Historical Moments:
2005: Jorge Vergara owner of the legendary Mexican League franchise Chivas de Guadalajara
starts an MLS franchise in Los Angeles. Hoping to reach out to LA's large Mexican
community he names the team Chivas USA to honor his famous 10-time Mexica
League Championship team. Like many sports expansion teams, Chivas' first season
would be a tumultuous one. Starting with a 2-0 shutout loss on opening day against
defending champions DC United, the team would suffer a tremendous downward
spiral, winning their first game on May 7 against expansion counterpart Real
Salt Lake and then go winless in June, August and September. There would also
be a coaching carousel for Chivas. After Thomas Rongen was fired in midseason,
Javier Ledesma would give it a try before the team settled on Dutchman Hans Westerhoff
for the rest of the season. At season's end, Chivas would find themselves
in last place in MLS with a record of 4-22-6. Providing glimmers of hope for
Chivas would be new coach Bob Bradley and up-and-coming players such as Ezra Hendrickson,
Brad Guzan and Ramon Ramirez. The brightest spot for the team had to
be a 1-0 win over eventual Eastern Conference champions New England Revolution
on July 22
2006: After a horrific first year of existence, Chivas rebounded nicely with the help of
new coach Bob Bradley and eventual Rookie of the Year Jonathan Bornstein. Consistent
play by the team and acclimation to the league helped Chivas to an impressive
2nd year record of 10-9-13 and qualified for the playoffs for the first
time. The team would have the LA soccer spotlight to themselves for the first time
as the LA Galaxy failed to make the playoffs. Against the Houston Dynamo, Chivas
USA stole a 2-1 victory, with Brad Guzan stopping a penalty kick in the closing
seconds of the game. But in the next game, Chivas would have the tables
turned on them with Dynamo scoring two goals to tie the series and Brian Ching
scored the series winner at the very end of stoppage time to eliminate Chivas.
A huge postgame fight put a sad end to a successful season for the club.
2007: In what proved to be a record-breaking year for the club, Preki took over as coach
and Chivas USA jelled as a team and became the class of the West. Among the many
bright spots was the acquisition of Maykel Galindo who scored 12 goals on the
year and Ante Razov continued to show he had a lot left in the tank playing
alongside him. A perfect August propelled Chivas USA to a solid 15-7-8 record and
the top spot in the Western Conference. This would not lead to improvement in
the playoffs as they were beaten by the Kansas City Wizards, 1-0 on aggregate.
|
