Friday Wrap: Galaxy Trade Midfielder Harmse & Galindo Returns for Chivas USA

When Canadian midfielder Kevin Harmse returned back to the U.S. from Hawaii and was not included in the Galaxy’s Asian tour it seemed likely he was on the trading block.

On Friday, the 23-year-old Harmse was duly sent back home to Toronto FC in exchange for a fourth round 2009 draft pick.

We are looking forward to getting Kevin here with us, hes a tough young Canadian player, and he adds some quality depth to the team, said Toronto Manager Mo Johnston. His versatility will certainly help the squad this season.

From the (edited) Galaxy press release:

In his first year with the Galaxy in 2007, Harmse appeared in 17 regular season games, making 13 starts and scoring one goal. He officially signed with the club on April 12 and made his debut that evening against FC Dallas. He scored his only league goal in his next MLS appearance, scoring the game-winning goal in the 3-1 win over Chivas USA in the Honda SuperClasico. Harmse, who has six caps for Canada, also appeared in four SuperLiga matches, scoring once in the 6-5 win at FC Dallas, as well as two U.S. Open Cup games for the Galaxy

Harmse, who has six caps for Canada, spent the 2006 season in Europe with FC Nitra in Slovakia. The Vancouver native played for his hometown Whitecaps in 2004 and 2005.

Meanwhile, the trade gives the Galaxy five draft picks next year, including one picked up earlier from Chivas USA.

And speaking of Chivas USA, Maykel Galindo returned to score in one of two scrimmages the team had today with college teams at Home Depot Center.

From the Chivas USA press release:

In the first game of the morning, Chivas USA earned a 1-0 victory over UC Riverside, thanks to a goal from Claudio Surez. The Red-and-White used goals from Maykel Galindo and Kraig Chiles in the second game to take a 2-1 win over UC Irvine.

The first game, which ran for two 35 minute halves, featured the return to competitive play of a number of Chivas USA players. Jonathan Bornstein started at left back for the Red-and-White, Paulo Nagamura was in the center of the midfield, and was replaced in the second half by Lawson Vaughn. It was the first taste of game action in 2008 for all three.

The only goal of the first game came in the 59th minute, when a rebound from Ante Razovs free kick fell to the feet of Claudio Surez, who had charged in on goal after the initial shot. The teams captain finished from close range to give Chivas USA the win.

The Red-and-White used a different group of players in the second game, and was able to come away with another one-goal win. After going into the half down a goal, Maykel Galindo and Kraig Chiles each scored to give Chivas USA the 2-1 victory. Chiles also played an excellent ball to Galindo on the first goal, and Jorge Flores notched the assist on Chiles goal. The match was played with two 40-minute halves.

Chivas USA will soon head to San Antonio for next weeks Texas Pro Soccer Festival, where the team will face off against D.C. United, the Houston Dynamo, and Toronto FC.

Chivas USA lineup for game one:

Chivas USA (4-4-2): Brad Guzan; Alex Zotinca, Claudio Surez, Jim Curtin, Jonathan Bornstein; Sacha Kljestan, Jesse Marsch, Paulo Nagamura (Lawson Vaughn 46), Raphal Wicky (Luciano Fusco 46); Ante Razov, Atiba Harris.

Game two: Chivas USA (4-4-2): Sam Reynolds (Lance Parker 40); Jos Antonio Patln, Daniel Carlos Montes, Bobby Burling, Jorge Flores; John Cunliffe, Eric Ebert, Lawson Vaughn (Kraig Chiles 40), Luciano Fusco (Gerson Mayen 40); Maykel Galindo (Justin Braun 47), Chukwudi Chijinju.

Facebook Twitter Plusone Digg Reddit Stumbleupon Tumblr Email

Galaxy Gameday & More

The Galaxy plays live at 11:30 tonight on Fox Soccer Channel against FC Seoul in the first game of their Asia tour.

The Daily Telegraph in England has more on the David Beckham buzz in South Korea.

Galaxy PR folks reminded me that the team has four players (and one coach) who particpated in the 2002 World Cup in Korea: Becks, Landon Donovan (who is back here in the U.S. for treatment and won’t play tonight), Abel Xavier, Celestine Babayaro and now Assistant Coach Cobi Jones. Strangely, they all played against each other in the first round of that World Cup – Jones and Donovan beat Xavier and Portugal 3-2 while Beckham and England drew Babayaro’s Nigeria 1-1.

Here at home, last year’s Big West Goalkeeper of the Year, Galaxy draft pick Charles Alamo (UC Riverside) goes under the knife today, a week after tearing his ACL, a team spokesman e-mailed from Korea. Alamo is out for the year, but remains with the team after the Galaxy offered him a contract the same day the injury happened.

Injured defender Ante Jazic, remains in Korea to continue his rehab work with trainers Armando Rivas and Cecelia Gutierrez, as suspected, team officials confirmed.

Meanwhile, former Galaxy prospect Dan Paladini has resurfaced with Chivas USA. Former Galaxy midfielder Santino Quaranta has returned to D.C. United in an effort to resucitate his career. And, yes, Landon Donovan is the U.S. leading scorer after all FIFA confirmed today.

Finally, there’s preps news from the Daily Breeze here.

Facebook Twitter Plusone Digg Reddit Stumbleupon Tumblr Email

Chivas USA, Galaxy Camp Updates

Such as they are anyway.

No response from the Galaxy to an e-mail today asking for information about defender Ante Jazic’s status and other camp info. They were probably too busy putting up this pithy video on their blog.

Over at Chivas USA, Jamaican defender Shavar Thomas finally got his work visa approved Wednesday. He’s in transit and should be at training Friday. Whether he’ll play Friday in Chivas USA’s pair of scrimmages against UC Riverside (10 a.m.) or UC Irvine (11:30 a.m.) at Home Depot Center is unknown.

Striker Maykel Galindo, back training with the squad after off-season sports hernia surgery as reported here earlier this week, is expected to play though.

Chivas USA had an extensive list of walking wounded recently; of those players only Panchito Mendoza continues his rehab alone.

Finally, third round draft pick El Hadj-Cisse, a midfielder out of North Carolina, has been cut and left camp, by the way.

Facebook Twitter Plusone Digg Reddit Stumbleupon Tumblr Email

Humpday Soccer: Galaxy & More

When you start the day with a 7 a.m. talk to Rotarians, things just go downhill from there.

So, to bring us up to speed, the Galaxy have announced their 21-player roster for their Asian tour: goalkeepers Steve Cronin, Josh Wicks; defenders Celestine Babayaro, Sean Franklin, Michael Gavin, Ante Jazic, Mike Randolph, Troy Roberts, Julian Valentin, Greg Vanney, Abel Xavier; midfielder Ely Allen, Alvaro, David Beckham, Chris Klein, Brandon McDonald, Josh Tudela, Peter Vagenas; forwards Alan Gordon, Bryan Jordan, Carlos Ruiz.

Goalkeeper Charles Alamo, forwards Edson Buddle, Landon Donovan and Israel Sesay and midfielders Kelly Gray and Kevin Harmse have all returned to Los Angeles.

Donovan has patella tendonitis in his right knee, although he’s expected to be fit for the start of the MLS season; Buddle is expected to miss approximately six weeks after suffering a dislocation of his right collarbone during the second half of the Galaxys 2-1 win over Sydney FC; and as previously reported Alamo is out six months after suffering a serious knee injury in a scrimmage against the Dyanamo.

Are Izzy, Gray and Harmse all on the outs with new Coach Ruud Gullit? No reason was given for their early flight home.

Galaxy single game tickets go on sale Friday, incidentally.

By the way, MLS Commish Don Garber is expected to formally announce Thursday that Philadelphia will snag the next MLS team.

Facebook Twitter Plusone Digg Reddit Stumbleupon Tumblr Email

Tuesday Night Football: Becks in Seoul & More

Beckham and the Galaxy (in that order) arrived in Korea and spoke at a press conference Wednesday managing to say nothing we haven’t heard before, although at least fashion is number two for Becks behind soccer.

Back in the U.S., Men’s Under-23 National Team Coach Peter Nowak has named camp selections for the Olympic qualifying roster, although it’s widely expected he’ll add the European-based likes of Jonathan Spector and Michael Bradley for the games in March.

Local interest: Rolling Hills Estates’ Robbie Rogers, Fontana’s Maurice Edu, the Galaxy’s Mike Randolph, Chivas USA’s Sacha Kljestan and UCLA products Sal Zizzo, Marvell Wynne, Patrick Ianni and Chad Barrett are all on the roster.

The full roster: goalkeepers Dominic Cervi (Chicago Fire), Tally Hall (Esbjerg fB), Chris Seitz (Real Salt Lake); defenders Maurice Edu (Toronto FC), Hunter Freeman (New York Red Bulls), Kamani Hil (Vfl Wolfsburg), Patrick Ianni (Houston Dynamo), Michael Orozco (San Luis), Mike Randolph (LA Galaxy), Nathan Sturgis (Real Salt Lake), Marvell Wynne (Toronto FC); midfielders Arturo Alvarez (FC Dallas), Benny Feilhaber (Derby County), Eddie Gaven (Columbus Crew), Stuart Holden (Houston Dynamo), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Dax McCarty (FC Dallas), Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew), Sal Zizzo (Hannover 96); forwards Freddy Adu (SL Benfica), Jozy Altidore (New York Red Bulls), Chad Barrett (Chicago Fire), Charlie Davies (Hammarby IF), Robbie Findley (Real Salt Lake).

Ten players on the roster have earned caps with the U.S. National Team.

Finally, Pacific Palisades-based W-League team Pali Blues announced the signing of UCLA goalkeeper Valerie Henderson and English Under-19 Team goalkeeper Karen Bardsley from Chino Hills.

Facebook Twitter Plusone Digg Reddit Stumbleupon Tumblr Email

Tuesday’s Column & More

With Fidel Castro stepping down, it seemed like a good time to check in on Chivas USA’s Cuban defector Maykel Galindo who resumes scrimmaging with the team today after off-season sugery.

The column is here.

Galindo had a league-leading five games in which he scored multiple goals last season including these typical strikes against the Galaxy.

Incidentally, while I was out at Home Depot Center Monday chatting with Maykel (the sort of guy it would be fun to hang with for a mojito or two, by the way), former Chivas USA assistant coach Martin Vazquez, who joins Bayern Munich in the same role in July, was spotted heading into the team’s offices. Vazquez, inundated by interview requests from around the world, according to team officials, wisely isn’t talking to the media until he begins work.

Meanwhile, Galaxy goalkeeper Charles Alamo is out for the season.

The Galaxy’s parent company, Anschutz Entertainment Group, looks to make a nice profit by selling an interest in the Houston Dynamo to boxer Oscar de la Hoya. It’s a move that can only be good for MLS, as the league looks to diversify its investor groups.

Finally, it’s Tuesday and that means preps coverage from the Daily Breeze here and the Daily News.

Facebook Twitter Plusone Digg Reddit Stumbleupon Tumblr Email

Monday Night Football

Light and late blogging, let’s play catch-up:

All three games – another against a Hong Kong team was added today – on the Galaxy’s Asian tour are televised on Fox Soccer Channel.

From the Galaxy’s press release:

The LA Galaxy announced today that they will play a preseason friendly 11 p.m. March 9 against the Hong Kong Union in Hong Kong in the third and final match of the clubs Asia Tour 2008.

Fox Soccer Channel begins coverage 11:30 p.m. Saturday with the Galaxy-FC Seoul match, followed four days later by an 8 p.m. tape delayed broadcast of the game against Shanghai-Hong Kong United.

Also, former Galaxy flop Santino Quaranta has resurfaced in D.C.

Fontana’s Maurice Edu is profiled.

The Women’s Olympic Qualifying groups are set, although you don’t really need to pay attention (read the last graf). From the U.S. Soccer press release:

The U.S. has been drawn into Group A along with Jamaica and Mexico for 2008 CONCACAF Womens Olympic Qualifying from April 2-12 in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

The U.S. will open the tournament April 4 against Jamaica before facing Mexico April 6. Both games will be played in the Estadio Olmpico Benito Juarez, which will host all 10 games during the qualifying tournament.

The top two teams from Group A will advance to the semifinals, where they will cross over to face the top two teams from Group B, which includes Canada, Costa Rica and Trinidad & Tobago. The winners of the April 9 semifinals will qualify for the 2008 Olympics.

The U.S. has only faced Jamaica once previously, a 10-0 victory 14 years ago in a FIFA Womens World Cup qualifying match in Montreal, Canada. Mexico is a more familiar opponent for the U.S., with the teams having faced each other 22 times previously. The U.S. has dominated the rivalry with the qualifying hosts, winning the first 21 meetings before Mexico earned a 1-1 tie on Oct. 20, 2007.

Finally, (and this is sorta old, but so is the rest of this post) from this link you’ve gotta wonder who is getting traded next.

Tuesday’s column: Chivas USA Cuban defector Maykel Galindo and the departure of Castro.

Facebook Twitter Plusone Digg Reddit Stumbleupon Tumblr Email

Galaxy, Chivas USA Saturday Gameday & More

Galaxy-Sydney

The Galaxy plays the final game of the Pan-Pacific Championship in Hawaii tonight in a game ESPN Classic airs at 8 o’clock (the Houston Dynamo-Gamba Osaka championship game follows immediately after).

The island newspapers are avoiding much mention of the event and even the increasingly secretive Galaxy seem uninterested; no press releases or updates to the club blog. Deep discounts on tickets too.

Here’s a preview (such as it is).

Chivas USA-Crew

Closer to home, Chivas USA takes on the Columbus Crew in Santa Clarita in a charity game that kicks off at 5 p.m.

From the Chivas USA press release:

All proceeds from the match will benefit the Michael Hoefflin Foundation, a non-profit which provides financial and emotional support to children and their families facing childhood cancer in Santa Clarita and the surrounding area.

The match will be played in Cougar Stadium at the College of the Canyons in Valencia, and tickets are available at prices of $20 for adults and $15 for children.

Fans should note that, due to the Tour of California cycling race, there will be a number of road closures and detours in the area near the College of the Canyons. These will occur mostly prior to game-time, but full information can be found on the City of Santa Claritas Web site.

Striker Alecko Eskandarian may make his first appearance in a Chivas USA shirt, while Swiss defender Raphael Wicky has resumed training this week, but isn’t expected to play, team officials said. Also unlikely to get on the field: Jonathan Bornstein, Francisco Mendoza and Lawson Vaughn.

The Crew played Friday night against the San Jose Earthquakes in San Luis Obispo and so are likely to rest Rolling Hills Estates’ Robbie Rogers and Argentine Guillermo Barros Schelotto, Columbus Coach Sigi Schmid said via e-mail. He expects to mix and match different combinations tonight.

Sigi recommends fans keep an eye out for newcomer Nigerian attacking midfielder Emmanuel Ekpo who is on trial with the club.

The long-time South Bay resident and former Galaxy coach has also offered to blog occasionally this season and so I thought I’d get that into print and hold him to it.

The Crew also plays the Ventura County Fusion Monday in Ventura.

Preps Update

Finally, the Daily Breeze has high school soccer coverage here, the Daily News here, and the Long Beach Press-Telegram here.

Facebook Twitter Plusone Digg Reddit Stumbleupon Tumblr Email

MLS Trading Cards

A new Upper Deck Retail Store opened today in Huntington Beach, which if not actual cause for excitement on a slow news day at least gives me an excuse to blog about the the company’s newest set of MLS cards. Issued after the end of the season (so we get a now-retired Eddie Pope in action, for instance on card 88), the cards have some (usually incomplete) stats, pallid text and reasonable photography.

The 200-plus set includes the David Beckham “rookie” card pictured below as well as the likes of Freddy Adu and the now-retired Chris Armas. There’s 10 cards a pack and they retail for around $2.

Upper Deck has periodically issued MLS cards over the years (the ones from 1996 serve mainly to remind one how damn ugly those first-year team jerseys were).

A sampling is below. Kevin Hartman is reportedly much sleeker now, by the way.

i-1d032f931e2901794254e7062d72818f-beckham1.jpg i-b3df08c96a5019f431a6ad7a8b8cef57-Beckham2.jpg
Becks’ “rookie” card That’s the best they could do?
i-9c07cdc64e4bfacdb23ee07773e74d93-hartman.jpg i-4079f74b92b5c2b09087630a83eca7b2-movsisyan.jpg
A tubby Kevin Hartman Pasadena City College’s Yuri Movsisyan

The new Upper Deck store is in the Bella Terra Center, 7777 Edinger Ave., Suite D-150, just off the 405 Freeway at Beach Boulevard.

More info on the cards here.

And this this guy sounds like he knows more about the hobby than I do.

Facebook Twitter Plusone Digg Reddit Stumbleupon Tumblr Email