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Regenerative Training Session for Chivas USA

May 6, 2013 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
Club Deportivo Chivas USA News Release


After Sunday's 4-0 Chivas USA loss to Sporting KC at Sporting Park, and upon their arrival in Los Angeles on Monday morning, the team held a regenerative training session in the facilities of The Home Depot Center.

Shortly after 9:30AM, the Goats began their activity, splitting into two groups, depending on their activity against Sporting KC; one group consisted of players that had the most minutes in Sunday's match, while the other group was a selection of players that came off the bench or had no activity in the game.

The first group kicked off their day at The Home Depot Center's gym focusing only on regenerative and aerobic exercises that consisted of work-outs on stationary bicycles and stretches, in an effort to compensate for the work put in at Kansas City. A little after 35 minutes from their start, training concluded for the first group of players.

For the second group, training began at The Home Depot Center's Field 6. Kicking off with a light jog, and continuing with strength and conditioning exercises under the supervision of Physical Trainer Osvaldo Scansetti. The group closed training with a beep test. The session concluded after a little over an hour of training on the field.

Players who are treating injuries, as well as those who didn't make the trip to Kansas City, held a separate training session than the previous two groups on Monday morning.

Heading into Week 11 of the 2013 MLS season, Chivas USA will be off on Tuesday, and will return to training on Wednesday, May 8 at 9:30AM at The Home Depot Center's Field 6, in the first of four training sessions ahead of Sunday's match against the Portland Timbers at 2 pm at JELD-WEN Field.

Kennedy Lost for Words as He Sees Red

Chivas USA's Week 10 match in the 2013 MLS season is one that goalkeeper and team captain Dan Kennedy would very much like to forget. Not only did the team fall 4-0 to Sporting KC on the road, but he was issued a red card in the 54th minute for an apparent foul on former Red-and-White midfielder Paulo Nagamura, a card Kennedy had not seen since October 10, 2008 in a match against the Houston Dynamo.

"I was just trying to get back and cover my ground and Paulo's leg barely touched my ankle. It's one of those things that, without a doubt, there's no intent on the foul, and I think Nagamura knows that. It was a hard play for the ref; in the end, I don't know what else to say," Kennedy said upon his arrival to The Home Depot Center on Monday morning.

"Across the league, these plays are going to happen and it's happened to me before. I just don't know if it's a red card, that's my opinion on it. Just because Joaquin is there to make the play, even if there's no contact between me and Paulo, there's no goal scored. What can you do? You just have to move on," the team captain added.

Coming off the bench for the first time in MLS to replace an ejected Kennedy, was Wisconsin-native Patrick McLain. From the first minute upon entering the field, McLain was challenged in a penalty kick that KC forward Claudio Bieler took from the 12-yard mark. Unfortunately for McLain, Bieler was able to score for the home team, leading KC to gain confidence and notch two more goals against Chivas by end of regulation time.

"As goalkeepers, your debuts always seem to be interesting; it's a very hard thing to do. I think he's probably glad that it's behind him and there's nothing to get it done and change the game. It was a terrible situation to come into and he's got the character to put it behind him and move on to what's important, and that's Portland," Kennedy finalized.

"Kennedy's the rock of our team".- Bobby Burling.

After falling to Sporting Kansas City by the largest goal differential of the season, Chivas USA defender Bobby Burling acknowledged after the match that losing goalkeeper and captain Dan Kennedy in the 54th minute, after he was issued a straight red card, was a huge blow for the Red-and-White back line.

"Anytime someone goes down with a red card it's tough," said Burling. "He's the rock of our team, our goalkeeper and captain. It was a huge deal to lose him."

Kennedy was shown a straight red in the 54th minute when he drew contact on Sporting's Paulo Nagamura, who took a slotted pass outside the box and was left on a one-on-one with Kennedy. The Red-and-White keeper came off his line and met Nagamura just inside the 18-yard line, where the referee deemed that the midfielder was taken down. Kennedy will now have to sit out next Sunday's crucial road match against conference rival the Portland Timbers.

Chivas USA will have to count on back-up 'keeper Pat McLain to step up against the Timbers at Jeld-Wen Field. The 24-year-old from Eau Claire, Wisconsin, was forced to make his professional debut in MLS on Sunday after Kennedy's ejection.

"It was a great opportunity for a young guy to step up," explained Burling. "I felt sorry for Pat to come into the game the way he did, but if he gets the opportunity next week, we are confident in him."

Burling, who returned to the starting line-up Sunday after sitting out last week's match against San Jose to serve a one-game suspension due to yellow card accumulation, played the full 90 minutes and got an up-close look at Sporting KC's fire-power and finesse.

"It's a long season, we've said that all along," Burling added. "You have to have a short memory. This [result] hurts. No one is happy about it."

What started off as a physical, high-paced match locked at zero, gradually became a 1-0 advantage when Sporting broke the scoreless tie in the 41st minute after repeatedly getting into dangerous spots inside the box from both sides. Sporting extended their lead in the 57th minute after cashing in the penalty kick that left Head Coach Jose Luis Sanchez Sola's squad a man short for the remaining 33 minutes of regulation, the rout ensued.

Chivas USA now find themselves in the bottom half of the Western Conference standings with 11 points after suffering their second shutout of the 2013 MLS campaign. And Burling, an eight-year League veteran, knows how crucial each week is.

"It doesn't get any easier next week. We go to Portland and have to regroup right away," Burling concluded.

Academy Update: Young Goats Move On Up

It was a positive weekend for Chivas USA's U15/16, U17/18 and U14 teams. All three Red-and-White youth teams were able to earn huge victories, extending their respective unbeaten streaks.

In USSDA...

Chivas USA's U15/16 team took a 4-2 win over Real Salt Lake AZ U15/16 on Saturday at Mt. San Antonio College. A hat trick by Jorge Ruiz and a single goal by Ryo Fujii gave the young Goats the ultimate win. Ruiz was able to open the scoreboard in the 8th minute of the match. RSL AZ came back a two minutes later and notched the equalizer for the Arizona team.

Before halftime, Ruiz scored his second of the match and Fujii notched his own. Ruiz came back into the second half and scored early on, but it was not enough for the Goats' rival. With this weekend's hat trick, Ruiz has scored 16 goals with the U15/16's in the 2012/2013 season and at least one goal per game since March 16.

After Saturday's victory, Chivas USA's U15/16 team stands firm in first place of the Southwest Division in U.S. Soccer's Development Academy. The young Goats have also moved up in the playoff berths; the U15/16 moved up two spots to number six, being the team with the top seed in the Western Conference.

Also securing their spot in the USSDA playoffs is Chivas USA's U17/18 squad. On Saturday, the Red-and-White Academy team earned a 3-2 win over Real Salt Lake AZ U17/18 team. Unsurprisingly, Caleb Calvert, who joined the First Team for training last week, notched the first goal for the Goats, followed by two more goals by SueñoMLS winner Armando Flores and Mario Ortiz. The U17/18 team currently sits in fifth place of the Southwest Division but is securing a spot in the wildcard pool for the USSDA playoffs as the 11th team.

Up next, Chivas USA's U15/16 & U17/18 teams will match-up against Real So Cal on Saturday, May 11 at Mt. San Antonio College.

BU15's in National Cup

Chivas USA's BU15 team was eliminated from Cal South's National Cup on Saturday after falling 4-3 to the San Diego Surf BU15 team in the Round of 32. Although it was a hard-fought match, the young Goats were unable to earn the victory that would take them to the next round.

U14's undefeated in Spring Season

Chivas USA's U14 Team concluded the Spring Season with the Southern California Development Soccer League (SCDSL) undefeated. Only one team was able to score one goal against the young squad.

Top scorer

Chivas USA's Caleb Calvert is the top goal scorer in the USSDA's U15/16 category. With two games left in the season, 16 year-old Calvert has scored a total of 19 goals this season, eight of them playing one age group up with the Red-and-White U18's. As mentioned above, Calvert joined Chivas USA's First Team for training last week, and received much praise from Coach Jose Luis Sanchez Solá.

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