For the first time in club history, Chivas USA put together consecutive wins. The Red-and-White beat Colorado 4-1 at The Home Depot Center on Saturday night and picked up its second consecutive win.
Ante Razov, Francisco Mendoza and Francisco Palencia scored for Chivas. Rapids defender Mike Petke also contributed a goal for the home side with an early own goal. Dedi Ben Dayan scored the Rapids' lone goal.
Chivas won four games last year but the closest the club came to a winning streak was when Chivas won two out of three games to close out July.
Preston Burpo got the nod again in goal. A week ago, Burpo shut out Chicago 1-0 in Major League Soccer debut. Carlos Llamosa, who was a late scratch with a hamstring injury last week, did not start but was on the bench.
Chivas broke through in the sixth minute with a little help from the Rapids. Jonathan Bornstein had acres of space in front of him on the left side of the field. Francisco Mendoza slipped a pass to Bornstein, who broke into the penalty area and knocked the ball into the mixer. Petke slid and tried to break up the ball, which was intended for Ante Razov, but Petke instead sent the ball into the back of the net.
Mendoza appeared to double Chivas' lead but his 17th-minute strike was disallowed because of an offside call. Garcia sent a cross in from the right flank but Razov was in an offside position. Razov slid and missed the ball and Mendoza buried it in the corner of the net in a sequence that amounted to nothing.
Razov put Chivas ahead 2-0 in the 24th minute when he was freed behind the Colorado defense with a pass along the right sideline and raced from near midfield to the top of the penalty area, before unloading a 17-yard rocket past Bouna Coundoul. It was Razov's sixth goal of the season and 90th of his career.
Colorado cut Chivas' lead in half when Ben Dayan beat Burpo from 10 yards out. He took a short pass from Jacob Peterson in the left side of the area and tried to split a pair of Chivas defenders. The ball was briefly knocked away, but Ben Dayan recovered to poke it past Burpo.
Razov misfired in the 52nd minute. He broke into the penalty area and put a shot on goal from the left side of the box but the ball trickled harmlessly past Coundoul.
Coundoul made a stellar save in the 55th minute to prevent Chivas from regaining their two-goal edge. Palencia found space inside the penalty area and fed Jesse Marsch, who was standing just inside the six-yard box. Marsch tried to redirect the ball into the back of the net but Coundoul dived and stopped the ball.
In the 65th minute, Garcia proved dangerous again from the right flank when he sent a cross to the far post but the ball was just out of Mendoza's reach. Then Bornstein found space from 22 yards out and unloaded a laser beam but it went just wide of the right post in the 71st minute.
Minutes later, Colorado substitute Nicolas Hernandez nearly equalized. Hernandez danced around Burpo, who had come well off his line in a failed attempt to stop Hernandez. Tim Regan, however, stopped Hernandez from going directly at goal and knocked the ball out of bounds.
Mendoza scored his second goal of the season in the 76th minute when he slammed home a loose ball. Razov slipped the ball into the area for Palencia, who tried to round Coundoul. He did put the ball past the 'keeper right into the path of Mendoza, who calmly controlled the ball and shot into the empty net.
Mendoza returned the favor in the 84th minute as Palencia sealed the game with his third goal of the season. He and Razov played a neat one-two outside the area, splitting the Rapids defense with a through ball that Palencia jammed underneath Coundoul.
Luis Bueno is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
