OUT: MF Jesse Marsch (fractured jaw); DF Claudio Suárez (R hip strain); DF Carey Talley (L thigh strain); MF Raphaël Wicky (R ankle surgery); DF Alex Zotinca (R knee surgery); QUESTIONABLE: FW Maykel Galindo (sports hernia surgery)
INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES: TOR: Greg Sutton, Jim Brennan (Canada); Marvell Wynne (USA); Carlos Ruiz (Guatemala); Amado Guevara (Honduras); Tyrone Marshall (Jamaica); Julius James (Trinidad & Tobago); Jarrod Smith (New Zealand); Carl Robinson (Wales) ... CHV: Sacha Kljestan (USA); Shavar Thomas (Jamaica)
SUSPENDED: CHV: Atiba Harris (caution accumulation; through Sept. 7); Sacha Kljestan (caution accumulation; through Sept. 7)
WARNINGS:
SUSPENDED NEXT YELLOW CARD: CHV: Jesse Marsch, Paulo Nagamura
SUSPENDED AFTER TWO YELLOW CARDS: TOR: Amado Guevara, Abdus Ibrahim, Carl Robinson ... CHV: Jonathan Bornstein, Maykel Galindo, Daniel Paladini
HEAD-TO-HEAD
ALL-TIME (3 meetings): Toronto FC 0 wins, 1 goal ... Chivas USA 3 wins, 6 goals ... Ties 0
AT BMO FIELD (1 meeting): Toronto FC 0 wins, 0 goals ... Chivas USA 1 win, 2 goals ... Ties 0
• This is the second of two meetings between the clubs this season - with both occurring on back-to-back weekends.
• Chivas USA have now won all three meetings all-time between the clubs. Chivas USA won both meetings in Toronto FC's inaugural season, winning by 2-0 scorelines at each stadium.
• Coaches record: John Carver vs. CHV: P1 W0 L1 D0 ... Preki v TOR: P3 W3 L0 D0
LAST MEETING (MLS):
8/30: CHV 2, TOR 1 (Eskandarian 20; Harris 94+ - Brennan 19)
• Chivas USA hadn't won in six matches, while Toronto FC were back on the road, where they had won just once in 10 games on the season.
• TFC took the lead in the 19th minute. Rohan Ricketts knocked a crossfield ball to Jim Brennan, who beat Chivas USA right back Lawson Vaughn on the right side of the penalty area. Brennan settled the ball and ripped a shot past Zach Thornton and into the back of the net, his first goal of the season.
• Not one minute later, Alecko Eskandarian nabbed his second goal of the season for Chivas USA. Ante Razov knocked a through ball to Eskandarian, who slid a shot under TFC goalkeeper Greg Sutton's legs and into the back of the net.
• Then four minutes deep into stoppage time, Atiba Harris gave Chivas a stunning winner. A corner kick from the left sailed through a tangle of legs and Harris turned it on goal first-time. The ball slipped through the hands of Sutton and trickled over the line.
TORONTO FC
Toronto FC have won just once in their last 10 matches, dropping two of their last three. The Reds have 26 points from 22 matches, still level with the Kansas City Wizards for sixth place in the Eastern Conference, six points behind the New York Red Bulls and D.C. United.
TEAM NEWS
• TFC head coach John Carver made one change to the team that came back to snatch a 1-1 home draw with the New England Revolution. Carlos Ruiz made his TFC debut, coming into the attack and replacing Kevin Harmse in the lineup.
• Here's Carver's team (4-4-2): Greg Sutton - Marvell Wynne, Tyrone Marshall, Marco Velez, Julius James (Johann Smith 58) - Rohan Ricketts, Amado Guevara, Carl Robinson, Jim Brennan - Chad Barrett (Abdus Ibrahim 64), Carlos Ruiz. Substitutes Not Used: Danny Dichio, Brian Edwards, Kevin Harmse, Jarrod Smith, Tyler Rosenlund
• "It's a bit of a habit; we seem to keep doing it, especially away from home. You can't defend like that - I thought [the game-winning goal] was going to come earlier. It was suicide defending and that's not good enough," Carver said. "I've been crying out for weeks and weeks and weeks that we need some strikers but you can't defend like that. That was disastrous. For me, that's the worst we've played since I've been here."
• It was yet another disappointment on the road for TFC, which has now lost seven of its last eight away from BMO Field. The final eight games of the season are evenly split, four home and four away.
• "If we score a goal on the road, we should be able to come up with a draw and I thought we were going to get that tonight. It's one of those things; you're on the road and if you don't take of business, those things happen," said Tyrone Marshall. "They just seem to be happening a lot to us. I don't know why, but I guess we just have to make our own luck."
• For the return match against Chivas, the TFC lineup will have little resemblance to the one at The Home Depot Center. Nine players will be away on international duty, including eight of the 11 starters.
• "I've had some challenges in my life, but I've never had anything like this," said Carver. "We have played games with six or seven players missing, like when we beat L.A. earlier this season, but this time Julius James and Marvell Wynne got a call-ups and Jarrod Smith is also away with New Zealand. ... "I've hardly been able to work with a consistent team all season because we keep losing players to internationals. To be honest, we played on Saturday with what was probably our strongest team of the season and we were dreadful, but there haven't been many times this season when I have been able to put my strongest team on the field."
• As well, Carver is concerned some of his available players will not be able to last the entire match. "Chad Barrett has not lasted a full game yet. Danny Dichio hasn't played a full game since suffering from concussion and Kevin Harmse has a problem with his knees," Carver said. "We have called up David Monsalve from the MLS emergency pool to be our substitute goalkeeper, but we are only left with one outfield substitute."
• Starting in goal will be Brian Edwards, whose last of five starts came June 28 at New England. Just one first-choice defender will line up in front of him - Marco Velez.
• "We will have a lot of new faces in defense and some of the guys who will be playing there don't even play at the back in practice, so we have a huge task in front of us," Edwards said. "We are all working towards the same thing and if we can work hard in training this week to get to be a collective unit, I'm sure we can put on a good performance and surprise some people."
CHIVAS USA
Chivas USA snapped their six-game winless run, winning for the first time since July 5 in the victory against TFC. Chivas USA now have 27 points from 22 matches, moving into third place in the Western Conference, three points behind Real Salt Lake and just a point ahead of FC Dallas.
TEAM NEWS
• Chivas USA head coach Preki made three changes to the team that played to a scoreless draw with the San Jose Earthquakes at home the previous weekend. Lawson Vaughn and Bobby Burling came back into the back four and Alecko Eskandarian started in the attack, coming in for Shavar Thomas, Kraig Chiles and Jorge Flores.
• Here's Preki's team (4-4-2): Zach Thornton - Lawson Vaughn, Bobby Burling, Jim Curtin, Jonathan Bornstein - Atiba Harris, Sacha Kljestan, Paulo Nagamura, Francisco Mendoza (Jorge Flores 75) - Alecko Eskandarian (Justin Braun 66), Ante Razov (Roberto Nurse 70). Substitutes Not Used: Eric Ebert, Dan Kennedy, Daniel Paladini, Keith Savage
• "It was one of those crazy games and I thought, [a goal] is never coming, but then it finally came in the last minute of the game," Preki said. "I'm pleased with three points, we put ourselves now in a good spot, and hopefully we'll build on this."
• Only one other time in the club's four-year history had Chivas USA fallen behind only to win a game, and that came earlier this season in a 3-1 win against D.C. United on May 17.
• "We're very happy, very proud and hopefully feeling a little bit more confident going forward," Sacha Kljestan said. "It's important that the team got three points tonight and moved into ... third place in the Western Conference tonight. It's good for the team. We're in the playoff spot and it's ours to lose."
• Alecko Eskandarian made his first start of the season, and netted his second goal. It was his second goal this season against a former club as Eskandarian scored in a 3-1 win against Real Salt Lake on April 5. "I was up for it because it was my first start of the year," Eskandarian said. "I didn't even think about Toronto being my former team."
• Said Preki: "I thought Alecko was very, very lively; his movement was good, he scored a good goal, he had a few other opportunities. I'm just happy to see him on the field, and to give us significant minutes tonight was a great boost."
• The game-winner was the third of the year for Harris, who has filled myriad roles for Chivas this season. "Atiba is the guy who's been giving us a lot of minutes this year. He had one or two opportunities tonight, and he had an opportunity the other night in Panama and he was probably thinking a lot about it, and finally he got a goal in the last seconds of the game," Preki said. "I'm very happy for him ... hopefully he'll build on this and get a lot of confidence from this."
• But on Tuesday night, Chivas were dumped out of the CONCACAF Champions League after playing to a 1-1 draw with Tauro FC of Panama in the second leg of their preliminary round series, losing the tie 3-1 on aggregate. After Sacha Kljestan saw a first-half penalty saved by goalkeeper Willington Dominguez, Roberto Nurse put Chivas ahead 1-0 in the 42nd minute and narrowed the gap to one goal on aggregate. But Jonathan Bornstein was sent off for a second bookable offense in the 52nd minute, and when Luis Moreno equalized for Tauro 10 minutes later, it put the series out of reach.
• "It seems like now we have an incredibly tough time finding the net," Preki said. "We must have had 15 opportunities and we finally squeezed one goal tonight. We have to find ways to score goals."
• Here's Preki's team: Dan Kennedy, Eric Ebert, Bobby Burling, Jim Curtin, Jonathan Bornstein, Atiba Harris, Sacha Kljestan (Jorge Flores 65), Paulo Nagamura, Francisco Mendoza, Justin Braun (Alecko Eskandarian 55), Roberto Nurse (Ante Razov 55)
