side of the area and drove in a low cross that Jaqua turned home after just six minutes. But Real pulled level in the 18th minute when Fabian Espindola claimed the ball after a challenge and, from almost on the byeline on the left, ripped a low drive off the inside of the far post for his second MLS goal.
• Yet just 10 minutes later Dynamo again took the lead. Richard Mulrooney served in a free kick from out on the left, and Eddie Robinson outleaped the RSL defense to nod home. Then three minutes after the second-half restart, Jaqua hit for his second in almost a carbon copy of his first, touching a rolling Ashe cross from the left past RSL 'keeper Nick Rimando.
• Jaqua completed his hat trick and put Dynamo up 4-1 in the 57th minute -- again assisted by Ashe. This time it was the aerial route, the rookie sending a high cross to the back post that Jaqua headed down for his sixth goal of the year, fifth since moving to Houston from the LA Galaxy.
• But Real weren't done. Javier Morales drove in a corner and Carey Talley nosed in front of Dynamo goalkeeper Pat Onstad to head home in the 69th minute. Then RSL cut the lead to one in the 82nd minute when Kyle Brown latched onto a deflected shot in the Houston box and banged it home, but they could get no closer.
• Dynamo head coach Dominic Kinnear made one change to the team that played to a 1-1 draw with the Kansas City Wizards the previous Saturday. Nate Jaqua came back from suspension, replacing Patrick Ianni in the team as Kinnear again reshuffled his lines.
• Here's Kinnear's team (4-3-1-2): Pat Onstad - Richard Mulrooney, Ryan Cochrane, Eddie Robinson, Wade Barrett - Brian Mullan, Ricardo Clark, Corey Ashe - Dwayne De Rosario - Nate Jaqua, Joseph Ngwenya. Substitutes Not Used: Mike Chabala, Eric Ebert, John Michael Hayden, Patrick Ianni, Craig Waibel, Zach Wells, Chris Wondolowski
• "We really should've made it not as interesting as it was. We'll learn our lesson from that -- how to take better care of the ball," Kinnear said. "It was bad to give up the second goal on a set piece to make it 4-2. We kind of started to give the ball away at times. You're kind of putting unnecessary pressure on yourself. Then they got the third, but they didn't get much after that so I was happy. Don't get me wrong -- my heart was racing for like the last eight minutes."
TEAM NEWS
• For Jaqua, it was the second hat trick of his career - and just his third multiple-goal games. Both previous times came with the Chicago Fire: a hat trick v Chivas USA on June 4, 2005, and a brace v New England on June 11, 2006.
• Congratulations to Nate [Jaqua] on his first hat trick with us and to Corey [Ashe] for his first points with us. Three great crosses by him, and Nate was attacking the ball great tonight," Kinnear said. "I think they had a hard time handling our forwards tonight. In the first 60 minutes we were a handful and more."
• Said Jaqua: "It feels great. It's even better since we got the win. We made it tough on ourselves at the end, but we were able to get out of there at the end. Getting the hat trick is neat. I'm happy to do that. ... We came out tonight with a better attitude. Unfortunately we let up a little bit. We would've liked to win this 4-1 or even 5-1 or 6-1. We had some other chances, but the win is what matters."
• For the rookie Ashe, he had come into the game with just one assist in his first 16 appearances. But he provided much of the quality service in one game that Dynamo had seen during the season from the injured Brad Davis and Stuart Holden.
• "I guess I was in the zone, but before I take any credit a lot of it goes to my teammates. They back me up week after week. The coaches keep me positive. Luckily this was my day," Ashe said. "I'm happy that with my three assists we're back in the winning column."
• Still, Dynamo were not pleased with how they allowed Real to come back into the game late. It was a season-high three goals allowed, matching the three scored by New England in a 3-3 draw on July 22 at Gillette Stadium, but both games have come in Dynamo's last seven league outings.
• "The second two goals, we have to get better," said Dynamo defender Eddie Robinson. "I have to get better on the third goal. I take the credit on the third goal. The first goal was a gift to them because it was a foul in the box that wasn't called, but we can't give them the chances we gave them at the end of the game. We have to be sharper as a team. We can't give them the chances we gave them at the end of the game."
• "I think we did let down a little bit, and you can't do that. They'd kind of quit playing a little, and then we'd kind of quit playing. Then they got that goal. We can't do that, especially against some of the other teams we'll be playing later on," Jaqua said. "4-2 was a wakeup call, and unfortunately they were able to get that third one. We got the win, and that's the most important thing."
• Yet Houston were able to hang on for their second win in the last eight games. They finished unbeaten on their four-game homestand, but took just eight of a possible 12 points. Dynamo now face four of their final five games on the road.
• "We still got three points. We still have two teams who have to catch us. We got five games left. For right now, if Chivas and Dallas don't win, that's six points they have to make up in five games, and that's not an easy feat. Especially with the games we have coming up, we can get a lot of points out of the games. We have L.A. coming up twice and Salt Lake again," Robinson said. "That being said, we can't go out and end the games like we did that one. Otherwise, we will be in trouble. The three points is definitely nice and a welcomed change from the three points we got the last couple."
