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A Supporter’s View: Chivas USA

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Two weeks and two games into the new MLS season, Chivas USA has produced a win and a draw despite various key injuries. The Goats have shown some depth and look like they, and not Houston, just might be the class of the Western Conference.

You wouldn’t know it based on the sparse coverage for the ‘other’ team at Home Depot Center. While David Beckham can’t sneeze without getting front-page stories written about him, Chivas USA continues to play second fiddle in a market where it has been the best team for the past two years.

SBI Correspondent John Sandate was at Home Depot Center for Chivas USA’s 3-1 win against Real Salt Lake on Saturday and what he saw was a lively crowd and impressive team, both largely ignored by the rest of the league. Sandate gives us his take on the state of Chivas USA (Feel free to provide your reaction to John’s piece in the comments section below):

Chivas USA keeps winning, keeps being ignored

By John Sandate

There’s always something special about going to the Home Depot Center on a Saturday night in the spring; fresh coastal air, fans clad in traditional red and white, and a clinical extermination of an MLS opponent. In retrospect, you can’t help but feel bad for other MLS cities that have to subject their fans to “bunker ball” soccer in cold, frigid weather.

Slow soccer on a cold night is foreign to me. Don’t get me wrong, no one will ever confuse Carson for Madrid, London or Buenos Aires, but there is something special about Chivas fans that are willing to stand for all 90 minutes (and some change) to cheer for an attacking team that can’t even buy respect from the local media.

Despite a 3-1 score, Chivas USA gets little or no love from the local media. For example, Saturday night’s official attendance was announced at 17,251. A decent but not spectacular number, but respectable at least. It may have been less than that, but not by much. What is really sad is the small blurb of a write up the team gets in the local papers with a lot of the focus being on empty seats.

I can’t totally blame the writers because negativity sells more than positivity. This is the era of sensationalism and they have to sell papers. Also, this is a Galaxy town and most of the putrid soccer coverage here consists of David Beckham’s good looks or the state of the Mexican national team. That’s soccer news in Los Angeles. As a result, dissing Chivas USA for anything is a way of life.

It’s really unfortunate, but quite common to hear “you guys are awesome, too bad you don’t have any fans,” “Good luck in the USL,” “I thought we were playing the real Chivas.” Whatever. It’s a new season and now fans of the flock can look forward to Chivas USA players giving away their authentic, sweaty, but expensive jerseys after each game. Can you say, E-B-A-Y?

Also, Chivas USA gave away soccer scarves to its fans. What MLS team gives away scarves and authentic jerseys on opening night? Exactly. And what does the team get for all of this? No respect from the media. Zero. Zilch. Nada.

Well, somehow, somebody forgot to tell Chivas USA, its players, and its fans that they’re not important. After the game, the team thanked not only the Legion Kalifas on the North end, but also walked across the pitch to thank the Union Ultras (the new gang of crazies) on the South end of the stadium after the game. Spanish speaking fans, yelling Alecko! Alecko,! were finally escorted out of the Stadium after 45 minutes even though he was willing to keep signing their scarves.

Fan support may not be plentiful but it really is fervent. From this perspective, 15-16k screaming fans are better than 27k fans staring at Beckham’s face. The media can campaign to diminish the Chivas USA brand or lobby to add Los Angeles to its official team name (ala the Angels); in the meantime, these Goats keep truckin’ and moving closer to the MLS Cup.

Comments

  1. Ives,

    Is Gerson Mayen officially the first player to be signed from a team’s youth academy? If so, I would think the event deserves some kind of story, no?

    Reply
  2. I actually like the way this team plays football, I think they are moving on to some big things!!

    On another note, when they came to Toronto last year it was damn fun hating on them!!

    Reply
  3. I keep reading this over and over again, and I have yet to find where the writer is saying that Chivas USA is the only team to give away scarves on opening day. What I am reading is this:”What MLS team gives away scarves and authentic jerseys on opening night?”. I don’t recall any team in the MLS doing that. They gave away scarves, but not Gameworn jerseys.

    One of the main reasons the UNION ULTRAS were formed is because we wanted to be the EXCLUSIVE Chivas USA supporter group. Our priority is Chivas USA and not Chivas GDL. In the UNION ULTRAS we have members that support other teams, not called Chivas, in the FMF (Mexican League). Last I checked this is the MLS and FMF has noing to do with it. There are members in the UNION ULTRAS that support Cruz Azul, Pumas, Atlante, America, Monarcas in the FMF. There are some that do not support any team in the FMF. When Chivas USA plays in Superliga and we happen to play Chivas GDL, the UNION ULTRAS will be there for Chivas USA! It does not matter what other team you support in any other league in the world, if you love to watch exciting football, I invte you to support Chivas USA here the MLS!!!

    Reply
  4. I go to both Chivas USA and Galaxy games. Chivas crowds are always smaller, louder, more excited and more knowledgeable.

    Why?

    Because Chivas USA is a far, far better team than Galaxy.

    They just need a home stadium.

    Reply
  5. Bring Chivas to San Diego and give them a new name. I’ll buy season tickets. How is it that MLS has ignored the market in SD? If they went about it correctly, and didn’t just target one audience, they could pull from both sides of the border and reap the benefits. Plus, we have the best concentration of top notch breweries to be found anywhere. A formula for great times at the ball park.

    Please…

    Reply
  6. I’ve already said this today but this might also be my favorite writeup of the week.

    Only thing I can add is that the Red Bulls gave away scarves this past weekend, and also I hope at some point this season to find out what your view, as a fan, is of playing in the stadium of another club.

    Great job.

    Reply
  7. On the field, Chivas is a pleasure to watch. Off the field, they are a joke. Chivas, limits the fan base to Guadalajara fans. USA keeps LA fans away. Get rid of Chivas and USA if you want some respect. Change the name to LA something or another. Even better, move the team to San Diego or Montreal or Portland or St. Louis. MLS needs to be in one of these markets before doubling up LA. Until they at least rebrand I hope they average 2000 fans per game (all comped) which forces them to fix this miss.

    Reply
  8. Are you sure this is something the media is trying to push down people’s throat?

    “This is definitely the underdog brand in town and we plan to keep it that way because good things happen to the underdog,” Chivas USA President Shawn Hunter said.

    Last I checked, Hunter is not a part of the media.

    Reply
  9. It is a sad fact that Chivas do not get the media coverage or the respect they deserve, especially when they play some of the best footie in the league.

    Its also a sad fact that all i hear from Chivas fans is that they don’t get any respect.

    Reply
  10. TFC gave team scarves the past two seasons to each season ticket holder…that’s 14,000 last year, 16,000 this year…please learn about teams across the league before claiming bias. You’re not doing Chivas any favours with neutrals with this whine…please don’t focus on Beckham, LAG already does that…BTW – Chivas was my most anticipated game last year in Toronto. Terribly fun to watch when they are on their game.

    Reply
  11. Count me amongst those that will not cheer for ‘Chivas’ due to the name ‘Chivas’. Its not that I don’t admire the skill level of the players, Sacha, Galindo & Razov are a joy…but won’t cheer for a “Chiva”. Call them the Goats…or hook up with Chivas Regal and call them the Scotchmen, and you bought yourself a fan.

    Reply
  12. Saw them a handful of times on ESPN Thursday night and I have nothing but good things to say about Chivas. Last year they were one of the most fun teams to watch and they returned the core of that team, so I hope they do well again this year. Can I be a Chivas fan and live in Louisville?

    Reply
  13. Just wanted to express a little solidarity. I live in Atlanta, but the MLS team I root for the most is Chivas USA. I root for them precisely for the reasons you cited- they play the game the right way (or try to at least). I think they are the most consistent team in the league at playing attractive, one-touch football. From afar, it seems as if the new GM out there has done some really good things, and as long as the team performs as well on the pitch this year as we think they will, I don’t think Chivas will have to prostitute themselves for recognition after this season. 17k on opening night. It will be sellouts by the end of the year (keep in mind that many of those Gals fans you refer to as only staring at Beckham’s face are really people who just want to be where the action is- and come playoff time the action won’t be with the Gals, so I bet a decent amount of them turn out to root for “the other home team.”

    Reply
  14. Hey man, I feel for Chivas fans. An over paid Brit comes to town and everyone goes crazy.

    But are you going to write about an actual game at some point?

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  15. Really enjoyed your article. Chivas USA has really grown on me in the last year. They are def. my number 2 team in the MLS.

    Reply
  16. They should move Chivas to San Diego. You’d have way more fans. Plus the Chargers are moving so we’re going to have an empty stadium. We need a team down here.

    Reply

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