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) ... D.C. UNITED - PROBABLE: MF Ben Olsen (hamstring strain); MF Andrew Jacobson (ankle sprain)
INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES: none
SUSPENDED: CHV: Sacha Kljestan (yellow card accumulation; through May 17)
WARNINGS:
SUSPENDED NEXT YELLOW CARD: none
SUSPENDED AFTER TWO YELLOW CARDS: CHV: Eduardo Lillingston; Jesse Marsch
HEAD-TO-HEAD
ALL-TIME (8 meetings): Chivas USA 2 wins, 10 goals ... United 5 wins, 14 goals ... Ties 1
AT CHIVAS USA (4 meetings): Chivas USA 1 win, 6 goals ... United 2 wins, 7 goals ... Ties 1
RETURN MATCH: 10/3: Chivas USA at D.C. United, 7:30 p.m. ET
LAST YEAR (MLS):
5/17: CHV 3, DC 1 (Marsch 73; Kljestan 76; Flores 82 - Gallardo 30)
10/4: DC 0, CHV 3 (Eskandarian 35; Victorine 56; Dejair 68)
• Chivas USA won both meetings last season, their first-ever victories in the series between the clubs. Chivas USA has not lost in the last three meetings all-time.
• When Chivas USA claimed a draw in the 2007 season series finale, it was their first-ever point taken against D.C. United. The Black-and-Red had won the first five meetings all-time between the clubs.
• The Claudio Suarez penalty kick in the 2-1 result on Sept. 3, 2007 marked Chivas USA's first goal ever scored against D.C. United, putting an end to a 301-minute goalless drought in the series.
• Coaches record: Preki vs. DC: P4 W2 L1 D1 ... Tom Soehn vs. CHV: P4 W1 L2 D1
CHIVAS USA
Chivas USA won their third game in a row - all by shutout - defeating Real Salt Lake 1-0 on Saturday night at The Home Depot Center. Chivas still sit atop the Western Conference and the MLS overall table with 22 points from nine matches, now eight points ahead of Seattle Sounders FC and Eastern Conference leader D.C. United.
LAST MATCH
• Chivas USA had recorded back-to-back shutout victories after suffering their lone loss on the campaign, while Real Salt Lake were back on the road after seeing their perfect home record ended at midweek in a wild, late 2-2 draw with the LA Galaxy.
• The game's lone goal came in the 54th minute. A half-cleared cross was headed backward by Sacha Kljestan, and Paulo Nagamura ran onto it to hammer home a rasping drive from outside the box for his third goal on the campaign.
• Chivas USA goalkeeper Zach Thornton made six saves for the match, including a stellar stop of Javier Morales in the second half, for his sixth clean sheet on the season in keeping RSL winless and goalless on the road in league play this season.
• For the first time this season, Chivas USA head coach Preki maintained the same team in consecutive weeks, keeping the same starting XI from the 1-0 win at San Jose the weekend before.
• Here's Preki's team (4-4-2): Zach Thornton - Mariano Trujillo, Carey Talley, Shavar Thomas, Jonathan Bornstein - Sacha Kljestan, Jesse Marsch, Paulo Nagamura, Bojan Stepanovic (Maykel Galindo 58) - Justin Braun (Atiba Harris 82), Eduardo Lillingston (Sasha Victorine 73). Substitutes Not Used: Chukwudi Chijindu, Jim Curtin, Gerson Mayen, Lance Parker
TEAM NEWS
• Paulo Nagamura now leads Chivas USA with three goals scored on the season. He scored a pair in the season-opening victory against Colorado, and in the meantime, only Eduardo Lillingston and Atiba Harris had matched his strike output.
• "It's been a great addition to see Paulo getting forward and being aggressive," said central midfield partner Jesse Marsch. "I think that lately he feels like he can go forward more often because he knows without even thinking that I'm going to be there for him."
• Zach Thornton now has six clean sheets on the season, already just one short of the total he recorded in his last season as a full-time starter, when he had seven in 24 appearances in 2006 for the Chicago Fire. His single-season career high is nine, set in 2001 with Chicago.
• Thornton is also on the verge of another club record. He currently has a personal shutout streak of 324 minutes active, 10 minutes shy of the Chivas club record set in 2006 by Brad Guzan (Sept. 9-30). That's also the team record.
• "We're hard to play against," Nagamura said. "We work for each other for 90 minutes. We make it tough for the other team to create anything. Our mentality has been great from the first game of the season."
• In addition, with two-thirds of the season still to be played, the six shutouts are nearly halfway to the team record of 14, set in 2007 (13 of those recorded by Brad Guzan).
• "They were organized and disciplined and worked hard for each other," Preki said. "You know what I always say -- this group knows how to work for each other and I give them full credit."
• A year ago, Chivas USA finished second in the Western Conference but it took the club 15 games to get as many points as they have amassed in nine games this year.
D.C. UNITED
D.C. United extended their undefeated streak to five games in dramatic fashion, getting a stoppage-time penalty kick equalizer for a 3-3 draw with Toronto FC on Saturday night at RFK Stadium. United still have sole possession of first place in the Eastern Conference with 14 points from nine matches, a point ahead of Toronto.
LAST MATCH
• Both teams were coming off midweek encounters. United had extended their unbeaten streak to four games with a draw in Kansas City, while TFC, riding a three-game league undefeated run of their own, opened their Canadian Championship campaign with a home win against Vancouver Whitecaps FC.
• United opened the scoring in the ninth minute as Ange N'Silu scored his first MLS goal, latching on to a loose ball from a mis-hit Rodney Wallace shot and stabbing home a shot past TFC goalkeeper Stefan Frei.
• After the break, the game exploded to life. Toronto FC took the lead with two goals inside 12 minutes. First, a Frei punt over the length of the field was reached first by Dwayne De Rosario on the bounce in the United penalty area, and he poked it over an advancing Milos Kocic off his line (52). Then Adrian Serioux rose up to powerfully head home an Amado Guevara free kick from the right corner in the 63rd minute.
• United drew level in the 86th minute, as Wallace sent in a low cross from the left that was expertly dummied by Jaime Moreno, allowing rookie Chris Pontius to smash home a one-timer for his third goal. But TFC were back in front barely a minute later, as De Rosario picked up the ball in midfield, sailed through the United defense and blasted home a long-range drive for his third goal on the season.
• Yet United weren't done, and for the second time this season, Marvell Wynne was adjudged to have handled the ball in the penalty area in stoppage time, and referee Baldomero Toledo pointed to the spot. Moreno stepped up and calmly dispatched it into the top left corner, his 125th career league goal.
• United head coach Tom Soehn had nearly a full-change lineup from the team that played to a 1-1 draw against the Kansas City Wizards at midweek. Only three players were kept in the starting lineup from that match: defender Bryan Namoff, holding midfielder Clyde Simms and wide midfielder Rodney Wallace.
• Here's Soehn's team (3-4-1-2): Milos Kocic - Bryan Namoff, Dejan Jakovic, Marc Burch - Fred (Santino Quaranta 59), Devon McTavish (Chris Pontius 74), Clyde Simms, Rodney Wallace - Christian Gomez - Luciano Emilio, Ange N'Silu (Jaime Moreno 64). Substitutes Not Used: Louis Crayton, Greg Janicki, Avery John, Ben Olsen
• "It's really disappointing. We obviously made some key mistakes, and not many, but the ones that we made really cost us." Soehn said. "It's unacceptable; we can't afford to do that. We can't afford to get in a shootout at home. We were pretty much in control of the game and with one bad chance or bad giveaway, and it gives them life and energy."
TEAM NEWS
• For United, five of their league-best 15 goals have come in the final quarter-hour of their games. However, they also allowed four in that same timeframe; 11 of the team's 13 goals conceded have come in the second half.
• "This group is a very good group as far as their character. Obviously we are dropping some points, which is concerning," said Soehn. "It's a really funny league this year in the fact that there are so many ties and a lot of late goals. I'm not really sure I understand it. Our mentality going in is that we're not going to give up, we're going to fight until the end - that's the reason why it has happened for us. Why it has happened everywhere, I'm not sure."
• United have now alternated goalkeepers in their last four games, with Milos Kocic playing two of the last three. In his two starts, Kocic has allowed four goals; Louis Crayton has allowed three goals in his last two starts.
• "On any given day, one can be better than the next, so it's up to us which one's going to stand out in the end," Soehn said. "And Josh [Wicks] is not far either; Josh [Wicks] has done a real good job of getting fit. It's early in the year and we have to figure out in which direction we want to go."
• United have now scored the opening goal in seven of their nine games this season, yet have only a pair of victories to show for the early advantage. Four of those games have ended in ties, including the last two.
• "I'd rather have these mistakes happen in the beginning to the season rather than later on in the playoffs," said forward Chris Pontius. "Hopefully we're learning from every game. We're still getting points out of these games so it's not the end of the world, but we need to pick up some wins and learn from our mistakes more."
• Congolese striker Ange N'Silu made just his second start of the season as Soehn rang in the changes for a second game in four nights, his first since April 4, and came away with his first MLS goal.
• "He did well. He was opportunistic on the goal; he's good in the air, held some balls for us. He hasn't played a lot of minutes, he came off an injury, and we need to get him some minutes to get him fit," said Soehn.
