Mural reported in its Monday editions that a possible shakeup at Chivas USA is likely to come down sooner rather than later. Now, I'm a bit leery of certain things but here's what Guadalajara's biggest sports daily reported.
Reportedly, Jorge Vergara and Antonio Cue are not happy with the direction the club has taken and the lack of Mexican players on the roster. Reportedly, Preki and others will be relieved of his duties and the club will bring in a Mexican coach, with Claudio Suarez mentioned as a possible candidate to take over the coaching position.
To have taken Francisco Mendoza from Chivas USA, the mother ship has promised to send players north, and the players mentioned are Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez, Arturo "Zulito" Ledesma and Jesus "Gringo" Padilla. Jared Borgetti is, of course, set to join as well.
Now, this is all according to Mural. There seems to be some sort of grumbling going on down in Guadalajara about Chivas USA, and this seems to have been some of the fallout.
I'll check in with some sources and see what's going on. Now, as usual, remember that the day-to-day operations of Chivas USA happen in Carson, not in Guadalajara, and any coaching moves would come out of here, not from down there. So if Preki is removed, it will likely be Shawn Hunter's decision and as far as I know Hunter is happy with Preki's job and not looking to remove him.
ADD: Hernandez and Padilla each scored a goal in Tapatio's 2-2 tie in Primera A action over the weekend. Ledezma also started and played 90 minutes. Carlos Borja, meanwhile, also started and played 90 minutes. Borja is of course a Chivas USA cast-off.
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17 comments:
When you are averaging crowds of 10,000 , something needs to be done.
Preki's style of soccer isnt consumer freindly
CUSA attendance has been an issue for a while. (Before Preki and Hunter.) Marketing to non-Mexicans in LA is foreign concept to Cue and Vergara. Lately, it has improved. Credit to Hunter.
Honestly, Vergara and Cue are used car salesmen. THEY HAVE NO PASSION IN RUNNING AN MLS FRANCHISE. Hype doesn't cut it. I'll give them credit for hiring Bob Bradley, but that's it.
Shawn Hunter knows what he's doing. A few more Mexican players wouldn't hurt. But not the garbage they gave us in 2005.
We are an MLS franchise not an FMF team. We are not Chivas Juniors!
Get our soccer specific stadium built! Bring in Bofo! Market more in English! Most Chivas de Guad fans view us as a novelty. We are the BEST MLS franchise in Los Angeles!! The fans will keep coming!
ELAC
Hear Hear
^
Preki just isnt the ideal coach the Chivas needs to market the team better
I thought about this earlier today and I too was worried about the total lack of Mexican players on this team. Hunter may have approved attendance a little as he should understand how to market to an America audience. But two come to mind: 1) team is still Chivas USA and as long as it carries those colors and brand it should have a solid Mexican presence on it. The product is still Chivas. 2) The team that Preki has being putting together the last 2 seasons has been very average and needs some serious upgrades especially if Bornstein and Sasha K are on their way out. With Mendoza out and Guzan gone there is pretty much nothing left of the core team.
It's the season of change. So why not bring someone else with a different idea, different style, and priorities.
We already know Preki's story and it's not good enough for the fans.
Gringo ain't no Mexican. . . he's a gringo!
The Mexican players brought in 2005 were a disaster because of bad timing. Both Pulpo Zuniga and Ramon Ramirez got injured early on.
Palencia and Negro Sandoval backed out in the last minute; although el Gatillero returned to finish the season. The rest were promising players from Tapatio of which only Mendoza delivered.
Anyways; Chivas needs to start looking to South America for some quality players and bargain buys; that place is the Big Lots of transfers..
Ledezma, wasn't he also part of Chivas USA luis?
This seems like bullshit to me.
The whole problem is the "branding," and it would have been true if the team were owned by Televisa and called Club America USA. Vergara and Cue don't know the market, period. They don't know or care that Guatemalans, Salvadorans and Hondurans (of whom there are plenty here) don't give a rip about Mexican soccer. They don't care that fans of Cruz Azul, Toluca, Pachuca or other Mexican teams don't give a rip about Chivas. They're hurting themsevles by marketing to such a narrow base.
Besides, getting Mexican players won't help. Mexican and Mexican-American fans like Mexican teams because they remind them of home (the same way that Red Sox fans turn Angel Stadium into Fenway Park West whenever the Sox show up). It's the team identity, not the identity of the individual player, that makes the difference.
This whole CUSA project was bound to fail. The tipoff is the fact that the Galaxy is a far worse team and treats its fans like dirt, yet CUSA still can't erode that base.
Perhaps it's time to realize that L.A. cannot support two MLS teams, no matter how they're "branded."
Joseph,
Based on these comments, "They don't know or care that Guatemalans, Salvadorans and Hondurans (of whom there are plenty here) don't give a rip about Mexican soccer. They don't care that fans of Cruz Azul, Toluca, Pachuca or other Mexican teams don't give a rip about Chivas. They're hurting themsevles by marketing to such a narrow base.", tells me that you have never stood in 101 with the Union Ultras or attempted to do so. If you had, you would know that there are fans of Pumas, Toluca, Pachuca, Cruz Azul, Atlante, Morelia within the Union Ultras. There are also Union Ultras that do not follow FMF. There are Union Ultras that support the USNT, MNT, Ecuador NT, El Salvador NT. There are Union Ultras that are American, African-American, Mexican, Salvadorean, Ecuadorean, English, Guatemalan. You might ask why they love Chivas USA... well I invite you to join us for a match and ask them. Go to our Union Ultras Forum and ask them there. Did the Eurpoean teams market to us, in my case Mexicans, in order for us to follow their football? We see something we like, whether it is the colors, style of play, players, coaches, whatever, and we go with it. I liked Barcelona before Rafa played there. I didn't like Real Madrid even though Hugo was there.
Once again, I invite you to join us for a match or a season and see that the Chivas USA fanbase is growing no matter what other team outside this league we support or what country we are from, but because it is the BEST team in LA!!!
Michoacano
Michoacano, despite the passion of your supporters' group (which I do respect), the overall attendance numbers don't lie. Granted, CUSA is a relatively new enterprise. Nevertheless, the trend does not look promising.
They should build in Santa Ana-either rebuild the Bowl or on Willowick Golf Course...
The Bowl would be ideal, and unlike what became the Pond, would enjoy substantial community support...and would not just be a Chivas spin-off, but Santa Ana's team as well...
wow! what a surprise.........
what made them think LA was going to be able to support two soccer teams?! yes, the sport is big there but be realistic. it has nothing to do with anything but a bad business model. move them to San Diego.
It's always fun watching the CUSA fans grumble and fight each other. As a galaxy fan and member of a supporters group I feel that I'm treated well.
CUSA was bound to fail when they tried to label the Galaxy as the "gringo" team. Their marketing is inherently racist, and they lost a ton of appeal. Rebrand this abortion of a team.
Thanks for the Classico Cup once again, it was really cool when Pete raised the cup in your faces.
One team in LA!
You fools are crazy. Preki got you guys to the playoffs with a horrible roster that was compounded with tons of injuries. Plus how stupid is it to say your going to have an all mexican team in an American league that established a rule regarding the number of foreign ie mexican players a team can have. In other words it's nearly impossible to field an all mexican team in MLS. IS Vergera a complete dipshit or what, I could care less however if Chivas USA does fall apart however thier downfall should'nt fall on PReki's shoulders.
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