Preview: Chivas USA get Agudelo back for Sounders visit

CHIVAS USA vs SEATTLE SOUNDERS
THE HOME DEPOT CENTER - Carson, Calif.
May 26, 2012 (WEEK 12, MLS Game #119)
7:30 p.m. PT (MLS LIVE)

A key contest for Western Conference placing is ahead on Saturday evening at The Home Depot Center when Chivas USA play host to Seattle Sounders FC. Chivas return home after a quick East Coast trip at midweek, coming away from the New York Red Bulls with a 1-1 draw. Sounders FC saw their winless streak stretched to three games, also on Wednesday evening, in a 2-0 home loss to the Columbus Crew.

REFEREE: Chris Penso. SAR (bench): Ian Anderson; JAR (opposite): Colin Arblaster; 4th: Alejandro Mariscal

Chris Penso's MLS Career: 19 games; FC/gm: 22.6; Y/gm: 3.2; R: 5; pens: 10

DOWNLOAD FULL GAME GUIDE (PDF)
INJURY REPORT:

CHIVAS USA -- OUT: MF Marvin Iraheta (L knee ACL); QUESTIONABLE: MF Ben Zemanski (R knee MCL sprain)
SEATTLE SOUNDERS -- OUT: GK Josh Ford (R knee stress fracture); MF Steve Zakuani (R leg fracture); DF Michael Tetteh (L hamstring strain); FW Babayele Sodade (R knee ACL tear); DOUBTFUL: GK Michael Gspurning (R hip strain); DF Patrick Ianni (lower back pain); MF Brad Evans (R calf strain); PROBABLE: MF Alvaro Fernandez (R quad strain); DF Leo Gonzalez (L quad strain)

INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES:None

SUSPENDED:None

WARNINGS:

SUSPENDED NEXT YELLOW CARD: None
SUSPENDED AFTER TWO YELLOW CARDS: Chivas USA - Oswaldo Minda; Seattle - Fredy Montero, Eddie Johnson, Osvaldo Alonso

HEAD-TO-HEAD

ALL-TIME (7 meetings): Chivas USA 2 wins, 5 goals ... Sounders FC 2 wins, 5 goals ... Ties 3

AT CHIVAS USA (4 meetings): Chivas USA 2 wins, 4 goals ... Sounders FC 1 win, 3 goals ... Ties 1

RETURN MATCHES: 8/25: Chivas USA vs. Seattle Sounders FC, 7:30 p.m. PT; 9/8: Seattle Sounders FC vs. Chivas USA, 1 p.m. PT

LAST YEAR (MLS):

8/13: SEA 0, CHV 0

10/22: CHV 1, SEA 3 (Estupinan 83 – own goal 53; Fernandez 68; Ochoa 73)

Sounders FC are unbeaten in their last five meetings with Chivas USA, since Chivas won the first two meetings ever between the clubs in 2009. Seattle has won twice with three draws; all three ties have been goalless.
Coaches record: Robin Fraser vs. SEA: P2 W0 L1 D1 ... Sigi Schmid vs. CHV: P13 W3 L5 D5

CHIVAS USA

Chivas USA claimed a second quality result in as many games, putting an end to the New York Red Bulls winning streak with a 1-1 draw Wednesday at Red Bull Arena. Chivas USA are in sixth place in the Western Conference with 14 points from 12 games.

VIDEO: Can you juggle like a Goat?
LAST MATCH

Chivas USA took the lead two minutes after the second-half restart. From a corner kick, Rauwshan McKenzie headed the ball to Juan Pablo Ángel, and he buried a spectacular side volley past goalkeeper Ryan Meara and into the back of the net.
The Red Bulls responded quickly, scoring the equalizer in the 56th minute. Right back Brandon Barklage unleashed a beautiful through ball down the right touchline that found a streaking Dane Richards, who then unleashed a precise low cross that found Kenny Cooper wide open in front of the net for an easy finish past Dan Kennedy.
Chivas USA head coach Robin Fraser made three changes to the team that defeated the LA Galaxy 1-0 at The Home Depot Center. Blair Gavin, Paolo Cardozo and Juan Pablo Angel came into the team, in place of Miller Bolanos, Alejandro Moreno and Juan Agudelo.
CHIVAS USA (4-2-2-2): Dan Kennedy - James Riley, Rauwshan McKenzie, Danny Califf, Ante Jazic - Blair Gavin, Oswaldo Minda - Paolo Cardozo (Alejandro Moreno 46), Nick LaBrocca (Miller Bolanos 9 / Jorge Villafana 69) - Juan Pablo Angel, Jose Correa.

TEAM NEWS
Highlights: NYRB 1, CHV 1

Chivas USA came away with a result for the fifth time in six road games this season. At 3-1-2 away from The
Home Depot Center, Chivas has the third-best away record in MLS (behind Seattle and San Jose).
“At the end of the day a point on the road is good. Certainly, we want to continue to improve the way we’re closing out games and that needs to continue to get better,” said Chivas USA head coach Robin Fraser. “But at the end of the day, it was a really hard fought point. The players dug in, it’s a tough situation; this is a good team.”
Juan Pablo Ángel scored for the second time in four games, his first two goals of the season. Ángel was making his first start since his last goal, May 4 vs. Chicago. The game was the first for Ángel back in New York, where he spent four seasons (2007-10).
“When I went out and I saw the huge ‘Thank You Juan Pablo’ sign, I thought ‘What an impact he has had on this city.’ And for him to come back here today and score the goal and really I thought played very well, it was fitting,” said Fraser. “It was a fitting day for him I thought.”
Ángel partnered José Erick Correa in a front two. Correa was making his third consecutive start; his goalscoring streak was stopped at two games.
“I felt good during the game and I think I played a decent game. In general, I think it was an entertaining game. They had their chances and for us it was important to get at least a point,” Ángel said. “We go back home, just looking forward for the game at the weekend.”
Paolo Cardozo made his return to the starting lineup after three games out. He had started in his first two games following his acquisition from the LA Galaxy, April 21 and 28.
For the second time in three games, Chivas USA scored the opening goal, but were pulled back into a draw.
“What really excites me about the team is I think there’s a ton of potential. We just have to believe we can win,”
said defender Danny Califf, who made his second start since coming to the club. “I think it’s been the big problem so far is giving up late goals. I think the belief that we can actually play and compete and win games is the last piece to the puzzle.”

SEATTLE SOUNDERSFC

Seattle Sounders FC saw their winless slide reach three games, suffering a 2-0 loss to the Columbus Crew on Wednesday evening at CenturyLink Field. Sounders FC are in third place in the Western Conference with 23 points from 11 games.

HIGHLIGHTS: Seattle 0, Columbus 2
LAST MATCH

Both goals came on each side of halftime. In the 15th minute, Justin Meram opened the scoring against the run of play, continuing his recent hot streak. He was able to get inside a defender and hit a diving header off a Dilly Duka cross, easily beating Sounders FC goalkeeper Bryan Meredith.
The Crew doubled their lead with 14 minutes left to play. Emilio Renteria took what seemed to be an innocuous throw-in from around midfield and let loose with a looping half-volley from all of 30 yards out from goal that just beat the retreating ‘keeper.
Sounders FC head coach Sigi Schmid made three changes to the team that reached a 2-2 draw with Vancouver Whitecaps FC at BC Place. Zach Scott came into central defense for Jeff Parke, and David Estrada and Brad Evans started in the midfield for Mauro Rosales and Alex Caskey.
SEATTLE SOUNDERS FC (4-4-2): Bryan Meredith - Adam Johansson (Jhon Kennedy Hurtado 61), Jeff Parke, Zach Scott, Marc Burch - David Estrada (Andy Rose 78), Brad Evans, Osvaldo Alonso, Alvaro Fernandez (Mauro Rosales 61) - Fredy Montero, Eddie Johnson.

TEAM NEWS
Montero's goal vs. 'Caps wins AT&T GotW

Sounders FC have now lost twice and tied once in their last three games. They’ve allowed five goals in those games after allowing three over the previous eight contests.
“You hope a game like this isn't coming, but it's always been a streaky league. You're going to have good streaks, you're going to have bad streaks and like I said, there's going to be streaks where you average a point a game and there's going to be streaks where you average two points a game,” said Sounders FC head coach Sigi Schmid. “Right now we're giving away some games in hand, so I'm not happy about that and obviously, going 0-2-1 in the last three games is also something that we're not happy about. But we've got to make this streak as short as possible and get out of it."
Seattle has also been shut out in back-to-back games, after being blanked just twice in the first nine games.
“Teams are also playing us very defensively. They're packing it in the back and so they're making it hard for us
to break them down. There's not a lot of space for us sometimes to get in behind them,” said Schmid. “So the quality of the service has to be a little bit better, the quality of the runs has to be a little bit better and that's something that we're going to continue to work on.”
Said midfielder David Estrada: “I think we created chances. We had a few good looks. That’s something we can take out of the game. They didn’t have that many chances, they just converted the chances they had. That’s the way we have to look at it.”
After three consecutive games back in the starting lineup, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado returned to the substitutes’ bench. Zach Scott made his first start in three games.
“We felt we were trying to give our defenders a little bit of a break because they've logged a lot of minutes, especially with the injuries we have in the back, so that was the reason,” said Schmid.
Hurtado did come on for the final half-hour in place of right back Adam Johansson, who suffered a hamstring injury in his third straight game back in the lineup. Schmid said Johansson’s chances of playing Saturday are “remote.”
Schmid also would not confirm a starting goalkeeper for the Chivas match, although he said they did not expect to have first-choice ‘keeper Michael Gspurning until the Montréal match on June 16. Andrew Weber was the backup to Meredith for the Columbus match.
“It’s part of the growing process, part of the learning process for [Meredith],” Schmid said. “He just has to leave it behind and look at the next task. That’s the biggest thing for any athlete, whether it’s soccer or any sport, you have to focus on the next thing at hand.”

CD Chivas USA Seattle Sounders FC