Chivas USA will seek to start a home winning streak when they host FC Dallas on Saturday (10:30 pm ET, Direct Kick/Matchday Live). FC Dallas are the MLS Cup runners-up, and have been one of the best teams in the league the past two months. Despite the fact that reigning MLS MVP David Ferreira is out with a broken ankle, Dallas has not looked back, and Brek Shea has emerged as a bonafide MVP candidate in his own right so far this season. In moving from the backline to midfield, Shea has been a scoring machine, and some are even noting that perhaps he should have been called up to the United States National Team considering the problems that have plagued them so far in the Gold Cup.
Both teams are coming off losses, so motivation will likely not be a factor. Chivas fell to Houston 2-1 last week on the road, and the game frankly did not show the best side of the Goats. They will hope to put their generally sloppy play and poor set-piece defense behind them in facing their second consecutive Texas team. Although Dallas has played very well overall, they were embarrassed at home last weekend to Sporting Kansas City, who shocked pretty much everybody in slamming Dallas 4-1. Considering Sporting KC was in last place in the league and Dallas was in second overall, nobody saw this coming, and surely Dallas will seek to prove against Chivas that their last game was a fluke.
This match will come down to matchups. Shea and Chivas’ Marcos Mondaini are offensive focal points for each team and if either defense can shut them down it will go a long way to preventing goals. Both Kevin Hartman and Dan Kennedy are top-notch goalkeepers in this league and will likely not let in any soft goals, so quantity of shots may prove crucial. On defense, Ugo Ihemelu has been a very good defender and also chips in goals, so he will need to be marked carefully by Chivas, especially on set pieces. For Chivas, if Paulo Nagamura or Simon Elliott can control the pace of the game, and set up the likes of Mondaini, Justin Braun, and Nick LaBrocca, they will like their chances in the game.
Fortunately, the injury report is light again this week, and Jimmy Conrad continues to be the only absence for Chivas. Forward/Midfielder Tristan Bowen, who has spent most of the season out of action with an ankle injury, may return soon and may get some minutes near the end of the match. It will be interesting as well to see how Coach Robin Fraser doles out minutes to Midfielder Blair Gavin in the next several games, who is seen as an offensive sparkplug, but who has battled hamstring problems and may not see significant minutes until he gains more match fitness. For Dallas, the main absence is Ferreira, but considering their play since he went down, it seems they don’t miss him much at all.
Chivas currently sit one place out of the playoff brackets. Although the playoffs are a long way off, picking up points now will obviously help them make the playoffs at the end of the season. As I have noted for the past several weeks, Chivas are not a team that is intimidated by any opponent, but they need to get points to stay in the chase and really make waves in this league.
(image courtesy of mlssoccer.com)
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