Chivas USA took three points at the HDC against the Wizards Saturday.

The good.

Alecko Eskandarian. Four goals in seven games, only four of these seven games were starts.

Maykel Galindo played. Even injured and rusty, the guy is awesome. His attacking runs and style of agressive play is missed.

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Needing a win to keep pace with their closest Western Conference rivals, Chivas USA got strikes from a player returning from injury and a new acquisition in the first half and then held on for a 2-1 victory on Saturday night. The win keeps Chivas in second place in the Western Conference, closing their gap with the Houston Dynamo to four points. Click to continue reading...

First a little history, 23 weeks ago, I was still waiting on my son to arrive, Barrack Obama and Hilary Clinton were still fighting for the Democratic presidential nomination, Hillcrest Road was still scheduled to begin building in the summer, and the Wizards won their last road game. Who would have thought that with only 1 road game left this season, that the Wizards only road win would come in Chicago, a place they've notoriously had trouble winning at. Click to continue reading...

It's the Sasha and Sacha show at Home Depot Center where Chivas USA is leading the Wizards 2-0.

Sacha Kljestan has an assist, while Sasha Victorine has an assist and added the soaring second goal on his first start for Chivas USA that comes against his old club.

Ante Razov created the first in the 26th minutes, sending a telling pass that pierced a flat Wizards defense allowing Victorine to get behind it on the left wing and cutting a ball back that was met by Alecko Eskandarian from about seven yards out.

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NPR is in the building this evening preparing a story on Jorge Flores and tabbed your truly for a quick interview, so I'm a little late with the lineups.

The night's important numbers: the Wizards have won just once on the road this season and and Colorado's 5-4 win over the Red Bulls earlier today means Chivas USA is third in the table and seven points behind Western Conference leaders Houston, which drew 1-1 with Toronto.

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Well, not quite, but with 4 players on Chivas, and their coach being former Kansas City Wizards, it certainly seems like it. There will be plenty of old faces on the opposite side of the ball tomorrow, as Chivas has former Wizards Carey Talley, Shavar Thomas, Alex Zotinca, and recently acquired Sasha Victorine, along with the greatest Wizard of all time, Preki on the Chivas USA bench. Click to continue reading...

Kansas City travel to the HDC to take on the Chivas USA.

First question (as always this season) is who is healthy for the match?

Zack Thornton, Lawson Vaughn, Raphael Wicky, and Eric Ebert are all out. Maykel Galindo may make it to the bench. Jonathan Bornstein, Carey Talley, and Paulo Nagamura all suffered individual light injuries, nothing to serious, but may have limited participation in this game.

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Landon Donovan to Andrea Canales on potential interest from Bayern Munich: "I would love for it to happen." See Los Angeles Galaxy section for the full article.


MLS Scoreboard

Week 26
Matches & Scores:
-Thu Sep 18
Columbus 3-1 New York - CC goals by Frankie Hejduk, Robbie Rogers & Eddie Gaven. Click to continue reading...

Chivas USA did exactly what they needed to do Saturday, beating Real Salt Lake 1-0 on a 72nd minute Alecko Eskandarian goal and moving above their opponents to take second place in the Western Conference.

Somewhat of a comedy routine gave the former Real Salt Lake striker the winner over his old team: Real Salt Lake goalkeeper Nick Rimando and defender Nat Borchers collided and the ball bounced past them to Eskandarian, who gratefully accepted the gift that was his third goal of the season.

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Chivas USA went down to a heavy defeat Thursday night in a Boston stadium decorated with few fans and ghastly pointy-ball football lines, while the Galaxy is in Kansas City (can someone explain to me how both pro teams can be out of town on the same weekend?) on Saturday.

Most local college teams, it seems, are also on the road so here's a quick run-down on some of the best local soccer options this weekend:
*3 p.

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According to ESPN, Toronto's Velez was given an additional fine and match ban for his conduct during last week's game vs CD Chivas USA. In a move sure to rile Toronto FC supporters, Chivas's Eskandarian only received a one match ban.


Here is an excerpt:

"The Major League Soccer Disciplinary Committee announced Thursday the supsension of Toronto FC defender Marco Velez for one game and fined him $250 for endangering another player with a deliberate blow to the head.

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Two tired and/or banged up teams desperately needing points to stay in the playoff hunt stagger into Gillette Stadium at 4 p.m. today live on ESPN2 as Chivas USA visits the New England Revolution.

Chivas USA forward Alecko Eskandarian is suspended for the game.

Brief game preview here.

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I just wanted to include a link and comment on this article by Kartik Krishnaiyer on the Major League Soccer Talk blog about Sven Goran Eriksson's early success with the Mexican national team and how the U.S. National Team could learn from that. I essentially agree that Eriksson has done a good job with Mexico and that I too was somewhat skeptical about this appointment when it was made. Click to continue reading...

Okay, I'm here at Home Depot Center for the Chivas USA-Tauro FC match and I feel like I'm in an empty stadium. Well, actually, it pretty much is an empty stadium. With classes back in session at Cal State Dominguez Hills, the attendance has been capped at 2,000.

As a colleague told me, some prestigious tournament. Click to continue reading...

This is more dinner party than soccer game. There's so few people here, you get the feeling people should introduce themselves to each other.

Attendance tonight has been capped at all of 2,000 - not that there are dozens, yet alone hundreds clamoring to get in, you understand. (The reason: something about lots of parking complaints at the sold-out Galaxy-Pachuca SuperLiga final).

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Chivas USA will host a critical match against Tauro FC tonight. Chivas USA needs to win by two goals in order to have any hopes of advancing to the CONCACAF Champions League.

Here is audio of my post-game chat with Jonathan Bornstein about the game.

Acutally, it's a bit more complicated than just winning by two. Click to continue reading...

The second leg of matches in the CONCACAF Champions League kicks off tonight, with the headline being two MLS teams fighting for their tournament lives against lesser-known opponents.
The New England Revolution welcome Joe Public FC, the Jamaican side that advanced to the tournament by way of their runner-up finish in the Caribbean Football Union Club Championship in 2007. Click to continue reading...

Alecko Eskandarian was the last player in the locker room on Saturday night. I don't know if he was getting treatment or not but he walked into the shower after nearly everyone else was dressed and on their way out to whatever they had going on after the game.

As I took an empty seat next to him, a camera crew approached him and began recording as I fired away some questions. Click to continue reading...

Two teams with shaky defenses=open, entertaining game.

The teams ended the first 45 minutes tied 1-1, but both could and probably should have had more goals than that.

Toronto FC opened the scoring when Rohan Rickets found a streaking Jim Brennan on the right wing with a piercing ball.

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First off, the Galaxy has just drawn 2-2 with the New England Revolution, Landon Donovan getting both goals.

Sean Franklin and Troy Roberts started in the center of defense with Eddie Lewis on the left wing, by the way.

More on that game later, but for now....

Chivas USA has Zach Thornton in goal as usual, Lawson Vaughn is at right back, Jonathan Bornstein on the left and Bobby Burling and Jim Curtin in the middle.

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Not the most stirring of games.

But both teams got a valuable point.

And Chivas USA pulled into a tie with the Galaxy in the standings with an identical 6-9-6 record.

Preki wasn't happy:

"I'm disappointed we didn't get three points. I thought we were the better team on the night.

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This was a yawner of a scoreless game punctuated by a few - I stress few - scoring opportunities, mainly for Chivas USA who had the better of the play for much of the game.

Still, the Earthquakes probably had the best chance of the game, Chivas USA goalkeeper Zach Thornton saving with one hand a Ronnie O'Brien shot in the 86th minute from the top of the box that appeared destined for the back of the net.

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Five changes for Chivas USA tonight with a Tuesday CONCACAF preliminary round game looming Tuesday in Panama as Coach Preki tries to rest some starters, while defender Cary Talley is the latest to join a long injury list with a thigh strain. Six players are still out including striker Maykel Galindo

Zach Thornton is in goal, while Jim Curtin replaces Claudio Suarez as the long defensive change.

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With our Chivas USA beat writer out with pneumonia (it seems sort of fitting given the team's list of casualties) this was the preview in today's print edition (in its entirety):

San Jose (5-9-6) at Chivas USA (6-9-5)

*WHEN - 7:30 p.m.
*WHERE - Home Depot Center
*RADIO - 690 AM
*OUTLOOK - The teams are separated by just two points at the bottom of the Western Conference.

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ChivaGirls ready to suit up against Houston Dynamo if needed!

Chivas USA take on the Dynamo Wednesday night. Well, half of the Chivas USA will take on the Dynamo while the other half remain on the injury list. Lets do the math.

28 Full squad
-11 Injured
-1 International Duty
_____
16

Sixteen players are healthy and available for the matchup.

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Unless something drastic changes, there is quite a bit of talent and experience that will be absent for Chivas USA against the Galaxy on Thursday.

Now, that doesn't mean that the club will field a reserve team or anything but there are concerns over certain aspects of Chivas USA's potential lineup. Click to continue reading...

Sometimes we at MLSR get a kernel of info that turns out to be correct.

This trade is now official.

Courtesy of MLSNet:

"Toronto FC have acquired a third round 2009 MLS SuperDraft pick from FC Dallas. In return, Dallas receives forward Jeff Cunningham.

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Tomorrow night we get a rematch of last years first round playoff game between the Wizards and Chivas USA. Like last year, Chivas will be without a few of their first team players. Both Ante Razov and Claudio Suarez are questionable for the game with injuries. Sacha Kljestan will also miss the game for the Goats, as he's in China for the Olympics. Click to continue reading...

Chivas USA take on the Wizards this weekend.

Chivas USA have been struggling to fill the line up, dealing with injuries and suspensions.

There are two people that are considered out for the game, probably the lowest in the season. Raphael Wicky and Alex Zotinca will not be available for the game.

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No, I didn't start sniffing glue.

Yes, I know we lost.

Yes, I know we looked bad.

Alecko Eskandarian and Maykel Galindo played 20 minutes of the match! And for two rusty players that haven't played all season, they looked great! They threatened the defense, made intelligent runs and had a few looks on goal.

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99 Luftballons
Auf ihrem Weg zum Horizont...

By the way, luft doesn't translate to red. Luft is air but red apparently sounded better.



1. New England (10-4-3). Will jump right back into the fray against its most difficult opponent on Saturday...
2. Click to continue reading...

Goalkeeper Zach Thornton made his Chivas USA debut a day after being traded by New York, striker Ante Razov was out injured and the Fire's John Thorrington (Chadwick School) was man of the match as Chicago Saturday downed an unconvincing Chivas USA, 1-0.

How much did Chivas USA miss the midfield creativity and spark of Sacha Kljestan?

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Zach Thornton has landed in Chicago and Jesse Marsch looks pretty happy to see his former Fire teammate (and an experienced goalkeeper). Do we assume Thornton plays today? I think we do.

Two who won't play a part in today's Chivas USA-Chicago Fire game (5:30 p.m. live on Fox Soccer Channel) are Preki (at least on the bench-he's suspended) and Blanco.

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Chivas USA take on Chicago Fire Saturday after a break. The team has been out of action for two weeks, and have not played an MLS game in a month due to Superliga.

So whats up?

Injuries are plenty, but that's not news. Raphael Wicky and Alex Zotinca are out. However, a few of our usuals are coming back.

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Apologies, busy with a big project and not much time to blog.

A few things to pass along:

*Pacific Palisades-based W-League team Pali Blues defeated reigning champion Washington Freedom 2-0 earlier tonight earning a berth in Saturday's final against FC Indiana. Game reports here.

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