Jonathan Bornstein gets back to business with Chivas USA
Chivas USA defender Jonathan Bornstein jumped on a 24-hour flight from Johannesburg, South Africa, to Los Angeles on Tuesday.
It didn’t take long before he found his way back to the Home Depot Center at Carson.
Bornstein was on the practice field Thursday after his U.S. national team lost to Ghana, 2-1, on June 26, ending its World Cup hopes. He planned to start in Chivas’ home game against the Philadelphia Union on Saturday.
“I wanted to come back and show the guys, ‘Hey, I just played in the World Cup, but I’m very committed to this team and I think we can turn things around,’ ” Bornstein said. “This Saturday is the perfect opportunity to do that.”
Bornstein, 25, played in Chivas’ first nine games this season. The team was 3-3-1 on May 5 but has now lost six straight MLS games and is in last place in the Western Conference.
On Tuesday, Chivas picked up its first win in nearly two months with a 1-0 defeat of Austin Aztex FC in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. But Chivas needs some wins in MLS games.
Bornstein said he wasn’t coerced into making an early return to Chivas but was motivated to come back while watching his teammates struggle. “It was kind of my decision,” he said. “I was watching Chivas games while I was gone and I knew we hadn’t won a game in quite a while.”
Chivas Coach Martin Vasquez is excited at the idea of having Bornstein back on the field to lead his young team.
“When you have an average of players in your midfield that aren’t on top of 21, 22 years old,” Vasquez said, “somebody like him, that has four or five years of MLS experience and international experience, is very valuable.”
