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Red Bulls-Chivas USA Preview

Apr 9, 2010 - 8:37 PM By SANTOSH VENKATARAMAN STATS Senior Writer

New York (2-0-0) at Chivas USA (0-2-0), 4:00 p.m. EDT

Playing a counter-attacking style favored by new coach Hans Backe, the New York Red Bulls look vastly improved in 2010.

They're hoping Backe will be on the sideline to guide the club Saturday when the Red Bulls travel to face a Chivas USA team trying to avoid losing its first three games for the first time.

New York (2-0-0) is 40 percent of the way to its win total from last year's disastrous 5-19-6 campaign. New sporting director-general manager Erik Soler and Backe were hired to turn the club around, and the Red Bulls seem to have responded.

Backe, though, missed last Saturday's 1-0 win at Seattle and underwent gallbladder surgery on Monday. The Swedish coach attended Thursday's practice and said he was considering flying to California for this match.

Last week's victory snapped New York's league-record 27-match road winless streak in MLS regular-season play. The Red Bulls were outscored 27-3 in going 0-13-2 on the road last year before recording their first win away from New Jersey since a 2-1 victory at Los Angeles on May 10, 2008.

"Nobody wants to a part of a record like that ... of road losses," said New York assistant Richie Williams, who filled in for Backe. "We wanted to put an end to it, that this year is a different year."

Macoumba Kandji scored in the 21st minute and Bouna Coundoul made it stand up with his second straight shutout for New York, which is the first Eastern Conference team to win two games.

"We talked about it and we said it has to stop right now," Kandji said. "We did just like we practiced and I think that's why we were so successful."

Chivas USA (0-2-0) is headed in the other direction as it tries to avoid the worst start in the six-year history of the franchise. A 2-0 loss to arch-rival Los Angeles last Thursday has left Chivas USA feeling desperate to get untracked.

"(The Red Bulls) are off to a good start and we're on the opposite end of that right now," defender Jonathan Bornstein said. "I think a lot of guys understand that we need to get a good result this weekend so we can start turning this thing in the right direction."

Chivas USA is one of two MLS teams to have played two matches and failed to score. Players such as Sacha Kljestan and newcomer Osael Romero are being counted on to lead a turnaround.

Kljestan scored for Chivas USA and Juan Pablo Angel had the equalizer for New York in a 1-1 draw at the Home Depot Center on Sept. 26, 2009. The Red Bulls are 1-1-3 all-time in road games against Chivas USA.