Thursday, November 1, 2007

Sensational Shavar

Shavar Thomas has been nothing short of remarkable since he arrived at Chivas USA in May.

He was plucked away from the Kansas City Wizards by the L.A. Galaxy in the preseason and seemed destined to pair with countryman Tyrone Marshall in the Galaxy's backline.

But Ty Harden started the season at central defense and when the Galaxy learned they were getting Abel Xavier, they traded Shavar away because he was expendable.

Chivas happily took on Thomas and he's been a starter pretty much ever since. He played with Preki in Kansas City so the two have a prior history. Preki as used that to his advantage and has molded Thomas into a top defender.

I finally got around to writing a feature on Shavar Thomas for MLSnet.com. I'd been meaning to do it for a while but other things came up and this kind of sat on the back burner.

One thing I didn't get to mention in the story is Thomas' physique. He's probably still around the 195 range but he's lean. I'd venture to guess his body fat percentage is the lowest it's been in a while. That's something the team's been working with him since he arrived as well and I think that's helped him have his best season.

Of course, don't call it a breakout season. As he points out, he played a lot of games his first four seasons.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Chivas gain was the Galaxy's loss...

Xavier played well mostly but only 10 games and surely cost a lot more $cap money that him + takes away a SenInt Roster spot aswell.

Another move that didn't really pay off for the Galaxy.

Ben

Anonymous said...

Thomas is a stud. Thanks Alexi!

Anonymous said...

I knew KC shouldn't have let him go. He was cover with Garcia and Conrad, but Shavar is better than Nick Garcia.