Chivas USA

175px
Full name	Club Deportivo Chivas USA
Nickname(s)	Rebaño Angelino, Red-and-White, Goats, Rojiblancos
Founded	2004
Stadium	The Home Depot Center Carson, California (Capacity: 18,800[1])
Owner	Jorge Vergara
Head Coach	Robin Fraser
League	Major League Soccer
2011	Western Conference: 8th Overall: 15th Playoffs: DNQ
Website	Club home page
Home colors Away colors
Current season

Club Deportivo Chivas USA is an American professional soccer club based in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, California that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS).

The club became MLS' eleventh team upon their expansion into the league in 2004 and was intended to be seen as a "little brother" to its parent club Guadalajara, one of the most widely supported and successful teams in Mexico. In Spanish, chivas means "goats", and is the nickname of CD Guadalajara.

Chivas USA plays its home games at The Home Depot Center in Carson, which it shares with its rival, the Los Angeles Galaxy. The club is owned by Jorge Vergara Madrigal, owner of Guadalajara, and Antonio Cué Sánchez-Navarro and is a subsidiary of Chivas USA Enterprises LLC, which is led by Cué.

History[link]

Founded on August 2, 2004, as Major League Soccer's then-eleventh team, Los Angeles-based Club Deportivo Chivas USA has achieved some success in MLS. In 2007, the Mexican-owned club finished first in the Western Conference, qualifying for the playoffs for the second year in a row.

In 2005, Chivas USA kicked off its inaugural season in Major League Soccer at The Home Depot Center with a 2-0 loss to then MLS Cup Champions D.C. United on April 2, 2005, under the guidance of Chivas USA’s first head coach Thomas Rongen. After a 1–8–1 start (their sole win coming against fellow expansion club Real Salt Lake), Thomas Rongen was named Chivas USA's sporting director and assistant coach Javier Ledesma became the club's interim head coach. On June 3, 2005, Hans Westerhof was named Chivas USA's second head coach. After a disappointing season, Westerhof did not return to coach the team in 2006.

On November 23, 2005, former MLS Coach of the Year Bob Bradley became Chivas USA’s third head coach, replacing Hans Westerhof. Under Bradley, the 2006 season saw a major turnaround for Chivas USA. The team finished the 2006 season with a 10-9-13 record and earned a spot in the Western Conference playoffs. Bradley was named MLS Coach of the Year, becoming the first two-time winner of the award and Chivas USA defender Jonathan Bornstein was named 2006 Gatorade Rookie of the Year. After the season ended, Coach Bradley was named interim head coach of the US men's national soccer team and head coach of the U.S. men's Olympic soccer team by the U.S. Soccer Federation, and was replaced by Chivas USA’s fourth head coach, Predrag "Preki" Radosavljevic.

Sacha Kljestan played a major role for Chivas USA from 2006-2010

The team’s third season, under Preki, was the most successful to date. Chivas USA goalkeeper Brad Guzan was named MLS’s Panasonic Goalkeeper of the Year for the 2007 season. On November 7, 2007, Preki was named MLS Coach of the Year for 2007 after the first-year manager led the Red-and-White to a 15-7-8 record and first place in Major League Soccer’s Western Conference. In January 2008, Preki signed a multi-year contract with Chivas USA securing his position as head coach for the 2008 season. Chivas finished the 2007 MLS season atop of the Western Conference. However, they lost in the Conference Semifinals of the MLS Cup 2007 playoffs to the Kansas City Wizards, who were the conference's #4 seed under new MLS seeding rules despite being in the Eastern Conference.

In 2008 Chivas USA competed in their first official international tournament, playing Pachuca in the 2008 SuperLiga. Jonathan Bornstein and Sacha Kljestan were named to the MLS All-Star team. Goalie Brad Guzan became the first Goat to transfer to a European first division club. The Red-and-White clinched a playoff berth for the third consecutive season, losing to Real Salt Lake in the first round. Kljestan scored the U.S. Soccer Goal of the Year while playing in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. He was also named to the MLS Best XI, and was selected as U.S. Soccer’s Young Male Athlete of the Year.

Jonathan Bornstein and Sacha Kljestan competed with the U.S. National Team in the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup in South Africa. Chivas USA goalkeeper Zach Thornton was named to the ­2009 MLS All-Star Team. Chivas USA announced the Team Award Winners, naming Thornton the team’s Most Valuable Player. Thornton was also named the MLS Goalkeeper of the Year and MLS Comeback Player of the Year, and he was nominated to the MLS Best 11. Martín Vásquez was named the team’s head coach after serving as an assistant coach from 2005-2007.

Kljestan and Bornstein were named co-captains for the 2010 season. During the World Cup break Kljestan signed a deal with Belgian club Anderlecht, leaving Chivas USA after parts of five seasons. Bornstein played in the 2010 FIFA World Cup, starting in two matches for the United States as they made it to the Round of 16. On October 27, the team released head coach Martín Vásquez from his contract. On November 2, president and CEO Shawn Hunter announced he was stepping down. On December 14 the club's vice president of soccer operations, Stephen Hamilton revealed he too, was leaving his post. Both he and Hunter will continue to serve in advisory roles for the club. After Hamilton stepped down, Jose L Domene was named Interim General Manager. On January 4, 2011, Robin Fraser became Head coach of Chivas USA.

Colors and badge[link]

Chivas USA's home uniform mirrors that of their parent club, Guadalajara, with a red-and-white striped shirt, blue shorts and blue socks. Chivas USA have worn a variation of this kit since their inception (with slight variations in trim, stripe width, number of stripes, and other minor details), and usually complement this with a dark blue away uniform.

The club badge is also virtually identical to that of Guadalajara, featuring the shield of the city of Guadalajara, but omitting the eleven stars (representing the eleven league titles won by Guadalajara) around the outside of the logo.

Stadium[link]

The Home Depot Center, Chivas USA's home stadium since 2005

• The Home Depot Center; Carson, California (2005–present)
• Harder Stadium; Santa Barbara, California (2006) 1 game in US Open Cup
• Titan Stadium; Fullerton, California (2008, 2010) 2 games in US Open Cup and North American SuperLiga

Chivas USA plays its home games at The Home Depot Center, on the campus of California State University, Dominguez Hills in Carson, California, approximately 10 miles south of downtown Los Angeles. The venue's title sponsor is home-improvement retailer The Home Depot. Built in 2003 as the home stadium for Los Angeles Galaxy, the "HDC" is a 27,000-seat soccer-specific stadium, the second of its kind in the MLS,^[2] but has hosted other sports such as rugby and football. Since they began play in 2005, Los Rojiblancos have shared the stadium the Los Galacticos, with whom they compete for the Honda SuperClasico. This arrangement and those of the NFL Jets and Giants in the MetLife Stadium and NBA Lakers and Clippers in the Staples Center are the only cases in the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada of two teams of the same league sharing a venue.

Chivas USA have occasionally held home games at Titan Stadium on the campus of California State University, Fullerton, and at Harder Stadium on the campus of UC Santa Barbara, such as in the US Open Cup when both they and Los Angeles Galaxy have been drawn to play at home on the same day, but this is generally a rare occurrence.

Club culture[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

Supporters groups[link]

Chivas USA enjoys a built-in supporters group known as Legión 1908. The Los Angeles chapter (legion-Kalifas), boasting 1,500 registered members, but only about 20 showing up regularly to games, it is the third largest behind the Mexico City (largest) and Guadalajara chapters. The Legión can be spotted wearing their red and white, singing and swaying en masse behind the goal in Section 122 at certain home games that they choose not to protest.

The Union Ultras is the first Chivas USA supporters group, boasting over 150 members that exclusively support Chivas USA. They sit directly across from the legionarios, behind the other goal in Section 101. The Union Ultras (some of whom are former Legión members) support Chivas USA exclusively, as opposed to Chivas de Guadalajara/Chivas USA by default.

Black Army 1850 is the newest Chivas USA supporters group, started during the 2010 season and sit in section 138. They have a membership between 50-60 members. They do not wear the traditional Chivas USA colors, red and white. The Black Army follows some of the protocol of European Ultras, not wearing their teams colors and instead wearing black. They identify with 1850 because that is the year California and Los Angeles became officially part of the United States as a state and city. The group strives to make Chivas USA a more regional team by identifying with Los Angeles.

Sponsorship[link]

On May 16, 2007, Comex, Mexico’s leading paint company, became Chivas USA’s first presenting sponsor, with their name on the front of the jerseys. At the opening of the 2010 season, the team's jerseys were blank. On April 1, 2010, the new presenting sponsor, Extra,^[3] was finally unveiled prior to the match against rivals Los Angeles Galaxy; Extra is a Mexican convenience store chain owned by Grupo Modelo, the makers of Corona beer.^[3][4] The chain's logo appeared on the front of Chivas USA jerseys and training jerseys for the rest of that year. On February 16, 2011 Corona became the presenting sponsor for Chivas USA.^[5] The "Goats" also have Home Depot, Time Warner Cable, Walt Disney, Budweiser, NAPA Auto Parts, Visa, Inc. as team sponsors.

Broadcasting[link]

FS West/Prime Ticket and KDOC have the television coverage rights to Chivas USA matches that are not nationally televised.^[6] Delivering the most Chivas games on television, the schedule includes 15 regular season games for FS West/Prime Ticket and five to KDOC. In 2010 all 30 Chivas USA matches were broadcast in either local or national television.^[6] Christian Miles is the play-by-play announcer and Allen Hopkins is the analyst.^[6]

The official Spanish-language broadcast partner is W Radio 690 AM and broadcasts all 30 of Chivas USA’s regular-season games during season and KWHY channel 22.^[6] The games are broadcasted simultaneously on radio and television with Hipólito Gamboa as the play-by-play announcer and Rigo Cervantez as the analyst.^[6]

Players and staff[link]

Current roster[link]

As of May 17, 2012.^[7]

No.	Position	Player	Nation
1	Goalkeeper	Kennedy, DanDan Kennedy	United States
2	Defender	Gordon, ScottScott Gordon	United States
4	Defender	McKenzie, RauwshanRauwshan McKenzie	United States
5	Defender	Valencia, John AlexanderJohn Alexander Valencia	Colombia
6	Midfielder	Vagenas, PeterPeter Vagenas	United States
7	Defender	Riley, JamesJames Riley	United States
8	Midfielder	Minda, OswaldoOswaldo Minda	Ecuador
9	Forward	Ángel, Juan PabloJuan Pablo Ángel (DP)	Colombia
10	Midfielder	LaBrocca, NickNick LaBrocca	United States
11	Forward	Agudelo, JuanJuan Agudelo	United States
13	Defender	Jazić, AnteAnte Jazić	Canada
14	Forward	Townsend, CaseyCasey Townsend	United States
15	Forward	Moreno, AlejandroAlejandro Moreno	Venezuela
16	Midfielder	Courtois, LaurentLaurent Courtois	France
17	Midfielder	Bolaños, MillerMiller Bolaños (on loan from LDU Quito)	Ecuador
18	Midfielder	Gavin, BlairBlair Gavin	United States
19	Defender	Villafaña, JorgeJorge Villafaña	United States
20	Forward	Bowen, TristanTristan Bowen	United States
21	Midfielder	Zemanski, BenBen Zemanski	United States
22	Forward	Smith, RyanRyan Smith	England
23	Defender	Califf, DannyDanny Califf	United States
24	Goalkeeper	McLain, PatrickPatrick McLain	United States
25	Midfielder	Delgado, MarcoMarco Delgado (HGP)	United States
26	Midfielder	Iraheta, MarvinMarvin Iraheta	El Salvador
27	Forward	Correa, José ErickJosé Erick Correa	Colombia
28	Goalkeeper	Melia, TimTim Melia	United States
30	Midfielder	Cardozo, PaoloPaolo Cardozo	Uruguay
58	Forward	Romero, CesarCesar Romero	United States

Youth Academy[link]

The U16 and U18 Chivas USA Academy teams/players are developed as an extension of the first team/reserve program. Their education includes professional prep and a detailed understanding of the objectives, roles and expectations of first team soccer.

Chivas USA Development Academy is the standard for youth soccer development in Southern California and the United States. It is our mission to identify talented young soccer players and provide them with a competitive development plan ensuring maximum growth and improvement. Through our "Culture of Excellence," the Chivas USA Academy, in conjunction with U.S. Soccer, is designed to prepare young players for the Chivas USA First Team.

The Chivas USA Academy is a fully funded program for all of its players. These academy players will train a minimum of four days a week, they will get the opportunity to compete in the So Cal Division, arguably the toughest competition in the country, and they will play in a 10-month season, which maximizes training and competitive matches for the year. In addition to the training on the field, the academy players will attend a session once a week at the Competitive Athletic Training Zone (CATZ). CATZ is the official strength, conditioning, and physical therapy providers for the Chivas USA First team and they will give all of our players in the Chivas USA Academy the access to proven training routines that will focus on physical development and nutrition.

The Chivas USA Academy Staff consists of current Chivas USA First Team Assistants, who are all USSF Licensed coaches who have earned regional and national honors from the U.S. Soccer Federation and the USSDA. Each of our head coaches have played professionally and internationally for the U.S. Full Men's National Team or Youth National Teams.

Current staff[link]

• Jose Domene - General Manager
• Robin Fraser - Head Coach
• Carlos Llamosa - Assistant Coach
• Greg Vanney - Assistant Coach
• Simon Elliott - Technical Director/Head Scout
• Daniel Alejandro Gonzalez - Goalkeeper Coach
• Jim Liston - Athletic Trainer and Conditioning Coach

Notable former players[link]

This list of former players includes those who received international caps while playing for the team, made significant contributions to the team in terms of appearances or goals while playing for the team, or who made significant contributions to the sport either before they played for the team, or after they left. It is clearly not yet complete and all inclusive, and additions and refinements will continue to be made over time.

• See also All-time C.D. Chivas USA roster

Head coaches[link]

• Thomas Rongen (2005)
• Javier Ledesma (2005), (Interim)
• Hans Westerhof (2005)
• Bob Bradley (2006)
• Preki (2007–2009)
• Martin Vasquez (2010)
• Robin Fraser (2011–present)

Achievements[link]

• MLS Supporters' Shield
  • Runners-up (1): 2007

• MLS Western Conference
  • Winners (Regular Season) (1): 2007

• Minor Trophies
  • Honda SuperClasico (1): 2007

Record[link]

Year-by-year[link]

Year-by-year stats[link]

Year	League Record							Top Scorer
	P	W	L	D	F	A	Pts	Name	G
2005	32	4	22	6	31	67	18	Héctor Cuadros	4
2006	32	10	9	13	45	42	43	Ante Razov	14
2007	30	15	7	8	46	28	53	Maykel Galindo	12
2008	30	12	11	7	40	41	43	Alecko Eskandarian Ante Razov Sacha Kljestan	5
2009	30	13	11	6	34	31	45	Eduardo Lillingston	8
2010	30	8	18	4	31	45	28	Justin Braun	9
Total	184	62	78	44	227	254	230	Ante Razov	30

International tournaments[link]

• 2008 North American SuperLiga

Group Stage v. Pachuca -- 1:2

Group Stage v. Santos Laguna -- 1:0

Group Stage v. New England Revolution -- 1:1

• 2008–09 CONCACAF Champions League

Preliminary Round v. Tauro -- 1:3 aggregate over 2 legs

• 2009 North American SuperLiga

Group Stage v. UANL -- 1:2

Group Stage v. Chicago Fire -- 0:1

Group Stage v. San Luis -- 1:1

• 2010 North American SuperLiga

Group Stage v. Puebla -- 1:2

Group Stage v. Houston Dynamo -- 1:1

Group Stage v. Pachuca -- 1:0

Team records[link]

Jonathan Bornstein has played more games for Chivas USA than any other player.

• Goals: Ante Razov (30)
• Assists: Sacha Kljestan (33)
• Games Played: Jonathan Bornstein (123)
• Minutes Played: Jonathan Bornstein (9,952)
• Shots: Ante Razov (234)
• Shots on Goal: Ante Razov (100)
• Game-Winning Goals: Ante Razov (10)
• Penalty Kick Goals: Claudio Suárez (4)
• Multi-Goal Games: Ante Razov (5)
• Saves: Brad Guzan (288)
• Shutouts: Brad Guzan (24)

MLS regular season only, through 2009 season

• All-Time regular season record: 54-60-39 (Through November 8, 2009)

Average attendance[link]

regular season / playoffs

• 2005: 17,080 / missed playoffs
• 2006: 19,840 / 15,110
• 2007: 14,305 / 19,711
• 2008: 15,114 / 19,265
• 2009: 16,107 / 25,218
• 2010: 14,575 / missed playoffs
• 2011: 14,830 / missed playoffs

References[link]

^{[8][9][10][11]}

External links[link]

Los Angeles portal

• Official website

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Jorge Vergara is a businessman and film producer. He's the founder of Grupo Omnilife, one of the top 200 corporations in Mexico. Grupo Omnilife owns the football (soccer) clubs: Club Deportivo Guadalajara of Mexico, C.D. Chivas USA of Major League Soccer, and Chivas Hefei.

He has also produced internationally recognized movies like The Assassination of Richard Nixon and the Oscar-nominated Y tu mamá también through Producciones Anhelo.

Herbalife and Omnilife[link]

Born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Vergara once sold tacos on Mexican streets. Back in the 1980s Vergara sold condominiums and timeshares in Manzanillo, Mexico, where he met and began working with John Peterson.

When Peterson became a Herbalife salesperson, he recruited Vergara and together they began selling Herbalife products in Mexico. Since Herbalife had not received Mexican government approval to sell their products, Peterson and Vergara had to smuggle the products into the country. After six months of smuggling the products into Mexico, Herbalife took notice and began the process of getting government approval. Vergara was asked to help get the Herbalife products approved by the Mexican government and was instrumental in helping Herbalife's founder, Mark Hughes deal with the Mexican Government. This gave Vergara insight into how a multi-level company profits and expands into other countries. Vergara was partners with Roger Daley, Jim Fobair and Charlie Ragus. With already the 51% of the company, Vergara acquired the rest of Omnitrition at the end of the deal with his U.S. partners and took the whole control of Omnitrition de Mexico. Since its foundation in 1991, the privately owned corporation has grown from one company, Omnilife de Mexico, to comprise nineteen companies. Today, approximately 5.2 million people distribute Omnilife products in 22 countries, while the company has reached annual sales of nearly $1 billion dollars.

Vergara has been the director of Omnilife de Mexico since 1991.^[1]

Film Production[link]

In 1999 Vergara met film director Alfonso Cuarón while seeking out filmmakers for his corporate movies. Cuarón, however, was more interested in filming Y tu mamá también, and gave Vergara the screenplay. A known lover of films, Vergara read it and right away proposed that they begin production. In the process they established a production company Producciones Anhelo that would go on to co-produce Guillermo del Toro's El Espinazo Del Diablo (The Devil's Backbone), along with Pedro Almodóvar's El Deseo and del Toro's Tequila Gang. Anhelo also produced Sebastián Cordero's Crónicas.

Vergara has always guaranteed his directors creative freedom and the best possible production quality. In 2002, Variety named him one of its Ten Producers to Watch^{[citation needed]}. For the 2004 edition of the Guadalajara Film Festival, Vergara created the JVC Award for Best Director, which was given to Fernando Eimbcke for his feature debut Temporada de patos.

Chivas[link]

Vergara gained Club Deportivo Guadalajara ownership in 2002. His goal from the get-go was to expand the Chivas brand any and every way possible. Not long after he took ownership in Mexico, while attending the 2003 Major League Soccer All-Star Game at the Home Depot Center, he sat in a pregame press conference and boldly announced intentions to expand Chivas to MLS.

There was a mixed reaction to the announcement, immediate excitement around the high-profile international investor's interest in a league fraught with struggle in contrast to reticence about adding another team in Southern California. Eventually, Vergara and MLS inaugurated Chivas USA in 2004. The Red and White played its first official season in 2005. In five seasons of operation, Chivas USA recorded four straight MLS playoff appearances.^[2]

Vergara has been very controversial in regards to the multiple ownership of football clubs.

Philanthropic Work[link]

In 2001, Vergara signed a partnership through EDUCARE to collaborate with the National Council for Science and Technology. Since this partnership began, he has contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to more than 30 projects related to health, wellness and food sciences. His philanthropic activities with the community also led to his establishment of Fundación por los Niños del Planeta.

Jorge Vergara is a founding member of the Americas Business Council Foundation (ABC), alongside his wife Angelica Fuentes, as well as Guillermo Romo, President of Grupo Mega, and Emilio Azcárraga Jean, CEO of Televisa.

References[link]

External links[link]

• "Jorge", the biographical book
• Jorge Vergara Madrigal at the Internet Movie Database