Maicon Santos registered his first MLS goal Sunday afternoon at the Home Depot Center to help Chivas USA defeat the visiting New England Revolution by a score of 2 - 0.

Game time conditions were perfect and served as a great backdrop for the nationally televised match between two sides looking to secure a playoff spot. Both teams entered the match in desperate need of points, but Chivas USA came out the hungrier team and controlled the game from the start.

Justin Braun and Santos proved to be a handful for the New England defense and it wasn't long before they were getting their first cracks at Revs 'keeper Matt Reis. The opening goal would come at the 10th minute when Santos found himself completely unmarked at the mouth of the New England goal just in time to get on the end of a right flank cross from Braun. Minutes later, Sacha Kljestan almost extended the lead after a great header off an excellent cross from teammate Carey Talley beat Reis, but the shot hit the right post to stay out.

Despite the chances created by Chivas USA, they were unable to extend their lead before the break. Head coach Preki Radosavljevic later expressed some frustration at the difficulty in getting goals, believing the team could have easily put the game away early on. "I thought in the first 15 - 20 minutes we should [have] at least had another one and put the game away," stated Preki, further adding that in general, the ball has not rolled the red-and-whites' way throughout the entire year.

New England was not able to muster much of an offensive response, which turned out to be a good thing for Chivas USA 'keeper Zach Thornton who, although back on the pitch, wasn't 100%. When New England was able to build some momentum, the Chivas USA defense stepped in to help out and Thornton was left with little work to do.

Chivas USA took the 1 - 0 lead into the break, then picked up where they left off at the restart. Santos, however, would exit early due to injury. No matter, his replacement -- Eduardo Lillingston -- didn't skip a beat, helping generate a number of dangerous situations himself, including the one that led to the injury time penalty kick converted by Sacha Kljestan. Kljestan's tally would end the scoring for the day, but in between, Talley and New England midfielder Edgaras Jankauskas each received a red card, a habit that has become a bit too commonplace in recent Chivas USA games.

When asked about whether the frequency of red cards was a concern, Preki noted "Yes, I am very concerned. We are showing a little bit of lack of discipline in the field and if we don't clean our act in the key parts of the year, we might be having a difficult time. So, hopefully we can learn from these couple of mistakes and become a more disciplined team." With the playoffs looming, Preki's crew will need to sort out this problem as soon as possible if they hope to reach MLS Cup 2009 Final. For his part, Talley appeared to be at a loss as to the reason for the red card even well after the game.

Talley's absence against Seattle next week, however, might be more noticeable than appears at first glance. Newcomer Yamith Cuesta has played very well in his two appearances, but he hurt his foot during Sunday's match. Afterwards, Cuesta commented about whether he'll see the pitch this week, "I don't know. Right now it is really hurting me. It really hurts a lot," but seemed hopeful that he would be back on the field. Chivas USA is likely to do everything within its power to make sure that does happen.

For the meantime, the red-and-whites can reflect upon the fact that they accomplished their goal against New England. The victory gives Chivas USA a valuable three points, moving them far enough up on the standings to qualify them for the playoffs were the season to end today. A victory next week against conference rival Seattle would help solidify their position tremendously.

Filed in News and tagged Carey Talley, Chivas USA, Eduardo Lillingston, Justin Braun, Maicon Santos, MLS, New England Revolution, Soccer, Yamith Cuesta

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