Chivas USA take on FC Dallas Sunday evening at Pizza Hut Park (7 pm ET, Galavision). The Goats are riding high after beating Houston 3-0 last weekend, and are in the midst of a five-game unbeaten streak. Dallas are also playing well, sitting in second place in the Western Conference and the league overall, and coming off a road draw against the New York Red Bulls in league play. Additionally, Dallas began their CONCACAF Champions League play on Thursday with a 1-0 win over FC Alianza in El Salvador. Unfortunately, after their victory they were stranded in El Salvador until Saturday, an unplanned delay for a team with a quick turnaround between matches. As a result of their late arrival back to the United States, they will be unable to hold a training session in preparation of the Chivas match, so they may have difficulty getting into the game. This may represent a real advantage for the Goats, who have a full week to prepare for this game. On the flipside, Dallas may be confident they can beat Chivas without ample preparation and it may not make much of a difference for Chivas’ chances.
The last meeting between the two clubs on June 18 at the Home Depot Center ended in 2-1 victory for FC Dallas. Brek Shea demonstrated his game breaking ability in the match, and really showed me in person that he is a true MVP candidate this season. He scored in the first half of that meeting, and Chivas clawed their way back into the game in the second half, culminating in Michael Lahoud’s long-distance shot that was deflected into the goal in the 71st minute. But just when the team and fans felt a draw was imminent, Lahoud allowed a back pass in the box to go right by him, and Dallas defender Jackson pounced on the ball and scored the easy game winner. It was a game that really took Chivas further down the abyss, where they struggled throughout the month of June despite showing improvement earlier in the season. The good news is that they look like they have put that poor stretch behind them, and have already exorcised one of the demons of that month by beating Houston last week after previously losing to them. That should provide some momentum, but Chivas would be foolish to think they can roll Dallas in the same way that they did Houston, as Dallas is a much more complete team and will represent a very tough test.
Chivas of course would love to get a victory, and the key to that will be to focus once again on the defensive end before the offensive. Despite the hope of getting a win, Chivas can be happy with a draw, especially on the road against an MLS Cup contender, but they will need to maintain defensive intensity for that as well. Above all, ensuring that mental mistakes are avoided and good team play from the defense as well as the rest of the team will give Chivas the best chance to get a result. Additionally, Chivas will hope Dallas is mentally and physically fatigued Sunday to give them an edge, a break that would be unfair, but it’s the kind of break a team needs from time to time. Absent from the lineup for this match will be Jimmy Conrad (concussion) and Ben Zemanski (ankle) for Chivas, while Dallas is missing Edson Edward (knee), reigning MVP David Ferreira (ankle) and may be missing Daniel Hernandez with a knee injury.
One of the disadvantages of Chivas playing at the very end of the MLS gameweek is that they have seen how all the rest of the league performed this week. Most notably, several teams in the pack Chivas are in for the last couple of playoff spots picked up points this week. Sporting Kansas City tied and moved a point ahead of Chivas on Saturday, while Houston won and leapfrogged Chivas, and DC United won to draw level on points with Chivas. So the pressure is on to keep pace on points, because if they lose on Sunday, they will fall out of the playoff slots after starting the week in 9th place. If they draw, they will be even with KC and Houston and if they win they will move ahead of all three teams, so three points will be extremely valuable but very elusive. We’ll see if the Goats are up to the challenge against Dallas.
(image courtesy of cdchivasusa.com)
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