Chivas USA decided to bring in Mauro Rosales as their new midfielder during the off-season. This has created a problem for manager Wilmer Cabrera, as this meant shipped out one of the defenders to make room in the squad. The manager has instead had to rely on midfielder Eric Avila playing as right back in this new season. He did the job admirably well in the opening game of the season, which ended in a 3-2 win over Chicago Fire. After struggling for form for most of the last season, this has been a good start by the team.
Cabrera has praised Avila by saying that he does not see a reason why the 26-year-old could go on and feature for the US national team as the main right back. Chivas USA had a lot of problems in terms of maintaining a stable starting line-up in 2013. The club had to go through different managers in recent seasons, but Avila has been a consistent player during this period. Cabrera says that it is primarily because he is one of the best professionals he has managed. Even though the 26-year-old has come in for a lot of praise, Cabrera says that he still has work to do in order to be better defensively.
“It’s a different role for me; way different than what I’ve played. But I have the same mindset of going forward, attacking and helping the team out. I sat down with the new coaches and discussed things. This is a good opportunity for me,” said Avila. “He’s very professional and has a lot of talent. He works hard and has an unbelievable engine. We see the possibility to develop there. If he can develop how we think he can, he’s a candidate for the position with the [US] national team,” said Carbrera.