coached by Thomas Rongen, who led United to the third of their four MLS Cup triumphs in 1999.
Josh Gros put United ahead in the first half with the simplest of tap-ins of a rolling Brian Carroll cross at the far post after a counterattack split apart the Chivas defense (32). Then after Chivas had narrowly missed a number of quality chances, Christian Gomez put the game away 14 minutes from the end when he deftly chipped Chivas 'keeper Brad Guzan after latching on to the ball in the penalty area.
Here's Nowak's team in the opener (3-4-1-2): Nick Rimando - Brandon Prideaux, Bobby Boswell, Mike Petke - Joshua Gros, Brian Carroll, Ben Olsen, Steve Guppy (Santino Quaranta 68) - Christian Gomez (Clyde Simms 83) - Alecko Eskandarian (Freddy Adu 74), Jaime Moreno
Here's Rongen's team (4-3-3): Brad Guzan - Ezra Hendrickson, Aaron Lopez (Isaac Romo 74), Ryan Suarez, Orlando Perez - Francisco Gomez (Francisco Mendoza 32), Hector Cuadros, Ramon Ramirez - Arturo Torres (Antonio Martinez 58), Thiago Martins, Matt TaylorD.C. UNITED
D.C. United won for the third consecutive match and extended their unbeaten run to five matches, finally putting away the MetroStars with a pair of late goals for a 3-0 victory Wednesday night at RFK Stadium. United are still tied for third place in the Eastern Conference, now with 35 points from 21 matches, level with the Kansas City Wizards just a point behind the Chicago Fire and four behind the New England Revolution.
By the end of the match both teams were left a man down as the captain for each club was sent off by referee Terry Vaughn, but United held the better of the play for long stretches.
The Black-and-Red went after after just 11 minutes, after Amado Guevara saw his name taken for the first time. Off the set piece, D.C. playmaker Christian Gomez swerved in a near post cross that met Bobby Boswell's late run perfectly, and completely unmarked, the rookie nodded in the match's opening goal with ease.
Guevara was then shown red for a second bookable offense just before halftime when he clattered into Ben Olsen late from behind, but United couldn't take advantage before Jaime Moreno was sent off in the 60th minute for running up Eddie Gaven's legs from behind as he looked to be clear through for a clear goal scoring opportunity.
But substitute Jamil Walker made an immediate impact after entering the match. He sent a square pass to Santino Quaranta just inside the Metros half, then made a lung-bursting diagonal run towards goal that Quaranta rewarded. Walker used his startling pace to get to the ball, then showed power to shrug off the defender's challenge and center for a late-arriving Kovalenko, who had the simplest of finishes (76).
Josh Gros then put a late exclamation point on the win when he raced down the right flank before cutting back to scuff a left-footed shot just inside the near post in the 87th minute to provide the final margin.
United boss Peter Nowak made one change to the team that knocked off the Chicago Fire 3-2 the previous weekend at Soldier Field. With Freddy Adu out 2-4 weeks with a knee injury suffered early in that game, Bobby Boswell came back into the team after missing the Fire match through suspension.
Here's Nowak's team (3-4-1-2): Nick Rimando - Bryan Namoff, Bobby Boswell, Brandon Prideaux - Dema Kovalenko, Brian Carroll, Ben Olsen (Clyde Simms 78), Joshua Gros - Christian Gomez (Jamil Walker 75) - Jaime Moreno, Santino Quaranta
"It's always difficult to play in these type of weather conditions, so many games," Nowak said. "But I think we're playing some pretty smart soccer. We had our chances, we finished them, and we're still playing good soccer, which is the most important thing for me, seeing the whole picture."TEAM NEWS
United wasted a number of quality chances to put the game away - especially when a man up - before finally getting the two late goals that sealed the three points.
"As I said, the most important thing is we're not going to make the same mistake twice. I think if we keep possession and keep our shape and we play good soccer, we'll find another chance to score," Nowak said. "This was the most important thing for us, to keep the lead to make sure that nothing would happen like it did in Chicago."
Walker came off the bench to contritbute his first two assists of the season (he has no goals) - and the performance could give him the inside track on replacing the suspended Moreno against Chivas. "I've been missing chances and getting into situations where I can score," said Walker. "So it's a relief to be able to come in and contribute on a larger scale. I know now that I've got to be ready for Saturday, and build on this."
"Jamil did a very good job," said Nowak. "He's working very hard to be one of the very good strikers, and the (team) rotation is pretty good right now. As I said to all of them, you never know when your time will come, and you have to be ready. We decided to go with Jamil and he did a great job today."
Boswell's goal was the 500th in United club history (in league games), the first club in MLS to reach the 500-goal mark.
United announced the completion of the acquisition of Argentinian defender Facundo Erpen before the match. He could be available for Saturday's match, depending on a request to FIFA to allow any new signing to play two days before the regular opening of the international transfer window.
"We always look to keep the roster competitive. We're not going to hand the job to Facundo - he has to earn it and he has to earn the respect of the guys. Bobby [Boswell] did a very good job today and in the last couple of months. Brandon [Prideaux] is playing very solid and [Bryan] Namoff just came back. We have John Wilson, who's done very well the last couple of months, and there's still a lot of games," Nowak said. "We're going to play in the Sudamericana Cup and it's going to be very, very difficult. MLS games are OK, but we want to be also in the international space showing them D.C. United can play soccer."
Freddy Adu will be out for 2-4 weeks with a sprain of the medial collateral ligament in his left knee, suffered in the loss to Chicago last weekend.CHIVAS USA
Chivas USA lost for the second consecutive match in disappointing circumstances, the Los Angeles Galaxy getting a late penalty to claim a 1-0 victory and finish off a season sweep of their Super Clasíco rival before a massive crowd at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Wednesday. Chivas USA are still in last place in the Western Conference with 12 points from 22 matches, seven behind fifth-place Real Salt Lake and 12 out of the final playoff spot in the West.
A crowd of 88,816 - the second-largest crowd to see a regular season MLS game - attended the first-ever league game played at the venerable Coliseum in downtown Los Angeles as part of a doubleheader with a friendly between Mexican arch-rivals CD Guadalajara and Club América.
Chivas goalkeeper Brad Guzan kept the Galaxy at bay for much of the second half, but he reached his limit in the 82nd minute, when Landon Donovan broke free into the area and was tripped up by Guzan, who had no other choice.
Donovan shot to his right, Guzan dove the other way and that was all the Galaxy needed to claim a fifth victory in all competitions against Chivas this season and giving them a first victory away from The Home Depot Center for the first time this season.
Chivas head coach Hans Westerhof made two changes to the team that lost 2-1 away to Real Salt Lake the previous Saturday. Esteban Arias was suspended and Francisco Mendoza was dropped, as Orlando Perez made his first start in five matches and Thiago Martins came back into an attacking midfield though he was not expected to be available for the match.
Here's Westerhof's team (3-3-1-3): Brad Guzan - Ezra Hendrickson (Alfonso Loera 46), Douglas Sequeira, Armando Begines - Jesus Ochoa (Milton Blanco 88), Ramon Ramirez, Orlando Perez - Thiago Martins (Hector Cuadros 46) - Arturo Torres, Isaac Romo, Antonio Martinez
"I think we started very well, but we lost total control of the game. In the second half they created more goal opportunities and they won the game, therefore, they were the best team tonight," Westerhof said. " ... The goal was a defensive error on our part and it cost us the game but that's how this game is and once again we lost the game. Now, it will be hard to make the playoffs, but we will keep going, working hard for the remainder of the season."TEAM NEWS
The loss meant Chivas lost all five games to the Galaxy this season - the four league games and their fourth-round tie in the U.S. Open Cup. They won't play again this year, barring an unlikely pairing in the MLS Cup Playoffs. Chivas USA lost all four regular-season matches to its rivals by a combined 8-1. Chivas USA failed to score in the last three matches despite controlling much of the play.
"We're supposed to be the worst team in MLS and we're the ones dominating the play and creating all the chances," Antonio Martinez said. "It's frustrating when supposedly better teams than us are sitting back and afraid."
All the games in the series were very similar, said Antonio Martinez. Chivas USA controlled possession, generated scoring chances but failed to score; the Galaxy sat back, countered and won that way, Martinez said.
"We're in last place and we're still taking it to them," Martinez said. "They play to counterattack and that's not normal. The last-place team should be the one defending for 90 minutes. Every game we've played against them, we've been the team that has attacked. At the end, they wait for our mistakes and that's how they score. They can't create anything off of us."
The crowd at the Coliseum certainly made it a road game for the Galaxy - as Chivas were helped in no small part by the throngs there to see the mother club from Mexico take on bitter rival América. "It was an amazing atmosphere here tonight and it was unfortunate we couldn't get a better result," Chivas USA 'keeper Brad Guzan said.
