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CARSON -- It happened again for Chivas USA -- another 1-0 loss at home, and in a match that turned really ugly at the end -- but forget the score and how Philadelphia got its goal, and it felt a lot like a victory.

The Goats dominated the Union on Saturday night at Home Depot Center, racking up 21 shots (to just four for the visitors), sending 40 crosses in from the run for play (to just five for Philly) and holding onto the ball for two-thirds of the game. Impressive numbers, but the only one that mattered -- how many of the chances generated were finished -- was nil.

“Obviously, we're gutted,” said right back James Riley, whose misplay in the box led to the goal, by Freddy Adu just before halftime. “Obviously we don't ever want to lose four straight at home, especially 1-0.”

The good news for the Goats: Next week's game is on the road, at Colorado. Chivas (3-4-0, 9 points) has won all three away games.

They should have had this one, too, but Philadelphia sat back, was difficult to break down, scored on its only real chance, then hung on as Chivas sent a barrage of balls into the box in the second half but forcing Union goalkeeper Zac MacMath to make just one tough save, diving to parry a 28-yard free kick from Blair Gavin.

Miller Bolaños was the primary instigator, repeatedly taking on defenders along the right flank -- Wildomar's Gabriel Farfan, largely -- and spraying balls into the middle, but the Goats struggled to get on the end of crosses, and when they did, the touches weren't quite right.

Philly's goal came from an odd play. Michael Farfan -- Gabriel's twin brother -- danced into the box from the right flank and was able to get a low cross into the goalmouth past defender Heath Pearce. It hit Riley, who should have cleared the ball but instead fell over. Adu backheeled it into the net.

“I take full responsibility,” Riley said. “For sure, it's a play I make 99 times out of 100, for sure. I feel bad for the team, letting them down that way. ... Just leaned back too much. It got caught under me. I was just going to try to swipe it out. I was in a good position, just didn't execute it.”

Juan Pablo Angel, back in action after missing five games following a concussion, came on in the second half and had Chivas' best opportunity. Bolaños delivered a perfect cross just beyond the 6-yard box, but the big striker's header bounced wide and high.

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CARSON -- Chivas USA last weekend heroically gutted out a victory over Major League Soccer's early Supporters' Shield leader. Now they'll try to do so again, and it will require the same kind of grit.

That's what the Goats are counting on when they meet Sporting Kansas City (3-0-0) on Sunday evening at Home Depot Center, and that's fine by them.

Real Salt Lake dominated Chivas through huge portions of last week's clash in Sandy, Utah, but superb defensive work -- especially by former RSL backup Rauwshan McKenzie and goalkeeper Dan Kennedy -- and a heads-up finish by rookie Casey Townsend delivered to the Goats (1-2-0) a 1-0 triumph.

Sporting K.C., which vaulted over RSL to the top of the overall standings with a comeback victory last weekend over FC Dallas, can be expected to apply similar pressure, and Chivas is ready for it.

“We've got a fight about us. We've got a determination,” said midfielder Blair Gavin, asked what's different about Robin Fraser's second Chivas team. “We've got guys who get stuck into tackles, who work hard offensively and defensively. This is Robin's second year, so his ideas are coming in now. He's getting more players he likes and [who] understand his system, and at the end of the day, we've got a lot of winners on this team, and we're going to be fighting for every victory.”

That desire to fight is pivotal -- it's built into former U.S. defenders Fraser's and assistant coach Greg Vanney's DNA and that of their teams -- but it won't be enough to contend for a playoff berth in the Western Conference. That will require greater dynamism on attack. With winger Michael Lahoud and striker Juan Pablo Angel dealing with injuries and newcomer Miller Bolaños still looking to contribute, it's still a ways off.

“We still have a lot of work to do,” said midfielder Peter Vagenas, noting that this group has just three competitive games together. “This is a work in progress. The soccer is going to get better and the way we want to play, that's going to get better, but you need time. While you're doing that, you need success, especially in the win department, to validate what you're doing.

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CARSON -- Blair Gavin hopes he has turned a corner on a longstanding hamstring problem after missing a good deal of preseason and Chivas USA's first three Major League Soccer games this year.

He played the second half in an unannounced friendly Thursday against Thousand Oaks-based fourth-division club FC Hasental, converting a penalty kick in a 5-0 victory at Home Depot Center's Track and Field Stadium.

“I'm getting there,” said Gavin, a third-year midfielder with exceptional skill and ideas who has battled hamstring injuries since his rookie year with the Goats. “It's a process, as usual with most injuries, but it's coming along, getting better. It's going in the right direction.”

Gavin could be available for Sunday's game vs. early Eastern Conference leader Sporting Kansas City at Home Depot Center, but likelier will be in coach Robin Fraser's plans for Monday's MLS Reserve League opener against the Galaxy. He's been out since mid-February and missed eight games before getting a few minutes in the March 18 friendly against UC Riverside. Thursday's game was just his fifth game appearance this year for the Goats.

The constant injuries are trying, but Gavin says he's encouraged by his progress and how strategies developed by the training staff, to deal with physiological issues, has helped him.

“I love soccer, so [rehabbing injuries] is the things you've got to do,” he said. “Unfortunately, I've been injured for a long time, but that's the way it goes sometimes. I do the right things so it it will prevent it from happening, but if it happens, then so be it, and I've got to work at it.”

Fraser said the club has been “very mindful of Blair and his history in his recovery” as it works to “do everything we can to eliminate this happening again.”

Gavin was happy to be in a game situation, but he acknowledged a “lot of stray touches that can be better. Just got to get my sharpness back. That comes with games, comes with practices. When you're off for four or five weeks, your touch isn't exactly where you want it to be.”

Fraser praised Gavin's “good ideas, good decisions when to keep it, when to push the pace a little bit” and noted that “when he's healthy, he puts himself into [lineup] contention right away.”

HIGHLIGHTS: Victor Manuel Chavez, one of the four Mexican youngsters in camp from the Sensifut academy in Torreon, scored twice in the victory, and Gerardo Daniel Torres also saw action.

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CARSON -- Juan Pablo Angel's concussion symptoms are lingering, so the regal striker likely won't be suiting up for Chivas USA come Saturday at Real Salt Lake.

Angel, who took a blow to the head in a preseason match three weeks ago in Portland, is going through Major League Soccer's concussion protocol, which forced him out of last weekend's loss to Vancouver.

He's training, but no headers -- and no decisions yet.

“We're just taking it day by day, and we'll see how it is tomorrow,” Angel said following the Goats' training session Wednesday morning at Home Depot Center. “It's hard to tell, because I still feel a little bit of … you know.”

Angel took a knock from Portland Timbers center back Eric Brunner in a tournament game March 1 at Jeld-Wen Field, and the impact has bothered him since, although he played in another preseason game three days later and Chivas' league opener March 11 against Houston.

The Goats could use the tall Colombian striker, who scored seven goals in nine games for club after arriving from the Galaxy in a trade that cleared a Designated Player slot on L.A.'s roster for Robbie Keane. Chivas has been shut out in back-to-back games to start the season, and chances were limited in both of them.

Head coach Robin Fraser was asked about Angel's chances to play this week. The forward is listed as questionable on the disabled list, but he must complete protocol, which takes a week minimum and includes a battery of tests.

“To be honest, I don't know,” he said. “As you know, there's a protocol to be followed, and we just have to follow up and see how he is.”

Told that Angel says he still has symptoms, Fraser said: “That's probably not the best sign, is it?”

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Chivas USA's Major League Soccer opener is just a week away, and the club enters its final preparations in turmoil. The Goats were battered in their final preseason match Sunday, a 5-0 disaster against the San Jose Earthquakes in Portland, Ore., and head coach Robin Fraser admitted afterward that the difference between where his team is and where he wants it to be is “pretty far apart.”

Defensive problems were at the core of the defeat on the final day of the Portland Timbers' four-team, round-robin tournament, a tight match until the second half, when the Quakes scored four goals -- three in the final 11 minutes -- to send Chivas home desperate for answers before its league opener next Sunday against Houston at Home Depot Center.

“They should be embarrassed,” Fraser said of his players afterward. “Everyone should be so embarrassed that we come into this week with some resolve that this can't continue.”

It was the second time in the preseason Chivas has conceded five goals -- Club Tijuana won the San Diego friendly, 5-2, a week and a half ago -- and although results in these games mean nothing, the Goats are a side still finding itself and learning how to win together.

Winning these games was vital because it could lead to wins once the scores matter.

“Exactly,” Fraser told ESPN Los Angeles. “Winning confirms belief and losing creates doubt, so while there were good moments in preseason, when we don't get the results we want, then there's doubt. The good thing is the season begins next week, we can get a win and all of a sudden tons of belief again.”

Chivas went 3-7-1 in its preseason matches -- 1-5-1 against MLS opposition -- and accomplished several things. The Goats found two good young forwards (Cesar Romero and first-round draft pick Casey Townsend), developed a starting backline, built several combinations in midfield and installed a 4-2-3-1 formation that Fraser will consider along with a more customary 4-4-2.

But their only wins came against vastly inferior foes (fourth-division amateurs FC Hasental and Loyola Marymount University) or in shorter matches (a 60-minute win over the Montreal Impact, with both teams using primarily reserve players).

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CARSON -- Chivas USA coach Robin Fraser was not pleased with his side's effort in the first half Tuesday morning against the Galaxy. The Goats, fielding close to a first-choice lineup against a group of second- and third-teamers, played listless, mistake-filled soccer and struggled to figure out their archrival's direct approach.

It led to a three-goal deficit by halftime, and only a second-half rally, after Fraser made wholesale changes, salvaged some positives in a 3-2 closed-door loss on L.A.'s training field at Home Depot Center.

“First half really poor. Really poor,” Fraser reported afterward. “We had too many turnovers and not enough ideas to deal with the way that they were playing. I was disappointing to come out and start that way. I think the second half, we came out with as little more resolve against how we wanted to play against them, and as a result we were able to turn the game a bit in our favor and create some good opportunities.

“This is part of the learning process. You're going to see different sorts of teams. And I think the way the Galaxy play, this is the first time we've seen a team that plays [so directly], and we just have to learn from it.”

Miscues from trusted hands, including backline leader Heath Pearce and goalkeeper Dan Kennedy, contributed to the first-half fallout, with the Galaxy scoring on easy finishes from Pat Noonan (after a takeaway), Adam Cristman (after a backpass disaster) and Dan Keat (after rookie Rafael Garcia sliced through the defense).

“Errors in the back are never good,” Fraser said. “We had guys make mistakes today who are good players and know the consequences of making mistakes like that in big games. So certainly we feel again like this is something we have to learn from. We have to recognize opportunities [to score], we have to be cleaner. You can't turn the ball over 35 yards from your goal. You just can't.

“I feel like we're taking steps forward, but it's always disappointing whenever you shoot yourself in the foot.”

Michael Lahoud, who arguably has been Chivas' best player through six preseason matches, said the first half “wasn't good enough.”

“We want to be a team of ambition,” he said. “We want to be a team that competes, especially when we play against these guys -- they're neighbors, they're our rivals, and it's never an easy game. But that doesn't excuse the way we came out. We came out flat and passes weren't connected.”

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OXNARD -- Marvin Iraheta's first game experience with Chivas USA's first team was such a blast that even a knee injury, one that might be more serious than he believes, couldn't wipe the smile from his face.

The Goats' 19-year-old Salvadoran midfielder, signed out of the club's academy, offered a lot more good than ill in Friday morning's preseason opener, a 1-0 loss to the Ventura County Fusion in heavy winds at Oxnard College.

Iraheta was paired at the base of midfield with another Chivas debutant, 12-year MLS veteran Peter Vagenas, in a 4-2-3-1 alignment for the first of two 30-minute halves, and his incisive play and positive energy certainly made an impression.

“I like playing alongside him,” said Vagenas, a former Galaxy captain from UCLA whose signing has been completed but not announced. “I don't like driving him home all the time. I could do a few days here without Marvin, to be honest.”

He's kidding, of course. Iraheta, too, is from Pasadena, and Vagenas, who has 14 years on the youngster, is taking the kid under his wing.

“He's a good kid,” said Vagenas, who lives in Arcadia, close enough to carpool with Iraheta. “He seems to understand the game, he seems to want to get better, which is important, and he's all ears: He listens, which is good for a young player. ... Obviously, as he moves his career forward, he'll realize that the game is going to be a lot faster, and the things he did a year ago in three touches, he's got to do in one. I'm trying to encourage him not to get a false sense of security, especially in the middle of midfield, that he's just got to speed up his play.

“He's 19 years old. The sky's the limit, as they say, and as long as he continues to progress, he's going to be OK.”

Iraheta had a blast, calling it “a great experience to play next to someone the caliber of Peter” and saying he was “so happy I had the opportunity to play with the first team in my first game, and I feel like I'm important now, and I'm going to work hard and show [I can play].”

That's certainly the hope. Iraheta went down in the 20th minute, twisting his left knee in an unfortunate tackle. He reported he heard a pop -- never a good thing -- and tests will be required to assess how serious is the damage.

He wasn't the only casualty. Trialist Mario Ledesma, a former Chivas Academy player who has played in Guadalajara's system, hurt his right ankle midway through the second half.

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CARSON -- Chivas USA has been looking to tap into Southern California's rich pool of young talent, and the first real foray was on display as the club opened its preseason camp Monday morning at Home Depot Center.

Salvadoran midfielder Marvin Iraheta, who came to Chivas' academy in last year's merger with Cosmos West, was presented, sort of, as the Goats' newest signing. He was the U.S. Developmental Academy's U-17/18 Player of the Year for the 2009-10 season and played at Old Trafford last year with a Cosmos side constructed for Paul Scholes' testimonial match.

Iraheta, just 19, is looking for more.

“I'm very happy about the opportunity I'm being given,” Iraheta, who moved from El Salvador to Pasadena when he was 17 and holds a green card, said through a translator. “This is something new for me, and I'm going to work as hard as I can so I can reach the top.”

Fraser, who Monday also welcomed English midfielder Ryan Smith, right back James Riley, goalkeeper Tim Melia and rookie forward Casey Townsend to the club, not only likes Iraheta, but also what he represents.

“Marvin is a tremendous product of Southern California soccer,” the Goats' head coach said. “He's a kid who was the Development Academy's Player of the Year a couple year back, certainly highly sought-after, well-recognized for his achievements. He's a non-nonsense, hard-working midfielder. He's a battler. He's a true competitor.

“It's great. This is what we've talked about since we got here [a year ago]: to be able to find and unearth some of the local talent that's here, and Marvin is a good example of that. he's a kid who's excelled as a youth player and is certainly moving into this next stage of his career.”

Another local talent, former Chivas Academy defender Mario Ledezma, is on trial with the Goats. The El Camino Real High School grad had been in Guadalajara's system.

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CARSON -- Chivas USA's preparations for the 2012 season began with medical exams Sunday and moves onto good, old Field 6 at Home Depot Center on Monday morning, with head coach Robin Fraser welcoming a lot of new faces -- and not all of them, by any means, under contract.

The Goats have unloaded nearly half their 2011 roster and added a half-dozen or so new names, and if Fraser's second preseason in charge is anything like the first, plenty of trialists will get a look.

Chivas brass last year looked at more than 80 players, including academy kids, as Fraser and general manager Jose Domene presided over a rebuild that the coach said was more building “from scratch.”

Fraser's idea this year is to have a team in place as the preseason starts, but he's got roster spots to fill and areas of great need and not all negotiations are finished. Five players will be added in Tuesday's supplemental draft, and another overseas signing is possible.

Here's a quick look at the Goats as their campaign begins:

• LAST YEAR?

Chivas endured the kind of up-and-down season common to rebuilding years in 2011, playing some exceptional possession soccer but suffering from inconsistency at both ends. The Goats won back-to-back games just once, in April, and watched .500 slip away over the last two-thirds of the season. Playoff hopes died with a seven-game winless streak in August and September.

Nonetheless, Fraser and his staff built a strong foundation, several players -- especially goalkeeper Dan Kennedy, midfielder Nick LaBrocca and defender Heath Pearce -- enjoyed remarkable seasons and the addition of Juan Pablo Angel, in an August trade from the Galaxy, gave the Goats their first top-class MLS striker since Ante Razov.

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Seems pretty wasteful to let the No. 4 overall pick in last January's draft, an outside back with the potential to become a star (and maybe for the national team, too), slip away for nothing.

Zarek Valentin's departure from Chivas USA in Major League Soccer's expansion draft isn't so simple. And Chivas coach Robin Fraser isn't happy about it.

The Montreal Impact, which next season will debut as MLS's 19th club, on Wednesday listed Valentin No. 2 on its list of 10 players culled from the other 18 clubs after the Goats failed to include him among the 11 players they were permitted to protect.

The 20-year-old right back's fate is product of MLS's decision to “graduate” him from its Generation adidas developmental program, a decision Fraser, Chivas' head coach, called “baffling” and “extremely, extremely disappointing” -- and one that vastly changed Valentin's worth to the organization.

He's young, he's developing and in no way is he there yet -- just what the Generation adidas program is about -- and as a GA he counted nothing against Chivas' salary cap nor roster size. His change of designation means his salary, $80,000 annually (with $138,000 average guaranteed compensation), suddenly is applied against the cap.

MLS success often is about how well clubs maneuver within and around the salary cap, and the Goats also are getting a salary-cap hit from second-year midfielder Blair Gavin's GA “graduation.”

'MADE NO SENSE': “All the ramifications went into that decision” not to protect Valentin, Fraser said Thursday. “Here's a player who comes out early [following his sophomore season at the University of Akron] and is the No. 4 pick and as a GA player that has time to develop.

“It was baffling, to be quite honest. Extremely baffling. And I was extremely, extremely disappointed that he had 'graduated' from that. That's the sort of of program meant to allow players time to develop. For me, it just made no sense.”

Valentin and former Akron teammate Perry Kitchen, who had a solid rookie season on D.C. United's backline, were the only GA rookies who “graduated.” They also were the only GA rookies to exceed 2,000 regular-season minutes. Kitchen played in 31 games, 30 of them starts, and was on the field for 2,726 minutes. Valentin's numbers were 25 (with 24 starts) and 2,114.

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The Montreal Impact will unveil round about noon Wednesday the list of 10 players it has claimed from the other 18 clubs in Major League Soccer's expansion draft.

The Galaxy and Chivas USA are holding their breaths.

Both have left some very fine players unprotected, and each could lose one player.

If we're Impact manager Jesse Marsch, the former Chivas USA standout, we're looking very closely at Galaxy midfielders Michael Stephens and Paolo Cardozo and forward Chad Barrett and Chivas midfielders Blair Gavin and Michael Lahoud and defender Zarek Valentin.

Here's the list of unprotected players from the local clubs:

• GALAXY

Goalkeepers: Brian Perk.
Defenders: Sean Alvarado, Frankie Hejduk, Bryan Jordan, Leonardo, Dustin McCarty, Dasan Robinson, Ryan Thomas.
Midfielders: Chris Birchall, Paolo Cardozo, Hector Jimenez, Dan Keat, Jovan Kirovski, Michael Stephens.
Forwards: Chad Barrett, Adam Cristman, Miguel Lopez.

• CHIVAS USA

Goalkeepers: Sergio Arias, Zach Thornton.
Defenders: Andrew Boyens, Ante Jazic, David Junior Lopes, Mariano Trujillo, Zarek Valentin.
Midfielders: Laurent Courtois, Simon Elliott, Blair Gavin, Michael Lahoud, Gerson Mayen.
Forwards: Chukwudi Chijindu, Chris Cortez, Victor Estupiñan, Marcos Mondaini.

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Chivas USA bolstered its midfield attack during Major League Soccer's four-hour trade window Monday, sending a pair of supplemental draft picks to Sporting Kansas City for Englishman Ryan Smith.

Read the full story here.

CARSON -- Every game is must-win for Chivas USA, and even that probably isn't enough to get the club in Major League Soccer's postseason tournament.

And when the Goats offer not nearly the kind of intensity required to beat decent opponents, well, what's the point?

That was the tale of Sunday's 1-1 draw at Home Depot Center with the Philadelphia Union, a result that didn't quite crush their playoff prospects but trimmed their slim chances to nearly nothing.

Juan Pablo Angel's 90th-minute header delivered the draw, which was better than a loss in that Chivas (8-12-12) needs, let's say, 15 results to go its way rather than, say, 20. Those aren't exact numbers, but they might as well be.

“Obviously, any lifeline is better than none at all ...” coach Robin Fraser said. “Our chances are extremely slim. In sports, you certainly like to be able to control your own destiny, and that was many games ago for us, and now not only do we have to sit and wait, but we have business we have to take care of ourselves.”

Chivas hopes it is still alive when it meets the Galaxy in two weeks, but if L.A. loses Tuesday at New York, it's over.

The Goats have 36 points and can get to 42 with victories in their last two games. Nine teams already are beyond that -- including Philly (10-7-14) -- and they'd have to vault past four teams, all with more games remaining than Chivas has, to snatch the last berth.

“Mathematically, we still have a chance, I guess,” said goalkeeper Dan Kennedy. “As results like this happen, you just depend more and more on everyone else. And that's the problem.

“This has been our problem all year, not taking care of our games at home, and tonight was another case of the same thing, I guess.”

Chivas is 5-6-5 in home games, winning just 20 of a possible 48 points. Pick up another half-dozen, and the Goats would be in the thick of the playoff chase rather than waiting for the ax.

Fraser was asked afterward about luck and how much a little more here or there would have meant to his team.

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CARSON -- Chivas USA gave up a horrid early goal, went a man up not long afterward and followed with perhaps their finest possession soccer of the season in a debilitating 1-0 loss Saturday night to visiting Real Salt Lake. It didn't add up to much.

There was a lot of good and just enough bad to derail the Goats in the disappointing loss, a result that leaves them scrambling as they seek some way into Major League Soccer's playoffs.

Chivas (7-10-10), which with a victory would have vaulted into 10th place -- just inside MLS's postseason zone -- finds itself in 12th with just one win in its last six games and no goals in five of its last eight.

“We're not doing ourselves any favors ...,” said left back Ante Jazic, whose misplayed back pass led to Alvaro Saborio's 11th-minute goal for RSL. “We still hold our fate in our own hands, but we have to start picking up points soon. That's for sure.”

Chivas was superb from the moment Saborio fired into an open net until the halftime whistle blew, holding nearly constant possession -- especially after RSL center back Nat Borchers was red-carded in the 24th minute for a last-man foul on Nick LaBrocca just outside the Utahns' box.

They had some chances -- the best: Juan Pablo Angel hit the crossbar, and his late blast and LaBrocca's glancing header tested RSL goalkeeper Nick Rimando -- but not nearly enough for all the time they had the ball, and nearly nothing in a chaotic second half.

“You can't be a man up for that long and not score a goal,” said Chivas coach Robin Fraser, who fell to his old boss -- RSL coach Jason Kreis -- for the second time this season. “That's the story of the game.”

Even worse, the Goats lost star center back Heath Pearce to a probable torn right hamstring in the second half.

A quick look at Chivas' defeat:

BEST PLAYER: Chivas got outstanding performances in the first half from midfielders LaBrocca, Blair Gavin and Simon Elliott, who set the tone for the Goats' domination by winning nearly every battle they entered and with precise, pretty ball movement that kept RSL on its heels from when they scored until halftime.

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CARSON -- A new formation -- or, rather, an old one revisited -- and a spectacular night from Justin Braun has put Chivas USA in postseason position. No kidding.

Braun's second hat trick of the season, on three superbly taken goals, delivered a comprehensive 3-0 triumph Saturday night over the Houston Dynamo, vaulting the Goats (6-7-8) into sixth place in Major League Soccer's Western Conference -- and into 10th overall, good enough to snag the last playoff berth if the season stopped now.

That would mean more in a couple of months, but head coach Robin Fraser, who altered his alignment, changed a couple of assignments and welcomed back from injury a pivotal performer, wasn't complaining.

“More than anything right now, it means we're within striking range,” he said after Chivas pushed its unbeaten streak to five games. “Certainly, we want to make sure we're always in striking range.”

Braun, taking to heart some lessons on how to be more precise in the final third, scored in the 31st, 40th and 86th minutes, benefiting mightily from Fraser's alterations. He came into the game with just four goals -- three of them in the May 15 victory at New York -- but finished as the club's No. 2 all-time goal scorer.

His third of the night was his 19th as a Goat, one more than Maykel Galindo tallied in his time in red and white and 11 off Ante Razov's club record.

“It's cool to get another hat trick,” Braun said. “I kind of went through a dry spell there, but it's nice to get that weight off my shoulders. But the most important thing is that the team came out, we played well collectively and got three points tonight, which we needed.”

The Goats notched their third shutout of the last four games and might have scored more. Michael Lahoud -- back in midfield, on the right flank, with Zarek Valentin back at right back -- forced a diving save from Dynamo goalkeeper Tally Hall in the 14th minute.

Valentin was back on the right because Ante Jazic was back from a calf injury -- and he was outstanding on the flank, setting up the first and third goals with outstanding balls from the left.

Fraser went back to a 4-1-4-1 alignment, as he used in preseason and at season's start, pairing Nick LaBrocca and Blair Gavin atop a midfield triangle with Simon Elliott underneath. It made a possession side more possessive.

“We felt like when we possess really well, we are most dangerous,” Fraser said. “Our midfield certainly has had moments where they have been very, very good in possession, so it was just a thought to go back to that and try to regain more possession.

“We're a little bit more mature and a little further ahead than we were at the beginning of the season [and] we felt very strongly that this group of midfielders would be able to take some possession and turn it into dangerous opportunities. Certainly nice when you get it right.”

A quick look at Chivas' victory:

BEST PLAYER: How do you not go with Braun? He scored three very fine goals, caused problems for the Dynamo defense from start to finish, and showed great discipline in his runs and positioning as he went for goal.

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