Chivas USA picks up a point on the road in a 0-0 draw at Dallas
Chivas and the Hoops played to a scoreless draw in their Round 28 match at Pizza Hut Park. The visitors had a lot more riding on this result as they were looking to secure first place in the Western Conference and the home field advantage in the playoffs that comes with it. The point allows them to stretch their lead over the second place Houston Dynamo to 4 points with just 2 matches remaining. This puts the onus entirely on the Dynamo to have to win each of their last two matches just to have the smallest chance of catching Chivas. Meanwhile the Hoops are pretty much set in the 5th position of the playoff table as they are 4 points behind 4th place Houston and 5 ahead of 6th place Red Bull New York.
Contrary to what he had preached throughout the week, Chivas head coach Preki decided to sit both Ante Razov and Maykel Galindo, his two top strikers, despite having both of them available. Both players were on the bench for most of the match and only came on for the final 25 minutes. It can come as no surprise then that the Chivas produced just 1 shot at goal for the entire match. John Cunliffe was unable to replicate his fine performance of this past weekend in the lead striker role. Dallas were also missing some important players as both Carlos Ruiz and Kenny Cooper were out again. Their next match will be their last regular season tune up before the playoffs when they host the Kansas City Wizards. As for Chivas, they will be right back in action in 3 days time when they host the Colorado Rapids on Sunday. If they can win that match they will clinch first place in the West.
