Sacha Kljestan is one of the key players for Chivas who needs to step up in 2010. (Getty Images

Its a new week and a new month. Last week we started a new series that looks at the current state of each Major League Soccer club. First we took a gander at the expansion club in Philadelphia and then we began a look at the rest of the league starting with the Chicago Fire.

Today we shift west to look at Chivas USA.

The offseason has been an interesting one in Chivasland. From a new coach in MartinVasquez to a decent SuperDraft. The AmeriGoats are hoping they can find a way to put together a club that finally gets out of the first round of the playoffs and possibly into the MLS Cup. Continue Reading…

I found a good article the other day about a few MLS guys that could use a transfer. While I doubt the author meant for any of these five to be transferred out of MLS I do think a few of these selections were pretty good as far as getting some of these guys with a new club.

This all got me thinking of a few guys that would be worth trading to mix things up here for other MLS clubs. We’ve already seen a flury of trades and releases in the past couple weeks and I know more clubs will be looking to clean house in the coming weeks as we get closer to the summer transfer window opening up in the middle of next month.

Some guys listed are going to be coming back from injury soon, while others are just looking for more PT in general right now. I had a couple of the same players from the article above but differed on a couple other players. I didn’t see a need for Justin Mapp, Devon McTavish or Fuad Ibrahim to be traded away here.

If you have any other guys that thing are worth a mention here, put them below and why.

Ante Razov (Chivas USA): I know once Razov gets fit again he will be a good spark for Chivas but I am still not convinced that he will be with this club at the end of the season. Chivas has shown they have talent that can score, even though no one has stepped up in a big time way to be a go-to scorer like Razov once was. I think he’d be good trade bait to get a little extra allocation in for a summer pick up.

Jason Garey (Columbus Crew): I know the Crew need scorers and Garey should be one but I think his time in Columbus is coming to a close very soon. I still believe he has the talent to compete in this league but I think it could be time to get him into a system where he isn’t expected to be a scorer. It also may be best to see if he could be converted into another position as well. He’s still fairly cheap and could be a player worth taking on as some clubs gear up for the playoff run.

Marcelo Saragosa (FC Dallas): Saragosa is one of those guys that works very hard in practice and usually does a lot of little things right. I just think right now he is a victim of a bad system in Dallas where he isn’t used right. He isn’t a good fit for Dallas and Dallas isn’t a good fit for him. I’d think a club like San Jose or a Kansas City would do well with a guy like Saragosa.

Chris Seitz (Real Salt Lake): I know a trade won’t happen with this kid because RSL has asked for too much when other clubs have approached them about Seitz. Thing is this kid is good but we aren’t seeing him nearly enough like we should. I think it could be a matter of RSL waiting on Nick Rimando to either retire or trade him (which is looking like could be the case later this winter).

Abe Thompson (Kansas City Wizards): Thompson was trade late last year from Dallas to KC and I really don’t think KC was the place for him to go. I know Thompson is a quality striker but he has to be in the right system for that and right now KC just has too many guys ahead of him. He’s still fairly cheap and a club like New York or San Jose could really use someone who is as hungry around the goal as Thompson is.

Chivas keeps rolling...but for how long? (Getty Images)

Looking back on this past week and even a season as a whole up until now there are plenty of questions surrounding these clubs. I think we are seeing who is contending this season, who is pretending and who is already playing themselves out of contention.

I’ve been jotting down a few notes recently about a few clubs and how they are playing. Some are coaching questions as we move into the first edition of the coaching hot seat (coming up soon I promise), and other random thoughts I’ve had so far this year. You all may be able to answer some and if not they could be good topics of discussion.

So let’s get to it shall we?

Just How Good Is Chivas USA?

This may be one of the biggest questions on everyone’s mind right now. Seven games in and this club has 16 points are the best club in the league. Or are they? Continue Reading…

I look for this to be a winter of change for Chivas USA. They are already said to be losing Fransisco Mendoza to the Mother Goats, now it appears they could be losing veteran striker Ante Razov.

Martin Rogers over at Yahoo! Sports says that Razov is being lured away to Mexico this winter.

9. Get ready to say goodbye to …

Ante Razov. The Chivas USA striker is reportedly attracting attention from Mexican league side Leon, which is prepared to offer him a lucrative contract.

It would be a good break for Razov who is heading into the final chapters of his career. I figure if he doesn’t sign with Leon he will definitely get traded elsewhere in MLS. In other words I just don’t expect him to be in Red-and-White stripes too much longer.

What do you think of Razov in Mexico? Good move for him or just a move to make some money?

Even with a fun title like that I must make this a bit quick. Week 16 wasn’t the biggest week for any league games, though I’m sure fans in Salt Lake would disagree. But even with the lack of games going on there were a couple guys that stood out and shined above the others.

Easily the best week went to Chicago’s John Thorrington. His late game-winner at home against Toronto gave voters little doubt about who to pick in this short week. I’ve said before, Thorrington is quickly becoming one of my new favorites in this league. His pace and energy on the field continues to show up. How this guy was nearly cut a while back is amazing too.

So week 16 goes to Thorrington, oh hey, the league agrees! Continue Reading…

Time for another edition of the stock watch in Major League Soccer. People seemed to enjoy the first edition last month, so I decided to bring it back again like I had hoped.

Anyways, to refresh your memories on how this all works. Everything including players, coaches, GMs, officials, and whatever else I think of are all open for dicussion here in this post. No one is safe, that is unless they are on the rise in the ‘up’ section.

As always, feel free to pipe in your comments about this all.

UP:

1. Luciano Emilio, DC United: Allow me to throw some numbers out to ya: six games and nine goals. That’s the current pace the Brazilian DP is on right now for DC. It seems like Emilio turns his game around once the summer days started to kick off back in late May.
2. Steve Ralston, New England Revolution: The last few games have seen Ralston be apart of nearly every Revolution goal scored. Six goals and four assists in the last few games. Its weird that he just keeps getting better with age. Also, I think the move to the center of the park has paid off in a big way for Ralston and the Revs.
3. Emmanuel Ekpo, Columbus Crew: Continuing to become one of the best offseason finds for Columbus. Ekpo impresses me more with each week. A couple goals, a couple timely assists have kept the Crew on pace to be in the thick of things this season.
4. Ante Razov, Chivas USA: He may only have three goals on the year but something tells me he is on the way up those charts for the year and for the all-time mark.
5. CONCACAF Champions League: I honestly cannot wait to see how this new format plays out for the region. MLS has a chance to get five teams involved in the group stages. I know this doesn’t kick off for a while but it deserves a mention since it will play a part in a few clubs seasons.

Continue Reading…

After a week off from handing out awards, we are fully back from vacation now as it is time to once again hand out awards to the week’s best. There wasn’t as many games to pick from this week as it was a holiday weekend that saw a couple clubs off in other competitions and what not.

A few good choices for player of the week but none stood out more to me when I looked at everything like Columbus Crew midfielder Guillermo Barros Schelotto. The Argentine’s two assists proved to be enough to get the Crew back in their game with Chicago from a 2-0 hole. Both passes to Emmanuel Ekpo and Steven Lenhart were spot on and allowed the Crew to steal a point late from the visiting Fire.

A lot of people don’t realize just how good he is until he makes passes like those two.

So to me, it was Schelotto’s week by far over everyone, including the two goals from New England’s Adam Cristman (who will more than likely take home the award this week). Continue Reading…