In the past few seasons Chivas USA Soccer has cemented their place as one of the more dominant teams in MLS soccer but for all of the success they've experienced in the regular season that same success has evaded them in tthe playoffs. 2009 has to be a year where Chivas USA Soccer ( Get your discount Chivas USA jersey here) takes it up a notch and finally has some success in the playoffs. With the veteran leadership of mid fielder Jesse Marsch, the outstanding play of mid fielder Sacha Kljestan and the return from injury plagued seasons of stand out forwards Ante Razov and Maykel Galindo should hopefully put Chivas bacvk into the playoffs to make a run.
The big question marks facing Chivas USA this season is whether or not their top players can stay healthy. Already they are starting the season out with forwards Maykel Galindo, Ante Razov and Attiba Harris either injured or recovering from an injury. One more injury marred season from Maykel Galindo and I think yuo just have to label this guy as injury plaqued and unfortunately Ante Razov is just getting older and Chivas should probably consider reducing his playting time during the regular season to preserve him for the playoffs. While they do boast some of the more dynamic forwards in MLS it's no secret that Chivas USA could use a couple of more talented forwards to relieve Razov and Galindo should they go down to injury.
The other big question mark is the future of mid fielder Sacha Kljestan... will he stay or will he follow in the footsteps of former Chivas Goalie Brad Guzan and leave to play in Europe? Kljestan clearly has the skillls to play in Europe the obvious questions are does he want to play iun Europe and will a European team pay enough to pry him away from Chivas USA. It would be sad to see Kljestan go and it would send a bad message to the fans.
As it stands this team is still in dire need of a big name marketable player and it would be great if he were also a dynamic goal scorer. Chivas USA is already one of the best teams in the league so I'm not sure what type of motivation there is for any big spending on big names players for the sake of marketing though. It'd be great to see some team step up and be the New York Yankees of Major League Soccer though...
The Chivas USA defense is anchored by standout Jonathan Bornstein in the back, Goalie Zach Thornton in net and defensive mid fielders Jesse Marsch and Paulo Nagamura. Marsch and Nagamura don't receive much fanfare but those two guys help Chivas USA win soccer matches by winning the battles for the ball that take place at mid field.
The Chivas USA roster is also filled with a number of quality veteran role players that make this one of the best teams in the league. Players such as forwards Alecko Eskandarian who is a steady and consistent performer but not flashy and Eduardo Lilingston who was brought in this year to add a scoring punch. Defensively Chivas USA has a number of qulaity veterans in Claudio Suarez, Shavar Thomas and Carey Talley. In Goal they also have the luxury of experience with Zach Thornton.
Chivas USA has a great opportunity to become an elite team in this league and on winning their first MLS Cup this season and then maybe the SuperLiga. I hope they have what it takes to sign a big name forward and scorer who can take them to the next level of teams in MLS.
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