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CHIVAS USA—COMING TO A STADIUM NEAR YOU

Next Tuesday will be a historic night for the city of Glendora. “The Pride of the Foothills” will be the host city for a professional soccer showdown at Citrus College Stadium.

In the midst of a current 4-game home stand in the Premier Developmental League (PDL) of the United Soccer Leagues, the Los Angeles Storm will take on Major League Soccer (MLS) opponent Club Deportivo Chivas USA in Glendora’s first-ever major league soccer attraction at 7:30 p.m.

“Honestly, I’m extremely excited and everybody that I’ve talked to seems to be just as excited as we are,” said Josh Hodges, one of the 3 owners of the Storm. This is an opportunity where we can bring professional soccer to this area.”

This season represents the second year of the L.A. Storm in Glendora. The owner trio of Mr. Hodges, Robert Gomez and Rafik Tadros bought the franchise when it was in Springfield, Missouri, relocating it in southern California to provide local high-level soccer for local communities.

 In its two years in southern California, the Storm have had two players move on to the MLS, with former Storm goalkeeper Lance Friesz signing with the Los Angeles Galaxy earlier this year and former Storm midfielder Erasmo Solorzano signing with Chivas USA. While there will be a significant amount of buzz for the contest just from the Chivas USA appearance, coaches from both the Storm and Chivas USA pointed out how the game will also be an opportunity for players to show their skills on the field.

“What I told the guys is that any time you have the chance to play against this type of team, you never know who’s watching,” said Chris Volk, Storm head coach. “It’s always an opportunity to impress and showcase their abilities.”

Along with the other coaches on the Chivas USA coaching staff, assistant coach Martin Vasquez plans to pay close attention to the Storm players that take the field on Tuesday night.

“This is a chance for us to look at the local talent,” Coach Vasquez said. “We want to see what they look like playing at this high of a level.”

Similar to the Storm, Chivas USA is a young organization that kicked off its MLS inaugural season in 2005. Based in Carson, the team is owned by entrepreneurs Jorge Vergara Madrigal and business partner Antonio Cue Sanchez-Navarro. This season, the team ranks 2nd in the MLS Western Conference with 17 points (5-3-2).

With a commitment to its surrounding community, Chivas USA makes the effort to connect with the local community whenever possible. Tuesday’s game serves as an example of its outreach efforts as the team desires to continue becoming familiar with the local communities.

“We want to reach our communities and show what kind of organization we are. Glendora is not too far from Carson,” Coach Vasquez said. “Our main goal is to take our team to our communities and allow Chivas fans and soccer fans alike be a part of our team. That’s something we want to keep doing.”

Though the Storm and Chivas USA compete in different leagues, the two teams share a similar desire to reach out to local communities and showcase a professional level of soccer. One of the Storm’s most sought out demographic is local youth who, throughout the season, have gained admission into L.A.’s home games when wearing a soccer jersey.

Against Chivas USA, the Storm plan to take it one step further as all kids ages 14 years and younger will be admitted into Citrus College Stadium free of charge on Tuesday night.

“If you ask any kid, who plays soccer and loves it, who he want to be when [he] grows up, he’ll respond by saying he wants to be a professional soccer player,” Mr. Hodges said. “This is a great opportunity for kids to be exposed to something they’re looking forward to down the road.”

Before Tuesday’s game, however, the Storm will have to battle the Ventura County Fusion on Sunday before its non-league match against Chivas USA. Coach Volk pointed out that while his team knows that Sunday’s game counts in the record book, the Storm players are anticipating Tuesday’s game.

“As of late, we’ve been really concentrating on getting into the top half of the division,” Coach Volk said. “We don’t want to look past Sunday but the guys are looking forward to the opportunity [against Chivas].”

—Landus Rigsby