mlsusaws

Blog: http://chivas-usa.blogspot.com/
Projected Starting Lineup:
-------------Razov-----------Galindo------------
Mendoza------------Nagamura----------Kljestan
----------------------Wicky---------------------
Bornstein----Suarez---------Thomas-----Vaughn
--------------------Guzan------------------------
Coming off the bench: GK Lance Parker, DF Jim Curtin, MF Jesse Marsch, MF Atiba Harris, FW Alecko Eskandarian
Last year's Chivas was plagued by injuries, but they still managed to win the Western Conference before falling in the Playoffs.

One at a time and alphabetically...here are the starting lineups you are looking at the start of the season.
Projected Starting Lineup:
---------Frankowski------Barrett-----------
-------------------Blanco--------------------
Mapp-----------------------------------Rolfe
------------------Soumare-------------------
Segares----Conde------Brown------Robinson
-------------------Busch--------------------
First off the bench: GK Nick Noble, DF Brandon Prideaux, MF Logan Pause, MF Diego Gutierrez, FW Calen Carr, FW Andy Herron
Now there's a good chance Logan Pause will be in there for Bakary Soumare.

We're drawing the line west at Harrisburg and east at the Jersey Shore (clearly...). These are all players that are playing or have played at the professional level recently.
Chris Albright - New England Revolution (Philadelphia, PA)
Dan Antoniuk - New Jersey Ironmen [MISL] (Philadelphia, PA)
Byron Carmichael - Ocean City Barons [PDL] (Lumberton, NJ)
David Castellanos - Philadelphia Kixx [MISL] (Philadelphia, PA)
Bobby Convey - Reading FC [ENG] (Philadelphia, PA)
Jon Conway - New York Red Bulls (Media, PA)
Jim Curtin - Chivas USA (Oreland, PA)
Jeff Curtin - D.

There is no better way to start off the new direction of blog than by interviewing a potential future MLS Philadelphia player. Ryan Finley is a name that one might not know well now, but certainly will in the future. He is a United States Under-18 striker getting ready to make his mark in college and on a higher level.

Real Salt Lake has announced that Philadelphia Eagles executive Bill Manning will be President of RSL effective April 15th, 2008.

Manning, who has had a distinguished 15 year career in sports, joins RSL following four seasons as Vice President, Sales and Service with the Philadelphia Eagles of the NFL.

Don Benevento of the Courier Post interviews a lot of South Jersey high school coaches (including my old one, Joe Falana) with "Fans should get a kick out of MLS". Nothing too special, but it certainly shows that the word is spreading.
The Philadelphia Inquirer's Jeff Gammage talks about the origins of football's team anthems.

A great piece on our new team and the spotlight is firmly on Bryan James and the Sons of Ben. Written by the always entertaining Steven Wells of Philadelphia Weekly.
Quick excerpt:

American soccer fan culture is as diverse as America itself. It cherry picks whatever the hell it wants from Europe, the Caribbean and Central and South America, and adds its own unique touches.

Chivas USA
Andrea Canales reports that Chivas has inked 4 to developmental contracts - read on to see who.
She also provides a league preview for ESPN Soccernet.
Colorado Rapids
This must be one of the bigger advertising efforts from an individual Major League Soccer club.

Chicago Fire
A couple day old run down from Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune about who should and shouldn't be the new captain of the Fire.
Columbus Crew
Former Lazio and Inter Milan player Matias Almeyda linked by the Washington Post's Steven Goff to Columbus.

Tuesday, March 11, 2008
U.S.A. vs. Cuba
Thursday, March 13, 2008
U.S.A. vs. Panama
Saturday, March 15th, 2008
U.S.A. vs. Honduras
Roster was released - as I am sure you have seen - over the weekend and some notable omissions include Gold Cup hero turned Derby County wantaway Benny Feilhaber, last summer's U-20 standout Robbie Rogers, and FC Dallas' creative midfielder Arturo Alvarez.

Philadelphia Inquirer - Jeff Gammage: A piece on the naming of the new MLS Philadelphia team and yet another reference to the IronPigs. Leading names - AC Philadelphia, Philadelphia Athletic, Philadelphia Independence FC. Even AC Delco gets a nod from Gammage.
Ian Heath - So Philadelphia's Getting a Major League Soccer Team: The funniest part of this article is the one comment at the bottom of the page predicting Philadelphia to be the home of the first MLS fan fatality.

Philadelphia MLS was introduced on Thursday, February 28th, 2008 at Turbine Hall on Chester's beautiful waterfront. Right next to the place where a $500 million complex - centered around a 20,000 person soccer-specific stadium - will stand. The large construction project on 'Rivertown' will begin to take place early in the fall of 2008.

A little late but...
UMass 2, Illinois-Chicago 1
The cinderella run continues as UMass grabs their first-ever NCAA Final Four appearance, but now #5 Ohio State stands in their way. Then again, you have a squad that's already overcome #1 seed Boston College. I think you'll see their run end though as UMass was familiar with BC's style of play.

Ruud Gullit has set his sights on a pretty big one. Big in the sense that, just like Juan Pablo Angel, my first instinct was - this guy could really wreak havoc in the MLS.
Take Jerzy Podbrozny, Lubos Kubik, and Piotr Nowak and times it by two and you have Zurawski. Maybe that's a little excessive - but when this guy is on form, he can play.