MLS

• Crew heads West to tangle with Chivas

  Carson, CA (Sports Network) - Teams at opposite ends of the Major League Soccer spectrum square off at The Home Depot Center on Saturday as the leaders in the Eastern Conference, Columbus Crew, meet up with Western Conference cellar-dwellers Chivas USA.

  Columbus has taken charge in the East with just three defeats in 17 games so far this season, giving them an eight-point lead on second-place New York.

  And after a 3-0 win over the Houston Dynamo last time out, confidence will be high as the Crew head West.

  The win over Houston was even more impressive because of some of the players who contributed to it, like Leandre Griffit and Shaun Francis.

  Griffit made his MLS debut in the 88th minute as a substitute, but he still found time to score the third goal, while Francis went the full 90 minutes in his first MLS start in place of Gino Padula.

  Both Frankie Hejduk and Brian Carroll missed the match through suspension and injury respectively, but coach Robert Warzycha was pleased with how well some of his newer players performed.

  "The players we put on the field contributed," Warzycha told mlssoccer.com. "We put a lot behind who we are going to play and how we are going to play. Sometimes it's very dangerous. If everything works you look good." Columbus has looked good plenty of times this season, but they will be hoping to improve on their form away from home, which includes only two wins in seven games away from Crew Stadium.

  Chivas endured a six-game losing skid that dropped the team to the bottom of the table, but they have been able to put together a three-game unbeaten streak and will be trying to extend that run on Saturday.

  New Chivas midfielder Sal Zizzo is expected to make his debut for the club after struggling to regain fitness, and it will be interesting to see where he fits into the Chivas lineup.

  The 23-year-old suffered a torn ACL in October while playing for Hannover in Germany, but he has returned to training and is determined to regain his fitness.

  "I'mreally workingon my fitness these first few weeks," he told mlssoccer.com. "That's my focus. But the knee feels great." Zizzo will likely not be the only player battling fitness issues for Chivas, with Saturday's match representing the Goats' eighth in 28 days.

  07/30 13:23:24 ET