Sunday, April 20, 2008

Chivas USA/Dallas running blog

5- GOAL! Kenny Cooper on a feed from Ricardinho. He's chasing Donovan for the Golden Boot with four this season. Poor start for Chivas USA, but their home form is legendary.
7 - Maykel Galindo has the ball in the box, but doesn't keep it in close control and Sala scoops it up.
9 - Of course, it was probably too much to expect that the changes in the roster due to injury wouldn't affect Chivas USA. Cooper offsides.
11 - Galindo goes down outside the box, no call. That late afternoon shadow makes the game tough to watch on TV. It's probably not easy to play with, either.
14 - Well, today we've already seen a team make an early tally hold up - KC won 1-0 versus the Fire. I think this game has more goals in it, though. We shall see.
16 - Suarez is back, and he fouls Ricardinho for a Dallas FK. McCarty (Flecha Roja) stands over it. Not a great service, Chivas USA safely clears.
19 - Dulio Davino stops a Chivas USA counter by holding up Childs. The FK is cleared, but Chivas USA gets a corner. It leads to another corner, but that one is cleared.
23 - Guzan is out for the ball, but doesn't quite get ahold of it. Dallas doesn't take advantage, though.
25 - Alvarez in the box, but he gets stymied by the Chivas USA defense. Pozniak did well there.
27 - Justin Braun misses in front of the box - first his header is off, then he can't latch on to Galindo's cross.
31 - Chivas USA corner, Sala come out to punch it, a shot rebounds off a Dallas defender, FC survives Sala leaving an empty net for a moment.
35 - Braun is down and Terry Vaughn keeps the card in his pocket.
36 - Long free throw from Serioux goes to the box, but the Dallas header goes wide.
38 - Dallas is enjoying possession, rotating the ball around, but not really generating an attack. Galindo picks off a pass and generates a counter just on his own. His speed beat Davino, but his shot is from a tough angle and is over the bar.
39 - Galindo again - shoots over the goal.
43 - Boy, Chivas USA will be really glad to have Kljestan back for the SuperClassico next week.
44 - CK, Chivas - Childs takes it, then gets to a pass to take a shot on goal that forces Sala into a diving parry.
45 - Another CK for Chivas. Davino and Suarez are in a duel on these corners.
Halftime - all the new players having trouble gelling for Chivas USA. FC Dallas hasn't been sparkling, but they've been effective.
65 - Connection probs, but the score is still the same. Rocha coming back on the field after taking a knock. Galindo picks up a yellow for a late tackle.
66 - CK for Chivas USA, but they haven't made the ten previous ones pay off. This one doesn't either - Sala punches it out through traffic.
68 - Davino has knocked balls out for corners a lot of times. He's unafraid of thatoption as a safe play. Chivas USA can't take advantage of this latest one, either.
71 - Abe Thompson is in for Ricardinho.
73 - Off a deep FT on the wing caused by the run of Braun, Galindo gets the ball and passes in front of goal. Sala is out for it and hangs on, even as Atiba Harris slides into him.
76 - Rocha's long pass caught by Guzan.
79 - The pace of this game has dropped off considerably. Galindo earns another corner. Sala catches it.
80 - GOAL! The fresh legs of Abe Thompson run down a long, insightful pass behind the defense from Arturo Alvarez. Shavar Thomas chases Abe down, but then slips trying to make a play on the ball. Guzan has come out, but Abe coolly slots the ball past him.
TIP - If you're having trouble with you MLSLive feed, try minimizing the window and then putting it back. I don't know why, but it works for me.
86 - Bornstein to Razov a bit off.
87 - Brock Shea's first pass int MLS goes to the other side. He came on for Blake Wagner.
90 - Razov! He hits a scintillating scissor kick that gets past everyone in the box except for the immovable post. Yikes. That would have been such a pretty consolation goal.
There just doesn't seem to be much urgency in the Chivas USA attack. I don't mean just at the game's end, but throughout the match. Granted, the minutes I missed could have been voracious attacking soccer. Suarez with a final shot in the box. It's wide.
Final whistle. 2-0 Dallas takes the lead in the West.

28 comments:

Anonymous said...

Toja? Crowd turn out? THKS AC

Anonymous said...

No Toja.
There's about 10 people there not related to the players or staff.

Anonymous said...

I don't really like this year's CUSA team. Its much more of Preki's babys this year. So far thats hasn't been a good thing. Credit Bob Bradley for building a pretty good Chivas team before he left.

Anonymous said...

man lots of sloppy tackles. someone is going to get hurt. Vaughn needs to stop this now.

Anonymous said...

Galindo's such a TRONCO

Anonymous said...

MLS should move this franchise to Portland/Montreal/Miami/St. Louis - rename and rebrand this team 'cause it's not happening for them in LA. Attendance is a joke for a decent team like this.

Anonymous said...

You could cut the crowd atmosphere at the game with a basketball.

Anonymous said...

Pains me to say this but maybe they should move this team to another city. But no USL1 cities, you can't just keep stealing cities away from USL1 and expect it to survive. I mean Seattle and Toronto. Better options would be putting a team in San Diego or Saint Louis.

Well the hell is up with the MLSLive tv feed?

Anonymous said...

Montreal? No way, that wouldn't work. No real soccer tradition there.

Anonymous said...

I think the poster was throwing out alternatives to cities that might be better than LA. Probably should have put Vancouver BC instead of Montreal.

Anonymous said...

Rebranding would be a better option rather than experimenting in new markets.

LA is a great market for soccer, it just so happens that Chivas USA is an abortion of a project. Almost as bad as the XFL.

Anonymous said...

Rebrand first and if that does not work then move the franchise to another city. Something has to be done.

Anonymous said...

Vancouver BC has no stadium for MLS... no hopes for one either. Chivas could work in LA... but it has to be something different... enough of this bull with players like Galindo... this was supposed to be a Mexican club... whatever happened to that? MLS soccer will NOT survive if it is not able to draw the Latin population. That's my two cents worth.

Anonymous said...

demographics, baby

Anonymous said...

Thanks AC but I've tried those methods already.

I think rebranding Chivas would be a smart thing period. The idea of adopting another team's colors, traditions, and history was just stupid as all teams develop their own individual identity. Beside the Chivas name just targeted too small of an audience. But I say move the team because often in LA there is a popular team then a team that gets treated like a step child. Chivas USA is the step child and it doesn't matter how good a team they have. which isn't looking that good right now anyway.

Anonymous said...

"Beside the Chivas name just targeted too small of an audience."

are you serious? have you been ever to socal? too small an audience? i think you don't know whatcha talkin about there.

bring us real mexican stars... not these half cooked, past their prime TRONCOS that no one wants to go see.

that's how you make chivas work.

The Hammer said...

So you're more interested in seeing good players or Mexican players than you are in seeing a carbon copy of a Mexican team?

Am I reading that correctly?

So that means that if Galaxy were to sign somebody like Rafa Marquez, Bofo Bautista or Ramon Morales, you'd be more inclined to watch that team than you would Chivas with Galindo, Razov and Bornstein?

And if that's true, wouldn't you rather see a team called City of Los Angeles SC that had players like these and actually provided a good atmosphere with a stadium with at least 20,000 people?

Anonymous said...

i think you guys fail to see the Chivas mystique... it is really powerful, but MLS has really botched its potential.

Anonymous said...

The Chivas experiment is a failure. Rebranding is the only option. You can appeal to the hispanic community in a variety of other ways. Calling yourself Chivas is not one of them and does not work. Sorry!

Anonymous said...

the hispanic community, eh? that "community" is now the majority in socal. deal with that.

Anonymous said...

And that community has wholeheartedly rejected the Chivas USA concept.

nothingtoseehere said...

Stop trolling. You're not even good at it.

FC Dallas has had a great start. Arturo Alvarez tears up whoever he plays against. Him and Cooper are going to challenge Beckham and Landon for the best midfield-forward pairing I think.

Anonymous said...

I'd like to see Cooper get back into the USMNT mix.

Anonymous said...

As you said people want real Mexican players. Problem is those players don't want to play here if they do they don't get called up like what happen to Palencia and Juan Pablo Garcia. Big crowds and big money and big time international tournaments are all factors for this as well.

Chivas USA would have been better off being branded as a Mexican theme team that appealed to a wider Mexican community. Yes Chivas is a big brand but like posters have said those fans want the real Chivas. So those Chivas fans willing to accept the waterdown Americanize version is very very small good team or bad team the support just isn't there.

If not a Mexican theme team the better option is an American Chivas that only fields Americans. Like the real Chivas that could include not only American citizens but those of American decent or even those with Green Cards.

The Brofessor said...

MLS didn't botch the potential. The blame goes straight to the club itself...

Frank Macomber said...

Maybe MLS just isn't ready for multiple teams in the same city. It seems to work out nice for the natural derbys with the G's, but maybe the lack of support for Chivas the rest of the season is based more on the overall market support?

Anonymous said...

I put part of the blame on LA fans. If a city that big can't keep an NFL team in America, there is something wrong.

Unknown said...

you mean the LA fans who have put up the three best attendance figures for all teams so far this season? not a single team in MLS has matched our sunday, noon, 95F, nationally televised, against a weak opponent, loss.