MLS Playoffs: Canales Daily: Both Sides Now

By Andrea Canales

Paulo Nagamura won the 2005 Major League Championship trophy with the first MLS club he ever played with, the Los Angeles Galaxy.

However, he wasn't overly sentimental looking back on those days.

"It's in the past," Nagamura said in an exclusive interview with Goal.com. "I have a couple of friends on the Galaxy. I had a pretty good time there, but now I'm deeply involved with Chivas USA and I'm going to try the best I can, the hardest I can, for Chivas USA to beat the Galaxy on Sunday."

It's not surprising that Nagamura only has a pair or so of friends on the Galaxy squad - practically no one is left from the 2005 team that won the title with Nagamura. Only Landon Donovan and Alan Gordon have remained with the Los Angeles club in the four years that have passed.

While the Galaxy were making their way out of the wilderness of playoff exile, running through three coaches to finally get back, Chivas USA were putting a consistent effort together to reach the playoffs for four years running.

Yet in the three playoff years that preceded the current cycle, the team failed to advance past the first round. Despite their ability to reach the post-season while the Galaxy floundered, Chivas USA have also run into a bit of a bugaboo with their LA neighbors. Only one year have the Red-and-White won the season series between the two teams, and taken home the SuperClasico trophy the two contest.

But the hardware is meaningless when the Galaxy have thirsted for the playoffs for so long and never before have the two LA teams had the chance to boot the other out of contention for the MLS cup.

"That's going to be the first time that we have the clasico in the playoffs," Nagamura pointed out. "We've seen that the superclasico is a pretty passionate, hard-fought game. It's not going to be any different. I think it's going to be even more in the playoffs."

As many were caught up in the Galaxy's improved season, Chivas USA quietly righted the ship after a mid-season slump and finished off another solid season. No matter what other prognosticators might say, Preki's players feel ready to take on the club across the hall.

"Both teams believe that they can go through," Nagamura explained. "I know that Chivas - we believe we can go all the way, but first we have to get past the Galaxy."

The gritty, compact midfielder, who played at Sao Paulo with Kaka before moving to Arsenal in England and from there to MLS, acknowledged that the Galaxy have improved of late, especially defensively.

"I think Bruce Arena did a pretty good job for them," said Nagamura. "They have a pretty solid back four."

Nagamura also singled out a particular former teammate for praise.

"To be honest, Landon Donovan is always a difference-maker," Nagamura noted. "He is, for me, if not the best, one of the best players in the league and when you have a player like that, you have a team who is always a contender for MLS Cup."

Although Chivas USA are the fourth and final seed in the West, that position holds no fear for Nagamura.

"My experience from 2005 is that the best team to step on the field over the next four games will win it all, no matter about the home-field advantage," Nagamura said. "The way we played in 2005, no one could beat us. We beat San Jose, the best team that year - we beat Colorado away and we won in the finals."

With both teams in the same stadium, Chivas USA do not have to contend with travel as a factor even in the designated away match. They expect a sizable contingent of their home fans to represent during the games as well. The teams face off in a two-legged series played out on consecutive Sundays, with aggregate goals deciding the victor.

Although he battled hard for Chivas USA in the two years he participated in their playoff campaigns, this may be Nagamura's final chance to hoist the MLS Cup once again.

"This year is the last year of my contract," Nagamura explained.

If a wish to return to Europe doesn't work out into a possibility, a stint in Brazil or re-signing with MLS remain options.

"I'm not sure yet," Nagamura conceded. "I want to be focused on these last few weeks in MLS and then I'll see what I'm going to do next."

Andrea Canales is Chief Editor of Goal.com North America

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Watch Goal.com's exclusive video of Nagamura commenting on the Galaxy's turn-around in 2009.