BY ADAM SERRANO
Chivas USA have another decision to make with their top spot in the allocation order.
Former United States Under-20 striker Sammy Ochoa was signed by the league on Wednesday and on Friday, the league will decide his placement via an allocation draft. Chivas USA have the first spot in the draft after passing on Benny Feilhaber and Freddy Adu in recent months. According to Chivas USA head coach Robin Fraser, there is interest in the Southern California native.
‘We have looked at him in the past, but certainly this happened very fast on the day of the game so we haven’t spent any time talking about it yet," said Fraser. "He’s a player that we will certainly discuss over the next two days. We really need to look at him and see how he plays, we looked at him in the past so we just need to re evaluate."
Drew Moor is the Colorado Rapids Ironman.
With his appearance against Chivas USA on Saturday, Moor broke Peter Vermes appearance record of 67 straight regular season games for a field player. The record breaking appearance is made even more remarkable considering that Moor suffered a hamstring injury on June 4th.
“Even though we only train an hour and a half a day, I feel like we are always working,” Moor told MLSsoccer.com. “I’m kind of a boring guy. I’m very much a student of the game. I’m thinking soccer all the time. The window of being a professional soccer player is usually not very long and, as long as I’m in it, I want to be playing as much as I possibly can.”
FC DALLAS
It took nearly 24 hours, but FC Dallas got their victory in the CONCACAF Champions League.
After a thunderstorm postponed their CCL match against Toronto FC on Wednesday, Dallas picked up their 1-0 victory in Canada off a goal by defender Jack Stewart. Dallas are now in firm control of Group C after two matches on the road.
"The whole game was quite a unique experience with the stoppage of the game yesterday,' said head coach Schellas Hyndman. "When we were winning 1-0, sitting around in the locker room for another two hours last night and then getting up early this morning for kickoff. It took a lot out of both teams, but again, our boys came through. "
LA GALAXY
MLS has enjoyed a banner month in the CONCACAF Champions League and now the LA Galaxy are looking to add the exclaimation point. Facing Costa Rican giants Alajuelense on Thursday night, the Galaxy will look to add to MLS' impressive 7-1-1 record in CCL play. For LA Galaxy captain Landon Donovan, the Galaxy are excited to do their part to add to that record in a postive way.
“It says a lot about how far our league has come,” Donovan said. “We have a long way to go, but it’s fun for us around the league to watch it. It’s encouraging and it makes us want to do our part, too.”
PORTLAND TIMBERS
The Portland Timbers are back in the hunt, the playoff hunt that is. Portland is now level on points with the New York Red Bulls after a 1-0 victory over Chivas USA on Wednesday. The win catapulted Portland past the Goats and D.C. United, as the Timbers look to qualify for the playoffs.
When speaking to reporters after the match, head coach Jon Spencer stated that his club has a real chance to qualify for the playoffs.
"We've got as good a chance as anybody (for) the eighth, ninth and 10th positions. I don't think we're just hanging on for the 10th spot," Spencer said. "We've got a couple of good games coming up at home. Hopefully we'll perform the way we did in the first half (of the season) and (Wednesday night)."
REAL SALT LAKE
Real Salt Lake has been in a funk as of late, but are set to welcome back one of their stars as Jaimson Olave may return to action this weekend against Chivas USA. Olave has been out due to a spained knee that was suffered during the 2011 MLS All-Star game, but may play a role against former RSL assistant Robin Fraser's club. RSL's defense has struggled as of late with a 1-4 record and eight goals conceded in five matches.
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES
The San Jose Earthquakes are looking ahead to next year.
Currently sitting in second to last in the Western Conference, San Jose is hoping to get their players back to fitness and look ahead to finishing strong. One player that needs to return to fitness is new signing Edmundo Zura, who is still not match fit.
“We thought he would be a lot closer being match fit, but he’s not,” head coach Frank Yallop said. “He really needs to get working and get fit, and then we can really assess him, for sure.”
SEATTLE SOUNDERS
The Seattle Sounders defeated Mexican giant and defending CCL champion Monterrey on Wednesday to become the second team from MLS to win in Mexico. The win inspired a list of the ten biggest victories in the Sounders brief three year history and according to one of the Sounders midfielders, that was very desreved.
"It's tremendous. It's a great win for us. It's one that will go in the history for our club," said midfielder Brad Evans. "We are now the second team to win in Mexico so for us it's special. Our locker room is happy. That will be the best team we play all year, easily. Heads above everybody else we play so I'm just happy."
VANCOUVER WHITECAPS
The Vancovuer Whitecaps are under new management, but it'll be several months before new head coach Martin Rennie takes the reigns in Vancouver. In a recent interview with the Province, Rennie outlined his plans for the Whitecaps and admits that he is confident of success from the get go. A coaching prodigy, who starred with the Carolina Railhawks (NASL) is hoping to bring winning back to Canada's west coast.
"I was around managers and owners - very driven, very smart - who knew how to get the best out of people," says Rennie. "I picked up things about communication, goal setting, building a winning culture . . . A lot of times I would think: When I'm in coaching, I'm going to use that . . ."
