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Chivas USA-Union Preview

Sep 24, 2010 - 5:41 PM By SANTOSH VENKATARAMAN STATS Senior Writer

Chivas USA (7-13-4) at Philadelphia (6-12-6), 4:00 p.m. EDT

One major bright spot for the expansion Philadelphia Union is the play of French forward Sebastien Le Toux.

Le Toux will try to score in his third straight home match Saturday when the Union look to hand Chivas USA a fourth straight road loss.

Each team is next-to-last in its respective conference, and virtually out of playoff contention. Philadelphia (6-12-6) has 24 points in the East while Chivas USA (7-13-4) has 25 in the powerful West.

Le Toux, though, has blossomed into a star after being selected from Seattle in the expansion draft. He's tied for third in the league with 11 goals, and tied for second with 10 assists.

"I'm going to continue to play hard every game and try and raise my number of goals and assists," Le Toux said. "If I do that, then maybe it'll be easier to win games."

The Union enter with a four-game home unbeaten streak with three draws and a victory. Le Toux had the lone goal in a 1-all draw with Kansas City on Sept. 4 and a 1-0 win over Chicago one week later.

He was held in check in last Saturday's 1-0 loss at San Jose, and is looking forward to returning home to face Chivas USA.

"Despite being in a similar situation to us in the standings, we know that they are going to come here and play a strong game," Le Toux said. "We are ready to continue our hard work in the game and try to continue to score some goals by having good position on the ball."

The teams played to a 1-all draw July 3 as Danny Mwangwa gave the Union the lead in the 21st minute before Chivas recovered with a tying goal from Blair Gavin.

"We just need to finish the game well," Philadelphia defender Jordan Harvey said. "In that game in particular, I just remember them being all over us late in the first half, and then some in the second half."

Chivas USA has been outscored 6-1 in its last three road games, and lost 2-0 at home to Kansas City on Sunday. Justin Braun has a team-high nine goals, but none in his last four road games.

"We're going to Philadelphia looking to get a result," midfielder Michael Lahoud said. "From here on out, it's got to be looking for three points wherever we go, whether it's at home or away from home."

This is the final trip to the Eastern time zone for Chivas, which has lost one-goal games to New York, Columbus, Toronto FC and D.C. while beating New England 4-0.