SuperLiga: Pachuca at Chivas USA
Chivas USA plays its first ever competitive international game tonight against SuperLiga and CONCACAF Champions Cup title holders Pachuca.
So it's a hell of a time for goalkeeper Lance Parker (Missouri State) to make his professional debut. Parker is favored over presumed starter Dan Kennedy with Brad Guzan headed to England's Aston Villa.
The rest of the team is virtually the same as the starting XI Chivas USA fielded against the Galaxy Thursday with the exception of Claudio Suarez, who's contractually obligated to play in the competition. That's why he was held out of Thursday's Galaxy game, with Shavar Thomas deputizing.
The Chivas USA line-up: Parker, Bobby Burling, Suarez, Carey Talley, Jonathan Bornstein, Sacha Kljestan, Jesse Marsch, Paulo nagamura, Panchito Mendoza, Ante Razov and Atiba Harris.
Jorge Flores is on the bench.
The Pachuca team:
GK Miguel Calero
D Leobardo Lopez
D Julio Manzur
D Bruno Marioni
D Fausto Pinto
M Damian Alvarez
M Paul Aguilar
M Jaime Correa
M Gerardo Rodriguez
M Gabriel Caballero
F Christian Gimenez
Brazilian Christian Correra is on the bench.
Manzur is a Paraguyan international who played in the 2006 World Cup.
Marioni, an attacking midfielder-striker, is the major new addition to Pachuca's squad; he's played for the likes of Spain's Villareal and Newell's Old Boys in Argentina.
Pinto, a speedy winger, is a Mexican international, while Argentine Alvarez has played for Italy's Reggina and River Plate in Argentina. Caballero is a naturalized Mexican citizen who played in the 2002 World Cup.
Gimenez, who oozes class, has played for Argentine power Boca Juniors and Club America.
The game is on Telefutura.
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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