Sunday, May 27, 2007

Family ties

In the Chivas USA locker room after their win over FC Dallas, I spotted Bob Bradley. That wasn't too unusual, though I didn't try to interview him. The local reporters know Bradley won't do interviews when he's visiting Chivas. He probably doesn't want to distract from the team. It's not as if Bradley won't talk to anyone who says hello, but if a recorder is turned on, he'll smile and shake his head.

The locker room visitor who surprised me was Michael Bradley. I didn't get to find out if he's willing to do interviews, because he was basically passing through. By the time I confirmed from the other side of the room that it was definitely him, he was headed out the door.

I know he's probably just hanging out with his dad while waiting for the national team camp to start, but I think that's enough to officially start a "Michael Bradley to Chivas USA" rumor, perhaps.

But when I asked Preki what players the team was looking to add, he didn't exactly name defensive midfield, where Bradley plays. For that matter, Preki stopped in the middle of the interview to give a fist bump and backslap to Paulo Nagamura for his work on the night, so he seems pretty happy with him.

"Most likely offensively – we’re looking for someone who can create," said Preki of Chivas USA's new add-on.

Oh, and to get the rumor mill pumping again in a different direction, Preki specifically said that he'd like to sign Zinedine Zidane.

3 comments:

J.S. said...

I would be phenomenal to get ZZ in a Chivas uniform. Mike Bradley, Oguchi Onyewu, and D.Beasely would also look good in red and white stripes.

Vergara needs to spend some cash if he expects to compete with Galaxy. Where's the DP slot gonna come from? Has the Guevara situation been resolved?

Anonymous said...

Andrea,

What's your take on Chivas' attendance? MLS lists attendance last night as 8,756 and though the team's average is pretty good (15,340) that is no doubt padded by the sellout listed for the Galaxy match (though on TV there wasn't the impression of a sellout). Chivas clearly has a passionate fan base and offers some of the best prices in the league. But my impression is that they are not meeting original projections and are lagging. Is that accurate? If so, how serious is the problem and is it ameliorated by their success at accruing sponsorships? Thanks for the blog--I would also be curious to hear LB's take on this issue.

Matt

A.C. said...

I don't like speculating on attendance in general, because I've found that people's impressions are so changeable and subject to their own bias. Going strictly by the numbers, last Saturday's home attendance for Chivas USA was the second-lowest ever for the team. Luis had an article where he detailed some of the team's problems. It's on the front page of LASN still, under the West Coas Bias column.