Chivas' Sasha Victorine coup

Before Saturday night's game against the Kansas City Wizards, Chivas USA Coach Preki made a point of seeking out the player he had signed only 10 days earlier.

"He came up to me and said, 'You don't have anything to prove tonight,' " said midfielder Sasha Victorine (pictured in blue while playing for Kansas City against Chivas USA). "That made me relax a little bit, because you go out there with a lot of emotion when you're playing against your old team."

Victorine was so at ease in his home debut for Chivas that he created one goal and scored another as Preki's side defeated the Wizards, 2-1, to stay very much in the hunt for a Major League Soccer playoff berth.

That it is a former Galaxy player helping Chivas thrive while the Galaxy continues to struggle makes it especially meaningful. Victorine, a 30-year-old former UCLA star, spent his first five seasons as a pro with the Galaxy before being traded to Kansas City in 2005.

He came back to L.A. on Sept. 15, trade deadline day.

"It's been great," he said. "The first day you come into a new team it's always a little bit questionable about how the guys are going to treat you and whether they respect you and that kind of stuff. So I tried to come out in practice and work hard and show them that I'm here to help them win."

That he once wore Galaxy colors is of little concern.

"It's so far in the past for me," Victorine said. "It's weird coming back to the stadium and being in a different locker room. But they've made it a great home for me so far, and I'm just enjoying it."

Preki, himself a former Kansas City player, said Victorine was a known quantity.

"I always thought Sasha was a good player," he said. "He can play in different roles and different places, and he fits the way we try to play, keeping the ball on the ground."

So it was a heads-up move all around.

"I am not smart," Preki said. "I just try to get the best players I can here."

-- Grahame L. Jones

Photo: Dick Whipple / Associated Press