Who do you see in the starting XI for First Kick?
As much as almost any team, Chivas USA is a very different side than the one that closed out the 2010 season. MLS veterans like Alejandro Moreno, Jimmy Conrad, Andrew Boyens and Simon Elliott have been brought in along with younger talents like Heath Pearce, Tristan Bowen and Zarek Valentin. How they will all fit together is still an open question, but it wouldn't be surprising to see most of those guys in the starting lineup when the season opens on March 19 against Sporting Kansas City. It also appears as if new coach Robin Fraser is toying with the idea of employing a 4-1-4-1 formation.
One of the few holdovers who is a clear starter is goalkeeper Zach Thornton. The much traveled keeper is the clear No. 1. Assuming forward Justin Braun is healthy by the start of the season, he also seems to be an obvious choice. Of course, Braun has yet to play in a preseason match after leaving the United States National Team camp with an injury. Paulo Nagamura has played only sparingly, as well, but will almost certainly start in the central midfield if he's deemed fit.
Of the newcomers, Jimmy Conrad and Heath Pearce are clearly starting material. Zarek Valentin has been playing with the starters and seems to be the preferred choice at right back. So far, it seems holdover Michael Umana will be the player to fill out the back line.
Joining Nagamura in midfield could be any number of players, but we'll go with newcomer Marcos Mondaini at center mid and Francisco Mendoza and Jesus Padilla out wide. If Braun starts, Bowen would seem to be a solid partner up top.
Which new player(s) will have biggest impact?
Pearce has got to be the best player the Goats picked up in the off-season, but Conrad's performance will have the biggest impact. If, as many teams apparently believed, he's really lost a step and is not up for the challenge, that will create a huge potential problem in the central defense. But there's reason to believe that a return to Southern California could be the thing Conrad needed to bring him back to life. If the 34-year-old can get back closer to the form that made him a perennial MLS Best XI while also serving as a mentor for players like Valentin, that would be a huge boost for a team that was among the worst defensive sides in MLS last season.
Which player(s) loss will be felt the most?
It was easy to forget just how good Jonathan Bornstein was during his five seasons with Los Rojiblancos. He made 123 appearances, chipped in nine goals and helped lead the Goats to the playoffs in four of those seasons. Even if Pearce is a solid replacement at left back, Bornstein was versatile enough that he could have contributed somewhere else. More importantly, at least as it pertains to this question, Bornstein was really the only quality player to leave in the off-season.
At what point is this season considered success?
For a team that made the playoffs in four of their six season in existence, simply getting there seems to be setting the bar a little low. But the Goats fell so far, so fast last year that just being a playoff team should qualify as a significant success and even contending for a playoff spot would probably be enough to satisfy many.
Whose performance do you think will be most indicative of the season as a whole?
The one player on this team opposing coaches are going to gameplan for is Braun. As his invitation to the USMNT camp indicates, he's at least on the radar for national team duty. After a breakout year in which the 23-year-old scored nine goals and had three assists in about 2,100 minutes, he's clearly the main cog of their offense. But as last year showed, just because he's putting up numbers doesn't mean the Goats are winning.
A better indicator of success will most likely come in the form of how many goals Chivas USA is allowing, and the man who seems to be at the center of that equation is Conrad. If Chivas USA makes the playoffs, it will likely be because Conrad is being hailed as the leader of a remade backline. If the conversation is about another lost season, it's likely going to be at least partially blamed on the trust placed in a 34-year-old center back.
What will it take for Chivas USA to viewed independently of others?
Chivas USA supporters understandably bristle at the idea of playing in the shadow of the LA Galaxy, especially considering the relative successes over the past five seasons, but the reality is the perception exists. Chivas USA plays in a facility that is clearly viewed as the home of another team, bears the crest of a city in which they don't play and are literally named after another team. The only thing that is going to change that is sustained winning, and not just in the regular season.
For all the regular-season success Chivas USA have enjoyed, they've never won a playoff series, and their trip to the U.S. Open Cup semifinals last year was easily the best run in any tournament. A long post-season run probably isn't in the cards this year, but there are signs that Chivas USA is closer to establishing their own identity. The Corona sponsorship is one sign. The investment in proven MLS talent is another. The ability to retain a promising coach like Robin Fraser would be one more indication this team is ready to stand on its own. All of those things will help form a real foundation that will help establish this team in the eyes of the not-already-converted.
Who's the player we should watch closely?
There's no question that Chivas USA aims to be a team Mexican-Americans can rally behind. Thing is, they've never really had a Mexican-American star. So far, they've had lots of players with Hispanic surnames, and even a few that have been good, but the players most closely associated with Chivas USA have been guys like Sacha Kljestan, Jonathan Bornstein, Brad Guzan and Justin Braun. Jesus Padilla seems to be the player that could possibly change that.
The San Jose, Calif. native is as Mexican-American as they come, moving with his family to Mexico at 14 so that he could play for the CD Guadalajara (Chivas) academy. In parts of four seasons, he made 23 Primera appearances before being loaned to the MLS team in 2009. Last year, he really started to emerge, quietly scoring six goals in just under 1,400 minutes.
Padilla has mostly been coming off the bench in preseason, and could very well start off the season that way. But his ability to play both wide midfielder and forward seem to bode well for his chances at seeing plenty of playing time. In any case, it would seem to be a potential public-relations coup if Padilla emerged as a bona fide star.