OUT: DF Bobby Burling (sports hernia surgery); DF Ante Jazic (concussion); GK Dan Kennedy (R knee sprain); FW Ante Razov (R ankle surgery); DF Claudio Suárez (L calf strain); DF Lawson Vaughn (L ankle surgery); MF Sasha Victorine (L knee surgery); DOUBTFUL: FW Justin Braun (R knee sprain); FW Maykel Galindo (sports hernia surgery); PROBABLE: FW Alecko Eskandarian (L hip strain)
INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES: none
SUSPENDED: LA: Dema Kovalenko (through April 11)
HEAD-TO-HEAD
ALL-TIME (15 meetings): Galaxy 8 wins, 26 goals ... Chivas USA 3 wins, 17 goals ... Ties 4
AS GALAXY HOME GAME: (8 meetings): Galaxy 5 wins, 18 goals ... Chivas USA 2 wins, 10 goals ... Ties 1
RETURN MATCHES:
7/11: Los Angeles Galaxy at Chivas USA, 7:30 p.m. PT; 8/29: Chivas USA at Los Angeles Galaxy, 8 p.m. PT
LAST YEAR (MLS):
4/26: LA 5, CHV 2 (Donovan 18, 59, 77; Gordon 76, 84 - Kljestan 38; Razov 62)
7/10: LA 1, CHV 1 (Buddle 72 - Razov 15)
8/14: CHV 2, LA 2 (Harris 50; Nagamura 63 - Donovan 8; Gordon 90)
• After winning the final two meetings of four in 2007, Chivas USA has not defeated the Galaxy in the last three SuperClásicos, the Galaxy winning the first last year before two draws.
• The Galaxy won the first five meetings all-time between the teams before the first Chivas victory; since those initial five victories, the league series has been evenly split, each team winning three times with four draws.
• The teams have met outside of The Home Depot Center once, on Aug. 10, 2005 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum before 88,816 as part of a Club América-CD Guadalajara doubleheader - the second-largest crowd ever to see an MLS regular season game.
• Coaches record: Bruce Arena v CHV: P2 W0 L2 D0 ... Preki vs. LA: P7 W2 L2 D3
LOS ANGELES GALAXY
The Los Angeles Galaxy returned from a bye week and went down to defeat for the first time this season, falling 3-2 to the Colorado Rapids on Saturday evening at The Home Depot Center. The Galaxy have one point from two games on the year, even with Houston for sixth place in the Western Conference, eight points behind Seattle Sounders FC and Chivas USA.
LAST MATCH
• The Galaxy were back in action after a week off following their season-opening draw with D.C., while the Rapids were back in Carson for the second time in three weeks, coming off their first win on the campaign.
• The Rapids opened the scoring just 16 seconds into the game - off the Galaxy kickoff. The ball was played to the left touchline, where it eventually came to Rapids defender Ugo Ihemelu. He sent a long ball back down the flank where Omar Cummings chased it down and sent a rolling cross to the far post for Casey to tap it in. It was the second-fastest goal at the start of a game in MLS history.
• The Galaxy gained the lead with goals on either side of halftime. First, in the 37th minute, rookie defender Omar Gonzalez scored his first professional goal, heading home a corner kick. Then three minutes after the restart, Sean Franklin set off on a mazy run before finding Landon Donovan on the left of the area, and he slid a square pass for Alan Gordon to provide the easiest of finishes.
• But Casey wasn't done. Barely a minute after the Galaxy goal, Cummings was again freed on the right flank, and again centered the ball for the burly forward to knock home.
• Dema Kovalenko was sent off in the 59th minute and Casey and the Rapids took advantage six minutes from the end. Colin Clark won the ball on the left and sent Casey in alone, and he rounded goalkeeper Josh Saunders before sliding the ball home to complete his second career MLS hat trick.
• Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena made three changes to the team that came back for a late 2-2 draw with D.C. United on March 22. Eddie Lewis came in at left back for rookie A.J. DeLaGarza, Kyle Patterson started on the left of midfield in place of Mike Magee, and Alan Gordon started in attack instead of Jovan Kirovski.
• Here's Arena's team (4-4-2): Josh Saunders - Sean Franklin, Omar Gonzalez, Tony Sanneh, Eddie Lewis (A.J. DeLaGarza 77) - Chris Klein, Dema Kovalenko, Josh Tudela, Kyle Patterson (Stefani Miglioranzi 62) - Landon Donovan, Alan Gordon (Bryan Jordan 82). Substitutes Not Used: Miguel Benitez, Gregg Berhalter, Jovan Kirovski, Yohance Marshall
• "Let's not kid anybody, our performance was terrible," Arena said. "Let's not shy away from it. It's a poor performance and I take the responsibility for it. I'm embarrassed for our fans and for our organization and that's what I told our team. There are no excuses for some of the goals we gave up tonight. We're going to get this team better but I can't tell you how disappointed I am from the individual performances tonight and some of the decision-making."
TEAM NEWS
• Casey's opener came after 16 seconds -- the second fastest goal in MLS history (Dwayne De Rosario scored 11 seconds into a match against FC Dallas Sept. 27, 2003). It started when the Galaxy gave away the ball from the opening kickoff of the match.
• "It started from the opening kickoff, and it went through throughout the match," Arena said. "I give our guys a lot of credit for hanging in and fighting, and positioning themselves to be ahead 2-1, which is unbelievable after we actually somehow managed to give up a goal on the opening kickoff, with a kickoff in our favor."
• Gonzalez scored his first career goal in his second start, after he was drafted in the first round of the 2009 SuperDraft out of the University of Maryland.
• "Landon just put a great ball in there and I just happen to get away from Conor Casey," said the 6-foot-5 Gonzalez. "It was great ball and I just open and just put my head on it."
• On Tuesday, the teams met again, and for the second consecutive year, the Colorado Rapids eliminated the Galaxy from the U.S. Open Cup, this time in a penalty shootout after a scoreless draw through 120 minutes. Rapids goalkeeper Preston Burpo saved spot kicks from Mike Magee and Chris Klein to secure the 4-2 victory in the post-match decider.
• Here's Arena's team: Josh Saunders, Omar Gonzalez (Josh Tudela 91), Gregg Berhalter (Mike Magee 74), Yohance Marshall, A.J. DeLaGarza, Sean Franklin, Jovan Kirovski, Stefani Miglioranzi, Kyle Patterson (Chris Klein 61), Tristan Bowen (Alan Gordon 61), Bryan Jordan. Substitutes Not Used: Miguel Benitez, Todd Dunivant, Julian Valentin
• Yohance Marshall, Gregg Berhalter and Bowen made their first starts for the Galaxy. Berhalter, who was signed by the club April 3 in an attempt to boost the back line, played 74 minutes before being substituted for by Magee. Landon Donovan and Eddie Lewis didn't dress.
• "We needed (to keep off) a couple of players who needed time to recover," Arena said. "It's a good way to get players some looks."
• Last year, the Galaxy lost 1-0 to the Rapids in an Open Cup play-in game.
CHIVAS USA
Chivas USA kept pace in the Western Conference and the MLS overall table, keeping defending champions Columbus Crew winless on the campaign with a 2-1 win on Sunday at The Home Depot Center. Chivas and Seattle Sounders FC are now tied atop the West with nine points, the only teams with a perfect record through three weeks on the season.
LAST MATCH
• Chivas USA were back home after defeating Colorado and FC Dallas to start the season, while Columbus was on the second game of a Western road swing.
• Chivas opened the scoring after 25 minutes. Youngster Gerson Mayen, making his second career start, turned the corner on the left and hit a low crossing pass that Atiba Harris turned home first-time for his first goal of the year.
• The Crew pulled level 12 minutes later. A corner flew over the goalmouth but was collected by Emmanuel Ekpo on the back side, and he flipped a cross into the area that bounced around before Andy Iro volleyed it into the back of the net for his second career goal.
• Just after the break, Chivas pulled back into the lead. A free kick from the left was headed toward goal by Shavar Thomas, but came off the right goalpost. From the goalmouth scrum, Eduardo Lillingston was quickest and poked it into the goal for his second tally in as many weeks.
• The Crew were left a man down just four minutes later when Iro was sent off for a tackle on Chivas USA defender Carey Talley.
• Chivas USA head coach Preki made two changes to the team that defeated FC Dallas 2-0 the weekend before. Carey Talley came in at right back for Mariano Trujillo, and Sacha Kljestan returned from international duty to play on the right of midfield, with Justin Braun out injured.
• Here's Preki's team (4-4-2): Zach Thornton - Carey Talley, Jim Curtin, Shavar Thomas, Jonathan Bornstein - Sacha Kljestan (Jorge Flores 83), Jesse Marsch, Paulo Nagamura, Gerson Mayen (Bojan Stepanovic 68) - Atiba Harris, Eduardo Lillingston (Michael Lahoud 75). Substitutes Not Used: Chukwudi Chijindu, Alecko Eskandarian, Lance Parker, Mariano Trujillo
• "We'll take the three points. It was one of those games ... I'm always afraid of," he said. "For whatever reason, there was not a real football atmosphere in the stadium, guys are a little bit flat, not sharp, whatever."
TEAM NEWS
• Lillingston has now scored goals in consecutive games after being removed at halftime in the season opener in his MLS debut. Before his game-winning goal in Dallas, Lillingston's last goal in a competitive match was nearly two years ago when he scored twice for Tecos UAG in a 2-0 win against San Luis on April 28, 2007.
• "So far he's been decent. Three games, two goals, two game-winners, but ... we're not easy to please on that coaching staff," Preki said. "We're looking for more from him. We want him to move better on the field, we want him to get more touches on the ball. I think he's getting a little more game fitness, he's getting a little bit sharper than he was, and hopefully he can progress."
• Hometown boy Gerson Mayen, a product of the Chivas USA youth system, contributed an assist for the second consecutive match as he again started on the left side of midfield.
• "Gerson is doing pretty well for himself right now. He's in the team, he's working hard. He's a young player who has ability, and understands how to move on the field. He understands how to play the game, and he found himself in the team and he's using his chance pretty well," Preki said. "He has a long ways to go still, but he's on the right path."
• Chivas USA have started a season with three consecutive wins for the first time in club history. A season ago, the Red-and-White won just once in their opening seven matches.
• "Even though we haven't been our sharpest at times, I still think we've been hard to play against," said Jesse Marsch. "I think our backline has done a super job of making it hard on their forwards and not giving up too much, Zach [Thornton] has made some good saves, so those are all things that can help you win when you're not playing great."
• The winning start has also come with the team hit by injuries again. Strikers Ante Razov, Alecko Eskandarian and Maykel Galindo are all recovering from injury. Veteran defenders Ante Jazic and Claudio Suarez are also unavailable; Jazic is getting over a concussion and Suarez is still regaining his match fitness. Justin Braun had started the first two games before missing the Columbus match through injury.
• "We haven't played as well as we are capable of playing," said Preki. "But we have a group of guys in the locker room that believe in each other and work for each other. When you have that, it gives you success."
