or win -- on the new league season.
• But a historic night got off to a fast start. A long ball from Alex Zotinca on the right found Cuban striker Maykel Galindo on the right side of the area, and after he rounded RSL 'keeper Nick Rimando well out from goal, he banged home a low shot for his first career MLS goal. The goal came after just 28 seconds, the sixth-fastest in MLS history.
• Then eight minutes later, Galindo's pace again got the better of the RSL backline. Again he raced down the right flank, and after skipping through a tackle in the area, turned the corner and raced at goal before toe-poking an angled shot past Rimando to double the Chivas lead.
• Just before the halftime break, the historic night continued as Razov made it 3-0. Galindo knocked the ball out to Francisco Mendoza on the left, and he dribbled into the box before lofting a perfect cross to the far post, where Razov rose up to powerfully head down into the goal for the 100th league goal of his MLS career. He joined just two other players to reach the century mark in league play: Real Salt Lake's Jason Kreis (108) and D.C. United's Jaime Moreno (105).
• The Red-and-White finished off the match in the 89th minute. A flurry in the RSL goalmouth saw Matt Taylor blast a shot goalward, only for Eddie Pope to somehow keep it out on the line. But Taylor latched onto the rebound and sent it back into the back of the net to complete the 4-0 scoreline. The win equaled Chivas USA's most lopsided victory, a 5-1 rout of Real Salt Lake in July 2005.
• With Daniel Torres a very late scratch, Chris Lancos was pressed into duty in the back line for Real Salt Lake, the only change John Ellinger made to start, though the addition of Andy Williams at halftime meant a fundamental change in the RSL system.
• Here's Ellinger's team (4-2-3-1): Nick Rimando - Chris Lancos (Andy Williams 46 / Atiba Harris 79), Eddie Pope, Jack Stewart (Chris Brown 72), Willis Forko -Carey Talley, Jason Kreis - Chris Klein, Mehdi Ballouchy, Freddy Adu - Jeff Cunningham. Substitutes Not Used: Nikolas Besagno, Kenny Cutler, Chris Seitz
• "We've played well up to this point," said Ellinger. "For us it's the fact that things that we've covered about having a fast start today and dealing with their high pressure, things that we talked about doing just didn't get done. You can only imagine how it feels when you're behind the 8-ball and the game's not a minute old. It's even worse at the end of the game when there's extra time and you get asked if you want the full extra time. It's not a good feeling."
TEAM NEWS
• After the game, Andy Williams was diagnosed with a high ankle sprain, after X-rays reveal there was no broken bone in his leg. He is expected to miss 4-8 weeks. On Wednesday, the MLS Disciplinary Committee handed down a two-game suspension to Chivas USA's Sacha Kljestan for the tackle late in the second half that left Williams needing to be stretchered off.
• In their first game on the road, Real lost for the first time on the season, beginning the year with two draws in league play before the extra-time victory in the Open Cup play-in game.
• "Right from the beginning we weren't ready to play and they took it to us," said RSL midfielder Freddy Adu. "I don't know what it is we have to do but we each need to look at ourselves individually." Added Jason Kreis: "These types of games are as big a setback as the players let them be. For me, this is a one-off game. We gave up two bad goals and then we couldn't sort things out. The passes weren't there, everything was just a little bit off tonight. It seemed like everything was a step off."
• This week, Ellinger said there is a chance that Nick Rimando could be dropped as Real's starting 'keeper and replaced by Chris Seitz.
• "We'll see how they compete this week," Ellinger said to the Deseret Morning News. "It's probably on everyone's mind right now, I guess. It's good that everyone's taking an interest in it. ... I think what you get into with goalkeeper or quarterback changes, you have to be consistent. If you're going to say how many mistakes is enough before you make a change, then you've got to remember that when you do make a change or if you make a change, then it's got to be the same rule because the other guy's going to be watching."
• Torres was scratched from the starting team in pregame warmups in Carson after he deemed a hamstring injury too painful to play on. Torres said he originally suffered the injury in the U.S. Open Cup play-in win against Columbus the Wednesday before.
• "It definitely hurts, you have a set system with those back four, they're pretty comfortable with where they're at, who's around them and their relationships and it hurt," Kreis said."
• There was also an impromptu players' meeting held after training on Tuesday. "Whenever a veteran comes in and says stuff like that, you really take it to heart, especially after a defeat like that," defender Jack Stewart said to the DMN.
COLORADO RAPIDS
The Colorado Rapids lost for the first time in 2007 in their first game away from their new Dick's Sporting Goods Park home, falling to FC Dallas 3-1 last Sunday at Pizza Hut Park. The Rapids have four points from their first three games, tied for third place in the Western Conference with Houston Dynamo, both teams three points behind division-leading FCD.
LAST MATCH
• FC Dallas were finally back home after opening the season with three road matches and a cross-country trip -- from which the Hoops took four points -- while the Rapids were on the road for the first time in 2007 after opening the season with a win and a draw in their new Dick's Sporting Goods Park home.
• Before a sellout crowd in Frisco, Ramon Nunez -- who earlier in the week had received his green card -- put the Hoops in the lead in the 29th minute with a fine goal. Dax McCarty sprung Nunez with a long pass out of midfield, and after Nunez slipped around a defender at the edge of the area he banged home a low shot past Bouna Coundoul.
• But five minutes later the Rapids pulled level. Terry Cooke launched a long ball from well in his own half, and Jovan Kirovski chased it down with a defender on his back. Despite a hint of a handball, Kirovski brought the ball down and looped a perfect volley over the onrushing Shaka Hislop.
• Yet Nunez gave FCD the lead for good 12 minutes from the end with his second goal on the day. After the Honduras-born midfielder won a free kick outside the left corner of the area, he drilled a low drive past the wall and off Coundoul's hands inside the far post for the go-ahead strike.
• Then in stoppage time, FC Dallas finished off the match. Dominic Oduro set off on a loping run down the left flank and found Kenny Cooper in the area. While the Dallas native stood on the ball, Oduro continued his run behind Cooper into the heart of the area, and banged home Cooper's short pass for his second career MLS goal.
• Rapids boss Fernando Clavijo made one change to the team that played the Chicago Fire to a 1-1 draw after going a man down the Sunday before in Commerce City. With Roberto Brown suspended after his sixth-minute red card in that game, Pablo Mastroeni made his first start of 2007, in midfield, as Jovan Kirovski moved forward into the attack.
• Here's Clavijo's team (4-4-2): Bouna Coundoul - Brandon Prideaux (Dan Gargan 33), Ugo Ihemelu, Mike Petke (Conor Casey 81), Greg Vanney - Terry Cooke, Kyle Beckerman, Pablo Mastroeni, Herculez Gomez - Nicolas Hernandez, Jovan Kirovski (Jacob Peterson 67). Substitutes Not Used: Jose Cancela, Nico Colaluca, Zach Thornton, Daniel Wasson
• "I thought we managed the game better in the second half but we just couldn't put them away," said Clavijo. "We had a couple of chances but couldn't get it done. They had a good free kick and finished it well. The other one, they put a lot of people forward, tried to score and it worked."
TEAM NEWS
• It was also the first meeting between the teams since the Rapids eliminated FC Dallas from the MLS Cup Playoffs in a penalty-kick shootout on their home field - for the second consecutive season.
• "I think they were a little more motivated since they were coming back home and were a little sharper than we were," Clavijo said. "In the first half, we managed to keep it tight. I thought we had the better play in the second half. We had a couple of chances but didn't put them away."
• While the Rapids lost for the first time on the campaign, they were not downcast following the match.
• "I think this team has showed that Colorado is a different team," said Rapids midfielder Herculez Gomez. "This was a great opportunity to come here and catch Dallas slipping. I don't think they had the better play. The goals they got, we gave them to them. I don't think they earned too much. They had a good counterattack in the first half. I'll give them that. The other two were because of mistakes on our part. We can't try to be something that we're not."
• A year ago, the Rapids won just twice on the road - the second-fewest road victories in MLS to the New York Red Bulls, who won just once on their travels. But the Rapids took just 10 of a possible 48 points on the road in '07, the worst record in the league.
• "It's definitely a result that didn't come out well for us," Beckerman said. "I thought we had them on the ropes for much of the second half. We gave up a goal and after that, we were going to get the tie no matter what. So, it didn't matter if we lost 2-1 or 3-1. I thought it was a game that we probably deserved a tie in. It's nothing to hold our heads down about. We played well. It was hot out there. It was a result we didn't like but nothing to hang our heads about."
• Terry Cooke once again played provider for the Rapids. The league leader with 12 assists a year ago, his assist on Kirovski's goal was his third of the year - on four Colorado goals. He assisted on both markers in the 2-1 opening day win against D.C. United.
