Words from our World Cup Hopefuls

The Chivas USA locker room was eerily quiet after a disappointing 1-0 defeat at the hands of the Columbus Crew. There wasn’t any talking and players seemed to stay to themselves.  The most frustrating part of the defeat was the fact that the Goats dominated the Crew for most of the match.  Obviously Schelotto won the game for Columbus,  but there were several stars on the night.

Sacha Kljestan shined the brightest of the four vying for the 23 man roster for the South African World Cup. He was playing with passion and energy, fresh off the news of the World Cup roster.

“Obviously I was very excited. It has been a goal of mine for a very long time to play in a World Cup,” Kljestan commented. “Camp is going to be very tough and very competitive. I will do everything in my power to make the 23 man roster.” 

We carefully brought up the idea that he would be competing against a childhood friend, the Crew’s Robbie Rogers. Rogers was pretty quiet that evening, but played hard.  The bandage on his head (from a nasty gash off a header) was proof enough. 

“Robbie and I worked super hard in the offseason together for this opportunity, “Kljestan continued. “We talked about it a lot. We’ve talked about every national team camp that we’ve been in. We’re lucky to play with each other, having known each other for a long time.  I also know that going into this camp we are probably competing for the same spot. It is going tough, but we are both professionals.”

Fellow Chivas teammate Jonathan Bornstein is likely headed to South Africa; he has the ability to get offensive in the attack and is also a solid traditional defender. 

“I was able to get forward a little bit today,” Bornstein said. “I want to continue to do that in my game. I’m always looking forward to playing as solid as possible and be sharp as possible. There were times I gave the ball away today kind of easily. So I want to eliminate that.  Just overall be sharp and play well.”

We thought we should let the players speak for themselves.  So there was a little less commentary and a lot more listening.