Chivatown Post: July 26, 2011

Some updates and news for today:

First, a development of sorts on the newest rumored Chivas USA target, Honduran midfielder Mario Martinez. As reported yesterday, mls-rumors.net posted a story about a rumored link between Martinez and the Goats. Today, Univision's website is reporting (in Spanish) that in addition to the reported interest from Chivas, his club Real Espana is receiving interest for him from an unnamed club in England. If any of this is true, and if said club is in the English Championship or English Premier League, Chivas will likely have no shot whatsoever, as the top leagues in England can pay players far more than MLS, and I would assume the EPL in particular would be a preferred option to MLS. But, if Chivas are interested in him, maybe they can use the large population of Hondurenos in Southern California as an enticement that L.A. could be a home away from home? We'll keep you updated on any developments.

More after the jump

The Week 19 MLS Team of the Week has been announced, and Chivas have three representatives. Obviously, Justin Braun was a no-brainer after his hat trick, and it is great to see Ante Jazic being recognized for perhaps his best game of the season. And it looks like MLS has fallen hard for Nick the Quick, as LaBrocca was also selected. Congratulations guys! See the story and full team here.

Chivas hosted a reserve league match today against San Jose, and tied 1-1. Marcos Mondaini scored for Chivas on a second half penalty kick after San Jose trialist Georges Ba opened the scoring. Paulo Nagamura received a red card in the first half, so the team was down a man for nearly an hour. This was the starting lineup (according to Chivas USA's official twitter feed): Thornton, Trujillo, Boyens, Hines-Ike, de la Fuente, Nagamura, Bowen, Mendoza, Mondaini, Estupiñan, Cortez. So far this season, Chivas' reserve league record is 1-2-3.

Also, be sure to take a look at Chivas beat writer Adam Serrano's weekly column on Chivas at the league website, where he discusses the 4-1-4-1 tactical switch against Houston, Chivas' playoff prospects and a quote from Fraser on the anticipated transfers (unfortunately, doesn't look like Fraser's willing to disclose anything just yet).

Chivas remain in the third tier of the Week 19 MLS Power Rankings, but they get some props from Jeremiah Oshan.

Finally, a reminder of the 2011 MLS All-star game, which will be held tomorrow night from 5:30 pm PST (not sure if that's when the telecast starts or if the games starts then). It will be televised on ESPN2, and obviously Chivas fans will be looking for Nick LaBrocca and Heath Pearce. Expect an article about the all-star game from me tomorrow ahead of the match.