Carson, CA (My Sportsbook) - The Kansas City Wizards will be fighting for their playoff lives when they travel to take on Chivas USA on Saturday night in Major League Soccer action.

A loss coupled with a result for New England vs. Columbus earlier in the day, or a tie and a New England win and Kansas City's slim playoff hopes are dashed.

The Wizards (8-11-8) are coming off a 1-1 draw at Houston that extended their unbeaten streak to four games, but significantly decreased their chances of making the second season.

"It was a playoff game for us and it was a must-win," K.C. interim coach Peter Vermes said. "Mathematically we are still alive, but we lost a huge opportunity."

"Very disappointing," Kansas City defender Jimmy Conrad said. "We had some chances, enough to probably win the game. Bane of our existence is when we go a man up, we can't seem to break them down. Credit to the other team for being organized and they got one on us. Houston's a good team and they showed why."

Chivas USA will be aiming to clinch its playoff spot on Saturday night. If it beats Kansas City and Toronto FC ties or loses to San Jose earlier in the day, the Goats are in. They are coming off a 2-0 win over D.C. last weekend.

"We said before the [D.C.] game we have all these games in hand but they mean nothing unless you get some points," Chivas USA coach Preki said. "And we threw a couple of points away last weekend against New York at home so we had to make sure we got something in this place."

"It's very important," Chivas USA attacker Sacha Kljestan said. "When you look at the standings now after [the D.C. win] you will find that everything is really close but three points is always good especially on the road and especially this late in the season."

Chivas USA (12-9-5) will be without defender Jonathan Bornstein because of international duty and defender Jim Curtin, midfielders Kevin Harmse Bojan Stepanovic and Sasha Victorine, and forward Ante Razov because of injury. Forward Maicon Santos is questionable, and midfielder Paulo Nagamura and forward Jesus Padilla are probable with knocks.

The Wizards will be without Conrad because of international duty, and midfielder Kevin Souter and forward Adam Cristman because of injury.