While the Galaxy continue to hog the L.A. soccer spotlight, much like the Lakers cast their long Staples Center shadow on the Clippers, with speculation of who will be in uniform this season and who won't, down the hall Chivas USA is quietly prepping its core players to build on three consecutive postseason appearances. The Galaxy has missed the playoffs three straight seasons.
But while team officials are content to enter this season with more or less the same squad from an injury-plagued 2008, Nick Green warns that Chivas "is threatening to start the 2009 season much like the old one ended" and "the omens are not good" with season-opening fitness issues facing key contributors Ante Razov, Maykel Galindo, Sacha Klestjan and Alecko Eskandarian.
Galaxy-turned-Chivas defender Ante Jazic toes the party line in saying "When you make a lot of changes year in year out with a lot of new coaches, a lot of new players, that's not the way to be successful in this league," but Green reminds us that, for better or worse, Chivas USA "will live or die with the same nucleus it has had for the last three years and hope the rehab room is considerably less crowded than it was last year."
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