through a familiar combination. Brad Davis swung in a freekick from the right flank, and Brian Ching rose up unmarked in the penalty area before sending a header goalward that left Chivas 'keeper Brad Guzan flat-footed as it flashed to the back of the net.
• Chivas USA head coack Preki made no changes to the team that defeated Toronto FC in the season opener the week before at The Home Depot Center.
• Here's Preki's team (4-4-2): Brad Guzan - Alex Zotinca (Laurent Merlin 89), Claudio Suarez, Lawson Vaughn, Jonathan Bornstein - Sacha Kljestan (John Cunliffe 78), Amado Guevara, Jesse Marsch, Francisco Mendoza - Ante Razov, Maykel Galindo (Matt Taylor 77). Substitutes Not Used: Desmond Brooks, Preston Burpo, Jason Hernandez, Erasmo Solorzano
• "We had enough chances to win the game," said Chivas head coach Preki. "They had one good set piece, and they punished us. Sometimes that's the way the game goes."
TEAM NEWS
• It was a second successive week where Chivas had a large number of chances but couldn't convert. The week before, they did find the back of the net twice in the season-opening win against Toronto FC, but the second goal came late in the proceedings. Then they had their share against Dynamo, but couldn't find a way past Pat Onstad in the Houston goal.
• "It's too early to talk about it," Preki said when asked about the lack of finishing. "Look, let me put it this way: I would be more concerned if we didn't create anything but when you create a lot of opportunities like that you feel like this team is capable of scoring goals at any moment at any time. Hopefully that will be the case."
• Before the game, the Chivas players had indicated that Dynamo had become a real rival, mainly as a result of last year's hard-fought playoff series.
• "Overall, we played well tonight," goalkeeper Brad Guzan said. "We battled. These guys are champions for a reason, and we continued to battle. It came down to just one set piece. We missed some chances in both halves. If we put one or two of those away, the end is completely different. I think if we play with this mentality and attitude in future games, we'll be all right the rest of the year."
• Another nuance to Chivas USA's matches has been the substitution pattern Preki has followed. Against Toronto FC, Preki took out starting forwards Razov and Galindo and replaced them with Matt Taylor and John Cunliffe at the same time late in a 1-0 match. Cunliffe went on to notch an assist on Kljestan's late strike.
• In Houston, with Chivas USA down a goal with just less than a quarter-hour remaining, Preki again subbed in Taylor and Cunliffe, this time in favor of Galindo and Kljestan. With a minute left in regulation, Preki took out right back Alex Zotinca and replaced him with newly arrived forward Laurent Merlin and Chivas USA finished the match with four forwards.
• "At that point, it's no different losing 5-0 or 1-0; we lost three points. At that point, we're going to take our chances and get a goal," Preki said. "I thought the guys came in and once again Merlin was actually on the field for a couple of minutes. We were just kind of throwing I'm in there to see if anything happens."
• Still, Chivas USA are in the growing stages and still feeling themselves out. Galindo did well for the second consecutive match and showed speed and touch that could be an ever-present threat while playmaker Amado Guevara is also still learning his own way around the club.
• "It's only the second game of the year," Razov said. "We created a lot of chances. It would be different if we didn't create chances. Finishing and stuff, that comes with sharpness, confidence and taking that chance."
REAL SALT LAKE
Real Salt Lake recorded a second draw on the season in as many games - both at home - playing to a scoreless draw with the Columbus Crew last Saturday at Rice-Eccles Stadium. Real are now fifth place in the Western Conference with two points from two matches, two points off the pace of Houston Dynamo, FC Dallas and the Colorado Rapids atop the division.
LAST MATCH
• Real and the Crew were both looking for first victories on the season when they met at Rice-Eccles Stadium, after both opened the season with draws.
• And they were both still looking after the game on the Wasatch Front, the Crew also still looking for a first goal on the season after playing to a second scoreless draw.
• The Crew came closest to scoring on the day, but had two attempts cleared off the line: a Marcos Gonzalez diving header that was headed back away by Mehdi Ballouchy, and a Jason Garey that was cleared by a backtracking Eddie Pope after Garey had rounded goalkeeper Nick Rimando. Then in the dying moments, Kei Kamara got free for a header with the goal at his mercy, but put it high and wide.
• Real head coach John Ellinger made no changes to the team that opened the season with a 2-2 draw against FC Dallas as the Hoops got a stoppage-time equalizer from Carlos Ruiz.
• Here's Ellinger's team (4-2-3-1): Nick Rimando - Jack Stewart, Eddie Pope, Daniel Torres, Willis Forko - Jason Kreis, Carey Talley - Chris Klein, Mehdi Ballouchy, Freddy Adu - Jeff Cunningham. Substitutes Not Used: Nikolas Besagno, Chris Brown, Kenny Cutler, Atiba Harris, Chris Lancos, Chris Seitz, Andy Williams
• "I'm not disappointed; I'm always disappointed that we don't get maximum use of the points at home, but there's nothing to be angry about," Ellinger said. "Our effort was good, we played well, and now we just get ready for the next one."
TEAM NEWS
• For the first time in club history, though, Real Salt Lake had taken points from their opening two games. Last year, Real lost their first game to Chivas; the year before that, Real tied their first game and lost the second.
• "For us the bottom line for the season is to get points in every game and it is a good thing, since we've never had points out of our second game before," Ellinger said. "For us it was more important to come away with no mistakes in the back and get a shutout and build from there. We had some good chances and we just didn't finish, but we created some good opportunities."
• Nick Rimando was credited with five saves in his first shutout since the 2005 season, when he recorded 11 for D.C. United, second-most in MLS (behind Pat Onstad of San Jose, who had 12).
• "Nick is a great goalkeeper; he's so quick he comes out and cuts down the angle, and when he does that it takes a lot away from any kind of breakaway," Ellinger said. "Defensively, we played very well from start to finish, and I was pleased with that."
• Said Rimando: "Anything you do, anything you practice, the more you play, you get more and more comfortable and you get a little bit better. I expect that from myself, I expect that from the team and as each week goes on we will be a great team. We're happy with the clean sheet, and we'll go out and get more."
• All 11 starters played the entire 90 minutes as Ellinger did not make any of three available substitutions, the first time with RSL he's kept the entire starting team on the field for the whole match. "Who do you take out?" Ellinger asked. "You are watching the game and you know what you have on the bench, and you look in the 82nd minute and Freddy's just done something good, and then in the 84th minute Mehdi does something good, then in the 85th minute Chris does something good and in the 86th minute Jeff does something good, so who do you take out.
• "Even though you are at home, you don't take out a back and go to three in the back in a 0-0 game," Ellinger continued. "It's not youth soccer, it's not high school soccer, you don't just make subs for the sake of making subs. They made subs because of fatigue and things like that, but our guys were still running strong."
• Freddy Adu and Mehdi Ballouchy were the team's shot leaders in the game. "Freddy played well," Ellinger said. "He was stuck playing a very good defender in Frankie Hejduk; the guy has played in two or three World Cups. Frankie is probably the fittest guy in the history of the league. He keeps moving, and I thought Freddy did some good things against him defensively, and I think Freddy played as well as I've ever seen him play defensively."
• Another helping factor to the Real midfield play was the outside backs began to get forward more into the attack. "In the second half we played much better," Ellinger said. "At halftime, we wanted to get Willis [Forko] and Jack [Stewart] forward more, and make their outside forwards work a little bit harder than they had to in the first half, and I think we did that. That gave us some lift."
• On Wednesday, Real defeated the Kansas City Wizards 2-1 in extra time in their U.S. Open Cup play-in game at Rice-Eccles Stadium. Jeff Cunningham put RSL into the lead in the 12th minute when he converted a penalty kick after Freddy Adu was upended in the box, but just two minutes from full time, Sasha Victorine banged home a rebound from close range to pull the match level. In the added period, Cunningham slipped a quick pass through to Andy Williams, and he fired home off the inside of the post to send Real through. They will now take on the Colorado Rapids in the next round for the right to move into the knockout stages of the competition proper.
• "It's a confidence things; the guys in the locker room, the first thing they said was that we are still unbeaten," Ellinger said. "You take the wins any way you can; it's a habit, just like we found in the past that losing is a habit, and now winning is a habit. It's good to finally get a win against a good team."
• Here Ellinger's team: Chris Seitz, Jack Stewart, Eddie Pope (Chris Lancos 62), Daniel Torres, Willis Forko, Chris Klein (Andy Williams 69), Mehdi Ballouchy (Duke Hashimoto 85), Kenny Cutler (Chris Brown 12), Carey Talley, Freddy Adu, Jeff Cunningham, Substitutes Not Used: Nikolas Besagno, Atiba Harris, Nick Rimando
