Chivas USA

Template:MLS team Club Deportivo Chivas USA (short form: CD Chivas USA or Chivas USA) is a professional association football club based in Carson, California that participates in Major League Soccer. The club, founded in 2004, plays its home games at The Home Depot Center, sharing it with the Los Angeles Galaxy. The team shares the same colors of red, white, blue, and gold as its parent Club Deportivo Guadalajara, one of the most widely-supported teams in Mexico.

History

The first coach of Chivas USA was Thomas Rongen. However, after Chivas' 1–8–1 start (their sole win coming against fellow expansion club Real Salt Lake), Rongen was fired and replaced with Hans Westerhof. Following the conclusion of the 2005 campaign, former MetroStars and Chicago Fire head coach Bob Bradley was announced as the replacement for Westerhof. Under coach Bradley, the 2006 season saw a major turnaround for Chivas, which finished in third place in the MLS Western Conference after finishing last with the worst record in league history the season prior. Coach Bradley left after one season to manage both the United States men's national soccer team and the United States U-23 men's national soccer team, and was replaced by Preki.

The team's main supporter group is primarily Latino, or more specifically Mexican. Vergara has promised that, although the team may not be composed entirely of Latin players, the team's main language will be Spanish. This is evidenced in the team's marketing slogan for its inaugural campaign in 2005, "Adiós soccer. ¡El fútbol está aquí!", which translates to "Goodbye soccer, futbol is here!" Since 2006, Chivas USA's marketing slogan has been "Chivas USA: Está en Tu Sangre", or in its English version, "Chivas USA: It's in Your Blood".

100-Hour Game

In August 2006, in line with the centennial anniversary of its parent club, Chivas and Chivas USA jointly organized a football match that lasted 100 hours, in the city of Bell Gardens, California. The match was composed of two teams, "Chivas" and "The Rest of the World" – both teams were composed of current players of both clubs, former Chivas de Guadalajara players, Mexican and Mexican-American politicians, organizations, and celebrities. The game began August 9th and ended on August 13th with "Chivas" beating "The Rest of the World" 437-429. [1]

Championship

Chivas USA finished the 2007 MLS season atop of the Western Conference earning the title of MLS Western Conference Champions. However, they lost in the Conference Semifinals of the MLS Cup 2007 playoffs to the Kansas City Wizards, who were placed in the Western #4 seed under new MLS Cup playoff seeding rules despite being in the Eastern Conference.

SuperLiga

Chivas USA qualified to the SuperLiga 2008 by finishing as the MLS Supporters' Shield Runner Up during the 2007 season.

CONCACAF Champions' League

Chivas USA qualified to the CONCACAF Champions League 2008-09 by finishing as the MLS Supporters' Shield Runner Up during the 2007 season.

Sponsor

Chivas USA's sponsor is Comex, a Mexican paint company which has retailers across the United States, mostly in the California area. Its logo also appears on the front of Chivas jerseys and training jerseys. Comex became the club's jersey sponsor during the 2007 season.

Song

The team anthem is called "¡Chivas Explosivas!" and is performed by Chicano rap group and Los Angeles natives Akwid.

Television and radio

All matches are broadcast in Spanish on KTNQ Univision Radio. Hipólito Gamboa does play-by-play, while former Chivas keeper Martín Zúñiga does color, the two men also host the team's weekly radio program "Sangre Chiva" (literally "Chiva Blood") on the same station. There is no English language radio outlet.

18 matches will appear locally on FSN West television. Christian Miles is the play-by-play announcer, with Bernardo Osuna as analyst and sideline reporter Christine Nubla.

Honors

• MLS Cup
  • None
• US Open Cup
  • None
• MLS Supporters' Shield
  • Runners-up (1): 2007
• MLS Western Conference
  • Regular Season Champions (1) 2007
• Honda SuperClasico
  • Derby Winners (1) 2007
• MLS Reserve Division
  • Runners-up (1): 2007

Individual Honors

• MLS Best XI - Brad Guzan, Jonathan Bornstein 2007
• MLS Coach of the Year Award - Preki 2007
• MLS Goalkeeper of the Year Award - Brad Guzan 2007
• MLS Coach of the Year Award - Bob Bradley 2006
• MLS Rookie of the Year Award - Jonathan Bornstein 2006

International competition

• 2008 SuperLiga
• 2008-09 CONCACAF Champion's League (Preliminary Qualifying Stage)

Players

Current Squad

As of December 12, 2007 The players in bold have senior international caps

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
1	GK	USA	Dan Kennedy
2	DF	MEX	Claudio Suárez (captain)
3	DF	USA	Jim Curtin
4	DF	JAM	Shavar Thomas
5	MF	BRA	Paulo Nagamura
6	MF	MEX	Francisco Mendoza
7	FW	USA	Alecko Eskandarian
8	MF	SUI	Raphael Wicky
9	FW	USA	Ante Razov
11	FW	CUB	Maykel Galindo
12	MF	CAN	Chris Pozniak
13	DF	USA	Jonathan Bornstein
14	DF	USA	Bobby Burling
15	MF	USA	Jesse Marsch

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
16	MF	USA	Sacha Kljestan
17	FW	USA	Justin Braun
18	GK	USA	Brad Guzan
19	FW	USA	Jorge Flores
21	GK	USA	Lance Parker
22	MF	USA	Keith Savage
23	DF	ROU	Alex Zotinca
24	FW	SKN	Atiba Harris
25	DF	USA	Lawson Vaughn
31	MF	USA	Daniel Paladini
32	FW	USA	Anthony Hamilton
34	MF	USA	Gerson Mayen
37	MF	USA	Kraig Chiles
39	MF	USA	Eric Ebert

Notable players

• Juan Pablo García (2005-2006)
• Juan Francisco Palencia (2005-2006)
• Ramón Ramírez (2005-2006)
• Ante Razov (2006-)
• Claudio Suárez (2006-)
• Maykel Galindo (2007-)
• Brad Guzan (2005-)
• Francisco Mendoza (2005-)
• Raphael Wicky (2008-)

Head coaches

• Thomas Rongen (2005)
• Hans Westerhof (2005)
• Bob Bradley (2006)
• Preki (2007–)

Team records

• Goals: Ante Razov, 25
• Assists: Sacha Kljestan, 20
• Games Played: Francisco Mendoza, 83
• Minutes Played: Francisco Mendoza, 6989
• Shots: Ante Razov, 183
• Shots on Goal: Ante Razov, 82
• Game-Winning Goals: Ante Razov, 9
• Penalty Kick Goals: Claudio Suarez, 4
• Multi-Goal Games: Ante Razov, 5
• Saves: Brad Guzan, 240
• Shutouts: Brad Guzan, 20

MLS regular season only, through 2007 season

• All-Time regular season record: 29-38-27 (Through Oct. 21, 2007)

Home stadiums

• The Home Depot Center (2005—)

Year-by-year

Year	Reg. Season	Playoffs	Open Cup	CONCACAF Champions' Cup	SuperLiga	CONCACAF Champions' League
2005	6th, West	Did not qualify	Round of 32	Not qualified	Started in 2007	Started in 2008/09
2006	3rd, West	Quarterfinals	Round of 16	Did not qualify
2007	1st, West	Quarterfinals	Round of 16	Did not qualify	Did not participate
2008	TBD	TBD	TBD	Did not qualify	Qualified	Qualified

International Competition

• 2008 SuperLiga
  • Group Stage v. Pachuca CF
  • Group Stage v. Club Santos Laguna
  • Group Stage v. New England Revolution

Average attendance

regular season/playoffs

• 2005: 17,080/missed playoffs
• 2006: 19,840/15,110
• 2007: 14,305/19,711
• 2008: 17,251/TBD (as of April 5, 2008)

External links

• www.cdchivasusa.com (English)
• www.cdchivasusa.com (Spanish)
• Official Chivas USA board, courtesy of BigSoccer