LA Galaxy vs. Chivas USA | MLS Match Preview

LA GALAXY vs CHIVAS USA
STUBHUB CENTER, Carson, Calif.
June 8, 2014 (WEEK 14, MLS Game #135)
5 p.m. PT (UDN; TWCSN-LA)

It’s the second SuperClasico of the season when the LA Galaxy and Chivas USA renew their clash for StubHub Center supremacy on Sunday afternoon. The Galaxy haven’t lost to their in-stadium rivals in six matches, easing to a 3-0 win against Chivas in the first meeting this season. The Galaxy return home off a 1-1 draw at the Chicago Fire last weekend, now unbeaten in three games, while Chivas USA are coming off back-to-back losses on Victoria Street, last a 3-0 defeat by Philadelphia Union last weekend.

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REFEREE: Jair Marrufo. AR1 (bench): Baboucarr Jallow; AR2 (opposite): Mike Kampmeinert; 4th: Daniel Radford
MLS Career: 163 games; FC/gm: 23.7; Y/gm: 2.9; R: 33; pens: 48

SUSPENDED: CHV: Oswaldo Minda (through June 8)
WARNINGS:
SUSPENDED NEXT YELLOW CARD: CHV: Carlos Alvarez
SUSPENDED AFTER TWO YELLOW CARDS: CHV: Bobby Burling, Marky Delgado, Erick Torres
DISABLED LIST: none
INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES: LA: Omar Gonzalez (USA); Robbie Keane (Ireland) … CHV: Marvin Chavez (Honduras)

ALL-TIME (29 meetings): Galaxy 19 wins, 51 goals … Chivas USA 4 wins, 21 goals … Ties 6
AS GALAXY HOME GAME (13 meetings): Galaxy 10 wins, 31 goals … Chivas USA 2 wins, 12 goals … Ties 3
FUTURE MATCH: 8/31: Chivas USA vs. LA Galaxy, 5 p.m. PT

• The teams are meeting for the second time this season. Robbie Keane, Stefan Ishizaki and Baggio Husidic all scored as the Galaxy rolled to a 3-0 win April 6.
• The Galaxy have won the last three meetings between the teams, outscoring Chivas USA 9-0, and now have a six-game undefeated streak alive against their in-house rivals (5-0-1).
• The Galaxy have won 11 of the last 13 league meetings, dating back to 2009. Chivas USA won 1-0 on May 19, 2012, their first victory against the Galaxy since Aug. 23, 2007, snapping an 11-game winless run in SuperClasicos.The 5-0 Galaxy win in the final meeting a year ago was the heaviest defeat for either team in the history of the series, and matched the highest goal output for a team in the series (4/26/2008, LA 5 -- CHV 2)
• Coaches record: Wilmer Cabrera vs. LA: P1 W0 L1 D0 … Bruce Arena v CHV: P16 W11 L3 D2

LAST MEETING (MLS)
4/6: CHV 0, LA 3 (Keane 37; Ishizaki 41; Husidic 54)

• The Galaxy put the game in a 20-minute flurry on either side of halftime. First, in the 37th minute, Galaxy right back Dan Gargan sent a header into the box that snuck past Chivas USA goalkeeper Dan Kennedy to a waiting Robbie Keane, who walked the ball over the line for the opener.
• Four minutes later, Stefan Ishizaki collected a well-placed pass from Juninho, raced past the Chivas defense and hit home with a stellar chip to the far-side netting.
• Nine minutes into the second half, it was 3-0 to the Galaxy. After a give-and-go from Keane to Landon Donovan, Baggio Husidic found just enough space at the top of the box and beat Kennedy with a low drive to the left corner.
• CHIVAS USA (4-4-2): Dan Kennedy - Eric Avila, Eriq Zavaleta, Carlos Bocanegra, Andrew Jean-Baptiste - Mauro Rosales, Agustin Pelletieri, Carlos Alvarez, Thomas McNamara (Kris Tyrpak 66) - Luke Moore (Leandro Barrera 46), Erick Torres (Adolfo Bautista 79).
• LA GALAXY (4-3-1-2): Brian Perk - Dan Gargan (Tommy Meyer 85), Omar Gonzalez, Leonardo, Todd Dunivant (Oscar Sorto 75) - Marcelo Sarvas, Juninho, Baggio Husidic - Stefan Ishizaki (Samuel 57) - Landon Donovan, Robbie Keane.

LA GALAXY
The LA Galaxy extended their undefeated run to three matches, reaching a 1-1 draw with the Chicago Fire on Sunday afternoon at Toyota Park. The Galaxy sit in a tie for sixth place in the Western Conference with 16 points from 11 games.

LAST MATCH

• The Fire opened the scoring in the 66th minute. Quincy Amarikwa was taken down right on the edge of the area by Juninho and referee Hilario Grajeda pointed to the spot. Jeff Larentowicz stepped up and calmly slotted the well-placed kick low to the right of goalkeeper Jaime Penedo.
• But six minutes later the Galaxy were level. Robbie Rogers intercepted a pass and drove towards goal, putting a pass across the face of goal where Landon Donovan was on hand to sweep home the equalizer in emphatic style past Fire goalkeeper Sean Johnson.
• Galaxy coach Bruce Arena made one change to the team that rolled to a 4-1 win against Philadelphia Union at StubHub Center. Stefan Ishizaki came back into the midfield for Gyasi Zardes.
• LA GALAXY (4-4-2): Jaime Penedo - Dan Gargan (Robbie Rogers 43), Tommy Meyer, Leonardo, A.J. DeLaGarza - Stefan Ishizaki, Kenney Walker, Juninho (Marcelo Sarvas 84), Baggio Husidic (Gyasi Zardes 70) - Landon Donovan, Robbie Keane.

TEAM NEWS

• While the Galaxy were able to get a point from the Fire match, they are still winless this year away from StubHub Center, now 0-2-4 on the road. They have won once away from Carson in the last year ñ a win in Vancouver last August; their lone “away” win this season came as the road team in the first SuperClasico.
• Since his release from the U.S. national team, Landon Donovan has scored three goals in two games and now has 137 for his MLS league career, scoring the Galaxy’s lone goal at Chicago.
• “He had an amazing finish. It wasn't an easy ball to finish. Those are the kind of balls a winger and an outside back has to play, and we work on that kind of stuff,” said Robbie Rogers. “It's not a routine thing, but it's kind of something you do 10, 20 times at training, so it was a great finish. You have to give Landon a lot of credit.”
• Said Donovan: “I feel great. I feel great helping the team. To get a tie on a day where we didn’t really play well and sometimes during the season you have to games where you don’t do well and you have to find a way to get something out of it. I’m glad to help out.”
• When Dan Gargan was forced to come off before halftime due to the heat, Rogers came on for his second substitute appearance – at right back.
• “He's certainly progressed, and he's learning how to play a new position, so that's been a little bit of a challenge for him, but he did great,” Donovan said. “… Coming in to that game was tough; he hasn't played in a while. So fitness-wise, it was going to be tough, but I thought he defended pretty well, he made a few good plays and then the assist was a very good ball.”
• Rogers collected his second assist since signing with the Galaxy, his first since last July 7.
• “I thought he played with a lot of confidence,” head coach Bruce Arena said. “He hasn't played in that position a whole lot, and he was confident. He helped set up the goal and defended well.”
• Robbie Keane will miss the Chivas USA match, away on international duty with the Republic of Ireland. Samuel could be the first option to come in for Keane; his streak of five consecutive appearances (two as a starter) came to an end when he did not feature at Chicago.
• “His first touch has improved, his passing,” Arena said of Samuel. “He's just become a better soccer player. Over the last month, we've seen great improvement, and there's certainly going to be opportunity for him to play as we get into the second half of the season.”
• Striker Rob Friend is also an option up top, but he has not been available for the past three matches while suffering from a virus. “I'm feeling good this week, so hopefully I can get a good run of training this week and just get stronger,” Friend said. “That's all I'm concerned with at the moment.” Said Arena: [Friend has been] “a little bit hot and cold. I don't think he's been at his best lately, but I think he's getting back into form.”

CHIVAS USA
Chivas USA lost their second consecutive match on their home ground, falling 3-0 to Philadelphia Union on Saturday evening at StubHub Center. Chivas USA sit in ninth place in the Western Conference with 10 points from 13 games.

LAST MATCH

• Union took the lead in the 28th minute shortly after Chivas USA goalkeeper Dan Kennedy was whistled for a rare delay of game infraction by referee Allen Chapman. Midfielder Martin Rivero was called for a handball inside the penalty area on the ensuing indirect free kick, and Conor Casey calmly converted from the spot.
• Union doubled their lead and Casey doubled his count in the 66th minute, as he headed home a well-timed cross from Cristian Maidana from the left flank.
• The scoring was complete 10 minutes later when Maidana drove the ball through Andrew Wenger’s legs from the left side of the area as goalkeeper Kennedy pleaded with the referees for an offside call.
• Chivas USA head coach Wilmer Cabrera made four changes to the team that fell 2-0 to the Portland Timbers at StubHub Center. Eriq Zavaleta and Tony Lochhead came into central defense for Carlos Bocanegra and the suspended Bobby Burling, and Oswaldo Minda and Carlos Alvarez started in midfield in place of Mauro Rosales and Agustin Pelletieri.
• CHIVAS USA (4-2-3-1): Dan Kennedy - Eric Avila, Eriq Zavaleta, Tony Lochhead, Donny Toia - Oswaldo Minda (ejected 83), Martin Rivero - Marky Delgado (Mauro Rosales 46), Carlos Alvarez (Ryan Finley 68), Leandro Barrera (Agustin Pelletieri 87) - Erick Torres.

TEAM NEWS

• Chivas USA are coming off a pair of back-to-back defeats in a four-day span at StubHub Center, the loss to Philadelphia following a defeat by Portland.
• “It was a very important game for us where we were expecting to try to get out of this situation where we can’t win at home and where it’s becoming difficult mentally for all of us to try to even tie at home,” said Chivas USA head coach Wilmer Cabrera. “… The positive thing is that we are going to play away against the LA Galaxy, so we are going to be visitors and that’s a positive thing that is coming right now.”
• Chivas USA have now not scored a goal in 210 minutes, shut out at the attacking end for the first time in back-to-back games this season.
• “The only way to get through this is that as players we have to be a little bit more united, we have to understand that we have to battle this, just by being together on the field running, not making any mistakes for 90 minutes, we are going to be able to do it,” said Cabrera. “We are battling, we battled that way when we were trying to play away, and we broke that situation, we played, we won, we scored more than one goal, we ended with 11 men and that changed.”
• With Carlos Bocanegra out injured and Bobby Burling suspended, Cabrera ran out the central defense pair of Eriq Zavaleta and Tony Lochhead. Zavaleta was making his first MLS start since April 12, while Lochhead was making his first Chivas USA appearance since March 30.
• “That was a last-minute decision, because Carlos [Bocanegra] was a little bit sore and he had a little problem with his hamstring that he didn’t feel 100 percent to go, so Tony has a little bit more experience and he’s a lefty so we sacrificed him. We asked him if he could play right there because we didn’t want to send Michael [Nwiloh] yet,” said Cabrera. “Michael and Eriq are two young boys so we needed someone with at least a few games on them and Tony was doing good.”
• Oswaldo Minda returned to the starting lineup after being suspended for the Portland match due to yellow card accumulation. But Minda will again be suspended after he was sent off late vs. Philadelphia.
• “The sad part came in also with Oswaldo [Minda]. He cannot lose [his temper] even if it’s a foul, we cannot lose a man on the field,” Cabrera said. “… For me the key right now is how we can manage how to avoid little mistakes right there that can cause PKs, red cards, six-second rules and fouls that are going to give options.”
• Carlos Alvarez returned to the starting lineup for the first time since May 3, into the central midfield role.
• Goalkeeper Dan Kennedy made career appearance No. 123 for Chivas USA, tying Jonathan Bornstein and Francisco Mendoza for the all-time club record.
• “I felt like we were coming home to these two games in the last four days really optimistic off a couple good performances. Things just didn't go our way and it’s early on, we need to stay positive,” Kennedy said. “… I feel like it has been tough, but I don’t say we go into a games feeling pressure. We all have a sense of pressure, but that’s what makes you feel good to play.”