Galaxy Get Rare Road Win, Chivas USA Extend Lead
Chivas USA 'keeper Zach Thornton makes a save during last night's match against Seattle Sounders FC. Photo by Victor Decolongon/Getty Images
Galaxy forward Alan Gordon led the blue-and-gold to a 2 - 1 victory over Toronto FC yesterday afternoon, while in the evening, Chivas USA forward Eduardo Lillingston scored his fifth goal of the year to give the red-and-whites a 1 - 0 victory over Seattle.
Gordon figured heavily as the Galaxy took on the Reds in front of another sell out crowd at BMO Field in Toronto. The Galaxy forward opened the scoring at the 5th minute with his third goal of the year. His goal came via a strong and well placed header off a corner kick which was too hot to handle for Toronto 'keeper Stefan Frein. Toronto battled back, nearly tying it on multiple occasions, but Galaxy 'keeper Donovan Ricketts put in another strong performance and made a series of great saves to preserve the 1 - 0 lead for the L.A. side well into the 2nd half.
At the 64th minute, the Reds' Danny Dichio pounced on a rebound in the Galaxy six yard box and brought the teams even. Gordon, however, wasn't done for the day. Thirteen minutes after Toronto pulled even, Galaxy forward Edson Buddle and Gordon combined for a great give-and go at midfield, the latter sending a great through ball towards the Toronto penalty area. Buddle beat the Toronto defense and found himself on a one-on-one against Frein. Buddle wrapped up the play with an equally nice finish, giving the blue-and-gold its second lead of the game. Despite added offensive pressure by the Reds, Ricketts and the Galaxy defense held on and took the 2 - 1 road win. The win extends the Galaxy's undefeated steak to 10 games.
Events at the Home Depot Center played out a bit differently to those in the Great White North from earlier in the day. National Team call ups for Sacha Kljestan and Jonathan Bornstein, mounting injuries and a suspension to Jesse Marsch forced Chivas USA Head Coach Preki Radosavljevic into a position where he had lean on some youngsters to fill some slots in the starting lineup. Jorge Flores and Michael Lahoud made the starting eleven and were quickly put to the test by Freddie Ljungberg and his Seattle teammates.
The Emerald City side took the game to the red-and-whites from early on, pressuring and exploiting the less experienced Chivas USA left flank to generate several opportunities. Quality saves by Chivas USA 'keeper Zach Thornton kept Seattle off the scoresheet, but there were few other bright spots for the home side. The red-and-whites looked a bit disorganized and showed few signs of mounting an offensive threat.
As the teams entered the final ten minutes of the first half, Paulo Nagamura, Eduardo Lillingston and Maykel Galindo would combine on to score one of this year's best goals. Nagamura would start the play at midfield, putting the ball into Lillingston about 30 yards out from the Seattle goal. A one-touch pass from Lillingston would then send Galindo into the penalty box. Galindo fought through a Seattle defender and pushed deeper. Nagamura had been trailing the play and picked up the ball as Galindo pushed it forward. The Chivas USA midfielder put in a good hard shot on goal, but Seattle and U.S. National Team standout 'keeper Kasey Keller was up to the challenge and made the save. However, the resulting rebound went straight to Lillingston's feet who had nothing left to do but tap it into an empty net to give the red-and-whites the lead.
Seattle would test Thornton again in the second half, but once again, Thornton would not be beat. For Chivas USA, Lillingston would nearly double the lead in the second half when he sent a great chip over Keller after picking up a bad clearance by the Seattle defender Jhon Kennedy Hurtado at the edge of the penalty area. Hurtado made up for his mistake by recovering in time to head the ball out of danger from the goal line.
The 1 - 0 scoreline held through the final whistle giving Chivas USA their eight win and a six point lead in the overall standings.