FIESTA DE FUTBOL

Club Deportivo Chivas USA’s Youth Development Academy team will be making its first appearance ever outside of Southern California this coming Saturday, November 17, at the beautiful Starfire Soccer Complex (www.starfiresports.com). They will be facing the USSDA Western Division leading Crossfire Premier U16 and U18 teams.  The U16 game will be played at 3:00 PM, a new time for the USSDA on Field #3. The U18 teams kick off at 8:00 PM in the Stadium field. This promises to be one of the most exciting and well-attended youth soccer matches in the history of Washington State.

 

Crossfire plans on pulling out all the stops for the 8:00 PM match. Based on the positive feedback from the nearly full stadium last Saturday night noise will be the theme of the evening. Thunder sticks will be on hand for the fans, a band is expected at the game and fans are encouraged to bring all types of instruments from home including drums and horns. A celebrity announcer from the Seattle soccer community is expected to be on hand. The stadium scoreboard will be fully operable and the atmosphere should be great for this West Coast battle.

 

For fans of the beautiful game the name “Chivas” represents the highest degree of excellence in North American soccer. Founded on August 2, 2004, Club Deportivo Chivas USA is the sister team of Club Deportivo Guadalajara, Mexico’s most beloved soccer club. Chivas USA, which celebrated its inaugural season as a Major League Soccer (MLS) expansion team in 2005, brings a boldly different approach to the world of professional and youth development sports in the United States.

 

Chivas USA not only fields teams in Major League Soccer and the MLS Reserve Division - it also runs such innovative programs such as the Chivas USA Futbol Academies and other soccer education initiatives. The Chivas USA Youth Academy teams is in its inaugural season as a part of the USSDA and through its outstanding style of soccer has already become the measuring stick for the rest of the Academy League.  

 

One of the key reasons for their success is that the club embodies more than just soccer play on the field. Chivas USA celebrates the following core values:

· Passion: Chivas USA, its players and fans, capture the pride and emotion of the world’s greatest sport.

· Opportunity: Chivas USA provides opportunities to young people, helping them to become the soccer stars and leaders of tomorrow.

· Community: Chivas USA stands at the heart of the community, building alliances through soccer and helping those in need through initiatives such as the ChivaKids program the Fundación Chivas de Corazón USA.

· Mexican Heritage: Chivas USA proudly celebrates its Mexican tradition, bringing a new language, culture and approach to the world of professional sport in the United States.

· World-Class Futbol: Chivas USA plays its home games at the state-of-the art Home Depot Center. The team is a diverse mix of stars of the future from Mexico and the United States, as well as veteran players with experience on the world’s greatest stage.

 

The Chivas USA MLS Club has two strong connections to the Seattle soccer community. Its head coach, Preki, was a member of the Seattle Seadogs. Preki is also, quite simply, one of the most spectacular attacking players in the history of Major League Soccer, scoring in his career a total of 79 goals and registering 112 assists during a 10-year MLS career. He was an MLS champion with Kansas City in 2000, and is also MLS’s only two-time MVP, having earned the honor in both 1997 and 2003, years in which he was also the league’s scoring leader. He was named to the league’s All-Star team eight times and to the MLS Best XI for the 1996, 1997, 2001 and 2003 seasons. He played 242 MLS games (223 starts), logging 19,957 minutes.

 

Preki gained U.S. citizenship in 1996 and played 28 games for the U.S. national team (seven as a starter), including two games in the 1998 World Cup in France, where he faced off against his native Yugoslavia. As a U.S. national team member, he recorded four goals, none more spectacular than his long-range strike against Brazil at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on February 10, 1998 in the U.S.’s 1-0 win, the Americans’ only victory ever against the South American giants.

 

Also on the Chivas USA MLS roster is former Crossfire coach Preston Burpo. Preston Burpo joined Chivas USA on March 17, 2006 from the Seattle Sounders, where he played for nine years. In 2005 Burpo placed in the top three in several statistical categories - second in shutouts with 12; third in wins with 11; first in saves with 124 and he recorded the second best GAA at .851. Burpo was named to the 2005 USL First Div. All-League Second Team, his second all-league selection.

 

Burpo was the Sounders’ leader in several all-time goalkeeper statistics including games played (143), saves (631) and minutes (12,846) and has a career GAA of 1.19. Recording 20 shutouts from 2004-2005, Burpo helped the Sounders capture the 2004 A-League Western Conference Championship and the USL First Div. Championship in 2005.

 

Based in Carson, California, Chivas USA is owned by Mexican entrepreneurs Jorge Vergara Madrigal, owner of Club Deportivo Guadalajara, and business partner Antonio Cué Sánchez-Navarro, who serves as Chivas USA’s president.   The official colors of Chivas USA are red and white, the same as Club Deportivo Guadalajara, worn in vertical stripes on the team’s jersey with blue shorts and blue socks. These same uniforms will be donned by the Chivas’ USSDA club this Saturday in Seattle.

 

Player development is one of the fundamental objectives of Club Deportivo Guadalajara. Some of the club’s, and even Mexico’s, greatest players have come out of the team’s youth system and soccer academies. This system, which has been implemented by the Chivas USSDA squad, is based on the principles of aggressive soccer that has been practiced by the organization during its 100-year history. The club has put a great emphasis on youth development in the US market and its success is already being noted in the USSDA league with resounding victories against Southern California powers La Jolla Nomads and San Diego Surf. These same players will be traveling to Seattle hoping to build on that success.

 

“The Chivas represent a great test for our boys” says Crossfire’s James. “With the Chivas Mexico as well as the Chivas USA connection they are considered the gold standard of our league. The U18 team has a midfielder who I consider the best youth player in America. The entire team is technically amazing. They play an extremely attractive and entertaining style of soccer. That being said I can tell you right now we will be ready. This promises to be one of the best youth matches of 2007 and we encourage all Seattle area soccer fans to come see the game. They will not be disappointed.”

 

Academy games on Saturday

against the Chivas will be available to watch live and then on-demand on the internet?

 

Go to www.crossfiresoccer.tv  16's 3:00pm  18's 8:00pm