Chivas USA-Colorado Rapids at Home Depot Center
I'm leaving for Home Depot Center in about 30 minutes, but before I do:
*Here's reporter Phil Collin with the gameday basics.
*How does Vasquez (an assistant coach with Chivas in the club's inaugural season, remember) feel about the game?:
"Very special. Ive been waiting for this moment since I got the job. I've been waiting for this moment from day zero when we started this franchise. (I feel) nervous, excited, anxious, all of the above. But mainly excited and proud to have this opportunity."
*Notable: The team's average age (25 years, 160 days) has dropped almost two and a half years from the average age of the roster at the end of the 2009 season. Goodbye, Jesse Marsch, Claudio Suarez, Sasha Victorine, Cary Talley, etc., hello Blair Gavin, Osael Romero, Ben Zemanski, etc.
*Veteran defender Cary Talley, who Chivas USA let go earlier in the week, has returned to D. C. United.
*Former Chivas USA goalkeeper Jon Conway joined Toronto Friday reuniting him with former coach Preki.
If you missed these earlier in the week, check out the:
*And my column from earlier in the week.
I'll be back with the lineups a little later.
Updated:
New Coach Martin Vasquez hasn't sprung any major surprises with his first starting XI in MLS compared to what we've seen in preseason.
The 4-4-2 formation has Dan Kennedy returning in goal after missing all of 2009 though injury, Mariano Trujillo and Ante Jazic slotting in as full backs, with Jonathan Bornstein and Michael Umana in the middle of the back four as expected.
Sacha Kljestan is captain with Jesse Marsch gone and he's joined in midfield by Marcelo Saragosa, Michael Lahoud and Jorge Flores.
Up front is Maykel Galindo and new signing Osael Romero
Options off the bench include Blair Gavin, Jesus Padilla, Justin Braun and "Chucky" Chijindu
Here's the Rapids lineup (4-4-2): Matt Pickens, Kosuke Kamara, Drew Moor, Danny Earls, Marvell Wynne, Jeff Larentowicz, Mahdi Ballouchy, Pablo Mastroeni, Colin Clark, Conor Casey, Omar Cummings.
The game is on KDOC.
About 100 Percent Soccer
Sportswriter Nick Green has written the 100 Percent Soccer column since 2005 for the Daily News, Daily Breeze and other Los Angeles area newspapers. The blog of the same name began in 2007. A native of England, he began writing about soccer in the mid-1980s and in 2000 permanently exchanged a seat in the stands for one in the press box. He lives six miles from Carson's Home Depot Center, home of the Los Angeles Galaxy, Chivas USA and the training headquarters for U.S. Soccer and is married to a long-suffering soccer widow. Join Nick on FaceBook and follow him on Twitter.
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