Columnist Nick Green has written 100 Percent Soccer
since 2005. A
native of England, he began writing about soccer in
the mid-1980s and in 2000 permanently exchanged a seat
in the stands for one in
the press box. He lives six miles from Carson's Home
Depot Center, home of the Los Angeles Galaxy, Chivas
USA and the training headquarters for U.S. Soccer.
Married to a long-suffering soccer widow, he has a cat
named Pele.Saturday Soccer: Galaxy Season Begins Tonight in Colorado Against Rapids
Game preview. Kickoff is at 6:30 p.m. on Fox Soccer Channel.
A (very) little more background on Brazilian midfielder lvaro Pires, signed as expected by the Galaxy Friday in time for today's game, from the team press release:
The 23-year old has trained with the Galaxy for most of the preseason and started all six of the club’s preseason matches, playing 472 minutes in those games, collecting one assist and one caution.“Alvaro is a player that has been on our radar for some time now and we’re glad to finally have him as a member of the Galaxy,” Galaxy Director of Soccer Paul Bravo said. “He has done well so far in our preseason and we feel that he will be a tremendous asset to our club.”
A native of Jardinopolis, Brazil, just outside of Sao Paulo, Pires signed his first professional contract at the age of 16 with Brazilian side Internacional and broke into the first team at the age of 19. He spent three years there, appearing in a handful of games with the First Division team before trying his luck abroad. He signed with Spartak Nalchik, a club in the Russian First Division.