We shared this article yesterday on our facebook, but thought it was important to share again. It not only talks about our new 19 year old Salvadorian Midfielder Marvin Iraheta, but also about Chivas Academy defender Mario Ledezma, center back Rauwshan McKenzie, midfielder Ciaran O’Brien, MLS pool goalkeeper Kevin Guppy, teenage Mexican midfielder Pablo Sandoval, AND a goalkeeper, we don’t know much about him other than his name is Tim Melia and he played with Real Salt Lake for the last 2 seasons.

Chivas USA players train hard on the first day of Preseason Practice

AND Chivas USA academy players training with the first team midfielder Esteban Rodriguez (Palmdale/Bell Gardens HS), midfielder Marco Delgado (Glendora/Glendora HS) and Eric Gonzalez (Corona/Santiago HS), goalkeeper Jake McGuire (Chino/Damien HS) and forward Ben Spencer. Lots of local talent there

On top of these players, Juan Pablo Angel was at training yesterday. Even though he has not signed a contract, he is confident that he will be playing this season and did not want to fall behind by missing training. Thats COMMITMENT.

Will JPA make all all the difference this season?

All players listed above were training hard yesterday at the HDC. The article also includes the list of people who were NOT there.

ALSO here’s the preseason schedule (subject to change):

Jan. 27 vs. Ventura County Fusion at Oxnard College
Feb. 3 vs. FC Hasental at Home Depot Center
Feb. 7 vs. Colorado Rapids at site TBA
Feb. 11 vs. Chicago Fire at site TBA
Feb. 16 vs. Galaxy at Home Depot Center
Feb. 22 vs. Club Tijuana (Mexico) at University of San Diego
Feb. 27 vs. AIK (Sweden) at Portland, Ore.
Mar. 1 at Portland Timbers
Mar. 4 vs. San Jose Earthquakes at Portland, Ore.

 
Lets get some comments going. What do you guys think?

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Read articles mentioned here:

http://espn.go.com/blog/los-angeles/soccer/post/_/id/13968/chivas-usa-goats-start-with-local-signing

http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2012/01/16/angel-smith-among-faces-chivas-training-camp

Goats let go of Umaña, Mondaini, Arias, and Estupiñán

With these losses it seems that Fraser is stripping our team down to the bare bones. The team is in a state of rebuilding. However, this puts the Goats down to a few players still on the roster. That is of course including the other losses this offseason the total at this point is 13 players that have been let go since November:

F Justin Braun (11/23: trade to Montreal)

M Gerson Mayen (11/23: trade to Montreal)

D Zarek Valentin (11/23: expansion draft)

M Paulo Nagamura (11/29: trade to Sporting KC)

D Andrew Boyens (12/12: Re-Entry Stage 2/LA Galaxy)

F Chukwudi Chujindu (12/12: option declined)

M Simon Elliott (12/12: out of contract)

G Zach Thornton (12/12: option declined)

D Mariano Trujillo (12/12: option declined)

D Michael Umaña (1/2: free/Comunicaciones)

F Marcos Mondaini (1/4: loan option declined)

G Sergio Arias (1/4: loan option declined)

F Víctor Estupiñán (1/4: option declined)

With these loses our Goats gained a few players who will be key to the 2012 Season:

M Ryan Smith (11/21: trade from Sporting KC)

D James Riley (11/23: from Seattle, via trade from Montreal)

M Arturo Alvarez (12/5: Re-Entry Stage 1/RSL)

M Oswaldo Minda (12/21: SD Quito)

It is also known that Chivas USA signed a new player but has not released his name. Jose Domene(@domene) tweeted today,

 ”Just signed a new player. Waiting for Physicals and MLS approval. Tune in to @cdchivasusa for the announcement soon” 

I guess we just need to be on the lookout for news about our club since new news is not normally posted on their main website.

What do you guys thing of the changes that are being made?

Is this Robins way of cleaning house? Do our goats have something big planned before our Home Opener against the Eastern Conference Champions the Houston Dynamo?

Read the MLS article here

http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2012/01/04/chivas-usa-part-ways-umana-three-others

http://www.mlssoccer.com/offseason-transactions/2011-12

Purple Mohawks Michael Jackson gloves, and gives away shoes? Yup I am talking about El Bofo Buastista, one of Mexico’s most loved and controversial players. It has been rumored for years the possibility of El Bofo coming to the MLS, but now more than ever since the former Mexican international player cannot play for another Mexican team for the upcoming Clausura. What does this mean? Well we can only speculate from what we already know at this point. He is no longer under contract with Chivas Guadalajara which enables him to negotiate his own contract with any team he wants. Now it is up to Chivas USA to peruse the possibility of bringing him on board, or pass him up like they did with Omar Bravo. However, reports from Mexico suggest that Bofo’s only option at this point is to head north to the MLS. Also, Faitelson from ESPN Español tweeted that Bofo has receive a proposal from Chivas USA (Possibly only a rumor).

http://twitter.com/#!/Faitelson_ESPN/status/149901284017844225

Of course this is only based on this author’s personal opinion; however, as divided as some fans may be he still grabs everyone’s attention whether good or bad. He is not a player that runs, but definitely produces magic on the field. Bad hair does, but very marketable and fun to watch. Either you love him or hate him he is still the most interesting and recognizable player that Chivas USA will ever have up to now. Why not take a chance? Just put him on trial and Fraser can evaluate him, there nothing wrong with giving your fans something to debate or be excited about. Chivas USA has nothing to lose in perusing Bofo, they gave Simon Elliot a trial, either way it’s a win- win situation for the club.