Is it me or does Philadelphia Union's soccer jersey looks very similar to the Shrewsbury Town jersey worn by Derek Smalls in the cult classic movie, This Is Spinal Tap?

In the 1984 film, there's a hysterical scene where Harry Shearer who plays the fictional character Derek Smalls tries to get through airport security.

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Who will Chivas protect this year? (Getty Images)

Yesterday we started our look at the expansion draft and who teams will and won't protect for this month's upcoming draft. The Philadelphia Union get ten players to pick from and this year will be as tough as any to predict who will stay and who will be left exposed.

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Sole possession of first place in the Western Conference is on the line for Chivas USA this evening (they're tied with Houston and the Galaxy, who face each other at noon Sunday, with 44 points at the top of the table).

Chivas has returned to their early season form of late, with shutouts in four of their last five games just as they had six clean sheets in their first nine outings.

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Game story.

Playoff tickets are on sale starting at $15. Call 1-877-CHIVAS-1.

Chivas USA - Zach Thornton, Carey Talley, Yamith Cuesta, Claudio Suarez (Mariano Trujillo 46), Ante Jazic, Jesus Padilla (Jesse Marsch 46), Michael Lahoud (Eduardo Lillingston 55), Paulo Nagamura, Sacha Kljestan, Justin Braun, Maykel Galindo,

Substitutes Not Used: Chukwudi Chijindu, Jon Conway, Jorge Flores, Shavar Thomas

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Time to revisit my projections of who will be protected and who will be left available. What's changed in the past month? For last month's review, click here.
A few days ago I posted about when players graduate from Generation Adidas status, which is highly relevant to this topic. Check out that post for further info. Click to continue reading...

Part two of the expansion draft preview. The Eastern conference was covered yesterday, and can be found here.
CHIVAS USA
Protected Available Exempt Jonathan Bornstein Chukwudi Chijindu
Justin Braun Yamith Cuesta
Bobby Burling Jim Curtin
Maykel Galindo Jorge Flores
Sacha Kljestan Kevin Harmse
Michael Lahoud Ante Jazic
Jesse Marsch
Dan Kennedy
Paulo Nagamura
Eduardo Lillingston
Shavar Thomas
Gerson Mayen
Zach Thornton
Jesus Padilla
Mariano Trujillo Lance Parker
Ante Razov
Maicon Santos
Marcelo Saragosa
Bojan Stepanovic
Claudio Suarez
Carey Talley
Lawson Vaughn
Sasha Victorine
Cesar Zamora
If this list of players seems larger than normal to you, then you're right. Click to continue reading...

CHIVAS USA VS. TORONTO FC
Home Depot Center - Saturday 10:30PM EST
TV: Rogers Sportsnet -- Radio: The Fan 590
Is there a more pseudo-ethnically diverse game on the MLS calendar than Chivas USA vs. Toronto? Unless the league expands to Mexico or to another foreign country, like Quebec, then this is as strange as it gets. Click to continue reading...

Fue uno de los delanteros regulares del torneo pasado (sin llegar a sobresalir pero colaborando con alguna cuota de goles para Cruz Azul) pero hoy en día no tiene un lugar en La Maquina.

Con la llegada de Enrique Meza las posibilidades de jugar se fueron cerrando y hasta este día Luis Ángel Landín no tiene un lugar seguro en el equipo de La Noria.

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Rapids striker Conor Casey scored his ninth, 10th and 11th goals against Chivas USA on Saturday. (photo by Jonathan Ingraham/ColoradoSoccerNow.com)

When defensive midfielder Pablo Mastroeni scores, the Colorado Rapids need to make it count.

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Special to IMS

With the MLS All-star game finished, the attentions of players, coaches and fans turn toward the 2009 MLS Cup. Only 8 points separate the league leading Houston Dynamo and the final spot in a tight race for the eight team playoffs. In contention for the post-season is former Minnesota Thunder player Tony Sanneh's team the LA Galaxy.

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Special to IMS

With the MLS All-star game finished, the attentions of players, coaches and fans turn toward the 2009 MLS Cup. Only 8 points separate the league leading Houston Dynamo and the final spot in a tight race for the eight team playoffs. In contention for the post-season is former Minnesota Thunder player Tony Sanneh's team the LA Galaxy.

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Hoy se celebran 35 años de Clásicos Regiomontanos. No les voy a hacer un recuento porque seguramente hoy seremos bombardeados de todo tipo de datos y remembranzas hasta el hastío. A mi me basta saber que en la balanza de estos 35 años, Tigres lleva cuatro partidos ganados de ventaja. Click to continue reading...

Remember if you have any questions for the players or coaches, post here before halftime and I will do what I can.
Venue:
Home Depot Center, Carson, CA
Weather:
Partly Cloudy and 70 degrees
Referees:
Head Ref: Luis Rodriguez de la Rosa
Asst Ref: Hairo Fuentes Batista
Asst Ref: Benigno Paneso
4th Official: Daniel Radford
Actual Lineups:
San Luis FC
GK Adrian Martinez
DF Oscar Mascorro
DF Noe Maya
DF Omar Mojaras
DF Michael Orozco
MF Braulio Luna - Captain
MF Jesus Palacios
MF Ignacio Torres
FW Victor Lojeno
FW Alfredo Moreno
FW Malher Moreno
Subs
GK Carlos Trejo
DF Arturo Alvarado
DF Adrian Garcia
DF Armando Olmedo
MF Rodolfo Salinas
FW Jose Reyes
FW Diego Alvarez
Chivas USA
GK Zach Thornton
DF Jorge Flores
DF Claudio Suarez - Captain
DF Carey Talley
DF Shavar Thomas
MF Jesse Marsch
MF Paulo Nagamura
MF Bojan Stepanovic
FW Chukwudi Chijindu
FW Maykel Galindo
FW Eduardo Lillingston
Subs
GK Lance Parker
DF Bobby Burling
DF Jim Curtin
MF Atiba Harris
MF Michael Lahoud
MF Sasha Victorine
MF Cesar Zamora
PRE-GAME:
-If you are wondering why (or even how) Bobby Burling and Cesar Zamora are on the game day roster, you would be correct that "normally" they could not play in games since both are on the Disabled List. Click to continue reading...

Before tonight's reprise by Chivas USA in Superliga 2009 against San Luis, here are some of the post game player interviews of Claudio Suarez, Mariano Trujillo (in English), Eduardo Lillingston, and Jorge Flores as well as Tigres UANL scorers (Armando Pulido and Jesus Duenas) en espanol. Click to continue reading...

Chivas USA Coach Preki makes two changes from the team that lost to the Columbus Crew last time out, Claudio Suarez making his first start of the season in defense in place of Shavar Thomas (who is on the bench) and Sasha Victorine starting in midfield for Atiba Harris. Harris suffered from knee pain all week long, club officials said.

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Remember if you have any questions for the players or coaches, post here before halftime and I will do what I can.
Venue:
Home Depot Center, Carson, CA
Weather:
Cloudy and 68 degrees
Referees:
Head Ref: Walter Quesada (CRC)
Asst Ref: Leonel Leal (CRC)
Asst Ref: Osvaldo Luna (CRC)
4th Official: Alejandro Mariscal (USA)
Actual Lineups:
Tigres UANL
GK Aaron Fernandez
DF Israel Jimenez
DF Erik Martinez
DF Jorge Valencia
DF Antonio Zacarias
MF Jesus Duenas
MF Marcelo Hernandez
MF Armando Pulido
FW Bernardo Cabrera - Captain
FW Alan Pulido
FW Americo Rodriguez
Subs
GK Jair de Jesus Garcia
DF Alan Rangel
DF Aaron Rocha
MF Martin Moreno
MF Hilario Tristan
FW Julio Hernandez
FW David Michel
Chivas USA
GK Zach Thornton
DF Mariano Trujillo
DF Claudio Suarez - Captain
DF Carey Talley
DF Ante jazic
MF Sasha Victorine
MF Jesse Marsch
MF Paulo Nagamura
MF Bojan Stepanovic
FW Maykel Galindo
FW Eduardo Lillingston
Subs
GK Lance Parker
DF Jorge Flores
DF Shavar Thomas
MF Gerson Mayen
MF Michael Lahoud
FW Chukwudi Chijindu
FW Alecko Eskandarian
PRE-GAME:
-Since Edgar Castillo is on loan to Tigres UANL, I was going to try to get his take on the new FIFA rules that could allow him to switch to the USMNT. Click to continue reading...

Arguably the greatest central defender ever produced by Mexico and long-time captain of the Mexican National Team with 178 appearances, Claudio "El Emperador" Suarez had this to say about the recent loss of Mexico to El Salvador, who fell to fifth place in their World Cup Qualifying group. Click to continue reading...

STARTERS
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dN
The Amazing Zizou Speaks Champions League! See video of Zinedine Zidane talking about the Champions League final (Wed May 27). From Adidas. And they promise more cool interviews to come.
MLS
Chivas USA will get a big boost to their defensive depth this weekend as long time Mexican star Claudio Suarez is finally healthy for the first time this season. Click to continue reading...

A pesar de que tengo la intención de hablar de la selección lo menos posible mientras la sigan dirigiendo con las patas, lo de la lista si tiene algunos puntos que merecen un comentario.

De entre los nombres que aparecen en la lista de 24 jugadores (que posteriormente se reducirá a 18, cosa que como he dicho antes me parece una putada para los 6 que van a recortar) hay algunos que llaman la atención especialmente, y específicamente me refiero al conejo, a Giovanni a Vela a el perro y a Castillo.

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Tweet me: dunord
dN
Over 30,000 tickets have been sold for USA v Honduras World Cup qualifier on Sat Jun 6 at Soldier Field in Chicago. (I will be there, will you?)
You make the call: How many are for USA? How many are for Honduras?
dN
Jeffrey Marcus of the New York Times addresses the real issue with MLS. Click to continue reading...

"As long as no-one scored, it was always going to be close" Arsene Wenger

That pretty much summed up last weekends exciting, yet scoreless Superclásico. Chivas played as a far more dominant side, even when down to ten men and should be most satisfied with their ability to neutralize any kind of threat the Galaxy had to offer.

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a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_XDmA8yH7eZ0/SckGdBjzlqI/AAAAAAAAC7c/QwU9sOcGnH4/s1600-h/claudio.jpg"img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5316787930792171170" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 350px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 231px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_XDmA8yH7eZ0/SckGdBjzlqI/AAAAAAAAC7c/QwU9sOcGnH4/s400/claudio. Click to continue reading...

What once was rumored is now official:

CARSON, Calif. -- After 21 years as a professional soccer player, legendary Mexican defender Claudio Suarez has decided to hang up his cleats. "El Emperador" ("The Emperor"), as he is known by his legions of fans, leaves Chivas USA after three years of dedicated service.

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Claudio Suárez –notable defensa mexicano de 40 años conocido en el ambiente futbolístico como "El Emperador"- acaba de anunciar su retiro definitivo del futbol profesional.
Suárez –quien disputó un total de 490 partidos en su carrera, marcó 40 goles y fue el capitán de la selección mexicana que consiguió la Copa Confederaciones en 1999- no podrá ver realizado su sueño de jugar una temporada más con Chivas USA de la Major League Soccer debido al bajo sueldo que le habría ofrecido el equipo México-estadounidense. Click to continue reading...

Could this be the end of the line for El Emperador?
Courtesy of Soccer America:

Chivas USA lost a preseason scrimmage Saturday and may have also lost veteran defender Claudio Suarez to retirement.
Suarez, who had not reported to preseason training while he contemplates his career, told the Futbol de Picante sports program over the weekend that he has decided to retire rather than accept the offer from Chivas USA.

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EDITORS NOTE: Before we get to this rumor, if you like this site, we'd like to remind you how important it is to support this site by clicking the top banners each time you visit. It will help us move to our own server and have a cleaner professional re-design. The more you do the above, the less other ads we will need, giving the site an over all cleaner look. Click to continue reading...

Que difícil es medir el éxito, sobre todo en un equipo como el de nuestros amores. Recuerdo en 1995, el DT. era Víctor Manuel Vucetich quien de la mano de un equipo sumamente competitivo llevo nuestros colores a su cuarto campeonato, era de Copa, pero campeones al fin y al cabo. Pocos meses después el equipo [. Click to continue reading...

NPR is in the building this evening preparing a story on Jorge Flores and tabbed your truly for a quick interview, so I'm a little late with the lineups.

The night's important numbers: the Wizards have won just once on the road this season and and Colorado's 5-4 win over the Red Bulls earlier today means Chivas USA is third in the table and seven points behind Western Conference leaders Houston, which drew 1-1 with Toronto.

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Ah, the Home Depot Center - acres of athletic facilities, a number of sporting personalities, and one frazzled me, trying to get stuff for stories.
I ran from the Galaxy's practice field to try to catch Claudio Suarez before he left with his teammates on a bus to the airport. I waited by the front entrance of the complex as various Chivas USA players walked by from the practice field. Click to continue reading...

Chivas USA 1, Tauro FC (Panama) 1 - Tauro advance 3-1 on aggregate

That score from last night is an attention-grabber, isn't it? MLS has invested a lot of effort in playing up a rivalry with Mexico as the best league in this part of the world, so a loss to a team from Panama -- which ranks somewhere below Costa Rica, Guatemala and El Salvador in terms of international achievement -- isn't at all what the league would want.

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Chivas USA will host a critical match against Tauro FC tonight. Chivas USA needs to win by two goals in order to have any hopes of advancing to the CONCACAF Champions League.
Here is audio of my post-game chat with Jonathan Bornstein about the game.
Acutally, it's a bit more complicated than just winning by two. Click to continue reading...

The second leg of matches in the CONCACAF Champions League kicks off tonight, with the headline being two MLS teams fighting for their tournament lives against lesser-known opponents.
The New England Revolution welcome Joe Public FC, the Jamaican side that advanced to the tournament by way of their runner-up finish in the Caribbean Football Union Club Championship in 2007. Click to continue reading...

First off, the Galaxy has just drawn 2-2 with the New England Revolution, Landon Donovan getting both goals.

Sean Franklin and Troy Roberts started in the center of defense with Eddie Lewis on the left wing, by the way.

More on that game later, but for now....

Chivas USA has Zach Thornton in goal as usual, Lawson Vaughn is at right back, Jonathan Bornstein on the left and Bobby Burling and Jim Curtin in the middle.

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I wrote a story on Jorge Flores for both espn.com and Futbol Mundial. As one can see, Flores make the cover of F.M. I used different quotes for each article, and there's one by Claudio Suarez in the F.M. article that is very prophetic. He talks about how young players can burst on the scene and make an impact because they're somewhat overlooked. Click to continue reading...

Five changes for Chivas USA tonight with a Tuesday CONCACAF preliminary round game looming Tuesday in Panama as Coach Preki tries to rest some starters, while defender Cary Talley is the latest to join a long injury list with a thigh strain. Six players are still out including striker Maykel Galindo

Zach Thornton is in goal, while Jim Curtin replaces Claudio Suarez as the long defensive change.

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