Chivas USA team officials confirmed on Monday that the club is in talks to welcome recently crowned Mexican First Division scoring champion Herculez Gomez to train with the squad, but that it likely won't happen before the end of the week.
Team communications manager David Lindholm told MLSsoccer.com that Gomez, who has expressed interest in working out in Los Angeles in hopes of making the U.S. roster for the World Cup, is not expected to return from Mexico until after the club's first team departs for a road game against the Chicago Fire on Saturday night.
Lindholm did say that Gomez -- who over the weekend became the first U.S.-born player to a win a share of a scoring title on foreign soil after a red-hot stint this season with Puebla -- is welcome to work out at the Home Depot Center with the team’s reserve players, but that such an agreement has not yet been made between the two sides.
“We have a few guys who are staying back this weekend, so I think there is a chance he could be working out at the Home Depot Center before we get back,” Lindholm added. “But I don’t think that any of that has been finalized. If it works out with us, we’re happy to have him.
“We were expecting him, but it just hadn’t been confirmed,” Lindholm added. “I think he’s finishing up some things in Mexico before he comes back.”
Gomez last week confirmed to Mexican media outlets that he would be training in Los Angeles as he waits to see if he will receive a call-up from U.S. head coach Bob Bradley for the team’s May 3 camp in Princeton, N.J.
He told MLSsoccer.com earlier this month that his contract with Puebla expires with the conclusion of the current Mexican season.
“If it works out and he wants to train with us to stay in shape, we’re happy to have him,” Lindholm said. “But it all depends on him, and when he’s going to get here.”
After departing later this week for Chicago, Chivas USA’s first team will not return to Los Angeles until May 6, following a rare midweek road matchup against the New England Revolution on May 5. If Gomez does in fact decide to work out at the HDC prior to then, he’ll do it without Chivas USA first-teamers and fellow U.S. hopefuls Sacha Kljestan or Jonathan Bornstein.
Lindholm also asserted that Bradley -- who will submit his preliminary 30-man roster for the World Cup to FIFA on May 11 -- hasn’t frequented the club’s training sessions in 2010, and his appearances during team workouts were a rarity in 2009.
Bradley has an office with U.S. Soccer at the Home Depot Center and is a frequent visitor to Chivas USA’s home matches. He lives in the Los Angeles area.
