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CHIVAS USA v CHICAGO FIRE
THE HOME DEPOT CENTER, Carson, Calif.
8 p.m. PT (FSN-PT; CSN-Chi)
May 27, 2006 (WEEK 9) / MLS Game #52
For the Chicago Fire, their long and winding road is nearly at an end - and now unbeaten in their last six games with just one more away game left after this one before their new Bridgeview Stadium is built, the long odyssey has certainly left them in a good position for what lies ahead. They travel this week to face a Chivas USA team that is hoping to recover the magic they showed in a season-opening victory at The Home Depot Center, having now gone five matches in a row without a win.
REFEREE: Silviu Petrescu. SAR (bench): Fabio Tovar; JAR (opposite): Amato DeLuca; 4th: Baldomero Toledo
MLS Career: 1 games; FC/gm: 32.0; Y/gm: 4.0; R: 1; pens: 0
MLS 2006: 1 game; FC/gm: 32.0 (avg: 31.2); Y/gm: 4.0 (avg: 3.80); R: 1 (MLS: 8); pens: 0 (MLS: 11)
Games involving Chivas USA: first game
Games involving Fire: first game
INJURY REPORT: CHIVAS USA - OUT: MF Ramón Ramírez (L knee sprain), MF Mike Muñoz (R ankle tendonitis), DF Esteban Arias (concussion) ... CHICAGO FIRE - OUT: DF Jim Curtin (R foot fracture); MF Diego Gutierrez (R hamstring strain); MF Justin Mapp (facial fracture); QUESTIONABLE: DF C.J. Brown (neck sprain)
INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES: CHV: Claudio Suarez (Mexico; 2006 World Cup); John O'Brien (USA; 2006 World Cup)
SUSPENDED: none
WARNINGS: CHV: Ante Razov (suspended next yellow card)
LEAGUE HEAD-TO-HEAD
ALL-TIME (2 meetings): Chivas USA 0 wins (0 shootout), 2 goals ... Fire 2 wins (0 shootout), 6 goals ... 0 draws
AT THE HOME DEPOT CENTER (1 meeting): Chivas USA 0 wins (0 shootout), 0 goals ... Fire 1 win (0 shootout), 2 goals ... 0 draws
This is the first of two meetings between the teams this season, the only one set for Victoria Street. They will meet at Bridgeview Stadium on Aug. 12.
LAST YEAR (MLS)
6/4: CHI 5, CHV 2 (Jaqua 2, 60, 74; Marsch 53; Guerrero 57 - Martinez 5; Hendrickson 42)
7/2: CHV 0, CHI 1 (Segares 78)
A year ago, the Fire won both of the meetings between the teams in Chivas USA's inaugural season, the two encounters coming a little less than a month apart at midseason.
Once again, it's also an encounter of the only two head coaches the Fire club has ever known, both of whom took the club to the MLS Cup Final (Bradley winning in 1998), and both of whom moved to Chicago after stints as an assistant coach with D.C. United where each was part of a MLS Cup victory.
Coaches record: Bob Bradley v CHI: P11 W3 L5 D3 ... Dave Sarachan vs. CHV: P2 W2 L0 D0
CHIVAS USA
Chivas USA saw their winless streak extended to five games since an opening day victory, falling 5-4 to the New York Red Bulls in a wild game at Giants Stadium last Saturday evening. Chivas are now in sixth place in the Western Conference with four points from six matches, three behind Real Salt Lake and Los Angeles Galaxy and 14 out of the top spot in the division, though they've played fewer matches than any other team in the league.
LAST MATCH
The Red Bulls had five draws in their first six games as former coach Bob Bradley returned to his former home for the first time, his Chivas USA team winless in their last five contests.
Peguero put the Red Bulls ahead by two goals by halftime. In the 20th minute, he headed home a corner kick, then 18 minutes later, he got onto the end of a long ball from Carlos Mendes behind the Chivas back line, touched the ball around goalkeeper Brad Guzan and rolled the ball into the open goal.
But that was only a prelude for the fireworks to come after the break. Stammler extended the New York lead to 3-0 when he took a crossfield pass from Peguero well outside the area and hammered a low drive inside Guzan's right-hand post (54).
Yet Chivas came back to cut the lead to one. Ante Razov scored their first in the 59th minute, a quick, low shot on the turn from just inside the area beating Red Bulls 'keeper Jon Conway. Then five minutes later Juan Francisco Palencia tucked home a rolling cross from Francisco Mendoza from close range, and the game was on.
The Red Bulls extended the lead again just five minutes with Stammler's second, as he nodded home a Youri Djorkaeff free kick from the right. But in the 77th minute Razov once again reduced the margin, bending in a wonderful free kick inside Conway's right-hand post from the opposite corner of the area.
Peguero completed his hat trick to again build the lead to two with yet another long-range strike, cutting across the top of the area before perfectly hitting an angled shot that kissed the inside of Guzan's left-hand post. Palencia once again trimmed the lead well into stoppage time, converting from the penalty spot after Mendoza was tripped up in the area, but it was just a little too late for any further Chivas heroics.
It was the second time in league history there were four different multiple-goal scorers in one game, and the nine total goals were two shy of the MLS record (both coming in a Galaxy 7-4 win against Colorado on May 6, 1998). The New York club has been involved in four of the nine highest-scoring games in MLS history, and the nine goals were one shy of the club record, set twice, first in 2000 when the MetroStars defeated Dallas, then in 2004 when the Metros and San Jose played to a 5-5 tie, that game also at Giants Stadium.
Chivas USA boss Bob Bradley made no changes to the team that lost 3-1 to the New England Revolution the previous weekend. Here's Bradley's team (4-4-2): Brad Guzan - Tim Regan, Jason Hernandez, Carlos Llamosa (Lawson Vaughn 67), Jonathan Bornstein - Juan Pablo Garcia, Sacha Kljestan, Jesse Marsch (Matt Taylor 88), Francisco Mendoza - Juan Francisco Palencia, Ante Razov. [Substitutes Not Used: Preston Burpo, Rodrigo Lopez, Orlando Perez, Estuardo Sanchez, Brent Whitfield]
"It's a strange game," Bradley said. "Regardless of what the stat sheet says I think they had five goals off five real chances and those chances came from weird situations. It's frustrating to feel like, for the most part again we played pretty well, but we paid the price on every chance."
TEAM NEWS
Even though Chivas fell behind by three goals with just a little more than a half-hour to play, they three times cut the lead back to one, though they just couldn't ever pull level.
"It's particularly tough to play on a night when it seems that every chance the other team gets ends up in the net," Bradley said. "Yet, we showed good resolve in terms of still playing and fighting until the end. There's a plus in that but nonetheless there's a big disappointment in giving up five goals and not finding a way to win a game when you score four."
"I think when you make mistakes on the field you're going to pay at the end and tonight was the perfect example for that," said Juan Francisco Palencia, who scored his first two goals of the year. "I think we took the ball for a lot of time during the game and I think we played better than they played but at the end they scored the goals. We played good, we kept the ball, made chances but at the end we have nothing."
Ante Razov's two goals gave him 89 for his MLS career, passing Roy Lassiter for third all-time on the MLS scoring list.
"I think we're close to being a good team but we're missing that killer instinct. When you're ahead in the game or tied in the game you have to kill the game and I think we're lacking that a little bit where we need to score a big goal on one end and get a big defensive stop on the other and right now its a little unbalanced," Razov said.
Chivas have now allowed eight goals in their last two matches, after allowing four in their first four games. "I think it's lack of concentration," said Francisco Mendoza. "We need to learn because we don't have any excuses at this point and honestly we have to learn from these mistakes and not commit these mistakes."
CHICAGO FIRE
The Chicago Fire extended their unbeaten streak to six games and won for the second time on their long road trip to begin the 2006 campaign, claiming a 1-0 victory against Houston Dynamo at Robertson Stadium last Saturday afternoon. The Fire are tied for fourth place in the Eastern Conference with 10 points from seven matches, level with the Revolution, one point behind third-place Columbus Crew and five points adrift of first-place D.C. United.
LAST MATCH
The Fire were in the seventh game of their nine-game road trip to begin the season, but hadn't lost since the season opener, while Dynamo were unbeaten in four games.
On a hot, steamy afternoon, it would be just one bit of brilliance to decide the match, and it came from the Fire's Brazilian-born midfielder Thiago in the 50th minute. Taking the ball just inside the midfield stripe, he set off on a surging run through the heart of the Houston defense, nutmegging Eddie Robinson at full gallop before slamming the ball home from outside the area for the game's only goal.
Fire head coach Dave Sarachan made three changes to the team that played to a 1-1 draw with the New York Red Bulls the previous weekend. Tony Sanneh made his first start in 2006, coming into the back four for Leonard Griffin. Chris Armas returned to the team, coming in for Justin Mapp in the midfield, while Nate Jaqua also made his first start of the campaign, coming into to partner Chris Rolfe in attack.
Here's Sarachan's team (4-4-2): Zach Thornton -Tony Sanneh, C.J. Brown (Jack Stewart 68), Dasan Robinson, Logan Pause - Thiago, Chris Armas, Diego Gutierrez (Leonard Griffin 51), Ivan Guerrero - Nate Jaqua, Chris Rolfe (Brian Plotkin 80). [Substitutes Not Used: Chad Barrett, Calen Carr, Floyd Franks, Matt Pickens]
"It was a credit to our group and our mentality," Sarachan said. "Our club came in here, did a great job, and that is going to be key as we move along in the marathon that is the regular season."
TEAM NEWS
It was the first clean sheet for goalkeeper Zach Thornton in 15 contests between the posts, dating back to a 1-0 victory on July 9, 2005 against the New England Revolution at Soldier Field. It was the 51st career shutout for Thornton, still third all-time in MLS history.
"Possession-wise, maybe Houston had more of that and, shots-wise, maybe towards the end they got a bunch," said Sarachan. But in these games sometimes it's one play that makes the difference."
The Fire have had good success in their road trip to begin the season. They have already well passed the record of the Los Angeles Galaxy in 2003 while The Home Depot Center was being built (4 points, 0-4-4), and they have nearly matched the record of the Columbus Crew in 1999 when Crew Stadium was being finished (11 pts, 5-2 (2-0 SO).
In addition, the six-game road unbeaten streak is a club record, surpassing five-game run without defeat in both 2001-02 and 2004. The six-game undefeated skein the longest in MLS this season.
The injury list continued to grow for the Fire following the Dynamo match. After not having Justin Mapp available due to a facial fracture and center back Jim Curtin to a broken foot, the Fire lost influential midfielder Diego Gutierrez during the contest to a hamstring injury, and he also will not be available this weekend. C.J. Brown was forced off during the Houston match with a neck injury, and is considered questionable for the Chivas contest.
