After Chivas USA's hard-fought, come-from-behind 2-2 draw against D.C. United on Thursday, the New York Red Bulls seemed rather imposing.
With the possibility of a letdown seemingly present, Chivas USA however squashed any thoughts of a less-than-stellar performance against the Red Bulls.
Maykel Galindo scored four minutes into the match to send Chivas on their way, adding a goal in the 58th minute as they beat New York 3-0 on Sunday.
"It's always impressive when you beat a team like New York with the players they have," Chivas USA coach 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."
With the win, Chivas USA improved to 12-6-4 and can take possession of first place in the Western Conference with a win against the Los Angeles Galaxy on Thursday. The victory also gives Chivas USA four wins and a draw from their last five matches, good for 13 points from a maximum of 15.
Galindo's two goals give him 12 on the season and moved him to within two of New York's Juan Pablo Angel. New York's star forward, though, was little match for Chivas USA's backline, in particular Jason Hernandez. Starting in place of Claudio Suarez, Hernandez nonetheless picked up where Suarez left off and Angel came up on the short side of the deal.
"The thing I tried to concentrate most on was being tuned in at all times," Hernandez said. "He's a guy that if you give him a little bit of space, a little bit of time, he'll hurt you. I just did my best."
Still, Hernandez said his teammates did well collectively to thwart Angel, who had little to show outside of a pair of free kicks he took near the half-hour mark.
"It wasn't me per se, but guys in the back, guys in the midfield at all times just trying to keep an eye on him, know where he's at so when plays go his way we just try and react," Hernandez said. "We did a pretty good job on him."
Sunday's game was the 15th game Hernandez has appeared in but just his seventh start.
"I've been in and out, week in and week out depending on the situation having to fill in. we all get pretty well together in the back no matter who is in or who is sitting," Hernandez said. "I think it all went well tonight."
From the start, Chivas USA showed a bit of flair as well as timely finishing. In the fourth minute, Razov carried the ball down the left side of the penalty area and sent the ball across the box to Sacha Kljestan. The second-year man slipped the ball through the legs of Red Bulls defender Kevin Goldthwaite and centered the ball to Galindo, who knocked it first-time into the back of the net to give Chivas USA a quick 1-0 lead.
Minutes later, Jonathan Bornstein nearly made it 2-0 when he sliced through New York's defense but his 17-yard attempt went right to New York goalkeeper Ronald Waterreus.
The early goal, though, did not give Chivas USA as much of an edge as they had hoped. By halftime, the club had mounted little pressure on New York's goal.
"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."
Galindo helped lead the charge in the second half. In the 58th minute, Galindo raced past New York's Seth Stammler, ran down the right side of the penalty area and chipped a shot over Waterreus and into the back of the net.
"That second goal gave us some peace," Galindo said. "We could have gotten more after the third goal but we're happy with the result for sure."
Razov scored the final goal when he scored from the penalty spot. New York's Jeff Parke hauled down second-half substitute Laurent Merlin inside the penalty area in the 69th minute. The goal was Chivas USA's first penalty-kick goal since October 2006.
"We wanted to see that penalty when it's 0-0 or when the game is on the line but we're not complaining," Preki said. "It was so far away I couldn't even tell if it was or not."
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."
Luis Bueno is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
