Is Chivas' roster racially motivated?

In 2004, Major League Soccer added Chivas USA in Los Angeles, a team related to the famed Mexican team Chivas del Guadalajara. At the end of last season, the owner of Guadalajara bought out the other shareholders of Chivas USA, and the team immediately started making player moves.  They shipped out 14 players and brought in 11, but only one of the incoming players was not born Mexican or of Mexican decent, compared to only one outgoing player who was. While the club denies the moves are racially motivated, Chivas Guadalajara has had a policy of only playing Mexican players since 1906. Beyond the racial controversy, some see this as a way of using Chivas USA as a farm team, and four players were sent to the L.A. team for more playing time this season. Saturday night, Chivas USA's home opener had an official 7,000, although television pictures looked even worse (for comparison, LA Galaxy's opener in the same stadium the next day had over 20,000).

 

Image courtesy NBC's ProSoccerTalk.