Chivas USA's lineup from a recent scrimmage with a 2nd division Mexican team: http://web.mlsnet.com/news/team_new...t_id=217627&vkey=news_cdc&fext=.jsp&team=t120 Chivas USA First Half Lineup (4-4-2): Dan Kennedy - Carey Talley, Shavar Thomas, Javier Ledesma, Ante Jazic - Michael Lahoud, Diego Scotti, Jesse Marsch(C), Gerson Mayen - Justin Braun, Eduardo Lillingston. Chivas USA Second Half Lineup (4-4-2): Dan Kennedy - Dan Gargan, Jim Curtin, Javier Ledesma, Miguel Briceño - Michael Lahoud, Paulo Nagamura(C), Gilson Tussi, Jamie Franks - Román Cuello, Alecko Eskandarian. Of course, they're missing Kljestan, Razov, Victorine, Jorge Flores, A. Harris, Bornstein, Gallindo, and, I think, Lawson Vaughn They haven't gotten any better from last year, at least on paper. You could argue that losing Mendoza has made them worse. But that's still a pretty strong squad, and Preki will surely make an addition or 2 before all is said and done.
Arena isn't releasing any lineups from scrimmages to the media, here what the LARS thinks they rolled out vs. Seattle: -------------------Ricketts--------------- DeLaGarza-Gonzalez-Sanneh-Bautista Patterson---Kovalenko ---Kirovski---Lewis ----------Gordon----Magee------------ Team 2nd Half ---------------Cronin---------------- Roberts-McDonald-Marshall-Gavin Boateng---Klein---Tudela---Allen -----------Jordan---Buddle------------ Missing Donovan, Beckham, Sean Franklin, and Todd Dunivant. The defense should be better this year, but the offense will likely be much worse.
While not in the West, KC looks to have made a good MF signing: http://fc.dallas.mlsnet.com/news/mls_news.jsp?ymd=20090212&content_id=217645&vkey=news_mls&fext=.jsp 8 year veteran of Argentine top flight. These are the types of players MLS should be looking at to grow the league. I'd also like to see MLS make a push to get young players on loan from European clubs, guys that are being loaned out to lower divisions and need PT. They could be 17 and 18 years old, maybe only play here for a year or two and really develop. Would be kinda like college football. See them play at PHP, then 2 years hence you turn on the tube to watch Villa play Everton and there is a 21 or 22 year old in the starting XI that played in MLS for a bit.
look at the bright side... at least we have the chance to win 1-2 games this year with a team like LAG. I thought our prospects looked depressing.
Rapids lineup from the FCD scrimmage. First half line-up: Preston Burpo, Ivan Guerrero, Cory Gibbs, Ugo Ihemelu, Serge Pascal Wawa (trialist), Pablo Mastroeni, Colin Clark, Terry Cooke, Mehdi Ballouchy, Ross Schunk, Edison Fonseca (trialist) Second half line-up: Matt Pickens, Greg Dalby, Kwame Sarkodie, Stephen Keel, Jacob Peterson, Kosuke Kimura, Michael Holody, Jordan Harvey, Nick LaBrocca, Omar Cummings, Nicodemus Orok (trialist) (Kwame Adjeman-Pamboe) Tough to draw many conclusion about our defense when 'Pids were essentially toothless at forward. But that's certainly not a bad defense (when healthy), a good defensive midfield with very good wing play. If they actually do add Euell get a healthy Conor Casey back they may have something.