If the opponent in Wednesday’s friendly match
with Mexican side Chivas del Guadalajara felt a little familiar for the Fire’s
Orr Barouch, the one in Saturday’s important league clash will serve to remind
the 19-year-old striker of where he got his start.
That’s because the newly-capped Israeli youth
international spent over a year with Chivas USA’s Academy beginning in 2008.
"I actually started there when I was 16 and it was
run by a Dutch coach named Sacha van der Most,” Barouch recalled Friday. “I
learned a lot in that youth system, it was the first professional style youth
setup I had been in. We had great players, but a lot of us didn’t go with the
first team and ended up with different clubs.”
Barouch attracted early interest from Belgian
side Club Brugge back in 2009 but eventually caught the eye of Mexican club Tigres UANL when his Chivas USA Academy side played in the 2009 edition of the
Copa Chivas tournament in Guadalajara.
He wasn’t alone in his decision to sign south of
the border when he inked a deal with the Monterrey-based club, as a number of
Chivas USA Academy players latched on with Mexican clubs after the tournament.
According to Barouch, it was all down to the
developmental advantages Mexican clubs still have over their MLS brethren.
“In Mexico they obviously have a leg up still on
the U.S. in development. You get full-time training there and you get paid a
little money too. It’s more of a professional lifestyle so it’s kind of a
disadvantage for MLS clubs in that way. Along with that, at the time Chivas USA
weren’t really looking at their Academy to sign players for the first team.”
Going into Saturday’s match against his former
club, Barouch, who has bagged five goals across all competitions for the Fire
in 2011 won’t have the striker’s conundrum of whether or not to celebrate
should he score against the club that gave him his start.
“I feel
that I don’t really have strong ties with them. The Fire are my team, I debuted
here with the first team and that’s what means the most to me. I definitely
have respect for Chivas USA and I don’t have anything against them but I feel
like Chicago Fire’s my club and if I score I’ll be happy to celebrate with the
fans and Section 8.”
Jeff Crandall is
the Team Writer for the Chicago Fire. Follow him on Twitter @JefeCrandall.
