COLUMBUS CREW vs CHIVAS USA
COLUMBUS CREW STADIUM, Columbus, Ohio
June 14, 2009 (WEEK 13) / MLS Game #99
3 p.m. ET (TeleFutura)
The Columbus Crew and Chivas USA meet for the second time this season with the tables turned from their first, a 2-1 Chivas USA on April 5. In that match, the Crew were playing for the second time in four days in a Western swing, the second loss in what was a seven-game winless run while Chivas were in a five-game unbeaten streak. Chivas USA come into the match with their second game in five days on an Eastern swing, falling 1-0 to the Houston Dynamo on Wednesday; the Red-and-White now have just one win in their last five games, while the Crew are unbeaten in eight.
REFEREE: Steven DePiero. SAR (bench): C.J. Morgante; JAR (opposite): Kermit Quisenberry; 4th: Hilario Grajeda MLS Career: 7 games; FC/gm: 26.9; Y/gm: 2.7; R: 1; pens: 0
INJURY REPORT: COLUMBUS CREW - OUT: MF Adam Moffat (L hamstring strain); GK William Hesmer (lumbar back strain); QUESTIONABLE: Frankie Hejduk (L groin strain); DF Andy Iro (L quad strain); MF Brian Carroll (R AC joint separation) ... CHIVAS USA - OUT: DF Bobby Burling (sports hernia surgery); GK Dan Kennedy (R knee sprain); FW Ante Razov (R ankle surgery); DF Lawson Vaughn (L ankle surgery); MF Cesar Zamora (L hamstring strain); QUESTIONABLE: DF Ante Jazic (concussion); FW Justin Braun (concussion); DF Shavar Thomas (concussion)
INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES: CHV: Jonathan Bornstein, Sacha Kljestan (USA; FIFA Confederations Cup)
SUSPENDED: CLB: Chad Marshall (through June 14)
WARNINGS:SUSPENDED NEXT YELLOW CARD: CHV: Atiba Harris, Jesse Marsch, Eduardo Lillingston
SUSPENDED AFTER TWO YELLOW CARDS: CLB: Emmanuel Ekpo, Danny O'Rourke ... CHV: Paulo Nagamura, Carey Talley
HEAD-TO-HEAD
ALL-TIME (9 meetings): Crew 2 wins, 11 goals ... Chivas USA 5 wins, 14 goals ... Ties 2
AT COLUMBUS (4 meetings): Crew 1 win, 6 goals ... Chivas USA 1 win, 6 goals ... Ties 2
• After the first year of Chivas USA's existence, when the road team won in each meeting between the clubs that season, the visiting team has not won since.
• Chivas USA have won the last four meetings between the teams at The Home Depot Center, scoring eight goals and allowing just two.
• The Crew's victory against Chivas USA at Crew Stadium last year was their first ever in Columbus. Chivas USA had won their first trip to the ground (in 2005), then the teams played to draws in each of the next two seasons.
• Coaches record: Robert Warzycha v CHV: P3 W1 L2 D0 ... Preki vs. CLB: P5 W3 L1 D1
LAST MEETING (MLS):
4/5: CHV 2, CLB 1 (Harris 25; Lillingston 50 - Iro 37)
• Chivas USA extended their winning streak against the Crew in Carson, claiming a 2-1 victory in the first meeting between the teams on April 5.
• 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.
• 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
• Here's Warzycha's team (4-1-3-1-1): William Hesmer - Danny O'Rourke, Andy Iro, Chad Marshall (Jed Zayner 94+), Gino Padula - Brian Carroll - Eddie Gaven (Steven Lenhart 84), Emmanuel Ekpo, Robbie Rogers (Duncan Oughton 68) - Guillermo Barros Schelotto - Alejandro Moreno. Substitutes Not Used: Kevin Burns, Cory Elenio, Alex Grendi, Andy Gruenebaum
COLUMBUS CREW
The Columbus Crew stretched their undefeated streak to eight games, following a 2-0 win against the Kansas City Wizards on the road after going a man down. The Crew have 16 points from 12 matches, sitting in a four-way tie for third place in the Eastern Conference with Kansas City, Toronto and New England, five points behind the Chicago Fire.
LAST MATCH
• The Crew hadn't lost in seven games, with their first two wins coming in the last four games, while the Wizards had just one win in their last six.
• The defending champions were gifted a goal in the 14th minute. A long ball was played to the top of the Kansas City penalty area, and a pair of defenders and goalkeeper Kevin Hartman all converged. But the ball popped free, and after becoming entangled the trio could just watch as Guillermo Barros Schelotto nipped in to chip a volley into the empty net.
• The Crew were left a man down in the 51st minute when defender Chad Marshall was shown a straight red after a battle with K.C. center back Aaron Hohlbein for a high ball.
• But it was the visitors who struck next. Defender Matt Besler was adjudged to have fouled Crew midfielder Eddie Gaven in the corner of the area, and referee Baldomero Toledo ruled a penalty kick, duly converted by Schelotto for his eighth goal of the season, moving him back into a tie for the league lead.
• Crew head coach Robert Warzycha made one change to the team that played to a 1-1 draw at Seattle Sounders FC the previous weekend. Guillermo Barros Schelotto came back into the team, in place of Alejandro Moreno, who was away on international duty.
• Here's Warzycha's team (4-1-3-1-1): Andy Gruenebaum - Jed Zayner, Eric Brunner, Chad Marshall, Gino Padula - Danny O'Rourke - Emmanuel Ekpo (Jason Garey 89), Eddie Gaven, Robbie Rogers - Guillermo Barros Schelotto (Steven Lenhart 86) - Pat Noonan. Substitutes Not Used: Kevin Burns, Alec Dufty, Cory Elenio, Alex Grendi, Stanley Nyazamba
• "The thing is if you look at the games since the beginning of the season, we are playing more exciting soccer. We have been playing very well but we weren't getting any results. If I look back at those games, we were giving up goals in the last minutes," Warzycha said. "The first win away from home is always important, especially when you're down a man for 35 minutes."
TEAM NEWS
• Gruenebaum returned to the Kansas City area where he grew up and made three saves for his and the team's first shutout of the season. It was his first since April 28, 2007, in 1-0 win against D.C. United. Gruenebaum has three wins and four ties since spelling the injured William Hesmer.
• "We knew with more games he would get more comfortable and get game-fit," Warzycha said. "He's a good goalie. (Saturday) he had more work than previous games. It was good for him and the team has even more confidence in him."
• Marshall's sending off was the fourth of the season for the Crew, who are looking at the previous red cards as likely points lost. They could not come back from a 2-1 deficit at Chivas USA on April 5 when Andy Iro was sent off, a red to Gino Padula against Chicago on April 25 helped turn a two-goal lead into a 2-2 draw, and when Danny O'Rourke was sent off in the 89th minute on May 17, the LA Galaxy used the man advantage to knot the score in stoppage time.
• "It was nice to be able to claw and scratch to hold on to our lead," midfielder Eddie Gaven said.
• The shutout in Kansas City left San Jose as the only team in MLS not to have recorded a shutout this season, and it came with the Crew finishing the game with just one first-choice defender on the field.
• "It's a huge confidence boost for us and keeps us on a roll knowing that we're growing stronger defensively. This past week we set some goals that in a certain amount of games we're going to get this many shutouts," Jed Zayner said. "We're going to do it. We're going to reward ourselves in doing it. Putting that goal out there and fighting for it was good."
• It could be a patchwork back four again against Chivas, with Hejduk and Andy Iro still questionable. Hejduk hasn't played since May 17; Iro since being injured in the first meeting with Chivas. Goalkeeper William Hesmer is out again, while Chad Marshall will be suspended.
• The first time the Crew met Chivas USA this season, April 5 at The Home Depot Center, was three days after Columbus lost at Real Salt Lake while Chivas rested. It's reversed now with Chivas playing Wednesday at Houston.
• "Chivas has a pretty deep team as do we so it will be good battle," Brunner said. "Winning like we did on the road, we've got a lot of confidence going into the match.
CHIVAS USA
MLS overall leader Chivas USA saw their lead in the Western Conference trimmed, falling 1-0 to the Houston Dynamo on Wednesday evening at Robertson Stadium. Chivas have 27 points from 14 matches, still leading the Western Conference, now three points ahead of the Dynamo and six points ahead of East leaders Chicago Fire.
LAST MATCH
• The Dynamo came into the high-profile Western Conference meeting off a 1-0 victory against Eastern Conference leaders Chicago Fire the Friday before that was their third in a row and extended their unbeaten streak to eight, while Chivas USA had put an end to a brief three-game winless run with a 1-0 win against Seattle Sounders FC the weekend before.
• The teams came in having allowed just a combined 16 goals on the season, the top two defenses in the league, and it was never in doubt the game would be a tight defensive struggle.
• The game's lone goal came two minutes into first-half stoppage time. Pat Onstad hoofed a goal kick downfield, Cam Weaver flicked it on with a header inside the Chivas half, and that sprung Stuart Holden, who raced in alone on Zach Thornton before rounding him for his third goal in as many games and fourth on the year.
• The Dynamo put the clamps on the Chivas attack on a hot, steamy night in south Texas, as Onstad was forced to make just one save for his seventh shutout of the season, tying him with Thornton for the league lead.
•Chivas USA head coach Preki made three changes to the team that defeated Seattle Sounders FC 1-0 the weekend before at The Home Depot Center. Jim Curtin came in at right back for the suspended Mariano Trujillo, and Jesse Marsch and Sasha Victorine also came back into the team, as Justin Braun was injured and Eduardo Lillingston went to the substitutes' bench.
•Here's Preki's team (4-4-2): Zach Thornton - Jim Curtin (Claudio Suarez 73), Carey Talley, Shavar Thomas, Jorge Flores - Michael Lahoud (Eduardo Lillingston 60), Jesse Marsch (Alecko Eskandarian 66), Paulo Nagamura, Sasha Victorine - Atiba Harris, Maykel Galindo. Substitutes Not Used: Ante Jazic, Gerson Mayen, Lance Parker, Bojan Stepanovic
• "We had way too many guys tonight with a subpar performance, especially after the 30th minute," Preki said.
TEAM NEWS
• Chivas USA have still allowed more than one goal in a game just twice on the season. But it was their second 1-0 loss on the year, after also falling 1-0 at Toronto FC, their first loss of the season.
• "We can not make such a dumb mistake like we did. That's something that we work on all the time and we opened up the middle of the field. We did that and we got punished no matter whose on the field," Preki said.
• Chivas USA haven't scored a goal in Houston since the 2006 season, a span now of 645 minutes in all competitions (555 minutes in regular season play) since the last goal for the Red-and-White at Robertson.
• "When you get behind, it's a tough place to play, small stadium, small field, and they did a good job defending us," Preki said.
• Over the last month, since reeling off three consecutive victories (all by shutout) from April 25-May 9, Chivas USA have now gone 1-2-2 since. After six shutouts in their first nine games, they have posted just one in the last five.
• "We wanted to come out and put a good showing and I don't know that all 11 of us did that [Wednesday]," said Talley. "I am disappointed with the effort that we as a group came out and gave."
• A victory Sunday could still make Preki the head coach for the MLS team for the 2009 MLS All-Star Game on July 29 at Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy, Utah. The MLS All-Stars will take on Everton FC of England. With a win, Chivas USA would have 30 points from 15 matches, giving them 2.00 points per game. Houston, on 24 points with three games to go before the June 28 cutoff, is Chivas USA's closest pursuer. If the two teams finished tied on 30 points (they are the only two who can reach the 2.00 threshold), Houston will hold the advantage by virtue of Wednesday's win.
• "We had a few letdowns already and we came back," said Nagamura. "I don't think this defeat will affect the group. We still have good momentum and we have an experienced group that knows how to deal with things. We regroup and we got another tough game against Columbus on Sunday."
