OUT: DF Eric Ebert (R knee lateral meniscus tear); FW Maykel Galindo (sports hernia surgery); GK Zach Thornton (L hamstring tear); DF Lawson Vaughn (L ankle ligament insufficiency); MF Raphael Wicky (R ankle surgery); QUESTIONABLE: DF Alex Zotinca (R knee surgery); PROBABLE: MF Jesse Marsch (fractured jaw); MF Sasha Victorine (R hip flexor strain)
INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES: none
SUSPENDED: none
WARNINGS:
SUSPENDED NEXT YELLOW CARD: RSL: Kyle Beckerman, Chris Wingert ... CHV: Jesse Marsch, Paulo Nagamura, Daniel Paladini
SUSPENDED AFTER TWO YELLOW CARDS: RSL: Kenny Deuchar, Ian Joy, Dema Kovalenko, Jamison Olave ... CHV: Jonathan Bornstein, Maykel Galindo, Ante Razov
HEAD-TO-HEAD
ALL-TIME (13 meetings): Real Salt Lake 3 wins, 13 goals ... Chivas USA 7 wins, 25 goals ... Ties 3
AT SALT LAKE (5 meetings): Real Salt Lake 2 wins, 9 goals ... Chivas USA 1 win, 7 goals ... Ties 2
• This is the third and final league meeting between the teams this season, the lone meeting this year at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
• Chivas USA last year won all three meetings between the teams in the expansion class of 2005, winning the two encounters on Victoria Street and the lone game at the Wasatch Front.
• Real Salt Lake's victory in the last meeting not only ended an eight-game winless streak against Chivas USA, over the past two-plus seasons, but also marked RSL's first-ever win against Chivas at The Home Depot Center. Real had lost six of their seven previous visits to Carson to face Chivas, with one draw.
• Over the streak, the Red-and-White won five of those games, with three draws. The last Real Salt Lake victory in the series had come Aug. 6, 2005, their last meeting in their inaugural season. The teams split their four games that year.
• Coaches record: Jason Kreis vs. CHV: P4 W1 L3 D0 ... Preki v RSL: P5 W4 L1 D0
THIS SEASON (MLS):
4/5: CHV 3, RSL 1 (Kljestan 32; Harris 55; Eskandarian 93+ - Deuchar 57)
6/14: CHV 0, RSL 1 (Findley 34)
• Chivas USA won for the first time on the campaign in their first meeting, a 3-1 victory against Real Salt Lake on April 5 on Victoria Street.
• Chivas took a 32nd-minute lead when Sacha Kljestan opened his 2008 account. Maykel Galindo collected the ball in midfield and raced forward, sliding a through ball for Kljestan on the right who and slotted the ball home.
• After the break, it was one of the RSL old boys who doubled the lead for the Red-and-White. Kljestan took a pass on the right side of the area centered it to Harris, who knocked the ball past Nick Rimando from close range (55). But two minutes later RSL got back to within one, Kenny Deuchar scoring his first MLS goal, heading home a freekick swung in by Javier Morales from the left.
• It was the other former RSL striker now with Chivas, Alecko Eskandarian, who put the crowning touch on the win. He raced in alone on Rimando and rounded the 'keeper, carrying the ball almost to the goal line before gleefully thumping it home.
• On June 14, Real Salt Lake made some club history with a 1-0 win at Chivas USA at The Home Depot Center.
• Robbie Findley scored the game's only goal in the 34th minute. Taking a through ball from Kyle Beckerman that split the Chivas backline, Findley raced into the area, rounding MLS debutant Dan Kennedy and slid the ball into the open goal for his third goal on the campaign.
• Here's Preki's team (4-4-1-1): Dan Kennedy - Carey Talley, Bobby Burling, Jim Curtin, Francisco Mendoza - Atiba Harris (Raphael Wicky 46), Jesse Marsch, Paulo Nagamura, Jonathan Bornstein (Justin Braun 46) - Sacha Kljestan - Ante Razov. Substitutes Not Used: Jorge Flores, Lance Parker, Claudio Suarez, Shavar Thomas, Lawson Vaughn
• Here's Kreis's team (4-2-3-1): Nick Rimando - Tony Beltran, Nat Borchers, Jamison Olave, Chris Wingert - Dema Kovalenko, Kyle Beckerman - Matias Cordoba (Yura Movsisyan 62 / Kenny Cutler 87), Javier Morales, Robbie Findley - Kenny Deuchar (Tino Nunez 80). Substitutes Not Used: Ian Joy, Matias Mantilla, Alex Nimo, Chris Seitz
REAL SALT LAKE
Real Salt Lake took an early lead away from home but couldn't hold on, the New York Red Bulls getting two second-half goals for a 2-1 win at Giants Stadium on Saturday evening. RSL now has 31 points from 24 matches, still sitting in second place in the Western Conference, eight points in arrears of the Houston Dynamo and just a point ahead of the third-place tie between Chivas USA and the Colorado Rapids.
LAST MATCH
• The Red Bulls were returning home after seeing their seven-game unbeaten run put to an end in Chicago the week before. Real Salt Lake were on the road for a second consecutive week, getting just their second draw (to go with just one win) away from home the week before at the LA Galaxy.
• But it was the visitors who took the lead in the 38th minute. A long ball out of the back was flicked on by Robbie Findley, and Yura Movsisyan raced in alone on goal before nicking it past goalkeeper Jon Conway for his third goal and second in as many games.
• The Red Bulls just four minutes after the second-half restart. A long headed clearance sailed over everyone and Juan Pablo Angel was first to it on the left, carrying into the area before flicking an outside of the foot shot past Nick Rimando for his ninth goal on the season.
• New York then hit for the winner in the 64th minute. A clearance went only as far as Dane Richards well outside the area, and he pumped the ball back into the area, somehow finding Dave van den Bergh all alone at the right corner of the six. van den Bergh coolly collected the ball and curled home a close-range shot inside the far post.
• RSL head coach Jason Kreis made four changes to the team that played to a 2-2 draw with the Los Angeles Galaxy the weekend before. Robbie Russell came into the back four for Ian Joy and Andy Williams returned from international duty for Clint Mathis, and there was a new strike pair, with Robbie Findley and Yura Movsisyan starting in place of Kenny Deuchar and the injured Fabian Espindola.
• Here's Kreis's team (4-3-1-2): Nick Rimando - Robbie Russell (Ian Joy 84), Nat Borchers, Jamison Olave, Chris Wingert - Will Johnson, Kyle Beckerman, Andy Williams (Clint Mathis 59) - Javier Morales - Robbie Findley (Kenny Deuchar 78), Yura Movsisyan. Substitutes Not Used: Kenny Cutler, David Horst, Tino Nunez, Chris Seitz
• "Sometimes, soccer is a game of plays, individual plays. It is obviously a team sport but sometimes it comes down to specific plays," Kreis said. " ... In the second half, a play by our defender looked a little bit (like he was) sleeping, and there obviously is some suspicion about the foul. We made a mental error there and that's another play we didn't pull off. After that, there's the play on the set piece. Sometimes it comes down to plays, and we were on the wrong side of those plays tonight."
TEAM NEWS
• The loss dropped RSL to 1-9-2 on the road this season. It was also the second consecutive week where RSL held the lead in the second half yet failed to hold on to the win. It was the first time all season RSL lost after holding the lead at halftime.
• "It's very disappointing," said Kyle Beckerman. "It's two weeks in a row. Last week, we were disappointed with a point and this week we would have been disappointed with a point. We made little mistakes where we gave them the game. We show some immaturity sometimes and it cost us [again] tonight."
• The nine losses on the road are the most in MLS and their five points from 12 away games also the least in the league. After this weekend Rice-Eccles Stadium finale, three of Real's final five games will be on the road, including games in San Jose and New England over the next two weekends.
• "We felt the game should have been done at that point," Beckerman said. "We felt like if we just kept it tight we'll be able to break on them again and get the second (goal). I think we did that but we made little mistakes where we gave them the game. The two goals, we kind of just gave it to them. It's just disappointing."
• Put back into the starting lineup after coming off the substitutes' bench for two consecutive games, Yura Movsisyan scored for the second consecutive week. All three of his goals on the season have come in the last five weeks.
• "I thought our two forwards played very well. They probably didn't take their chances cleanly enough in the first half, but apart from that, I thought we did just about everything else right," Kreis said.
CHIVAS USA
Chivas USA saw their two-game winning streak come to an abrupt end, the New England Revolution hitting for four goals in the second half in a 4-0 victory last Saturday evening at Gillette Stadium. Chivas USA have 30 points from 24 matches and now sit in a tie for third place in the Western Conference with the Colorado Rapids, still a point back of Real Salt Lake and one ahead of the San Jose Earthquakes.
LAST MATCH
• The Revolution had hit a rocky spell in their return to league play, with just one win in six games after a month-long layoff from MLS competition. Chivas USA were coming off wins in both ends of their home-and-home series with Toronto FC after a six-game winless run.
• Partnering in attack, Taylor Twellman and Steve Ralston finally found a breakthrough to give the Revolution the lead in the 53rd minute. Twellman played forward to Ralston then raced to get onto the end of the return pass, stabbing home a rolling ball driven into the heart of the goal area for his sixth goal on the year, fifth in the last seven games.
• The Revolution then blew the game open late. In the 83rd minute, Ralston took a pass in the right side of the area and laid it back to Jeff Larentowicz, who lashed a first-time strike from outside the box into the net.
• In stoppage time, Khano Smith made it 3-0, muscling a defender off the ball as he made his way into the area and slotting home a shot inside the right side netting. Then Ralston capped off his magisterial night, taking a long, crossfield pass from Twellman and calmly curling it home off the inside of the right-hand post for his seventh goal on the campaign.
• Chivas USA head coach Preki made three changes to the team that defeated Toronto FC on the road the Saturday before. Dan Kennedy came into goal in place of the injured Zach Thornton, while Carey Talley and Atiba Harris came back into the team for Eric Ebert and the suspended Alecko Eskandarian.
• Here's Preki's team (4-4-2): Dan Kennedy - Carey Talley, Bobby Burling, Jim Curtin (Claudio Suarez 82), Jonathan Bornstein - Daniel Paladini (Justin Braun 59), Francisco Mendoza (Roberto Nurse 86), Paulo Nagamura, Jorge Flores - Ante Razov, Atiba Harris. Substitutes Not Used: Kraig Chiles, Eric Ebert, Lance Parker, Keith Savage
TEAM NEWS
• Still with a long list of players on the injury report, it was the second 4-0 loss for Chivas in five games, after losing 4-0 to Houston on Aug. 20 at Robertson Stadium.
• "Injuries or no injuries, we could have been better than what we showed during the second half, especially after we gave up the first goal," Preki said. "I felt that too many guys put their heads down and we lost a lot of confidence."
• However, while concerned by the defeat, Preki wasn't terribly bothered by the final scoreline. "We tried to make plays and opened ourselves up in the back," he said. "To me, losing 1-0 and losing 4-0 is the same."
• Said defender Carey Talley: "We started committing numbers forward and at that point they were just counterattacking and they ended up beating us down the field two times there, the last two times, pushing numbers forward. Guys have to have the responsibility also of coming back and it didn't happen fast enough. We got caught in transition. What can you do?"
• When Chivas USA make the trip to Salt Lake City, they will be the final team to play on the FieldTurf at Rice-Eccles Stadium. It's the third consecutive game on an artificial surface for the Red-and-White, starting their road swing with a win in Toronto before the loss in New England.
• "Going against Salt Lake, we know they're playing well right now. We've been watching them quite a bit lately. Right now they're ahead of us and we know that's a big game coming up when we go there, so I think we know how to prepare for this game," Talley said. "We've got another game on turf where it's difficult to play but the last two games have been on turf, we got a result on it the first time, but the second time it didn't go our way. We've got to make sure the third one does."
• Chivas was one of the most active teams as the MLS roster freeze deadline struck, acquiring veteran midfielder Sasha Victorine from the Kansas City Wizards for allocation money, and signing midfielder Dejair, who was last with ABC FC of Natal in Brazil. Dejair is still awaiting approval of his P-1 visa and international transfer certificate.
• Chivas also placed midfielder Raphaël Wicky and defenders Lawson Vaughn and Eric Ebert on the club's season-ending injury list.
