Chivas USA, Galaxy look to rebound
Far from starting out the season as they had hoped, Chivas USA and the Galaxy come into this afternoon’s Major League Soccer game at the Home Depot Center with losing records.
After a bright beginning, Chivas has stumbled to a 2-3-1 mark, although that is somewhat deceptive since four of the six games have been on the road, including the 3-1 loss “at” the Galaxy that started its three-game winless streak.
Chivas began setting matters straight last weekend with a 1-1 tie at Columbus.
“It was another game where we feel we maybe should have had more out of the game,” striker Ante Razov said. “We got a good start, but mental errors are really costing us.
“I wouldn’t say we were playing poorly. We distributed the ball well, but the final third is where we’re let down a little bit by that final pass, that final move.”
The Galaxy, meanwhile, is coming off a 3-2 loss to the New England Revolution, its second home defeat of the season, and is 1-2-1 overall.
“We’re fielding a pretty young and raw squad at the moment,” Alexi Lalas, the team’s general manager, said when the Galaxy announced the signing of Portugal’s Abel Xavier to stiffen its defense.
Lalas said the Galaxy had not had to give up anything to get Xavier, who will join the team in mid-June, but rumors persist that trades could be in the works.
“The core of players that we’ve got, and obviously with the addition of Abel, and David [Beckham] coming later in the summer, and another signing that we’ll look to do in the next few weeks, gives us a team that we feel is going to compete and win a lot of games in MLS,” Lalas said.
“We don’t feel the need to make drastic changes to the player personnel that we have, although if there are opportunities to upgrade ... we’ll do it.”
Two such opportunities might exist.
First, former Galaxy striker Carlos Ruiz could be a target, although perhaps not until after the June 6-24 Gold Cup for which he has been called in by Guatemala’s national team.
Second, former Brazilian standout Rivaldo has parted company with Greek champion Olympiakos and rumors in Greece have him headed to MLS as a designated player. If true, it might not be to the Galaxy, which already has its limit of two in Beckham and Landon Donovan, but MLS has a history of changing its rules as opportunities arise.
Whatever develops, Galaxy Coach Frank Yallop says the team remains positive despite the loss to New England. “Defensively, we weren’t very good at all,” he said. “But did we give up? No, we didn’t. We have a good attitude in the team to go forward” and attack.
But the defense has to improve.
“If you look at the games so far, it’s been breakdowns by us rather than great plays by the opposition that has caught us,” Yallop said.
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TODAY
Chivas USA vs. Galaxy,
FSN Prime, Telefutura, 2 p.m.
Site -- Home Depot Center.
Radio -- 830, 1020, 1700.
Records -- Chivas 2-3-1, Galaxy 1-2-1.
Record vs Galaxy -- 0-1.
Update -- French forward Laurent Merlin made his first start for Chivas against the Crew and looked lively for the first half before tiring. He might make way for Cuban striker Maykel Galindo, who has recovered from a hamstring strain.
