Goats take West lead with first Super Clasico title over L.A.

Soccer Betting Lines

09/14/2007 - Carson, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - In just its third season in Major League Soccer, CD Chivas USA has gone from worst to first.

The Mexican owned, Los Angeles based club took over the top spot in the Western table, as well as winning the third annual Super Clasico - the trophy given to the winner of the L.A. derby against the Galaxy - with an impressive 3-0 victory over its Home Depot Center neighbors Thursday night.

The Goats proved just how far they have come in three seasons, since that 4-22-5 opening campaign in 2005 in which the club finished last in the league, by dominating the Galaxy most of the game. Despite the fact that Chivas USA dominated the match, it only had a 1-0 lead after an Ante Razov tally early in the first half as time was winding down. But two minutes from time, Chivas busted the game open, with Francisco Mendoza blasting home a goal on a breakaway before Laurent Merlin made it 3-0 in stoppage time.

With the win, the Goats capture their first Super Clasico title by going 2-1-1 against L.A. this season, bringing the all-time series between the two clubs to 7-3-2 in favor of the Galaxy. Chivas (13-6-4) outscored L.A. 8-4 this season.

There was some bad blood between the two teams after Chivas' Alex Zotinca and L.A.'s Kevin Harmse were ejected in first half stoppage time of the last fixture between the clubs after a hard challenge by Jesse Marsch on David Beckham led to a scrum at midfield.

That seemed to carry over into the opening minutes of the game as Peter Vagenas fouled Marsch hard, leading the Chivas USA midfielder to throw the ball at the Galaxy player. Vagenas took exception to that and pushed Marsch. Referee Alex Prus put a quick stop to the shenanigans when he issued and early card to Marsch in the second minute.

After that, Chivas controlled possession of the ball and took the play to the Galaxy (4-12-5) for most of the first half.

Goats' leading scorer Maykel Galindo had the best early chance when he out- muscled a defender at the top of the Galaxy penalty area, cut inside past Vagenas and fired a shot on goal. L.A. goalkeeper Joe Cannon stood tall on the play, however, and made the close-range save to keep the game scoreless 20 minutes in.

There was nothing Cannon could do just three minutes later when Razov scored his ninth goal of the season and 107th of his MLS career to make it 1-0.

The U.S. international took a long pass from defender Lawson Vaughn from the defensive third and drove to the top of the box. With Razov flying in, defender Abel Xavier closed and cut off the inside lane, expecting Razov to cut inside and blast a shot with his dominant left foot. Razov instead glided past the defender, beating him badly, and fired a shot with his right, just inside the far post past Cannon.

That was how the score stayed until the 88th minute when Mendoza scored just his second goal of the season to double the lead. Sacha Kljestan played a ball through the Galaxy defense - which was pushing forward for the equalizer - to Mendoza who broke in on Cannon and unleashed a low, hard shot with his left foot into the back of the net.

Merlin added his first career MLS goal a minute into stoppage time when a Galaxy defender cleared a ball to him at the top of the box after a flurry of action inside. The Frenchman took one touch and blasted a shot off the far post and in to make it 3-0.

Chivas, which currently holds a one point lead over Houston in the West with two games in hand, is back in action Sunday when it travels to Colorado while the Galaxy hosts the Dynamo the same day.