Friday, October 12, 2007

Ante out

Ante Razov may have sprained his left knee in Thursday's match at FC Dallas. If so, the Chivas USA striker might be done for the year.

Razov is slated for an MRI on Friday upon returning to LA but initial fears are that he sprained his knee.

Unlike last year, when Razov broke down in the latter half of the year, Razov has been relatively injury free. A year ago, he played in the first leg of the conference semis but did not play in the second leg, a 2-0 loss to Houston.

I'd like to think Chivas USA have enough to overcome the loss of any one player but Razov isn't just any one player. He's one of their most experienced players and will be a significant loss. At least they'll have two games to get used to the Maykel Galindo - John Cunliffe/Laurent Merlin forward tandem.

On second though, why bother playing Galindo now? Or Suarez? Or Marsch? Or anyone who has had any sort of injury recently, a sprained ankle, a bruise, a cut, a hangnail, anything small now. It's time for Eder Robles, Anthony Hamilton and Erasmo Solorzano to lace 'em up.

6 comments:

Mike Toole said...

Putting Razov in was a shocking and miserable decision from Preki. I watched the game last night, and in the telecast Alan Hopkins noted that Razov was complaining about his hamstring and balked at going in before the coach insisted.

He went in anyway, and hobbled around and couldn't make an impact. The guy's big gun is his right leg, and he was shooting with his LEFT! Preki should've let his star sit and put Orlando Perez in, that game never had any goals in it.

Also, am I the only one who thinks that Laurent Merlin should be traded to the Wizards, pronto?

coyw! said...

They were talking about how smart and impressive it was of Preki to bring in some offense but it couldn't have been anymore of a boneheaded move. They're tying away and while you never want to play for a tie, it was pretty ridiculous to put a guy who had a 101 degree fever and a 33 yr old guy who is coming off an injury when you have a game at home on Sunday. And why do you put them both in at the same time?? It's not like Chivas were one step away from scoring and just needed that finishing. If they lose Razov for the rest of the season because of a stupid away game towards the end of the season, it may by harsh, but in my mind that kind of takes a lot away from the smart stuff Preki has done this season. From everything I've heard they worked so hard to preserve Ante for the entire season and they ended up doing something like stupid like this.

Anonymous said...

Well said. The young guys have to step up.

These last 2 games are going to determine what kind of coach Preki is at crunch time.

Anonymous said...

Preki has had a very smart campaing, but I think these last few games [since they won the Derby series] they've been quite mediocre at best.

All the signs of a good team are still there, but you can't help but wonder if Preki's decission to "rest" players has taken momentum away from the team, and now if Razov's injury will be a factor.

There's a classic Mexican song that says that it's not getting there first that matters, it's knowing how to get there.

Whoever Chivas faces in the first round will be on an upward swing. Chivas will at a stall, despite starting from a good position.

Anonymous said...

LB, what's ur take on Merlin and Cunlife? What's missing with these two guys?

L.B. said...

Funny thing about this situation; I talked to John Cunliffe at length earlier in the week and will have a story about him for MLSnet at some time today or tomorrow. What's missing with him is experience and work rate.

Merlin needs to be more aggressive in front of the goal.

I'll have something a bit later today on the blog about both of them a bit more in detail. Basically, they lose a lot in Ante Razov but it's not like you only have Matt Taylor left to choose from.