Chivas USA gets a lift in victory

Paulo Nagamura scored his first goal for Chivas USA in a 1-0 victory over the Chicago Fire on Saturday night at Toyota Park.

In the 79th minute, Ante Razov crossed the ball to Maykel Galindo, who poked it through the defensive line, bouncing it off a defender.

Nagamura raced past the Fire defenders and fired a shot into the lower-right corner.

Nagamura, who played with the Galaxy the previous two seasons, joined Chivas USA on May 4 in a trade with Toronto FC, which had picked the midfielder in the Major League Soccer expansion draft.

It took Chivas USA (4-3-2) 12 minutes to log its first shot but once it did, the L.A. team took control of the rest of the game, outshooting Chicago, 11-3.

Chivas goalkeeper Brad Guzan, who posted his fourth shutout of the season, was called on to make only one save, coming in the 82nd minute on a shot by Diego Gutierrez.

Razov nearly put Chivas ahead in the 67th minute when he took on defender Dasan Robinson and fired a hard left-foot shot that Fire goalkeeper Matt Pickens stopped.

Razov also had a dangerous free kick early in the second half just outside the right edge of the penalty area, but his shot was deflected away for a corner kick.

Chicago (4-5-2) has won only once in its last seven games.

Chivas has won two in a row, is unbeaten in its last four and kept pace in the Western Conference with first-place FC Dallas, which defeated the Galaxy, 3-1.

Chivas defender Claudio Suarez, who told MLS.com last week that he probably would retire after the season, played 90 minutes. Suarez, 38, has played 179 times for Mexico’s national team.