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Crew aim to avoid stumbling against Chivas

Sep 5, 2014 - 7:51 PM Columbus, OH (SportsNetwork.com) - The Columbus Crew continues its push toward the playoffs on Sunday at Crew Stadium as the team takes on sputtering Chivas USA.

Columbus enters the weekend tied with Toronto FC and Philadelphia in fourth place in the Eastern Conference, and with eight games remaining, head coach Gregg Berhalter knows just how important each of those contests will be.

The Crew put together back-to-back wins before a disappointing 2-0 defeat to Eastern Conference bottom feeders Montreal, and Berhalter will be hoping his team can avoid a similar result against the last-place side from the West, Chivas.

Berhalter saw his side yield a goal in each half to Montreal's Ignacio Piatti, and after that game, he spoke about the position his team is in the rest of the season.

"We're in a dog fight right now and we know how sensitive this situation is," Berhalter said. "We have eight games left, so that's eight more finals that we need to play, like it is our last game."

Two players who will be unable to help the Crew are midfielders Wil Trapp and Tony Tchani, who both picked up a yellow card in the last match and will be out due to a suspension for an accumulation of yellow cards.

Columbus may have been below par in its last outing, but Chivas has felt that way for much of the season, and the club is in a poor run of form having earned just one point from its last eight matches.

The latest setback was a 4-2 defeat to Seattle on Wednesday night that saw the club play maybe its worst half of soccer all season, yielding four goals in the opening 42 minutes.

Obafemi Martins and Andy Rose scored two goals apiece for the Sounders as Chivas offered little resistance in about as one-sided a first half as you are likely see.

"The first half was embarrassing for us, especially when you receive goals on set pieces," said Chivas head coach Wilmer Cabrera, who saw Seattle score three of its four goals from dead-ball situations. "It's something we practice every week and focus on, and it's about concentration from the players."

If Cabrera can take anything from Wednesday's defeat its the fact that his men managed to pull two goals back after halftime to show some fight, including a 51st-minute tally from Marco Delgado that snapped a 597-minute scoreless drought for the club.

And while the second 45 minutes should at least offer some reason for hope, Chivas will be without its top scoring threat for Sunday's game as forward Erick Torres, who has netted 14 goals this season, is away on international duty with Mexico.