Chivas’ Suarez Is Heads Above
For years, Claudio Suarez made a name for himself as one of Mexico’s top defensive players.
Suarez showed his offensive side Saturday at the Home Depot Center, scoring on two headers in a four-minute span to help Chivas USA to a 3-0 victory over FC Dallas, the Western Conference leader in Major League Soccer.
“I felt tired, but I ended the game well and that was important,” Suarez said through an interpreter. “Everything worked out.”
The game was Suarez’s first since returning from World Cup duty with the Mexican team and the headers came on an appropriate evening -- Claudio Suarez bobblehead night.
The victory brings Chivas (6-5-4), a loser only once in its last nine games, to within one point of Houston for second place in the conference.
“It was important because we continue to make progress,” Coach Bob Bradley said. “We hadn’t beaten a team up there in the conference yet, so it’s time we start taking those steps.”
Chivas played without Ante Razov, the league’s leading goal scorer, who sat out because of a quadriceps strain that hampered him the previous two games. He is expected back against Real Salt Lake on Tuesday.
The injury had a ripple effect on Chivas’ starting lineup.
Juan Pablo Garcia shifted to forward and Jonathan Bornstein, Sacha Kljestan and Francisco Mendoza shuffled a spot closer to the front line, and Orlando Perez started on defense.
The moves proved fruitful for Chivas, which handed Dallas (8-3-4) its second loss in a row.
In the 20th minute Garcia sent a corner kick into the box. Suarez, shifting his body in the air and falling away from the net, headed the ball into the top shelf for a goal.
Four minutes later, the two hooked up on a corner kick, this time Suarez’s header slipping past goalkeeper Dario Sala into the left corner of the net.
Bornstein, a rookie who played at Cal Poly Pomona and UCLA, streaked into the box and received a nifty slip pass from Garcia in the 43rd minute.
His shot sneaked past Sala for his first goal.
“I just try to put away chances whenever I can,” Bornstein said. “I finally got that one in and it was amazing. I was running back and I couldn’t believe it.”
Garcia’s three assists set a team game record. He has five assists this season, tied for second in MLS.
Carlos Ruiz, Dallas’ leading scorer, was shadowed by Suarez and defender Jason Hernandez for much of the game and was able to get off only one shot on goal.
