but only as far as Donovan, standing on the edge of the area. He settled and drove a low shot inside the left-hand post past an unsighted Guzan.
• Three weeks ago, Chivas USA defeated the Los Angeles Galaxy for just the second time ever, officially concluding a four-game road swing with a 3-0 victory.
• While the opening exchanges were tame by comparison, the rivalry boiled over just before the end of the half. Chivas USA's Jesse Marsch and the Galaxy's David Beckham had a running battle in the midfield and when Marsch hit Beckham with a high tackle, a scuffle ensued. Marsch received a yellow card, but in the melee, Alex Zotinca and Kevin Harmse took it one step farther and were both sent off by referee Terry Vaughn.
• After the break, Chivas were gifted a goal. A long through ball was played to the Galaxy area but Kyle Veris misplayed it as he tried to clear. Maykel Galindo quickly pounced and sent a rolling shot past Joe Cannon for the 58th-minute opener.
• Eleven minutes later Chivas doubled the lead through a wonderful sequence. Sacha Kljestan found Francisco Mendoza in yards of space on the right, and Mendoza followed with a perfect first-time pass to Galindo haring up the middle. The Cuban neatly slotted the ball past Cannon for his second goal on the night.
• Chivas finished off the match in the 88th minute. Substitute Ramon Nuñez slid the ball to Kljestan at the top of the area, and he quickly turned and found Mendoza alone in the left side of the area. Mendoza then calmly curled the ball inside the near post for his first goal on the campaign.
• Here's Yallop's team (4-4-2): Joe Cannon - Chris Klein, Kyle Veris, Abel Xavier, Mike Randolph - Cobi Jones (Landon Donovan 59), David Beckham, Kevin Harmse, Kyle Martino (Alan Gordon 72) - Edson Buddle (Troy Roberts 46), Carlos Pavon. Substitutes Not Used: Steve Cronin, Gavin Glinton, Quavas Kirk, Josh Tudela
• Here's Preki's team (4-4-2): Brad Guzan - Alex Zotinca, Claudio Suarez (Jason Hernandez 77), Shavar Thomas, Orlando Perez - Sacha Kljestan, Jesse Marsch, Lawson Vaughn, Francisco Mendoza - Maykel Galindo (Ramon Nunez 72), Ante Razov (Paulo Nagamura 59). Substitutes Not Used: Jonathan Bornstein, Preston Burpo, John Cunliffe, Laurent Merlin
CHIVAS USA
Chivas USA remained one of the hottest teams in Major League Soccer, winning for the fourth time in five games in a dominant 3-0 win against the New York Red Bulls on Sunday evening at The Home Depot Center. Chivas pulled back into second place in the Western Conference with the win, with 40 points from 22 matches, one ahead of FC Dallas and two behind Houston Dynamo but with games in hand on both.
LAST MATCH
• Chivas USA saw their three-game winning run come to an end, despite coming back for an historic draw on Thursday against D.C. United, while the Red Bulls had stopped a two-game slide with a vital home win against Chicago the weekend before.
• Chivas USA got the quick start they were looking for. A cross from Ante Razov over the goalmouth found Sacha Kljestan on the right, and after nutmegging Kevin Goldthwaite as he challenged, Kljestan drove in a low cross that Galindo knocked home first-time for a fourth-minute opener.
• Galindo then doubled the Chivas lead in the 57th minute. Racing onto a long ball from the Chivas half, he outfought Seth Stammler to latch onto it before racing into the area and then chipping the ball over a recovered Stammler and New York goalkeeper Ronald Waterreus for his 11th goal on the season and fifth in the last five games.
• Chivas put the game away 20 minutes from the end when substitute Laurent Merlin was bundled over the area. Ante Razov stepped up and converted the first penalty awarded to the Red-and-White since October of last year, his seventh of the year and now the 106th of his league career.
• Chivas USA head coach Preki made one change to the team that played to the 2-2 draw with D.C. United. Jason Hernandez came back into central defense as Claudio Suarez was given a rest.
• Here's Preki's team (4-4-2): Brad Guzan - Lawson Vaughn, Jason Hernandez, Shavar Thomas, Jonathan Bornstein - Sacha Kljestan, Jesse Marsch (Orlando Perez 72), Paulo Nagamura, Francisco Mendoza (Jorge Flores 76) - Maykel Galindo (Laurent Merlin 62), Ante Razov. Substitutes Not Used: Preston Burpo, John Cunliffe, Rodrigo Lopez, Claudio Suarez
• "From the first minute, we stepped on the field and we were sharp. In some stretches of the game we didn't play well, due to the fatigue or for whatever reason, we had a little bit of tough time and they made it a little tougher for us, but I give full credit to my players. Tonight they had a good mentality; they worked hard for each other," Preki said.
TEAM NEWS
• After the highty-touted match against D.C. United on MLS Primetime Thursday, there could have been a letdown for Chivas with the second game in four days. But the early goal soothed any worries.
• "It's always impressive when you beat a team like New York with the players they have," Preki said. "Obviously after a tough game against D.C. on Thursday, a tough, emotional game, I thought this could have been a game that could have been dangerous if we didn't take it seriously from the first moment."
• Chivas USA's Western Conference rivals each won on Saturday as Houston beat Real Salt Lake 4-3 and FC Dallas knocked off Toronto FC 2-0. Even though Chivas has games in hand over both of those teams, with the results in the books, Razov said Chivas USA had no choice but to respond.
• "We had to answer," he said. "Those teams are going to win and it's going to be like that the rest of the season ... especially if you want to win the conference. We still have that little luxury with a couple of games in the back pocket but you've got to keep winning."
• Chivas USA were the last team to be awarded a penalty kick this season, and Razov's spot kick was their first since Oct. 7, 2006 when Claudio Suarez scored from the spot. Only Toronto FC has won only a single penalty kick on the season.
• "We got the penalty with the score 2-0. I would like to see a penalty when the score is 0-0, when the game is on the line -- that would be nice. But, we don't complain," Preki said.
• Chivas have now come away with two wins and a draw from their first three games of a five-game home stand at The Home Depot Center. Of Chivas USA's final 11 matches, eight are home games. "I think we are a good team. I think it's coming together at the right time and we feel good about what's going here, Razov said. "We are getting goals up front, guys in the midfield are tackling hard and defenders are playing unreal, Brad is shining in goal, guys coming out of the bench are helping. It just has a good feel about it."
• Maykel Galindo had gone a couple of games without a goal. But he responded with his third two-goal game of the year, two coming in the last four games, and he now sits tied for fourth in the league with 12 goals.
• "After the first goal, the team was a little too tranquil," Galindo said. "We needed to have played better in the first half after that goal. At halftime, we talked about how that goal wasn't enough and how we needed to defend our turf and go after the game in the second half. That second goal gave us some peace."
• Sunday also marked the professional debut of Jorge Flores, the 17-year-old who won a spot on the roster through the Sueno MLS competition held earlier in the year.
• "I feel very happy for my professional debut and I would like to thank coach Preki for giving me this opportunity, to have my very first minutes on the field," Flores said. "Now, it's up to me to perform to the best of my ability every time I get the call and leave a good impression." Said Razov: "He has been very serious since day one. He is a quiet kid, very humble. He is just winning guys over every day, with his work rate. He works his butt off. He works hard and when guys get on top of him, he just responds by playing harder and that's what you want from a young kid."
LOS ANGELES GALAXY
The Los Angeles Galaxy won in league play for the first time since July 4, defeating the Colorado Rapids 3-1 on Saturday evening at The Home Depot Center. The Galaxy have 17 points from 20 matches, now a point behind Real Salt Lake in the Western Conference and 12 points out of the last playoff spot despite still having a number of games in hand.
LAST MATCH
• The Rapids came in riding a four-game unbeaten streak on the heels of a 10-game winless run, while the Galaxy were in the throes of a six-game league losing run and eight games without a win in MLS play.
• After a quiet first half, the game sprang to life just after the break. Peter Vagenas played a ball over the top into the Rapids area, and as 'keeper Bouna Coundoul came off his line to try and claim it, it somehow skidded past him and Alan Gordon raced around him to tuck it home.
• On the play Coundoul was injured and soon had to leave the game. In the 63rd minute Galaxy striker Edson Buddle beat substitute Zach Thornton as he raced in on a breakaway, chipping the ball over the MLS original to finish off a quick counterattack.
• Seven minutes later the Galaxy made it 3-0 on a great goal. Chris Klein overlapped on the right and hooked in a cross to the back post where Kyle Martino came diving in to power home a header inside Thornton and the near stick.
• The Rapids pulled a goal back a minute from the end when Mehdi Ballouchy stormed in to blast home a half-cleared free kick sent in from the right corner, but that was all Colorado could get.
• Galaxy head coach Frank Yallop made two changes to the team that lost 2-1 to Real Salt Lake at home the previous weekend. Ty Harden returned from injury to come back into central defense, for Troy Roberts, and Cobi Jones came in on the right of midfield for Landon Donovan, away on international duty.
• Here's Yallop's team (4-4-2): Joe Cannon - Chris Klein, Ty Harden (Kyle Veris 80), Abel Xavier, Mike Randolph - Cobi Jones, Kevin Harmse, Peter Vagenas, Kyle Martino - Edson Buddle (Carlos Pavon 64), Alan Gordon (Gavin Glinton 57). Substitutes Not Used: Mike Caso, Steve Cronin, Israel Sesay, Josh Tudela
• "Tonight was a good night for us, I think we did well in all departments and obviously getting two points is the most crucial thing for tonight," Yallop said.
TEAM NEWS
• The Galaxy managed to avoid tying their club record for a losing streak with the victory. Last season they lost seven games in a row on the way to missing out on the MLS Cup Playoffs for the first time.
• "It's been a while. It's not been easy," said Yallop. "What I like about our players and the club as a whole is nobody has dropped their heads. I think we showed that in the performances we've had the last two games. In the end we got a good result tonight and it's been coming for a while I think. It was good to nearly get a clean sheet. It was a good three goals and good home win for us. It feels good."
• Said Peter Vagenas: "Ironically, I think this was probably our poorest performance of the last couple of weeks, and we won, so I mean at this point we will take it. Sometimes that's the way this game goes."
• Alan Gordon had battled back from injuries, missing the first 12 games of the season, then going his first six league appearances without a goal. But he now has goals in his last two games, and five goals in all competitions on the campaign.
• "It's about time. You feel like the ball has kind of bounced the other way for us, but that goal was a gift to me, I put it away and the rest is history," he said.
• While Ty Harden was able to return from injury for the first time in three games, the Galaxy's injury list still included David Beckham, Landon Donovan, Chris Albright, Ante Jazic, Kelly Gray, Troy Roberts and Quavas Kirk. At least five of those players would surely have been starters if available.
• "With seven guys missing I think we put in a great performance tonight. You have to give credit to all the guys in the locker room," said Joe Cannon. "We still made it a bit interesting at the end, like we always found a way to do this year, but at the same time it was good to get three points."
• Kyle Martino was able to get back on the scoresheet for the first time since May 12, just his second league goal on the campaign.
• "It's been a matter of inches pretty much for the most part of the season," said Martino, "things not connecting, things being just off, the goalkeeper making a save or hitting the post. It's good to get the monkey off my back personally and get the three points that we really feel lately we deserved."
