Galaxy picks up defensive help in trade with Chivas USA
The Galaxy, in need of help on its backline, landed Brazilian defender David Junior Lopes on Tuesday in a trade with Chivas USA, who got Uruguayan midfielder Paolo Cardozo in return.
Four games into he Major League Soccer season, the defending champion Galaxy finds itself stuck in the Western Conference cellar, having allowed a conference-high eight goals. And with Omar Gonzalez, last year’s MLS defender of the year, not expected back from knee surgery until summer, the Galaxy needed to add depth immediately.
It’s hard to say how much Lopes, a 29-year-old who played parts of eight years in Europe, will help though. After making his debut with Chivas last August, Lopes hasn’t played at all this season -- and didn’t even suit up for three games.
Cardozo, the Galaxy’s first-round pick in the 2011 SuperDraft, played in 17 regular-season games last year and started once this season, playing the first 71 minutes of a loss to New England at the Home Depot Center. At 5-foot-5 and 130 pounds, the 22-year-old Cardozo was the smallest player on the Galaxy roster, an honor he now assumes with Chivas.
Cardozo could provide midfield depth for Chivas, which has been wracked by injuries at the position all season, failing to score in three of its five games.
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