OUT: DF Bobby Burling (sports hernia surgery); DF Ante Jazic (concussion); GK Dan Kennedy (R knee sprain); FW Ante Razov (R ankle surgery); DF Lawson Vaughn (L ankle surgery); MF Cesar Zamora (L hamstring strain) ... SEATTLE SOUNDERS FC - OUT: GK Chris Eylander (L medial knee bone bruise); DF Zach Scott (partial tear abdominal muscle); DF Taylor Graham (R metatarsal fracture); QUESTIONABLE: MF Osvaldo Alonso (R quad strain)
INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES: CHV: Jonathan Bornstein, Sacha Kljestan (USA; June 6 vs. Honduras) ... SEA: Jarrod Smith (New Zealand; June 6 vs. Botswana)
SUSPENDED: CHV: Jesse Marsch (through June 7) ... SEA: Tyrone Marshall (through June 7)
WARNINGS:
SUSPENDED NEXT YELLOW CARD: CHV: Atiba Harris, Jesse Marsch, Mariano Trujillo ... SEA: Jhon Kennedy Hurtado
SUSPENDED AFTER TWO YELLOW CARDS: CHV: Eduardo Lillingston; Paulo Nagamura ... SEA: Osvaldo Alonso, Nate Jaqua, James Riley
HEAD-TO-HEAD
ALL-TIME (1 meeting): Chivas USA 1 win, 2 goals ... Sounders FC 0 wins, 0 goals ... Ties 0
REMAINING MATCHES:
9/19: Chivas USA at Seattle Sounders FC, 12 noon PT
• Coaches record: Preki vs. SEA: P1 W1 L0 D0 ... Sigi Schmid v CHV: P7 W1 L4 D2
LAST MEETING
4/18: CHV 2, SEA 0 (own goal 32; Chijindu 84)
• The teams met for the first time on April 18 at The Home Depot Center, with Chivas USA winning the then top-of-the-table clash 2-0, as the teams came in separated by just a point in the Western Conference.
• Sounders FC goalkeeper Kasey Keller was suspended after being sent off the weekend before, and Chris Eylander, making his first MLS start, was unfortunately beaten in the 32nd minute. Jonathan Bornstein was freed on the left side of the area and tried to cut a cross back across goal, but it was deflected into his own goal by Seattle defender James Riley.
• Chivas USA put the game away six minutes from the end. Set racing down the left side, substitute Bojan Stepanovic dribbled into the box before laying the ball back for Chukwudi Chijindu, and he slid in to stab home from the spot for his first career professional goal.
• Here's Preki's team (4-4-2): Zach Thornton - Mariano Trujillo, Carey Talley, Shavar Thomas, Jonathan Bornstein - Atiba Harris (Gerson Mayen 76), Sacha Kljestan, Jesse Marsch, Bojan Stepanovic - Alecko Eskandarian (Michael Lahoud 70), Eduardo Lillingston (Chukwudi Chijindu 56). Substitutes Not Used: Jim Curtin, Jorge Flores, Lance Parker
• Here's Schmid's team (4-3-1-2): Chris Eylander - James Riley (Sanna Nyassi 71), Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Tyrone Marshall, Zach Scott - Sebastien Le Toux (Steve Zakuani 46), Osvaldo Alonso, Brad Evans - Freddie Ljungberg - Nate Jaqua, Fredy Montero. Substitutes Not Used: Ben Dragavon, Patrick Ianni, Roger Levesque, Nathan Sturgis, Tyson Wahl
CHIVAS USA
Chivas USA lost for just the second time on the season in dramatic fashion, seeing the Chicago Fire score the winning goal on a stoppage-time penalty kick for a 3-2 victory last Thursday at The Home Depot Center. Chivas USA have 24 points from 12 matches, still leading the Western Conference, six points ahead of the Houston Dynamo.
LAST MATCH
• The Fire were coming into the game off back-to-back victories following five consecutive draws, while Chivas USA were unbeaten in five, with back-to-back draws following three wins in a row.
• The match was played at a playoff pitch, and Chivas pulled ahead just 16 minutes into the game. Paulo Nagamura took the ball well out from goal and decided to have a go from all of 30 yards, hitting a dipping, knuckling shot that skipped past Jon Busch and inside the right post for his fourth goal on the year.
• But nine minutes later, the Fire drew level. On a ball played into the area, Wilman Conde was pulled down by Chivas defender Shavar Thomas, and after conferring with his linesman, referee Terry Vaughn pointed to the spot. Cuauhtémoc Blanco converted the penalty, sending it to Zach Thornton's right.
• Yet 12 minutes later Chivas were back in front with a penalty of their own. Maykel Galindo tried to round Bakary Soumare at the byeline, and after the Mali international tripped him up, Vaughn again pointed to the spot. Galindo finished off his own spot kick for his second goal of the season.
• In the 63rd minute, Chivas went a man down when Jesse Marsch was sent off for a second bookable offense. In all, Vaughn showed 10 yellow cards plus the red for the second booking.
• The Fire began to take control and finally hit for the leveler in the 89th minute. A through ball was deflected into the right of the area and substitute Patrick Nyarko was first to it, lifting over a sliding Thornton coming off his line, his first goal since March 28.
• Then Fire hit for the dramatic winner. A cross came in from the right, and when Chivas defender Mariano Trujillo and Brian McBride tangled with the Fire striker going to ground, Vaughn again pointed to the spot. Six minutes into stoppage time, Blanco again converted, to the great delight of a number of fans who had come to cheer on the Mexican international icon.
• Chivas USA head coach Preki made one change to the team that played to a 1-1 draw with the Kansas City Wizards the week before. Eduardo Lillingston returned to the first XI in place of Chukwudi Chijindu.
• Here's Preki's team (4-4-2): Zach Thornton - Mariano Trujillo, Carey Talley, Shavar Thomas, Jonathan Bornstein - Sacha Kljestan, Jesse Marsch, Paulo Nagamura, Atiba Harris (Jim Curtin 92+) - Maykel Galindo (Chukwudi Chijindu 82), Eduardo Lillingston (Sasha Victorine 64). Substitutes Not Used: Bojan Stepanovic, Alecko Eskandarian, Gerson Mayen, Lance Parker
• "Weird game. A lot of calls. Do I agree with all the calls? Probably not, but that's the way it is," Preki said. "I thought my group played their hearts out, I thought there was only one team who was looking to score and looking to play football out there, and at 2-1 we had quite a few chances to put that game away and we don't."
TEAM NEWS
• After winning seven times in their first nine games, Chivas USA have now set off on a three-game winless run, a pair of draws followed by the loss to Chicago.
• "I guess it is a bit of a slump for us because of all the wins that we've had this season," said defender Carey Talley. "The worst part about it is that we probably should have had nine points from those three games. We had chances and were still doing things with the ball, but we've just come up a little short."
• After allowing just three goals in their first nine matches, the Red-and-White have conceded six in the past three contests, four of which came after the 75th minute. "We need to be tougher at the end of the game and be tighter in terms of our defense," said defender Shavar Thomas. "But it's just three games, we'll be fine."
• For Nagamura, his goal was his fourth on the season - and three have come on long-range strikes from outside the penalty area. The total matches his goal production for the entirety of his four years spent in MLS prior to this season, with the LA Galaxy (2005-06), Toronto FC (2007) and Chivas USA (2007-present).
• "There was an opportunity that came to me, and I got the ball in the middle and nobody was around me, so I saw that I could drive forward and so I kept going and nobody came at me. So I said that's a good chance to hit a ball and I hit it pretty well," Nagamura said.
• Following the Seattle game, Chivas USA will play just one league home game over the next two-plus months. Five of the six games to follow will all be on the road, with only a July 11 SuperClásico date with the Galaxy in that period.
• "The best remedy I've seen for getting out of the hole is just hard work," said Talley. "Hard work is going get us our next win. Seattle is going to be a very difficult team, but it's one that I'm excited about because if you want to be the best, you have to beat the best."
SEATTLE SOUNDERS FC
Seattle Sounders FC came back for a 1-1 draw at home against Columbus Crew in the highly anticipated first game against the defending champions, Saturday evening at Qwest Field. Sounders FC have 17 points from 11 matches and are now in third place in the Western Conference, a point behind the Houston Dynamo and seven behind MLS overall leaders Chivas USA.
LAST MATCH
• It was the first meeting of Sounders FC and coach Sigi Schmid with the club he had taken to its first MLS Cup title just last November. Sounders FC had played to four consecutive draws while the Crew were coming off just their second victory on the season, a 2-1 home win against San Jose at midweek.
• The Crew got off to the start they were hoping for. Freed down the right flank, Pat Noonan swung in a low cross to the spot and Alejandro Moreno dove headlong forward to power the ball into the goal past Kasey Keller for the 12th-minute opener.
• Sounders FC had a glorious chance to pull level in the 32nd minute when Jed Zayner upended Freddie Ljungberg in the area. But taking his own penalty kick, the former Swedish international pulled it wide.
• But spurred on by yet another sellout crowd, Seattle pulled level in the 58th minute on a stunning goal. Nate Jaqua and Ljungberg played a neat one-two in the Crew penalty area, Jaqua running onto the return pass lifted high into the air and thundering a full volley inside the left post for his second goal in as many games and third on the year.
• Sounders FC finished the game a man short when defender Tyrone Marshall was sent off, but survived the seven-plus minutes of time added on for yet another draw.
• Sounders FC head coach Sigi Schmid made three changes to the team that played to a 2-2 draw at the Colorado Rapids the week before. Tyson Wahl came in on the back line for Nate Sturgis, while Freddie Ljungberg and Brad Evans both returned from injury for Sebastian Le Toux and Osvaldo Alonso.
• Here's Schmid's team (4-4-2): Kasey Keller - James Riley, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Tyrone Marshall, Tyson Wahl - Freddie Ljungberg, Brad Evans, Peter Vagenas (Patrick Ianni 64), Steve Zakuani - Fredy Montero (Nathan Sturgis 94+), Nate Jaqua (Sebastien Le Toux 83). Substitutes Not Used: Ben Dragovan, Stephen King, Roger Levesque, Sanna Nyassi
TEAM NEWS
• Following the match, Schmid expressed concern his team is getting more involved with refereeing decisions than with actually playing the game.
• "I was disappointed in terms of our team's focus at times," Schmid said. "I thought we were overly concerned about the referee and were not concerned enough sometimes about our play. I'm a big believer that you have so much energy to expend over 90 minutes. If you expend a lot of energy dealing with the referee, you're not going to have that energy to deal with the game."
• Said Kasey Keller: "We almost conceded a goal. We're complaining with the ref, they play a ball down the line and whip a cross in against us. Little things like that, at different times during the day. ... I'd like to see the goal they conceded as well. I think they played quick off a free kick while we were setting up. Those little things ... we have to be more focused when the ball's out of play. If teams play quick on us, and we're not ready -- there's just no excuse for that."
• After winning four of their first six games and not drawing a single one, Sounders FC have now played to a tie in five matches in a row.
• "I think two or three of them, we're happy with, but a couple of them we're not," Keller said. "We knew we should have beat Dallas, we knew we should have won today, we know we should have beat LA. So that's frustrating. It's better than losing, but at the same time, we can do better."
• Freddie Ljungberg missed a penalty in the 32nd minute that could have put Sounders FC level. While not an excuse, Ljungberg acknowledged some dizzy spells through the first quarter of the match as a result of migraine headaches suffered two weeks ago. It was the third penalty missed in MLS this season, from 22 attempts in all.
• "It was a good play beforehand," Ljungberg said. "I hit it quite hard and it just curled around the corner. It happens sometimes."
