Dr. Preki removes locker room cancer

Guevara departs Chivas USA

MLSnet.com informed Chivas fans that they would be without the services of Amado Guevara, who apparently refused a trade to Toronto and was, therefore, dismissed from the team. The news comes a week after Guevara gushed to The Daily Breeze about his “brothers” on the team and the beautiful weather in L.A.

The left-footed comments of Coach Preki to mlsnet.com’s Luis Bueno are very telling:

“It wasn’t just four games. It’s been eight games: preseason, this season. As far as I’m concerned it’s a lot of games,” Preki said. “But it’s not just about four games, three games, two games. It’s everyday habits. That’s what I’m looking at.”

Everyday habits? Since he came into the league, Guevara has been a constant headache to coaches and a distraction to teammates. Most recently, he received a red card, WHILE ON THE BENCH, after shoving an assistant referee during Chivas’ humiliating 3-1 loss on April 28. Although he’s scored dome spectacular goals, he has more often shown spectacular bone-headedness and a complete disrespect for his teammates, coaches and fans.

Take his low-light from last season when he left the field twice in one month, after being substituted. In the one case, he returned to sit in the stands with his wife (see picture). His time was short with NY after his babysitter Bob Bradley left, and Alexi Lalas was brought in as club GM. Lalas and Guevara clashed, and he soon followed Bradley to Chivas. So, it was only a matter of time until Guevara made himself a nuisance to the new coach when Bradley took the U.S. national team job.

The NY Energy Drinks acquired the Honduran midfielder -- whose nickname, he says, is “El Lobo” (the wolf), although he looks more like Stitch -- in 2004, and he went on to score 32 goals in three complete seasons. Guevara could turn a game, instantly, but more often than not the direction was toward implosion rather than victory. Guevara was like Hell’s Kitchen star chef Gordon Ramsay – volatile, irrational and slightly feminine like a little girl with a skinned knee.

Preki said that Guevara needed constant attention, and that he, unlike Bradley, wasn’t willing to babysit this toddler.

“Bob is more experienced. He’s been around for a long time. He maybe wants to work with guys on a daily basis,” Preki told mlsnet.com. "But I feel like this team is more than just one guy or two guys.”

Chivas is certainly better off without Guevara. Preki, as a first-year coach, doesn’t need the distractions of a prima donna, who is not as skilled as he believes he is. It is good news for the club, but I’m not sure it is good news for MLS. Successful sports leagues need villains. We can’t simply cut out all the misanthropes or we end up with a vanilla league that lacks sustained and genuine rivalries between the good guys and the bad guys.

Of course, I’m sure a lot fans already hate David Beckham.