By ADAM SERRANO
Chivas USA may be looking to develop the best youth program in MLS, but plans for a potential "All-Southern California" Chivas USA appear to be overblown.
Following a pair of recent reports that have come out in the last week stating that the Rojiblancos are intending to field an "All-SoCal" team, General Manager Jose Domene clairified the statements in an interview with MLSsoccer.com.
“We’re trying to build a team based on youth development and not necessarily buy superstars. We want to build superstars from within, that doesn’t mean that they’ll all be SoCal players," said Domene. "If for whatever reason we end up with 11 SoCal players from our youth development, then that means that we’re very good at scouting here and our youth program worked.”
More news from around the Western Conference is after the jump:
COLORADO RAPIDS
Sanna Nyassi has been called up for two friendlies for his native Gambia, which may cause him to miss two matches. Nyassi will join the Gambian national team on May 31st and miss the club's match on June 4th against Philadelphia and will likely miss a June 11th match in Portland against the Timbers.
FC DALLAS
It may be time to start asking if George John and Ugo Ihemelu lead one of the finest backlines in all of MLS. With their shutout of the Seattle Sounders, FC Dallas set a franchise record of 489 minutes without allowing a goal while also going unbeaten in their last seven matches.
LA GALAXY
The Galaxy will be without Juan Pablo Angel for the club's match with the New England Revolution. Angel started the last two matches for the Galaxy and was removed in the 60th minute of Wednesday's 1-0 victory with the Houston Dynamo.
REAL SALT LAKE
Javier Morales has begun his long road back after starting rehab from an ankle injury, which broke a bone, dislocated his ankle and tore ligaments. Morales admitted that he had never seen an injury like the one that he suffered after a clumsy tackle by Marcos Mondaini on May 7th. While the timetable for his return is at least four months, the Argentine playmaker is confident about his ability to return soon.
PORTLAND TIMBERS
Apparently if you're going to beat the Portland Timbers at JELD-WEN field, just make sure it's not MLS compeititon. The Portland Timbers fell 2-0 in their friendly against Dutch giants Ajax on Wednesday night. It was the Timbers second loss at JELD-WEN, where the Timbers have yet to lose an MLS regular season match. Following the friendly, head coach Jon Spencer admitted that his club learned a great deal from their match against Ajax.
"I think you can always learn something from every situation. I don’t think we’ll play against anybody in Major League Soccer that has the quality of that team tonight," said Spencer to reporters after the match. "I don’t think we can punish ourselves. There is a gulf in difference, we know that. That’s one of the biggest clubs in European soccer so it’s a great experience for us as a young club."
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES
Star striker Chris Wondolowski was called up to the U.S. national team for the Gold Cup roster in what will leave a major hole in the offense of the San Jose Earthquakes. While the club may be pleased that their star forward is getting recognition from Bob Bradley, head coach Frank Yallop must now find out if he can replace his Golden Boot winner.
SEATTLE SOUNDERS
The Seattle Sounders continued their struggle to score dropping a 1-0 match against FC Dallas at home. In the match against Dallas, Sounders DP Fredy Montero struggled to create opportunties and was eventually substituted in the 75th minute of play. Following the match, Head coach Sigi Schmid was scathing in his assessment of Montero's performance as of late.
"He needs to score. End of story," Schmid told reporters after the match. "He needs to score. That's what he's paid to do. He needs to score. He's a good enough player. He knows that."
VANCOUVER WHITECAPS
The Whitecaps match in the Nutrilife Canadian Championship against Toronto FC was rescheduled for July 2nd.
