By ADAM SERRANO
Chivas USA head coach Robin Fraser has been eager to add some new blood to a team on the verge of qualifying for the playoffs.
On Thursday, Chivas USA added veteran French midfielder Laurent Courtois, a veteran of top leagues in France and England. The former West Ham United midfielder has been training with the club since the beginning of the week and will travel with the Rojiblancos for their match on Saturday against the New England Revolution.
"I'm going to try to bring something to help finish the job to get us points because it's a shame that you can dominate a game and end up with zero points," Courtois told MLSsoccer.com. "In my head, I'm starting from zero, which is the best way to learn. This is a different league than I've seen before, so it's going to be a new start for me. I think I have the quality to perform."
In addition to Courtois, head coach Robin Fraser confirmed that the club will also be bringing in Brazilian defender David Junior Lopes. The Brazilian has been training with the Rojiblancos since the start of the week and is expected to be announced shortly.
More news from around the Western Conference is after the jump:
COLORADO RAPIDS
The Colorado Rapids search for a shirt sponsor appears to have hit a snag.
After claiming that a deal would be in place by the end of July or at the very latest the end of 2011, but a club spokesman told MLSsoccer.com that there was no timeline to find a principal sponsor. Rapids Chief Marketing Officer Tim Hinchey stated that the MLS Cup champions were searching for a sponsor among companies based in and outside of Colorado.
Thirteen of 18 MLS teams have a jersey sponsorship.
FC DALLAS
FC Dallas promised that they'd would be active in the transfer market and on Thursday, they made their first big signing by adding midfielder Daniel Cruz.
A 30-year-old midfielder, who can also play forward was sighed off the Dallas discovery list. Cruz recently trained with Houston, but because of the discovery list, his rights belonged to Dallas. A former member of Dutch giant Ajax, Cruz spent most of his career with Belgian club Germinal Beerscot, where he scored 12 goals during 150 appearances.
L.A. GALAXY
The Galaxy were throughly "embarrassed" on Wednesday night at JELD-WEN Field. The league leaders fell 3-0 to a Portland Timbers being outworked all over the field by a Timbers side that had struggled in recent weeks.
"We got home a little embarrassed because of the result, but at the end of the day, it's the first game we've lost in three months," David Beckham told reporters after the match. "We've been on a good run. It had to end somewhere."
In addition to the overall struggles against the Timbers, one particular low point was the performance of Juan Pablo Angel, who was removed at the half after struggling to create opportunties. After the match, head coach Bruce Arena stated that he will need to speak to his struggling forward.
"That's something we'll talk to him about. We don't need to do that publicly."
PORTLAND TIMBERS
Conversely, Wednesday was a banner night for the Timbers.
The struggling Timbers destroyed MLS leaders LA Galaxy in a 3-0 romp at JELD-WEN field. The Timbers have not won at home since May 21st against the Columbus Crew, 1-0. Head coach Jon Spencer has been vocal routinely questioning the fortitude of his club during the tough stretch, but was overjoyed with the victory.
"I've had to answer a lot of tough questions here, you guys questioning my players' heart, motivation, fitness," Spencer told reporters after the match. "It hurt me because these guys are under me, and I care for them deeply. Tonight, everyone connected with the Portland Timbers should be very, very proud."
REAL SALT LAKE
Despite having some success, in many ways, Real Salt Lake has endured a nightmare year.
A series of issues have haunted the club like falling to Monterrey in the CONCACAF Champions League Final, losing Javier Morales to an extended injury have all played a part in damaging the morale of RSL. Real Salt Lake's nightmare continued on Wednesday when RSL fell 2-0 to Sporting Kansas City. When speaking to reporters after the match, Jason Kreis stated that he felt 2011 was slipping away from his grasp.
"It better be real bad because my morale is real bad, we need guys right now to feel that pain because I honestly feel that we’re at a precipice for our season right now," Kreis told reporters after the loss. "We need a huge game on Saturday, a huge effort, we need these guys to pull together and give absolutely everything they have because to have three losses in a row would be monstrously bad. "
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES
The San Jose Earthquakes officially announced that forward Steven Lenhart will take an extended leave of absense from the team. Lenhart leaves the Earthquakes to be with his family after the recent death of his father. The forward has been not played for the club since July 20th.
There is no timetable for Lenhart's return.
SEATTLE SOUNDERS
It wasn't easy, but the Seattle Sounders qualified for the 2011-2012 CONCACAF Champions League Group stage. The Sounders defeated Panamianian side San Francisco 2-0 in Extra Time to earn a 2-1 victory on aggregate.
"It wasn't necessarily a thing of beauty — even though we created a lot of chances," Schmid told the Seattle Times. "So there's a little bit of frustration there — but our character showed through at the end."
The defending U.S. Open Cup champions advance to a brutal Group D with defending CONCACAF Champions League winners Monterrey, Guatemalan side Comunicaciones and likely Herediano of Costa Rica. The Sounders will face Communiccaciones on August 16th in their first match in the CCL group-stages. Seattle will be without midfielder Osvaldo Alonso due to yellow-card accumulation.
VANCOUVER WHITECAPS
Whitecaps youngster Russ Teibert has enjoyed a whirlwind season. In his first season, the young Canadian played in his first MLS matches and also spent time with Canada at the CONCACAF U-20 Championship.
Although the defender has struggled to find playing time for the Whitecaps, Teibert appears to be groomed by head coach Tom Soehn for bigger things. Teibert is fighting a starting spot for the Whitecaps moving from the left side of midfield to left back.
