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Chivas USA-Real Salt Lake Preview

Jul 23, 2010 - 4:20 PM By SANTOSH VENKATARAMAN STATS Senior Writer

Chivas USA (4-9-2) at Real Salt Lake (9-4-3), 10:00 p.m. EDT

Real Salt Lake is hoping for a quick recovery after having its 10-game unbeaten streak end.

Salt Lake looks to extend its home unbeaten streak to 19 matches Saturday night when it takes on Western Conference-worst Chivas USA, which will be without star defender Jonathan Bornstein.

Real Salt Lake (9-3-4) saw the longest unbeaten run in franchise history snapped with last Saturday's 2-0 loss at FC Dallas. All-Star goalkeeper Nick Rimando entered with five straight clean sheets before his 566-minute scoreless streak - the third-longest run in league history - ended.

"The biggest concern is how the players will view it and whether or not they can move on quickly," RSL coach Jason Kreis said. "We haven't lost a game in a long time, so it feels brand new."

The coach felt RSL's possession was down as Dallas controlled play throughout the contest. RSL was 8-0-2 in league play since a 1-0 loss at Columbus on April 24.

"We're frustrated because we're not possessing the ball," Kreis said. "There's reasons for that, we're going to have to analyze that decision to see if we should make that decision moving forward and we've got to continue to learn as coaches."

The defending MLS Cup champions are happy to be back at Rio Tinto Stadium, where they are 6-0-2 this year and 12-0-6 since a 2-0 loss to Kansas City on May 16, 2009.

RSL also expects midfielder Kyle Beckerman to return for his first action since he sprained his left foot and exited in the first half of a 2-1 road win over Chivas USA (4-2-9) on May 22. Fabian Espindola scored in the 89th minute to give Salt Lake the victory.

Bornstein missed that contest due to the World Cup, and he's been ruled out of this match and next week's MLS All-Star game against Manchester United due to a knee injury suffered in a SuperLiga match against Houston on Sunday.

Chivas USA is playing its first league game since ending a seven-match winless streak with a 2-0 victory at Kansas City on July 10. Justin Braun scored two goals and was named MLS player of the week.

This will be a special match for Braun, a Salt Lake City native who expects numerous friends and family to attend. He's enjoying a breakout season with six goals after scoring a total of seven over his previous two seasons.

Chivas added a new face in former German Bundesliga player Sal Zizzo, whose rights were won by the club in a weighted lottery Wednesday. The midfielder has begun training with Chivas but may not play until next week.

"I was absolutely psyched when I found out it was Chivas," Zizzo told the league's official website. "They were my No. 1 choice."

Chivas fell 4-0 in last year's visit to Utah on Aug. 26.