Friday, February 29, 2008

Doubleheader action

Chivas USA's games from Friday served as a final tune-up before the tune-ups start. That is, the preseason should take another step from here. Up until today, the club was still trying to sort through the numerous players in camp and trying to get guys healthy. Now, Chivas USA will head to Texas for three games in a five-day stretch where the team should really start to take shape ahead of the season opener on March 30 in Dallas.

Here's what happened on Friday.

Chivas 1, UC Riverside 0

Chivas USA (4-4-2): Brad Guzan; Alex Zotinca, Claudio Suárez, Jim Curtin, Jonathan Bornstein; Sacha Kljestan, Jesse Marsch, Paulo Nagamura (Lawson Vaughn 46), Raphaël Wicky (Luciano Fusco 46); Ante Razov, Atiba Harris.

Chivas USA 2, UC Irvine 1

Chivas USA (4-4-2): Sam Reynolds (Lance Parker 40); José Antonio Patlán, Daniel Carlos Montes, Bobby Burling, Jorge Flores; John Cunliffe, Eric Ebert, Lawson Vaughn (Kraig Chiles 40), Luciano Fusco (Gerson Mayen 40); Maykel Galindo (Justin Braun 47), Chukwudi Chijinju.


The newest revelation is Jose Antonio Patlan, a defender who comes from Chivas Guadalajara. Yes, the pipeline from Guadalajara is alive and well as this is, what, the first player to come north since... um... I can't remember. Sorry. Francisco Palencia, maybe? Patlan is a marginal defender with some upside, but don't expect him to win Defensive Player of the Year or anything. Heck, don't expect him to play anytime soon. He's got to get himself on the roster officially and acclimate himself to the league first. He's a central defender by trade and can also play defensive midfield.

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