The New York Red Bulls put their best attacking side on the field and pressed to get the all-important home win in the Eastern Conference Semifinal Series on Saturday night.

Chivas USA are without their top two scorers, Ante Razov and Maykel Galindo, who combined for 23 of 46 Chivas goals in the regular season. They could have used more offense in a 1-0 loss to the Kansas City Wizards in the first leg of their Western Conference Semifinal Series on Saturday night, but you won't hear that as an excuse, at least not from Chivas coach Preki.

The Kansas City Wizards won a defensive battle in the first leg of the Western Conference Semifinal Series, defeating Chivas USA 1-0 at Arrowhead Stadium on Saturday night.

They had more of the possession and had the edge in shots, but the New York Red Bulls again couldn't find a way to beat the New England Revolution as the two sides played to a scoreless draw Saturday night .

Forced from their southern California home by the smoke from wildfires, Chivas USA has been practicing in Kansas City since Thursday.

If Chivas USA and the Kansas City Wizards can repeat their performances against each from the regular season in their upcoming Western Conference Semifinals, the series will be one of the more entertaining of any first-round matchup.

The Chicago Fire won a match that they absolutely had to have when they defeated DC United by a score of 1-0 at Toyota Park. The victory means that a draw away in the second leg  at RFK Stadium would see Chicago through to the Eastern Conference semifinals. The Fire also continued their superb play against DC in head to head playoff matches.  Having played 6 times to date they have won 5 times and drawn once.  Manager Juan Carlos Osorio had his club extremely well prepared and they put together an almost perfect tactical plan to obtain the victory. Chris Rolfe played a huge part in helping the plan work by providing a vital goal before the 15 minute mark that allowed the home side to settle down and play with focus. 

Chivas USA’s experienced striker Ante Razov has been ruled out of the first round of this year’s MLS playoffs. His Chivas USA side are slated to open up on the road away to the Kansas City Wizards. Razov had initially hurt his knee when he suffered a sprain in his club’s draw against FC Dallas back on the 11^th of October. What’s ironic is that Chivas USA manager Preki had indicated that it was his intention to rest a number of players over the final stretch of the season as they had already secured their playoff spot. In particular, he was going to rest Razov, 38 year old Claudio Suarez and 33 year old Jesse Marsch. Since the diagnosis was confirmed the day after the match, Razov has failed to appear in a single match.  

They have one point in three regular-season meetings with the New England Revolution and have advanced in the MLS Cup Playoffs but once in club history.

A year ago, an upstart Chivas USA squad was less than a half-hour from advancing to the Western Conference Championship, only to have the series and their season pulled out from underneath them in a stunning fashion.