It’s a game that could decide who gets named Major League Soccer coach of the year.
D.C. United’s Peter Nowak was a lock for the award before his team’s current five-game winless streak.
Meanwhile, under first-year head coach Bob Bradley — who took over in the offseason following his franchise’s dismal inaugural season — Chivas is unbeaten in its last six matches (2-0-4) and locked in a battle for Western Conference playoff position.
Chivas journeyman forward Ante Razov, who has been in MLS since its inception, is a front-runner for postseason honors with his league-leading 14 goals and eight assists. Defender Jonathan Bornstein (6 goals, 2 assists) might swoop up the title of rookie of the year.
Chivas is the second-highest scoring team in the league (39 goals) — two behind D.C. United (41). D.C. can become the league’s first team to secure a playoff spot with a victory and expect United to clamp down on defense and avoid the pitfalls that led to a disastrous five goals last weekend for the Los Angeles Galaxy.
“I think the problem is we didn’t defend that well,” Nowak said. “The problem is how are we going to play from the front to the back. [Against Los Angeles] we stretched ourselves too much and we didn’t recover well like we normally do. A night like that, we gambled too much, we opened ourselves up too much.”
D.C. United (13-3-8) at Chivas USA (8-6-10)
Where: Home Depot Center,
Carson, Calif.
When: 7 p.m. Sunday
TV: Comcast SportsNet
Radio: WMET-1160 AM,
WACA-1540 AM
