Saturday, June 6

Lillingston goal extends Chivas’ lead atop MLS / Con gol de Lillingston, Chivas USA se consolida como superlíder de la MLS

An Eduardo Lillingston goal in the 38th minute was enough to give Chivas USA a 1-0 victory over Seattle Sounders FC on Saturday night at The Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. The win improves the Red-and-White’s record to 8-2-3 (W-L-T), good for 27 points and keeping the team in first place, six ahead of the Chicago Fire and Houston Dynamo, tied for second. It was Chivas USA’s first win since May 9, after two ties and a loss in its last three games.
Lillingston’s goal came on a rebound given up by Seattle goalkeeper Kasey Keller after a hard shot from midfielder Paulo Nagamura. The Mexican striker now leads Chivas USA in goals, with five, putting him one ahead of Nagamura. It was also Lillingston’s third game-winning goal of 2009, good for the MLS lead in this category.
Chivas USA goalkeeper Zach Thornton made three saves to earn the clean sheet, and is now atop MLS with seven shutouts on the season. Thornton’s shutout tonight was the 65th of his career, which ties him with San Jose’s Joe Cannon for second place on the MLS all-time list in the category. Thornton’s goals against average in 2009 is now 0.69, and he continues to lead the league in saves, with 47.
Chivas USA’s Jorge Flores earned his first start of 2009 and midfielder Michael Lahoud started for the first time in his MLS career as the Red-and-White were without Sacha Kljestan and Jonathan Bornstein, on duty with the U.S. National Team, as well as midfielder Jesse Marsch, who was suspended for the match. Both Flores (left defense) and Lahoud (central midfield) played all 90 minutes.
Defender Claudio Suárez also earned his first action of 2009, entering the match as a 70th minute substitute for Shavar Thomas.
Chivas USA will hold its third ‘Practice in the Community’ of the 2009 season tomorrow morning in Moreno Valley, conducting a training session followed by an opportunity for fans to take photos, get autographs and meet players. The event will be hosted by Inland United Brasil S.C., a top youth soccer club based in the Inland Empire, at Moreno Valley Community Park at 13380 Frederick St in Moreno Valley.
Chivas USA Head Coach Preki, on tonight’s match: “Against Chicago we were very unlucky not to take all the points, we had many chances to put the game away and we don’t. Tonight we put one away and then we really showed resilience and toughness and good mentality… to get a result.” (For a full quote sheet, please visit cdchivasusa.com.)
Chivas USA then plays at the Columbus Crew on Sunday, June 14 before returning home to open SuperLiga 2009 against Tigres UANL on Saturday, June 20 at The Home Depot Center. For tickets or more information, please call 1-877-CHIVAS-1, visit cdchivasusa.com or contact Chivas USA Communications.

PHOTOS: Juan Miranda/Chivas USA

AUDIOS
Post-game audios in English:
Head Coach Preki during the post-game press conference
Reacciones después del partido en español:
El defensa Jorge Flores sobre jugar por la lateral izquierda los 90 minutos
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