While we may have just witnessed one of the best World Cups ever, one of the best things about the furor and fanfare that came with it was the presence of Major League Soccer. The USMNT had a strong MLS contingent and their gutsy performances brought a lot of conversation back to the country’s club level teams and players.
Inevitably, the discussion over so called part-time fans was also ignited and the debate over why these fans can’t transfer their interest into MLS was alive and well. But with a World Cup that basically had everything, you would not be blamed for missing the biggest storyline of the summer so far – Chivas USA have just won four games in a row!
Comparing four Chivas victories to the largest and most exciting international tournament in the world might be classed as exaggeration, however try looking at it in a different way. If someone had told you before a ball was kicked that Luis Suarez was going to bite someone again, Messi and Ronaldo weren’t going to transfer their club form to international level and that the individual “superstars” of Brazil were not going to work well together, you would not be so surprised. This was expected by many. On the other hand, if someone told you that lowly Chivas USA were going to go on a winning streak of four games with three clean sheets you would have probably laughed…or wept with joy depending on your inclinations.
“Now we can go back to MLS” appeared on Twitter a lot when the World Cup ended, but it never truly went away. Luckily though, the poor form of Chivas USA did go on the back burner and the revival we have all been praying for is underway. After an abysmal showing in the US Open Cup against the Carolina Railhawks, Wilmer Cabrera has guided The Goats to wins over Real Salt Lake, San Jose, Montreal and Vancouver with only conceding one goal. This has lifted the club to within two points of a playoff spot and indeed the atmosphere surrounding the team overall. Twelve points is huge for Chivas USA considering it is almost half of their total of last season. Four wins, not even consecutively, is a rare occurrence for most fans and this definitely helps the sadness surrounding the exit of the USMNT and Mexico from the World Cup.
I would mention Cubo Torres and his prolific record in front of goal, but not even the World Cup could have made you miss those headlines. Simply put, this is video sums up exactly the feelings of the Chivas USA fans right now…
(image courtesy of Jayne Kamin-Oncea/USA Today Sports)
