CHIVAS USA v KANSAS CITY WIZARDS
Sat., Nov. 3, The Home Depot Center (7:30 p.m. PT; HDNet; FSN-W; MetroSports)
REFEREE: Mark Geiger.
SAR (bench): Kermit Quisenberry; JAR (opposite): Steven Taylor;
4th: Tim Weyland
INJURY REPORT: CHIVAS USA - OUT: DF Carlos Llamosa (L knee ACL surgery); DOUBTFUL: FW Ante Razov (L knee MCL sprain); QUESTIONABLE: FW Maykel Galindo (abdominal strain); PROBABLE: DF Orlando Perez (L knee sprain) ... KANSAS CITY WIZARDS - OUT: MF Ryan McMahen (torn ACL); MF Carlos Marinelli (ankle sprain); PROBABLE: FW Davy Arnaud (hamstring strain), DF Jimmy Conrad (calf strain), DF Nick Garcia (quad contusion), DF Jack Jewsbury (hip flexor strain), MF Lance Watson (ankle sprain), FW Scott Sealy (quad strain), MF Sasha Victorine (hip flexor strain), FW Eloy Colombano (hamstring strain)
SUSPENDED: none
WARNINGS (suspended if team advances): CHV: Alex Zotinca ... KC: Nick Garcia, Michael Harrington, Kerry Zavagnin
LEAGUE HEAD-TO-HEAD: CHV 1 win, 7 goals scored ... KC 3 wins, 11 goals scored ... 2 ties
2007 HEAD-TO-HEAD: CHV 1 win, 4 goals scored ... KC 1 win, 4 goals scored ... 0 ties
AT THE HOME DEPOT CENTER:
9/22: CHV 2, KC 1 (Razov 69, 92+ - Colombano 72)
MLS CUP PLAYOFFS: CHV 0 wins, 0 goals scored ... KC 1 win, 1 goals scored ... 0 ties
CHIVAS USA: Chivas USA strikers Maykel Galindo and Ante Razov combined for 23 goals in the regular season. But there is increasing concern they will not be available for the second leg, after both missed the first game in Kansas City. Chivas USA head coach Preki all but ruled out Razov. "He's making progress but not for this weekend for sure," Preki said. ... Galindo said he has a sports hernia and needs surgery, but can't consider it until the season is over. "It just got to the point where it got to be a chronic pain," Galindo said. "After the Houston game, I was in great pain afterward. That's why I wasn't able to play at all last week. Hopefully with some rest this week and some treatment I'll be able to play on Saturday." ... As far as Preki is concerned, it literally could be a gameday decision. "I don't expect anything right now. I don't really know," he said. "We've got to wait and see until Friday what happens with us." But he did not rule out the possibility of Jonathan Bornstein playing as a forward, as he did on a couple of occasions last season. In one of those, a 3-3 draw with Colorado, Bornstein scored two goals. ... The more likely option is to start John Cunliffe and Laurent Merlin up top, who combined for four goals in 10 starts between them. "It's hard when you take your two top goal scorers out of the lineup," Preki said. "We're playing with some inexperienced guys." ... Despite the absence of their first-choice strike force and the inability to score goals, Chivas were buoyed by their defensive performance. "I thought we dominated the match. We were able to dictate the game the way we wanted. We didn't give them any chances tonight, and we were unfortunate that the free kick glanced off the wall," said goalkeeper Brad Guzan. Said Preki: "I thought that we played well tonight. I think that we came out to win despite being without key players. I didn't go for the tie tonight. I went for the win. I thought it was good, we had to play a little different, but I thought it was good."
WIZARDS: In the first leg in Kansas City, Chivas USA might have been without their top two strikers. But the Kansas City Wizards still took care of business and recorded a clean sheet for a second consecutive game. "I thought our back four played probably its best game of the season. What a time to do that. It's 1-0, and we have the advantage going into the next game," said Wizards head coach Curt Onalfo. The Wizards conceded 45 goals in their 30 games over the course of the regular season, equaling the most allowed among the eight teams in the MLS Cup Playoffs. "We were talking throughout the course of the year about how many goals we were leaking. [But] we really showed tonight that we have the capability to shut teams out, and we've known that for a while," said Kerry Zavagnin. Said goalkeeper Kevin Hartman: "It's been a great total team defensive effort with guys getting into tackles when they need to be gotten into. Our communication has been very, very good." ... Even though a draw would get the Wizards through to the Western Conference Championship, they say they will stay true to their attacking principles at The Home Depot Center. "We're not going to play for a tie. If you play for a tie, you don't win," said Onalfo. "So we're going to be smart in our approach to the game. ... We're not going to sit back and just defend. We're going to try and take the game to them, and see if we can't get an early goal and move on from there." ... The lessons have been learned about what an advantage it is to add to the aggregate margin early in the second leg. "The sooner [we score] the better. But we know that if they don't get a goal right away, they're going to continue to press and press and throw more numbers forward," said defender Nick Garcia. ... The game's lone goal came from a set piece, the second time in three games the Wizards had scored from a free kick (the lone goal in the 2-1 loss in New York on Oct. 13 was a headed home dead ball. "We worked on them all year long. Go figure, you know. It was encouraging to score another goal off a set piece," said Onalfo with a chuckle.
