Chivas USA earned a 1-1 draw with the Kansas City Wizards tonight at CommunityAmerica Ballpark in Kansas City, Kan., coming back from a 1-0 deficit to earn the point. Eduardo Lillingston scored his fourth goal of the season off an assist from Sasha Victorine to give the Red-and-White a draw.

The tie improves Chivas USA’s record to 7-1-3 (W-L-T) on the season, good for 24 points and first place overall in MLS heading into Thursday’s match against Cuauhtémoc Blanco and the Chicago Fire. The match kicks off on Thursday, May 28, at 7:30 p.m. at The Home Depot Center. For more information on the match, or to purchase tickets, call 1-877-CHIVAS-1 or visit cdchivasusa.com.
The Red-and-White outshot the Wizards 15-8 in the match, but it was Kansas City that took the 1-0 lead in the 56th minute, when Wizards forward Claudio Lopez hit a free kick from 23 yards over the wall and past goalkeeper Zach Thornton.
Chivas USA forward Eduardo Lillingston scored the equalizing goal in the 64th minute, taking a pass from midfielder Sasha Victorine for a close range strike. Victorine now has one goal and two assists in two games against his former club since arriving to Chivas USA on Sept. 15, 2008 in a trade with Kansas City. The midfielder entered the match at halftime, replacing Sacha Kljestan, who suffered a mild left ankle sprain in the first half.
The Wizards finished the match with 9 men after a red card to Josh Wolff in minute 68 and a second yellow card to Santiago Hersig in minute 83. Chivas USA had seven shots on goal in the match, and Kevin Hartman finished with 5 saves for KC.
Chivas USA Head Coach Preki, on tonight’s match: “We played a good game, and we’ll take the point, regroup and we have a tough game against Chicago coming up.” (For a full quote sheet, please visit cdchivasusa.com.)
Chivas USA is undefeated at home and will return to The Home Depot Center on Thursday, May 28 at 7:30 p.m. to face Cuauhtémoc Blanco and the Chicago Fire. Don’t miss your chance to catch this important match; for more information, or to purchase tickets, please call 1-877-CHIVAS-1 or visit cdchivasusa.com.

Get to know your favorite ChivaGirls from a different perspective. Today, we present a new weekly series called “Chatting with the ChivaGirls” that will feature a different ChivaGirl each week. Find out their interests, hobbies, favorite celebrities and much more. This week, we meet second-year ChivaGirl Monique, who reveals her dream job, her favorite celebrity, and the secret behind her “intense” dance moves.

Nueva serie de Chatting with ChivaGirls

Conozca a su ChivaGirl favorita desde una perspectiva diferente. Hoy, comenzamos con una nueva serie llamada “Chatting with the ChivaGirls” la cual presentará a su ChivaGirl favorita cada semana. Conozca los intereses, sus pasatiempos, artistas favoritos y mucho más. Esta semana conozca a Monique, una ChivaGirl en su segundo año, que nos hablará de su actor favorito y hasta de su paso predilecto de baile.

Chivas USA arrived in Kansas City on Thursday night ahead of Saturday’s match against the Wizards, which will be broadcast live on Fox Soccer Channel, Fox Sports en Español, and W Radio 690 AM. The team arrived at the hotel late on Thursday, and trained Friday at 12:00 noon CT.

Some highlights from the team’s practice session:

The team warming up with 6v2 keep-away in a 10×10 box:

The team then moved on to a short-sided scrimmage:At the end of the practice, Maykel Galindo took the chance to see free kicks from another perspective, and managed to make some saves (though most were with his feet, rather than his hands):

Preki was happy to return to Kansas City, where he spent 9 of his 10 MLS seasons, winning the 2000 MLS Cup with the Wizards.

“It’s a good, quiet family town,” said Preki. “I enjoyed my time in Kansas City, and obviously my favorite [soccer memories] were winning a couple of trophies here. I’ll always have good memories of Kansas City.”

Preki also took the chance at practice to meet with a youth team that he had worked with while living in KC. Here he is speaking with them before today’s training session:

For more information on tomorrow’s match, click here for a match preview from cdchivasusa.com.

Chivas USA of Major League Soccer and City of Hope, a leading research, treatment and education institution for cancer, diabetes and other life threatening diseases, have joined forces in a unique diabetes awareness and wellness campaign. Find out about the special partnership between Chivas USA and City of Hope with highlights from Wednesday’s press conference, including Chivas USA President & CEO Shawn Hunter and team captain Jesse Marsch.

Inspired by Chivas USA’s ‘Come Celebrate’ branding campaign, the ‘Celebrate Hope’ partnership will feature a special City of Hope presence at all 2009 Chivas USA home matches, including in-stadium signage, a PSA that will be shown on the stadium’s Diamond Vision screen and a City of Hope diabetes information booth in the ChivaTown fan zone at select matches.

In addition, City of Hope will play an active role at several of Chivas USA’s upcoming ‘Chivas at the Park’ clinics around Los Angeles County, and will also participate in a special ‘Diabetes Health and Wellness Night’ at an upcoming Chivas USA home game.

En la edición de Hoy de Pasión Chivas USA, los aficionados en su gran mayoría votaron a favor de que Cuauhtémoc Blanco esté en la Selección Mexicana. Los conductores Hipólito Gamboa y Rigoberto Cervantez hicieron una encuesta sobre el flamante jugador que enfrentará a Chivas USA el próximo 28 de mayo en Los Ángeles, y 13 radioescuchas aprobaron la convocatoria del ‘Temo’ al Tricolor ante la negativa de un radioescucha.

A weekly feature that puts your favorite Chivas USA players on the spot. This week we present you Eduardo Lillingston:

El delantero de Chivas USA Eduardo Lillingston nos habla de su ciudad natal, su apodo, su súper héroe y ¡hasta se anima a cantar una canción!. Conózcalo en esta nueva edición de “Chatting with Chivas USA”:

First-place Chivas USA has an important ten-day stretch coming up, first facing the Kansas City Wizards on the road this Saturday, May 23, at 7:30 p.m. CT (5:30 p.m. PT) before returning to The Home Depot Center to face Cuauhtémoc Blanco and the Chicago Fire on Thursday, May 28, at 7:30 p.m. PT.
Listen to what Carey Talley and Head Coach Preki had to say about Saturday’s game:

Currently, Chivas USA is the top team in Major League Soccer with a 7-1-2 record (W-L-T) and 23 points, while the Fire are still undefeated in 2009 with a 3-0-6 record (15 points). The match is Blanco’s final road game before joining the Mexican National Team for the upcoming 2010 World Cup Qualifiers for ‘El Tri.’ Special ticket deals for the match are available; for more information, or to purchase tickets, please call 1-877-CHIVAS-1 or visit cdchivasusa.com.

El superlíder de la MLS, Chivas USA, se enfrentará a los Hechiceros de Kansas City este sábado, 23 de mayo, a las 7:30 p.m. Hora del Centro (5:30 p.m. Hora del Pacífico) antes de regresar al Home Depot Center para enfrentar a Cuauhtémoc Blanco y el Fire de Chicago el jueves, 28 de mayo, a las 7:30 p.m. PT.
Escuche lo que los mexicanos Eduardo Lillingston y Mariano Trujillo tienen que decir sobre el cotejo del sábado:

Actualmente, Chivas USA es el líder de la Major League Soccer con un récord de 7-1-2 (G-P-E) y 23 puntos, mientras que el Fire está invicto en la temporada 2009 con un récord de 3-0-6 (15 puntos). El cotejo sería el último partido de Blanco antes de unirse a la concentración de la Selección Nacional Mexicana para las Eliminatorias Mundialistas. Hay varias opciones para comprar boletos; para más información, llamar a 1-877-CHIVAS-1 o visitar cdchivasusa.com.