Chivas USA

Chivas USA is a branch of Club Deportivo Guadalajara (Chivas), one of Mexico's most popular teams. The team has a fierce rivalry with the Los Angeles Galaxy.

History
The Mexican Chivas has been around since 1908. Because of the rising number of Mexican immigrants living in Southern California, Chivas had a very large following in Los Angeles. So Chivas USA was founded in 2004 and had their first game in 2005. The team's original plan was to field only Hispanic players - but after a four-win first season, the idea was scrapped. Chivas USA has a very large following in the Hispanic community, despite having only two Mexican players. Chivas won 10 games the following season, and last year they won 15 games in reaching the Western Conference Semifinals before losing to the Kansas City Wizards.

Current Situation
Chivas USA is off to a rocky start this year. Despite the addition of goal scorer Alecko Eskandarian and Swiss international Raphael Wicky, they are 1-2-1 with eight goals scored against, third worst in the league. Eskandarian, Wicky, and star forward Ante Razov have all been injured, and their best player, Sacha Kljestan, was suspended for a game. Chivas is sure to find their form after their key players return from injuries, but Chivas fans should be a little worried at goalkeeper Brad Guzan's inability to keep balls out of the goal. He has only 12 saves this season. That means of the 20 shots on frame, 40 percent have gone in. For a goalie, a 60 percent save rate is pretty bad. Heck, it's unacceptable, especially for a player of his caliber.

Fun Fact
Chivas USA coach Preki is one of the most successful players in MLS history. In his 10-year MLS career, he scored 79 goals and tallied 112 assists. The eight-time all-star and two-time MVP played spend most of his career with the Kansas City Wizards, where he won the championship in 2000. Preki played until he was 41 years old. Now 44, he may want to put on the Chivas uniform to help his team climb back to the top of the western conference.

Why People Like
Hispanics living in Southern California have obvious ties to Chivas USA, but they are slowly becoming more and more popular among casual soccer fans as well. After sitting in the Galaxy's shadow the first year, they have established themselves as the best soccer team in L.A. Fans that are tired of L.A.'s recent fall from greatness unimpressed with the Beckham phenomenon find solace in supporting Chivas USA. Despite Chivas' success, their attendance is still second to the Galaxy.


Why People Hate Them Chivas USA isn't exactly the most marketable team. With most of their fans being Hispanic and the majority of them being hardcore soccer fans, it can be intimidating for the average fan to support a team as beloved as Chivas USA. Simply put, there fans are too crazy for some. Chivas USA also has the image as a "team full of Mexicans," when it couldn't be further from the truth. But with success comes popularity. I predict in the next few years, after Chivas USA has won its first championship, they will have as many supporters at the Galaxy. That is, if they break out of this early-season funk. Getting beat by the Galaxy 5-2 in their first meeting of the season certainly didn't help.

#1 Fan
Considering Chivas USA has a hard time in general getting fans, they've have had a really tough time getting any A-listers, or B-listers even, to come out to their games. Chivas USA even started a promotion called "the Shirts off their Backs" where they give their uniforms away to fans after every home game. So anyways, this is the best I could do: Ladies and gentleman, Chivas USA's token celebrity fan: Morrissey. The lead singer of The Smiths was spotted wearing a Chivas USA jersey last year. (I know this is stretching it, but it's the best I can do. Hell, I can't even tell you that this is 100% Morrissey. But let's be honest - the guy is pretty weird, so it's totally not surprising the Englishman to sport a Chivas USA soccer jersey.)

Best Player
Tough call here - it's really between three players: Ante Razov, Sacha Kljestan, and Brad Guzan. Razov is the second-leading scorer in MLS history with 109 career goals. last year he scored 11 goals for Chivas USA, and 14 the year before that. Kljestan is the future of the franchise and perhaps American soccer. The 22-year-old midfielder is one of the stars of the U.S. Olympic team that will be competing for a gold medal at the Summer Olympics in Beijing. Guzan is the best young goalie in the U.S. (even though he is struggling this season). Guzan was THIS close to being signed to Aston Villa, a team in the world's best soccer league, the English Premiership. These three players are the most important players on the roster, and they all must step up this season if they want to change the direction the team is heading.

Venue
Like the L.A. Galaxy, they also play their games in the Home Depot Center. But unlike the Galaxy, Chivas USA isn't filling up the stadium. Since 2005, when both teams began to share the Home Depot Center, the Galaxy have averaged 24,067 fans. Chivas USA has averaged on 17,186 fans. That is a difference of nearly 7,000 fans. That's a lot of dough. Galaxy games tend to utilize the grass-covered upper-area of the stadium, where fans can bring picnic blankets and enjoy the game for cheap prices, while Chivas USA games do not.

Simers Says
Just thrilled that Beckham is playing for the Galaxy.

This picture just scared the crap out of every Chivas USA fan.

Verdict
If you actually like to watch decent soccer, Chivas USA is your team. While they don't have Beckham or his fine-looking wife to look at during games, they actually play good soccer. If you are a fan of good soccer and have an interest in the future of American soccer, Chivas USA is the team to support. Games are way more exciting (the crowd is much livelier) and tickets are cheaper. And there's always the chance you'll run into Morrissey.

Los Angeles Galaxy

The Los Angeles Galaxy are the original L.A. soccer team. From Jorge Campos to Cobi Jones to David Beckham, the Galaxy have never had a problem entertaining their fans. But even with Beckham in the lineup, soccer still sits at the bottom of the sports chain in L.A.

History
The Galaxy were one of the original 10 teams in the MLS. Their first year was a good one. They reached the first MLS Cup against DC United and played one of the most exciting games in MLS history - a 3-2 sudden-death DC United victory. The Galaxy would go on to reach the MLS Cup four more times, winning it in 2002 and 2005. The Galaxy changed the face of the league in 2007 when they signed David Beckham, an international soccer superstar.

Current Situation
Although the arrival of Beckham brought the team a lot of attention, it didn't bring success. Beckham was hurt for most of the season and the Galaxy finished with a record of 9-14-7. In the offseason, the Galaxy brought in former Dutch superstar Ruud Gullit to coach the team. They also re-signed former Galaxy MVP Carlos Ruiz to boost scoring. But in a absent-minded move, the Galaxy sold veteran defender Chris Albright to New England. This left the Galaxy's defense anemic, inexperienced, and lacking chemistry. This season the Galaxy are 1-2-1 with a league-leading nine goals against. While the defense looks terrible, Beckham and long-time crowd favorite Landon Donovan have hooked up for half the team's goals and look quite comfortable playing with eachother.

Fun Fact
The Galaxy played in the Rose Bowl from 1996 to 2003. In their first home game ever at the Rose Bowl, 69,255 fans were in attendance. Later in the year, 92,216 people came to watch them beat the Tampa Bay Mutiny, the largest crowd in the history of MLS soccer until 2006 (a game between Chivas USA and the New England Revolution in front of 92,650). However, even with the all-time high crowd of upwards of 90,000, only three months later the Galaxy would play a home game in front of only 8,561 people. In 1999, the Galaxy played a home game against the Columbus Crew in front of only 4,825 - the smallest crowd in the history of the Los Angeles Galaxy.

Why People Like Them
They are the original team. If you were a soccer fan living in Los Angeles in the mid-1990s, you were automatically attracted to the L.A. Galaxy. They had the lovable American (Cobi Jones), the exciting Mexican (Jorge Campos), the gifted midfielder (Mauricio Cienfuegos), and the forward with the funny name (Eduardo Hurtado). They made the playoffs every year for the first 10 years of the league, so they were always successful and fun to watch. Now with the arrival of David Beckham, they reached a whole new fan base that no team in the MLS had been able to reach - women. Young, old, married, divorced - all women were suddenly begging their husbands or their dads to take them to Galaxy games. The Galaxy have the two most marketable players in the MLS in Donovan and Beckham.

Why People Hate Them
They suck. Like, they really, really suck. A 7th-grade girls all-star team could score on the Galaxy defense. And I'm not even exaggerating. They did a great job of picking up Beckham and Gullit, but they did nothing to bolster their defense. Last year the Galaxy gave up 48 goals - only Toronto FC (an expansion team) gave up more goals. You would think they they would have picked up some defenders in the off-season. Instead, they sold their best defender. Whoops. And as much hype and attention that Beckham gets, a lot of it is negative. Intelligent soccer fans are quick to downplay Beckham's talents and are especially critical of his style of play. For every two fans that love Beckham, there is one that thinks he's overrated. The verdict still isn't in yet - but a lot will be decided after Beckham finished his first full year in the MLS.

#1 Fan
Drew Carey. The comic is a season ticket holder for Galaxy games and has been involved with soccer for a long time. He recently competed in a celebrity/athlete video game soccer tournament where he donated $160,000 to a soccer-related fund. He even moonlighted as a photographer for the U.S. National Soccer Team! Carey's allegiance to the Galaxy may be coming to an end this year - he recently became a minority owner of the Seattle Sounders - an MLS team that will start next year. The Sounders are the only professional club in the U.S. to let their fans vote to keep or fire the general manager every four years. It's a revolutionary idea that much more teams should adopt. So with Carey gone, who will step into his shoes? Will Ferrel has been spotted at a few games. Maybe Mr. Burgundy will take it to the next level.

Best Player
David Beckham. And I am going to explain why. While most American soccer fans would say, "Dude, he's so overrated. He doesn't score goals. He doesn't play defense. He isn't quick. He's over the hill. Blah blah blah...," he really is a gifted player. He isn't the goal-scorer that many thought he was. He was never a goal scorer. But he is one of the most accurate passers in the game. He could hit a Coke bottle from 60 yards away. He can bend a ball around a wall of six men. He can hit a teammate running full speed with a perfectly placed ball to his feet. He already has three assists this season (and one goal). His job isn't to play defense or score goals. He was brought to the Galaxy to:
1) increase attendace - check
2) revitalize the MLS - check
3) make the Galaxy better - check
He has done his job, and all the haters need to back off. The Galaxy are bad because they have no defense. Beckham is doing his part, on and off the field. Here is Beckham's first goal he scored last year against the DC United in the SuperLiga semi-final.



Venue
The Galaxy play at the Home Depot Center in Carson. Opened in 2003, the Galaxy is the Holy Grail of American soccer-specific venues. Currently there are seven soccer-specific stadiums in the MLS, with three more in the works. The Home Depot Center is the largest and most popular.

Simers Says
Beckham comes here to put soccer on the map. It sounded like a good idea at the time.

Dwyre Says
I simply don't see enough of [them] to even comment.

Verdict
If you are the casual soccer fan - you like to watch it, but you don't really know players names - then the Galaxy are the team for you. Yes, you may be hopping on the Beckham bandwagon, but at least you're supporting a team with history and a team a stud.