Justin Braun is on his way to becoming the young stud of the MLS. One game after busting Houston for 2 goals in US Open Cup play, he played the role of the hero with 2 more against KC in MLS play Saturday. The 2-0 win ended a streak of 630 minutes of winless league play, and signals a turnaround for this young squad, making it 4 straight overall games without a loss. But, it wasn't just our young SLC star making headlines in the game.
A clean sheet! We haven't seen many of those this year, and it was a tandem effort. ZTB looked strong early on, but seemed to hurt his calf in the 15th. The trainer came out, the stretcher came out, but Zach stayed in. Thorts is a tough guy, and he just got some "sprayed ice" on the leg and played on. And he made a couple of clutch saves to show his toughness. However, as he went up for a challenge on a corner, he came down funny, and was done. His ankle was the cause, and in the 36th, it was UCSB Gaucho Dan Kennedy getting the chance to fill in. And he stood tall. Does this signal a shift to the Gaucho goalie? It'll depend on the extent of the injury, really, but keeping a clean sheet doesn't hurt.
Of course, it's not just the goalie who gets the credit for the clean sheet. Chivas faced 20 shots and 14 corners in the match, and all with a defense that gave Bornstein the night off. The new-look defense was on point. Yamith Cuesta gets all the love, this being his first ever outing for Chivas, as he played a more than acceptable 90. The U-20 Columbian player (with a goal in just 3 caps) from a town called Turbo (perfect nickname?) is on loan with Chivas, and may be poised to make a nice impact. The rest of the defense, Trujillo, Jazic, and Umaña helped to put forth one of the better efforts of the campaign so far (without Bornie in the lineup).
But, like the "real" media, we have to give Justin Braun the big love for the win in KC. Braun capitalized on two defensive mistakes, in the 56th and 87th, and stole the ball from the rattled KC backline both times. His strikes, both from barely outside the box, were incredible. He seemed to be able to do what he wanted with the ball, and led this team to a huge win. Take that, KC's hat wearing goalie!
Just as a side note, I don't think enough was said about former University of Akron roommates and solid midfielders, Ben Zemanski and Blair Gavin. They put up some big chances together, and neutralized Kei Kamara and the KC attack.
Now 4-9-2 may not sound great, but it's pretty clear that we are headed in the right direction. We now trail our future US Open Semifinal rivals, Seattle FC, by just 2 points. We'll be out of the cellar by July 24th! The reason it's going to take 12 days for us to pull out is that the MLS is taking the back seat to the extremely exciting Super Liga. It's time to get you as pumped up as I am for this CONCACAF clash.
Started in 2007, the Super Liga is a tournament pitting the top Mexican Premier teams, MLS teams, and Canadian professional teams against each other in a regional battle. The MLS teams that qualify are the top 4 teams from the previous year, who have not qualified for the CONCACAF Champions League, and Chivas USA are one of those teams. For the FMF, it's the previous 4 semi-annual champs who get berths. In 2007, it was Pachuca beating Los Angeles on penalties. In 2008, it was New England over Houston on penalties. In 2009, it was UANL Tigres over Chicago on penalties. Can you believe that? This year is a chance for an American team to help the US pull even with Mexico in titles. This year, the Mexican squads are Pachuca, Morelia, Puebla, and UNAM (Pumas). The MLS squads are Chivas, Chicago, Houston, and New England. The 8 teams are broken down into two groups, and if you get through the groups, you go to the knockout.
Group A: Chicago, Morelia, New England, and UNAM.
Group B: Chivas, Pachuca, Puebla, and Houston.
Chivas will open against Puebla on Thursday, get Houston one week from today, and finish the group against Pachuca on July 21. The opening match against Puebla is Thursday at 7:30, and you can set your DVRs (as I have) to Galavisión (DirecTV #404...if we get it). Martin Vásquez has announced the Goat's roster, which consists of 30 players who may be used during the group rounds. Rosters can be changed heading into the knockouts. Let's take a look:
G: Thorton and Kennedy
D: Borja, Bornstein, Cuesta, Delgado, Flores, Jazic, Trujillo, and Umaña.
M: Gavin, Zemanski, Lahoud, Espinoza, Mayen, Nagamura, Romero, Saragosa, Zamora, and Zotinca.
F: Braun, Chijindu, Padilla, Galindo, and Maldonado.
While there aren't a ton of surprises, there are some interesting things I'd like to highlight.
1. Will Kennedy get the majority of the Super Liga starts?
2. If we play a 4-4-2, is there any way the defense won't be Borns, Cuesta, Trujillo, and Umaña after Cuesta's performance last Saturday?
3. Paulo Nagamura is back in Red & White now that the International Transfer Window has reached us, and he'll look to make a striking return to El Rebaño. He'll mostly be joined by Blair Gavin and Michael Lahoud, and a wild card. Osael Romero has put a lot forward rcently, but Saragosa has gotten time, Zemanski obviously works well with Gavin, and you can't overlook Mayen.
4. Striker may be the most difficult position to bust into. New acquisition Giancarlo Maldonado will be available for the first time, and it's doubtful that Venezuela's all time leading scorer (at just age 28) will not start these games. Nicknamed "Maldogol," he is one of the most anticipated strikers to join the team in some time. So, who the heck gets #2? It's really hard to go against Justin Braun, being that he's leading the team in goals and has scored 4 overall in his last 2 matches. However, Jesus "El Gringo" Padilla can make a great case for himself. He's our second leading scorer, and he's a freaking stud. He can also bounce back to midfield, and cut someone out there. Then you have Chuk Wagon, who is a nice complementary forward, and my boy Maykel Galindo. The Cuban Missile has only seen action in 6 games this year, so the 29 year old hasn't been able to show all his stuff. Maybe he can crack the situation somehow in the Super Liga?
Man, I feel like we're kind of stacked.
My predictions to come out of the groups:
A: Morelia & Chicago
B: Chivas (of course) & Puebla.
Go Go Rebaño Segrado!
-- Sent from my Palm Prē
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