Frisco, TX (Sports Network) - FC Dallas and Chivas USA will both be playing
for pride on Sunday when the two bottom-half teams in the Western Conference
square off at FC Dallas Stadium.
For Chivas, 2012 has been a year to forget as the Goats have been assured of
finishing on the bottom of the West, while Dallas saw its playoff hopes ended
last weekend in a loss to Seattle.
Both sides have been in poor form recently and both will have the same goal
ahead of Sunday's contest, which is to finish the season on a positive note.
"At the end of the day, it doesn't matter what the circumstances are," Chivas
head coach Robin Fraser said. "You have to play well and you have to win -
that's part of the job. And that's certainly the approach going into this
coming weekend as well as we determine the players we think are going to play
the best and give us the best chance to win. Regardless of whether we are in
the playoffs or not, I've always felt this way - that every time you turn up,
it's an opportunity to do your best and try to get a result."
Chivas also has the added incentive of trying to snap its current 13-game
winless streak, which stretches back to a July 28 win at Portland.
Fraser has seen his team score one goal in its last seven games, so avoiding a
clean sheet would also be a bonus.
Dallas hasn't been a lot better in the past few weeks with the team claiming
only one win in six games to fall short of reaching the postseason.
Head coach Schellas Hyndman got a chance to see a lot of the team's younger
players as he assesses the side going forward, and he hopes Dallas can at
least get something from Sunday's game to close out the campaign.
"I think when you look at the way the season has gone this year, we got a lot
of younger guys on the field," Hyndman told MLSsoccer.com. "So what are we
doing, putting younger guys on again? In many ways, we got a look at a lot of
younger guys throughout the year because of circumstances and I think what we
need to do is focus on finishing the season with a win."
The Sports Network