CARSON, Calif. - For the second time in three weeks, Chivas USA won't have anything to do on a Saturday night.
On April 22, Chivas USA had their first bye week. Two weeks later, the club has yet another day off, and coaches and players are having a difficult time adjusting to the prospect of another game-less weekend.
"In the summertime we're going to play 14 times in two months but right now we're going to be sitting around for two bye weeks," said Chivas USA defender Tim Regan.
When the schedule was released, Chivas officials clamored for a change but nothing came of it. For now, all the club can do is look at the schedule and prepare for a busy summer.
"We spoke up immediately that it's not right to have two bye weeks in the first six weeks of the season," said Chivas USA head coach Bradley. "We were told that they understood but they couldn't change it."
The MLS league office said the early byes in Chivas USA's schedule come down to stadium availability. Brad Pursel, the league's senior director of broadcasting and team services, said the league tried to provide the Red-and-White with a home game this weekend.
"Stadium availability leaguewide causes bye weeks throughout our schedule," Pursel said. "We try to limit the number of byes, but it's a situation that is not avoidable. We attempted to get a game for Chivas on that weekend without success."
Most MLS clubs will be playing their sixth league match on Saturday. Chivas won't play their sixth MLS game until May 20 when they visit New York. The Red Bulls are the other team with no league game on the schedule Saturday, also due to stadium availability. The Bamboozle, a two-day concert festival featuring numerous rock groups, is taking place at Giants Stadium May 6-7.
Bradley is still disappointed at the on-again, off-again nature of his team's early-season schedule.
"I know all the excuses but honestly I'm frustrated with everything," he said.
Without any league matches to play, the team could have problems maintaining its rhythm, players said. That much appeared evident in Saturday's game against New York. For much of the game, Chivas had problems generating meaningful possession as passes were often out of reach or not directly at players. The midfield especially seemed out of sync and the unit as a whole appeared that way all night.
"It's very tough to get your team going. Training is good but performance comes in games and I think we've done well to keep ourselves moving along," Regan said. "It's going to be difficult with two more weeks of training. It's very difficult with this much time off."
At this point, the only thing the club can do is to prod through yet another week off.
"We'll just try to get through it again," Bradley said. "The scheduling part of the league on that end didn't take into account the work that you put in with the team every week."
Sunday, Chivas will play a friendly against USL side Seattle Sounders in Seattle. Once Chivas resumes play May 13 at New England, the club will have a busy schedule.
After three Saturday games to close out the month, Chivas will play a combined six weeknight games in June and July, including games on a Tuesday (July 4 at Real Salt Lake), three Wednesdays (two of which are on the road), a Thursday (June 8 against the Galaxy) and a Friday (July 21 at Colorado). Four of those matches will be sandwiched around weekend games.
Luis Bueno is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
