Fire, Galaxy meet in key interconference battle
Pair of contenders set to meet head-on Wednesday at Toyota Park
TOYOTA PARK, Bridgeview, Ill.
August 19, 2009 (WEEK 23) / MLS Game #157
8 p.m. CT (ESPN2/Deportes)
A pair of teams that are firmly in the hunt for places in the MLS Cup Playoffs meet Wednesday night at Toyota Park in a key interconference matchup. The Chicago Fire have lost just once in their seven league games, continuing their outstanding road form with a 2-0 win Sunday against the Kansas City Wizards. The LA Galaxy have also lost just once in their last seven games, but that came at the weekend, falling 2-0 to Seattle Sounders FC at home.
REFEREE: Silviu Petrescu. SAR (bench): Peter Manikowski; JAR (opposite): Adam Garner; 4th: Victor Herrera
MLS Career: 11 games; FC/gm: 35.8; Y/gm: 4.6; R: 4; pens: 1
INJURY REPORT: CHICAGO FIRE - OUT: FW Brian McBride (R shoulder surgery); DF Gonzalo Segares (L MCL sprain); DF Daniel Woolard (L ankle sprain); DF Tim Ward (L metatarsal fracture); PROBABLE: DF Wilman Conde (L hamstring strain); MF John Thorrington (R groin strain) ... LOS ANGELES GALAXY - OUT: DF Sean Franklin (R hamstring surgery); DF Julian Valentin (R foot fracture); QUESTIONABLE: FW Edson Buddle (R foot sprain); FW Alecko Eskandarian (broken nose); PROBABLE: MF Dema Kovalenko (L calf contusion)
INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES: none
SUSPENDED: LA: David Beckham (through Aug. 19); Eddie Lewis (through Aug. 19)
WARNINGS:
SUSPENDED NEXT YELLOW CARD: CHI: Chris Rolfe, Gonzalo Segares, John Thorrington ... LA: Omar Gonzalez, Eddie Lewis
SUSPENDED AFTER TWO YELLOW CARDS: CHI: Jon Busch, Tim Ward ... LA: Alecko Eskandarian, Alan Gordon, Jovan Kirovski, Stefani Miglioranzi
HEAD-TO-HEAD
ALL-TIME (30 meetings): Fire 14 wins (1 shootout), 38 goals ... Galaxy 13 wins (0 shootout), 34 goals ... Ties 3AT CHICAGO (15 meetings): Fire 9 wins (0 shootout), 22 goals ... Galaxy 6 wins (0 shootout), 16 goals ... Ties 0
RETURN MATCH: 10/2: Chicago Fire at Los Angeles Galaxy, 8 p.m. PT
LAST SEASON (MLS):
8/21: LA 0, CHI 1 (Thorrington 65)
9/25: CHI 3, LA 1 (Rolfe 13, 59; Blanco 57 - Lewis 35)
• The Fire have won the last three league meetings between the teams, including both encounters a year ago. It was the third time in the last six seasons the Fire have swept the season series.
• The Fire's 1-0 victory at The Home Depot Center last season was their first in Carson since Sept. 4, 2005.
• The Galaxy have yet to win at Toyota Park. They have lost all three league meetings in Bridgeview, and also lost 3-1 in the U.S. Open Cup Final on Sept. 27, 2006.
• Coaches record: Denis Hamlett vs. LA: P3 W2 L1 D0 ... Bruce Arena v CHI: P9 W5 L3 D1
CHICAGO FIRE
The Chicago Fire maintained pace atop the Eastern Conference, going to Kansas City and coming away with a 2-0 victory on Sunday afternoon at CommunityAmerica Ballpark. The Fire have 35 points from 21 matches, still four points behind the Columbus Crew in the Eastern Conference standings with a game in hand.LAST MATCH
• It was the first game in charge for Wizards interim head coach Peter Vermes after the 6-0 defeat by FC Dallas two weeks earlier, extending K.C.'s winless run to four games. The Fire were coming off a loss at Houston that stopped their undefeated run at five games.
• The Fire took the lead in the 13th minute. Chris Rolfe, playing up top, played a nifty one-two with Marco Pappa, receiving a backheel pass and skipping into the area before lashing a rising shot inside the near post past Wizards goalkeeper Kevin Hartman. It was Rolfe's fifth goal on the campaign and second in as many games.
• Chicago put the game away late. Not long after coming on as a substitute for his MLS debut, new Wizards signing Zoltan was sent off after going through the back of Mike Banner's legs.
• Banner made his response in a memorable fashion. Receiving a pass from Logan Pause from midfield, Banner carried forward into the left side of the area before lashing a low drive past Hartman and inside the right post for his first MLS goal.
• Fire head coach Denis Hamlett made three changes to the team that lost 3-2 to the Houston Dynamo the week before. Austin Washington and Dasan Robinson came back into the back four and Justin Mapp returned to the midfield, with Cuauhtemoc Blanco and Bakary Soumare given the night off after playing internationally at midweek and Gonzalo Segares injured.
• Here's Hamlett's team (4-1-3-2): Jon Busch - Austin Washington, C.J. Brown, Dasan Robinson, Brandon Prideaux - Logan Pause - Marco Pappa (Calen Carr 88), Peter Lowry, Justin Mapp (Mike Banner 66) - Patrick Nyarko (Stefan Dimitrov 75), Chris Rolfe. Substitutes Not Used: Cuauhtemoc Blanco, Andrew Dykstra, Baggio Husidic
TEAM NEWS
• For Rolfe, it marked the second time this season he's scored in back-to-back games. The first came May 10-16; the goal against Toronto on May 10 was in his first start of the season, as a forward. He then scored coming off the bench against New York, entering the game at halftime, also at forward - he's been in the starting lineup every game since.
• "He's been a good pro. ... I always remind him -- look around the world," said Hamlett, who referenced Manchester United's Wayne Rooney. "When you are a complete player, you can adapt to different positions.You adjust your game and you learn and it makes you a better overall player. He's understanding that part of it, welcoming the challenge, and adapting to the challenge. And whenever we can play with two strikers, he's the first choice up there."
• Rolfe has also played as a forward the last two matches. He started on the right side of midfield against Chivas on May 24, and had spent the majority of his time there until starting up top the last two games.
• "I've told Chris many times: he's such a talented player," said Hamlett. "His ability around the goal is pretty special. If he's playing up front, we know that when he has half a look, he's dangerous."
• After captaining Mexico in the World Cup qualifying victory against the USA at midweek, Cuauhtémoc Blanco was given the day off in Kansas City.
• "It's always fun for me to up there and play with Patrick [Nyarko]," said Rolfe. "He's a great player to play with, and I enjoy having Peter Lowry underneath. He's a great player to combine with as well, so it was fun."
• The Fire could have made a starting back four from the players sidelined through injury for the K.C. match - Wilman Conde, Gonzalo Segares, Tim Ward and Daniel Woolard. That meant Austin Washington made his first league start of the season - after playing just 13 minutes total in MLS play, none since early April - and Dasan Robinson was making just his fourth of the year.
• "These guys have been around here long enough with me, and I've always said to them, 'Just continue to work hard and continue to push yourself because your moment is going to come,'" Hamlett said. "To their credit, they stay positive and wait for their opportunity. Tonight, each guy, in his own way, helped us get this important win tonight because we have to make sure we stay on the heels of Columbus."
LOS ANGELES GALAXY
The Los Angeles Galaxy went a man down early and saw their undefeated streak put to an end at six games, falling 2-0 to Seattle Sounders FC on Saturday evening in their return to The Home Depot Center. The Galaxy fell back into third place in the Western Conference with 31 points from 21 games, a point behind Seattle and eight points behind MLS overall leaders Houston Dynamo.LAST MATCH
• The Galaxy were back home after four consecutive road games where they won three and drew one, having won five of their last six. Sounders FC were winless in three in a row, having lost two straight, and had gone scoreless in a club-record three games.
• The game turned upside-down after just 17 minutes, when Galaxy midfielder David Beckham was given a straight red card by referee Ricardo Salazar for a challenge on Peter Vagenas in the center circle.
• Sounders FC took the lead just five minutes later. Brad Evans steamed forward to take control of a loose ball and turned the corner on the right before sliding a pass through the 6-yard box for Steve Zakuani to tap home the third goal of his rookie campaign, ending the club's scoreless drought at 336 minutes.
• Seattle doubled their lead in the 54th minute. A corner kick was headed on by Nate Jaqua and Fredy Montero was quickest to it, turned and firing into the roof of the net from close range for his 10th goal of the year, tied for second in the MLS Golden Boot.
• Both teams were reduced in numbers in a three-minute span. Tyrone Marshall was sent off with a second yellow card in the 76th minute to leave the game 10-on-10, but LA's Eddie Lewis was shown a straight red in the 79th to once again give Sounders FC the advantage.
• Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena made one change to the team that defeated the New England Revolution 2-1 the weekend before. Chris Klein came in on the right of midfield in place of Landon Donovan.
• Here's Arena's team (4-1-3-2): Donovan Ricketts - A.J. DeLaGarza, Gregg Berhalter, Omar Gonzalez, Todd Dunivant - Stefani Miglioranzi (Landon Donovan 46) - Chris Klein (Bryan Jordan 58), David Beckham, Eddie Lewis - Alan Gordon (Mike Magee 61), Jovan Kirovski. Substitutes Not Used: Chris Birchall, Dema Kovalenko, Tony Sanneh, Josh Saunders
• "Simply, it is not a good performance for our team tonight. Obviously, the initial red card put us behind the 8-ball, and we had to battle for 70-something minutes with 10, and then eventually nine, and all of that," Arena said. "Disappointing was our start of the second half, and conceding the second goal was highly disappointing; a bunch of guys standing around, watching the Seattle guy making the play. Not a good night tonight, didn't deserve more than what we got."
TEAM NEWS
• For Beckham, it was his first red card since Feb. 17, 2007 while playing with Real Madrid. "Pete [Vagenas] is one of my best friends. I think it was a hard tackle but by no means is it a red card. I've never gone into a tackle wanting to hurt someone, but the referee saw it different. It was a hard tackle, but not malicious," Beckham said. Said Arena to the Los Angeles Times: "When you throw yourself into that kind of tackle, there's a chance you're going to get sent off," he said. "He's been in enough rodeos."
• The red card meant that Landon Donovan came off the bench to start the second half. Donovan had been diagnosed with the H1N1 virus before the U.S. national team's trip to Mexico, where Donovan played at midweek in the 2-1 World Cup qualifying loss.
• "I actually felt really good. In hindsight, I wish I could've started the game because I had a lot of energy, but it's frustrating that I couldn't play more. He [Bruce Arena] asked me how I was feeling, and I said I thought I could play 45 minutes," Donovan said. "Maybe in hindsight, I would've tried to start the game and see how I felt at halftime, but in an ideal world, maybe we are winning and I don't have to come in until even later, but that is how it went tonight."
• Arena will have to make two changes to his first-choice midfield for the midweek trip to Chicago, after Eddie Lewis was sent off in the 79th minute. When Donovan came on, he figured more as an attacker, after playing as a right-sided midfielder almost exclusively since Beckham's return.
• "It is certainly wasn't easy for any attacking player, at that point when you are down with a player, he drew a number of fouls and the second yellow on [Tyrone] Marshall," Arena said. "There were spurts that he played really well, not an easy game for the attacking players with this circumstances that they had to deal with."
