Chivas USA Soccer

Early in the MLS season Chivas USA could not buy a goal and Chivas USA Soccer was also giving up goals at an alarming rate due in large part to a number of injuries to many of their key starters...

But a  strange thing happened in the process...

As some of the younger got more playing time they began to blossom and now Chivas USA Soccer is on a winning streak of 3 games and it is large part due to the play of some of these younger players. Players such as:

18 year-old Jorge Flores who has scored 3 goals in his last three games and just seems to be in the right place at the right time... the ball just seems to find this guy on the pitch some times and most importantly he's putting the ball in the back of the net... I'm sure his hustling all over the field has something to do with his being in the right place at the right time... Should be interesting to see who Chivas USA Coach Preki starts at the forward position if Jorge Flores continues to score.

Then there's Justin Braun... this guys a big guy from Canada, he's 6'3 and 195 lbs but he's an absolute beast on the ball... he has 1 goal and 2 assists in 9 games played but I don't see the Braun as much of a goal scorer unless he develops better finishing skills. Like I said though he's a big guy and he uses his size to shield defenders from the ball and he's starting to deliver the ball to the guys in the front of the net and he continues to do that it'll be hard to keep him off the pitch... I see him delivering the ball to someone like Ante Razov who can put the ball in the back of the net in a heart beat... Look out if Justin Braun learns how to finish.

Lastly, Carey Talley was added to the back line recently and he's made an excellent addition and improved what was probably one of the worst back lines in the league after being decimated by injuries. Talley is great in transition and has done a great job of clearing balls out of the defensive zone and he's particularly adept at moving the ball up the field and passing it into the offensive zone... something Chivas USA Soccer sorely missed from any of it's defenders prior to the addition of Carey Talley.

Chivas USA plays the New York Red Bulls tonight who just lost their best goal scorer (Jozy Altidore) to a team across the pond (ughhh) and who's biggest goal scorer from a year ago (Juan Pablo Angel) is struggling this season. Chivas USA is also going for a franchise record fourth consecutive victory tonight.

Chivas USA got the season off to a rough start (losing as many as 5 consecutive games) due to an overwhelming amount of injuries to many of their starters particularly on the defensive end. Injuries to starters Claudio Suarez, Lawson Vaughn, Jonathan Bornstein, Alex Zotinca, Shavar Thomas and the newly acquired Carey Talley have left Chivas USA completely depleted on the defensive end...

On the scoring side, Chivas USA biggest scoring threat from a year ago Maykel Galindo is out again with a groin injury and he seems to be a guy who is going to be injury prone... thus far in his short career with Chivas USA he's been out of many games due to injuries and this year he just hasn't been the Maykel Galindo of a year ago... Let's hope he comes back completely healthy because when he was playing he seemed to be lacking that extra burst of speed that he had last year that allowed him to separate from defenders.

On the injury side, forward Alecko Eskandarian is out with a groin injury and mid-fielder Raphael Wickey is out with an ankle sprain - both are in their first year with Chivas USA and both were being counted on to help out on the offensive end.

Striker Ante Razov recently came back from an injury and he's still getting himself back into to playing form as he hasn't been able to find the back of the net much lately either...

Chivas USA is in need of a big time scoring threat!

Ante Razov and Maykel Galindo aren't getting it done this year and with their defense in a shambles Chivas USA needs to score more goals.

Jesse Marsch has been big for Chivas USA this year... he's played on the defensive side, he's mixed it up in the middle of the field and he scored a crucial goal this past week over the league leading Colorado Rapids to put Chivas USA back in the thick of things...

Paulo Nagamura has been a beast playing largely as a defensive mid-fielder...

Sasha Kljestan has scored some amazing goals this season...

Currently Chivas USA has 11 points only one behind western conference leader Colorado Rapids.