MLS Reserve League: Chivas USA Play to 1-1 Draw with Whitecaps

Chivas USA played their latest MLS Reserve League match Friday morning at the Home Depot Center complex, drawing 1-1 against the Vancouver Whitecaps reserves. Former Chivas player Atiba Harris opened the scoring for the visitors on a penalty in the 14th minute, following a handball call against Chivas. The Goats evened the score just two minutes later, when Casey Townsend scored off a pass by Jose Correa. And that's all there was for goals, something surprising considering reserve matches are almost always shootouts.

The team is 3-2-3 in the MLS Reserve League so far this season, with two remaining matches scheduled, one next week against the LA Galaxy, and the other September 9 against the Seattle Sounders.

Lineups for the match for Chivas after the jump:

Chivas starting lineup: Tim Melia, Rodriguez, John Valencia, Rauwshan McKenzie, Jorge Villafana; Laurent Courtois, Quezada, Juan Agudelo; Tristan Bowen, Jose Correa, Casey Townsend

Rodriguez was also involved in the last reserve match for Chivas, but I've been unable to figure out who he is. I thought he might be an academy player, but there doesn't seem to be a player in the U18s or U16s with the name of Rodriguez. In a similar vein, Quezada is most likely one of two players, Eduardo, who was a member of Chivas U18s this year, or Jeffrey, who was a member of the U16s.

Otherwise, the lineup looked like it was created to put as many forwards on the field at the same time. Indicative of this is the fact that Agudelo might have been playing on the right of midfield in a 4-3-3. I assume it was very fluid, but it basically looked like the opposite game plan to what the first team uses. In all, it seemed like there may have been some real experimentation going on for the Goats.

Also, random observation: Courtois looks unrecognizable compared to when Chivas signed him a year ago. If you missed his twitter reveal a few days back, try to figure out who he is on the gallery put on the club's facebook page.

Subs during the game for Chivas began at the half, when Paolo Cardozo replaced Agudelo, and Nelson Akwari, who's been playing in Chivas reserve games for a while now, replaced McKenzie. In the 66th minute, Chivas Academy player Jose Dheming replaced Rodriguez, and in the 74th minute, Cesar Romero replaced Quezada.

Correction: In the original edition of this article, we wrote that Correa scored Chivas' goal, using available information from the club. They have since clarified that Townsend in fact scored for Chivas. Apologies for any mix-ups.

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