August 2008 Archives

Game story.

Notable:
*Chivas USA was without seven players due to injury and suspension: Maykel Galindo (sports hernia surgery), Jesse Marsch (fractured jaw), Claudio Suárez (R hip strain), Carey Talley (L thigh strain), Raphaël Wicky (R ankle surgery), Alex Zotinca (R knee surgery) and defender Shavar Thomas (yellow card accumulation).
*Thomas has been called into the Jamaican National Team for its World Cup qualifiers against Mexico and Honduras. He will miss Tuesday's game against Tauro F.C. in the second leg of the CONCACAF Champions League Preliminary Round and Chivas USA's game at Toronto Saturday.

Quotable:
*Toronto Coach John Carver on his team's defending at the end of the game (he blamed goalkeeper Greg Sutton):

"You can't defend like that. ... It was suicide defending. And that's not good enough. ... For me that's the worst we've played since I've been here. ... I'm absolutely furious.

*On the return game with Chivas USA next Saturday where Carver will have 10 players away on international duty and another two long-term injuries - on an 18-man senior roster:

"We asked the MLS, because we thought it's an extreme circumstance, if we could postpone the game. They turned us down. ... On this occasion I don't think common sense has prevailed.

"I'm going to have to get kids and put kids in. It's that embarrassing. I may even have to go get kids who play in amateur teams.

If I'm a fan of Toronto FC, I don't think I'm getting value for money because I've paid good money for my season ticket - we've got fantastic support up there - yet we're not putting the product on the pitch.

"It's something they have to look at. I don't think there's another league in the world that would ask a team to play in these circumstances."

Preki on the debilitating injuries this season:

"We're having a tough time putting the same 11 out two weeks in a row. That's been the biggest problem for us."

Sacha Kljestan on their position now:

"It's good for the team. We're in the playoff spot. It's ours to lose.

On out-shooting Toronto 20-5, yet having a hard time scoring:

"It's easy to get frustrated. After the first 15 minutes it should have been 3-0 probably. To be fair they had some early chances too, but we really should have put the game out of reach in the first 20-30 minutes and not left it late like we did."

On the difference between Tuesday in Panama and Saturday against Toronto:

"Playing at home makes a difference for us. I think our confidence level is a little higher."

Former Galaxy striker Carlos Ruiz, reportedly a transfer target for Chivas USA before he signed with Toronto, on former Galaxy coach Ruud Gullit with whom he reportedly had a rocky relationship:

"I didn't have any problems with Ruud. Maybe in the beginning it was bad communication. But we spoke about a couple of things and then everything was clear. ... It was not good for me to came to L.A. Galaxy for this season."

Highlights:

Or at least they are tied with the 2006 team as the worst ever.

By running their winless streak to 10 games with a 2-2 tie Saturday against the New England Revolution, the Galaxy tied the mark for the longest winless stretch in club history, first set in 2006 when the Galaxy went 0-8-2 from May 6 until June 24.

This time around the Galaxy are 0-5-5 and have been outscored 24-14.

It's instructive to compare the relative talent levels of the two teams.

Here's the Galaxy team that originally set the record: Kevin Hartman, Chris Albright, Ugo Ihemelu, Tyronne Marshall, Nate Sturgis, Josh Gardner, Quavas Kirk, Paulo Nagamura, Marcelo Saragosa, Herculez Gomez, John Wolyniec. (Cobi Jones came on as a sub and Landon Donovan didn't play).

Here's Saturday's lineup: Steve Cronin (GK) (Josh Wicks 46), Ante Jazic, Sean Franklin, Troy Roberts, Chris Klein, Eddie Lewis (Eduardo Dominguez 81), Greg Vanney (Mike Randolph 65), Peter Vagenas, David Beckham ©, Landon Donovan, Edson Buddle.

Both teams were led by new coaches, the 2006 version by Frank Yallop (he had been appointed 18 days earlier) and the current edition by Bruce Arena, on the job 13 days.

Here's a recap of Saturday's game from a Boston perspective.

Notable:
*Saturday's attendance of 39,256 was the third largest of the season to see the Galaxy. The game in New York drew 46,754 and one in San Jose attracted 39,872. It was the largest crowd to see a regular season MLS game at Gillette Stadium. Becks was injured when the Galaxy played in Boston last year.
*Landon Donovan's two goals tonight extended his MLS goalscoring lead to 14.
*Eddie Lewis made his Galaxy debut in midfield and had an immediate effect, creating Donovan's second goal with a laser-like pass.
*Revolution officials (no word from the Galaxy as of this writing) said Galaxy goalkeeper Steve Cronin broke his finger in the collision on Taylor Twellman's first half goal. He was replaced at the half by rookie Josh Wicks, who made his MLS debut.

The Galaxy actually looked better than they had in weeks giving one of the best teams in MLS real problems at times. Is Arena having an effect already?

Finally, it's an apt time to point out that now Columbus Crew Coach Sigi Schmid can officially begin worrying about getting fired.

His Crew moved past the Revs into the MLS lead today; the former UCLA coach you'll recall was infamously fired from the Galaxy job in a Manhattan Beach bagel shop while L.A. sat atop the MLS standings.

How much do you think Sigi would like to be at this year's MLS Cup - to be held at Home Depot Center?

Chivas USA are now sitting in the third and final Western Conference playoff spot after a dramatic 2-1 come-from-behind victory with an Atiba Harris winner coming in the last minute of stoppage time.

The Galaxy's winless streak is up to 10, but Chivas USA stopped their own winless streak at six when Harris' shot squirted through the hands of Toronto goalkeeper Greg Sutton to break the 1-1 deadlock. A nice Bobby Burling dummy allowed the ball to come through to Harris.

Things were considerably quieter in the second half, but once again both sides squandered good opportunities.

Chivas USA though, won't rue missing their chances as much as Toronto after the victory.

Zach Thornton did well to come out to the edge of his penalty box to close down the angle on a Chad Barrett breakaway in the 63rd minute and stop a shot with his legs.

The Chivas USA defense stood and watched Marco Velez enjoy a free header within the six yard box from a corner kick immediately afterward.

Justin Braun couldn't finish Chivas USA's best second half chance in the 89th minute before the last-gasp goal sealed the win.

It was the second-ever come-from-behind victory for Chivas USA.

Two teams with shaky defenses=open, entertaining game.

The teams ended the first 45 minutes tied 1-1, but both could and probably should have had more goals than that.

Toronto FC opened the scoring when Rohan Rickets found a streaking Jim Brennan on the right wing with a piercing ball. The former Norwich City player beat Chivas USA goalkeeper Zach Thornton with a low shot.

Exactly 64 seconds later, Chivas pulled level with its first goal in four games, Alecko Eskandarian scoring from an Ante Razov pass.

Toronto's Chad Barrett had a couple of good opportunities, including when Bobby Burling missed a Jonathan Bornstein back pass in front of the goal that almost let in the former Chicago striker.

Chivas USA finished the half with 11 shots.

First off, the Galaxy has just drawn 2-2 with the New England Revolution, Landon Donovan getting both goals.

Sean Franklin and Troy Roberts started in the center of defense with Eddie Lewis on the left wing, by the way.

More on that game later, but for now....

Chivas USA has Zach Thornton in goal as usual, Lawson Vaughn is at right back, Jonathan Bornstein on the left and Bobby Burling and Jim Curtin in the middle. Claudio Suarez is out through injury.

Midfield: Atiba Harris, Sacha Kljestan, Paulo Nagamura and Francisco Mendoza.

Up front Alecko Eskandarian makes his first start ofn the season alongside Ante Razov.

Toronto starts a Southern California strike force (of a sort) with former Bruin Chad Barrett partnering ex-Galaxy striker Carlos Ruiz in his first appearance for the Canadian outfit.

Ex-Chivas USA midfielder Amado Guevara is in midfield, while former Galaxy defender Tyrone Marshall starts in the back.

I wote both the capsule previews for the Galaxy and Chivas USA games today. Read them here.

This is the view from Boston.

This is the view from Toronto.

I'll blog from the HDC tonight.

UCLA conceded an equalizing goal in the 90th minute and went on to lose 2-1 in overtime to Maryland at Home Depot Center Friday before 3,214 fans, the third biggest crowd ever to see a Bruins home game.

This was the first game of the season for both teams and it showed.

UCLA dominated the opening 45 minutes, scoring a 27th minute goal created by Palos Verdes Estates' Kyle Nakazawa, who used his inside knowledge of former roommate at the U.S. Under-17 Academy in Bradenton. Fla., Omar Gonzalez, to beat the giant defender and cross the ball to Jason Leopaldo. He headed over to Eder Arreoloa, who knocked it to Maxwell Griffith, who finished from close range.

UCLA sat back in the second half and Maryland came at them looking for the tying goal. That proved to be the Bruins' undoing when Maryland equalized in the 90th minute from a corner kick, Sean Flatley heading in the winner unmolested provoking UCLA goalkeeper Brian Perk to angrily remonstrate at the sloppy defending.

Worse was to come in golden goal overtime, Maryland's Drew Yates splitting a static UCLA defense with an incisive ball that found Rodney Wallace for the winning goal.

Maryland squandered several second half chances, but in the end UCLA paid the price for nonchalantly sitting back.

UCLA Coach Jorge Salcedo on the second half:

"They had some players that were dangerous and some guys who did well up top. (The) outside midfielders (were) strong players for them. We saw the game out far too much and sometimes when that happens you're going to get bit and that's what happened to us tonight."

On the second half:

"We started to become very predictable, just knocking balls forward. It was never our intention to sit back and see the game out. But for one reason or another the group did that in the second half."

On the state of the team:

"We had some younger guys I didn't think really found their legs until the middle of the first half. It was a choppy game. I don't think we were at our best. I don't think they were at their best. It's going to take some time to round into form."

Palos Verdes Estates resident and 100 Percent Soccer blogger Kyle Nakazawa on why they didn't close out the game:

"We were comfortable with the one-zero lead and in soccer you can't do that. One-zero, even two-zero you can't do that ever. The guys were tired. We had maybe ten minutes left and guys were just trying to see the game out and a lot of times when you do that you end up getting scored on."

Goalkeeper Brian Perk on the equalizing goal:

"I was pretty angry. ... I was just wondering where our team is. I didn't even go for it. I'm kind of disappointed in myself more than anything."

On the season ahead:

"I don't think a lot of people are going to expect a lot of us, which I can understand, we lost a few people. Fourteen is a pretty generous ranking, I believe. But I think we're going to surprise some people because every game is going to be like this. We're not going to be an easy team to beat."

On the defensive reaction to the play that led to the winning goal:

"They had that one moment where we weren't prepared and that's what it came down to. (The defense) mentally fell asleep and the guy took his chance and they took it well. It was a lucky header to be honest. I don't think he even had his eyes open. That was justice in the second half. They were a little bit better than us.

In other college action today:
*The LMU women lost 4-0 to Notre Dame; the LMU men tied No. 10-ranked New Mexico 1-1, as did San Diego and Saint Louis in Westchester.
*Pepperdine tied 1-1 with Arizona State.
*The Matador women beat Southern Utah 5-2, while the men lost 1-0 to Georgetown.

South Bay product and last year's team MVP Kyle Nakazawa leads the No. 14-ranked Bruins tonight in a rare 7 o'clock game against No. 8-ranked Maryland at Carson's Home Depot Center live on Fox Soccer Channel.

Tickets are $10 adults, $5 students and kids. Parking is free.

UCLA returns six All-Pac-10 players from last year including the team's top two scorers, Maxwell Griffin (nine goals) and Palos Verdes Estates' Nakazawa (three goals, seven assists).

Also returning: 2006 season leading scorer David Estrada (12 goals) while the midfield also includes Jason Leopoldo. Manning the net is U.S. Under-20 National Team starter Brian Perk, who has five shutouts in 27 career starts during his two seasons.

Notable: With a victory tonight UCLA Coach Jorge Salcedo can record the 50th win of his college coaching career.

It's the third time UCLA have played at Home Depot Center. The Bruins played in the first collegiate game at the venue in 2003 crushing Cal State Fullerton 5-0 behind a Matt Taylor hat trick and two goals and three assists from Chad Barrett. UCLA also played to a scoreless tie there in 2004 with Loyola Marymount.

I plan to blog from the game.

On Sunday UCLA will host a doubleheader on campus, taking on UC Riverside at 12:30 pm, followed by Maryland-California at 3 pm. Tickets are $7 for adults and $5 for youth. UCLA students are free with valid ID.

In college games Thursday:
The No. 11-ranked Cal State Dominguez Hills men beat No. 20 Grand Canyon 1-0, while the No. 13-ranked women defeated their female counterparts 3-1 in Carson.

In other college games this weekend:
*Three games are scheduled today at Matador Soccer Field, with the Cal State Northridge women playing Southern Utah at 11:30 a.m., followed by a men's game between Cal State Fullerton and Alabama A&M. At 4:30 p.m. the Matador men take on Georgetown. They finish the busy weekend with a 2:30 p.m. game against Alabama A&M back in Northridge.
*The No. 1-ranked USC women are in Oregon for the weekend, playing Portland State and No. 6 Portland, while the No. 2-ranked UCLA women play Portland Saturday and Portland State Monday.
*The Loyola Marymount women are similarly on the road facing No. 4-ranked Notre Dame today and on Sunday 12th-ranked West Virginia, the defending Big
East champions.
*The LMU men host their annual Fall Classic Tournament beginnning today.
* Pepperdine plays today at 3 p.m. in Malibu against Arizona State ans Sunday against UC Santa Barbara. Pepperdine lost its season-opener last weekend 1-0 against Cal State Fullerton.

Goalkeeper Jake Wright, of Rancho Palos Verdes, will blog for 100 Percent Soccer this season providing an inside look at the Cal State Northridge men's soccer program. Wright was a two-year starter at Peninsula High and is entering his sophomore year at Cal State Northridge. This summer Wright played for Orange County Blue Star of the United Soccer Leagues Premier Development League.

This is his his first post.

After a rigorous preseason camp of intense fitness conditioning and two weeks of grueling double days in the searing valley heat, our boys were really excited to see what all our hard work was going to show for in our exhibition match last Saturday up at Cal.

Following our morning practice Friday, we headed up I-5 on our seven hour bus trip up to San Francisco. After a few movies on the bus, we finally got to the hotel. It was awesome, right on the water at the Berkeley marina. Later that night after a quick meeting, it was off to, what I think, was the best meal I've had on a road trip since I've been playing for Northridge: pasta, bread, chicken, salad - just awesome.

Soon after dinner was over, a couple of us went for a quick dip in the jacuzzi and then went up to our rooms to check out the gold medal soccer game from Beijing, between Argentina and Nigeria, then dozed off and got some rest before game day.

The first ten or fifteen minutes were very back and forth, with both teams trying to find a rhythm. A few close attempts, including a great save from the Cal goalkeeper, as well as a great save off the line from our goalkeeper Kevin Guppy, were the highlight of the beginning of the match. Our closest chance of the first half came off of a great ball from senior forward Devin Deldo, right in stride to Cameron Sims, who missed by just inches in his first touch of the game after coming on only seconds earlier.

After the half time break, we definitely came out hungry. With a tighter back line and better possession play, we were really moving the ball around well, but just couldn't put one in the back of the net.

At the end of full time, and the conclusion of the first overtime, we knew it was coming. Just three minutes into the second extra time period, after a great buildup from the back line, a quick turn and shot from Moy Gomez secured our first victory of the season.

We were all ecstatic, knowing that all of our hard work the weeks prior had paid off, but still knowing that there lots of areas of our game that still needed work if we wanted to achieve our ultimate goal of bringing a National Championship back to the Ridge.

It was good to see Chad Borak back after his season ending injury last year, as well as great play from the rest of our back line, midfielders, and forwards as well. Hopefully we can keep our momentum going into this weekend for our Friday night game against Georgetown, and Sunday afternoon match against Alabama A&M.

One thing is for sure, come Friday night, we'll be ready to go, in our first step in achieving that goal of a Big West and National Championship.

Go Matadors!

U.S. Coach Bob Bradley has just announced a 20-man roster for the pair of upcoming World Cup Qualifying games against Cuba Sept. 6 in Havana and Trinidad & Tobago on Sept. 10 in Chicago.

There are just two changes and two additions to the squad Bradley selected for the recent qualifier in Guatemala.

Former Galaxy defender Danny Califf replaces Watford's Jay DeMerit in the back, while Colorado's Pablo Mastroeni is out and Houston's Ricardo Clark comes in at midfield.

In addition, Marvell Wynne of Toronto FC and Michael Orozco, who plays in Mexico and is the only uncapped player on the roster, come into the senior squad.

The Galaxy's Landon Donovan and Eddie Lewis retain their places, as does Sacha Kljestan of Chivas USA.

"These next two games are very important to help us position ourselves to advance to the final stage," Bradley said. "With the win against Guatemala, we have put ourselves in a good situation at the start of the semifinal round. I was very pleased with the way our team stuck together in a difficult environment. We need to have that same type of effort in the matches against Cuba and Trinidad & Tobago."

But Bradley has once again ignored Dallas striker Kenny Cooper and the Galaxy's Edson Buddle who have 25 goals between them and sit in the No. 2 and No. 3 positions respectively in the MLS scoring race.

Here's the full squad, with World Cup qualifying caps and goals (or in the case of goalkeepers shutouts) listed in parentheses:

Goalkeepers: Brad Guzan (Aston Villa: 2/2 SO), Tim Howard (Everton FC: 4/3 SO).

Defenders: Carlos Bocanegra (Rennes: 14/2), Danny Califf (FC Midtjylland: 2/0), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96: 16/0), Frankie Hejduk (Columbus Crew: 12/1), Oguchi Onyewu (Standard de Liege: 9/0), Michael Orozco (San Luis: 0/0), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock: 3/0), Marvell Wynne (Toronto FC: 0/0).

Midfielders: DaMarcus Beasley (Glasgow Rangers: 17/4), Michael Bradley (SC Heerenveen: 3/1), Ricardo Clark (Houston Dynamo: 1/0), Maurice Edu (Glasgow Rangers: 2/0), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA: 1/0), Eddie Lewis (Los Angeles Galaxy: 20/3).

Forwards: Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo: 8/4), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy: 22/8), Clint Dempsey (Fulham FC: 9/2), Eddie Johnson (Cardiff City: 8/8)

Briefly:
*UCLA playmaker Kyle Nakazawa of Palos Verdes Estates was named a Soccer America magazine first team pre-season All-American

Recently named to the Hermann Trophy watch list, last year's team MVP has started every game of his collegiate career (45 starts) while notching seven goals and 15 assists. Last year he led UCLA in assists with seven.

The Bruins open their season with a 7 p.m. game Friday at Home Depot Center against Maryland live on Fox Soccer Channel. Parking is free for the game.

*Long Beach State downed Hawaii 4-3 in overtime Wednesday and moved to 2-0 in the young season.

South Bay JC college scores are here.

*At 4:30 p.m. today the Cal State Dominguez Hills women play at 4:30 p.m. against Grand Canyon followed by the men from both schools at 7 p.m. in the Track & Field Stadium at Home Depot Center.

Carlos Ruiz, AWOL after his trade from the Galaxy to Toronto FC, (get used to it Canucks) has finally arrived in the Great White North.

This storymarks the first time I've ever heard a coach of Ruiz talk about cuddling him (!), but then if you were down to one healthy striker who is all of 16-years-old you'd probably have the same reaction.

More interesting to me is that we can add Ruiz to the list of Galaxy players who had major problems with the now departed Ruud Gullit.

Of course, considering his temperament that's not exactly a surprise.

But the more we learn about the Gullit era at the Galaxy, the more it sounds like a case of good riddance Ruud.

El Camino College players (from left) Stephanie Han, Ashley Martin, Jamie Tribble and Ashley Taylor stand ready for the season.

Photos by Robert Casillas

With the college soccer season looming, previews are coming thick and fast.

Here's a look at the upcoming season for the El Camino College women and their male counterparts as well as the Harbor College women's soccer program and the men's soccer program.

Read the season previews here.

The Long Beach State women are spending the week in Hawaii.

Former North Torrance star Ashley Martin, formerly with Cal State San Marcos, has joined the El Camino College program.

Well, that was awful.

Chivas USA looked like a team that had studied their CONCACAF Champions League opponents Tauro FC of Panama on the airplane ride down (ahem) going down 2-0 tonight in their preliminary stage two-game series.

Chivas USA did everything wrong.

They gave away a soft early goal, applied pressure, but failed to capitalize, and then swooned on the second (where exactly was Panchito Mendoza?).

Good thing no one cares about the tournament because at this rate Chivas USA won't make the first round proper. Will even free parking attract fans for Tuesday's return leg? Chivas USA need to win by three clear goals (3-0, 4-1, etc.) to reach the next round.

The Chivas USA lineup: Zach Thornton, Jonathan Bornstein, Claudio Suárez (Jim Curtin, 45'), Shavar Thomas, Francisco Mendoza, Kraig Chiles (Lawson Vaugh, 62'), Paulo Nagamura, Daniel Paladini (Alecko Eskandarian, 45'), Jorge Flores, Sacha Kljestan, Atiba Harris.

Game story.

New England also lost, BTW, 2-1 to Trinidad & Tobago team Joe Public.

For those who can't get enough Fox Soccer Channel has Montreal Impact-Real Esteli (Nicaragua) at 5 p.m. Wednesday followed by Costa Rica's Alajuelense against the Puerto Rico Islanders of the USL.

In college soccer action Tuesday, the No. 3-ranked UCLA women beat UC Santa Barbara 2-1 in their season opener.

Olympic stars Lauren Cheney and Kara Lang sat out the match.

Over at USC, Olympian Amy Rodriguez, fellow senior Ashley Nick and junior Kristin Olsen have been added to the Hermann Trophy Watch List for 2008. The trophy is awarded to the nation's top female college player annually.

USC beat San Diego 1-0 over the weekend in their season opener with a goal four minutes into stoppage time.

Finally, Fontana's Maurice Edu could make his Glasgow Rangers debut - Sunday in the Old Firm derby against Celtic. Yikes!

Chivas USA kicks off its CONCACAF Champions League campaign tonight in Panama against Tauro F.C.

Kickoff is at 5 p.m. live on Galavision or delayed at 7 p.m. on Fox Soccer Channel after the Champions League New England Revolution-Joe Public (Trinidad & Tobago) game at 5 p.m.

Here's what the winners of the preliminary stage are striving for.

Notable:
*The match is Chivas USA's first-ever official game outside the U.S.

Quotable:
"Hopefully we'll have a little bit more luck in this tournament because we've had no luck in this league" - Preki on his team's chances after this weekend's MLS game.

Will anyone notice?

Too much soccer? Find it difficult to keep track? Me too.

Here's a cheat sheet:
Tuesday - The preliminary rounds of the CONCACAF Champions League, including Chivas USA playing in Panama, get under way in earnest. I'll have more in the morning both in my column and here. Four hours of live TV beckon for the hard-core.

Thursday - Cal State Dominguez Hills opens its season with a doubleheader, the women playing Grand Canyon at 4:30 p.m. and the men following at 7 p.m. at the Track & Field Stadium at Home Depot Center.

Friday - The women's college season got under way last weekend and now the men crank up again as well highlighted by a nationally televised (Fox Soccer Channel) No. 14 UCLA verses No. 8 Maryland encounter from Home Depot Center. (General admission tickets are $10 adults, $5 youth, while parking is free, BTW).

Palos Verdes Estates resident and Bruin playmaker Kyle Nakazawa has agreed to blog for 100 Percent Soccer again this year so hopefully we can coax a column out of him before the game. I plan to blog from the game.

Saturday - New Galaxy Coach Bruce Arena takes a second stab at moving the Galaxy toward the playoffs in a 4:30 p.m. game (live on Prime) in New England. Meanwhile, Toronto visits Chivas USA at 7:30 p.m. in Carson. I'll blog.

Headed out to Galaxy training today largely to see how new signing and former UCLA Bruin Eddie Lewis was doing after that ghastly looking head injury in Guatemala last week.

Turns out the 34-year-old Cerritos native was just fine - albeit with a chunk still noticeably missing from his head - and went through the entire 80-minute practice with no restrictions and no problems.

Highlights of the interview are below, but a couple of notes from training before I forget:

*Bruce Arena had pretty much his entire squad out on the field today including a presumably jet-lagged David Beckham fresh from his stint "driving" a double-decker bus in China at the closing ceremonies of the Olympics. As Becks ambled past after training he observed he had flown back into LAX at 8 a.m. today and then pretty much drove straight out to training at 10 a.m. in Carson. Brutal.

*Arena knows he has little margin for error if the Galaxy are to make the playoffs (they are just two points out of third and final guaranteed playoff spot in the Western Conference he reminded his troops today): "Everybody's brain has to be in the game every play," he said at the end of training.

*Two members of the Under-20 Gambian National Team - 17-year old defender Amadou Sanyang and 16-year old forward Ebrima Bojang - entered their third week of training with the Galaxy today. Under FIFA rules neither is permitted to sign with the Galaxy until they hit 18 years of age so this is really just an opportunity for Arena to take a longer term view of the pair, as well as see how they adjust to living away from home in a foreign country.

Now, here's what Eddie had to say:

Q: First off, how's your head?
A: Not too bad. To be honest my ribs are probably a more tender than my head. It was an open cut, but it's a tough part of your head. It was a split and a few stitches, but I'll be fine.

Q: Did you see video of the incident?
A: I actually did for the first time this morning. I hadn't seen it and my sister had it and she showed it to me. I was a little bit hesitant to watch. I probably don't need to see it again - that's enough for me. It was a good hit.

In a lot of ways it represented what the qualifiers are all about. If everything that was going on off the ball could be documented you'd think it was more of a wrestling match than a soccer game. It's how it goes, but certainly there were a lot of Guatemalans upset about Ruiz going in and me coming the other way so there was a lot going on that night. It was a tough hit and probably there was a little bit more going on behind it than just going for the ball.

Q: By the way, is that a slight bit of a Yorkshire accent I detect?
A: My accent is so mangled I can't tell you. I've been from London to Manchester to Yorkshire. Half the time people think I'm South African. I don't even know. I'm sure after a few weeks back home here I'll get the California slang back.

Q: Did playing in England (for four different teams) meet your expectations?
A: For me the whole point of going over there was that the sky's the limit. If you were the best of the best you'd be at the top of the top. If you were not good enough, you'd be sent home right away. I loved it, the whole eight years I was there. There were some great moments, I played in some great games against a lot of good teams. For me it was the memory of a lifetime. As a professional soccer player that's about as good as anywhere to play.

Q: What was your best on-field memory?
A: It's hard to say. I thought about that a few times. Certainly, the Premier League and playing at the big clubs is always exciting. Believe it or not probably both (Championship) playoff finals (at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium) probably had an atmosphere I'd never been a part of my entire life. They were better than the World Cups. Two teams split down the middle, 40,000 (fans supporting) on each side - it was an amazing, amazing atmosphere. And my last game in England was against England at Wembley. That's a memory I'll always have. ... I loved Leeds (United) as a club - I thought that was just an amazing time. Great people.

Q: What prompted the move back to Southern California?
A: I had one more year (on my contract) at Derby and I planned to see that out before making my way back. But they bought 13 players in the off-season and basically had a wage bill they said was out of control. They thought it would be easier to shift some of the players, so they sort of started from the top down. They started with Robbie Savage and started coming at everyone offering them deals to come home or to go saying 'we've got to get rid of this wage bill. It was just too much. We've got to cut down some of the earners.'

At that point I talked to (MLS), didn't really think much of it, but all of a sudden it just fell into place. Derby gave me a great opportunity to come back a year early. I wasn't going to miss that.

Q: I suppose of all the places in MLS this was the place you wanted to be?
A: Exactly - it was probably the only place. This is an amazing opportunity.

Q: After enduring the year Derby had (unsuccessfully struggling against relegation from the EPL), you come here and the Galaxy are struggling.
A: I should be quite comfortable (laughs). This league is entirely different. Someone said today we're two or three points off second place (actually third, but close enough). It's so tight that (if you go on) a small run you're right in the middle of the playoffs.

The last few games they've been having a bit of trouble getting results, but it won't take long before Bruce's influence on the whole team improves.

Q: Glad to hook up with Bruce again?
A: Yeah, he's a fantastic manager, his record speaks for itself. I'm just hoping to fill whatever role he wants to make the team a bit better.

Q: Would you rather play left back or left midfield?
A: We haven't had a chat. He said we'd sit down at some point during the week, but he probably knows the team a bit better than me at this point. I think really we'll just see what works best for everybody. For me it's about trying to help the team get back on track. I'm certainly far along in my career that I just want to do what's best for the team and enjoy the soccer. Wherever Bruce sees me (doing that), I'm happy to do it."

Q: How much longer do you want to play in MLS?
A: I'd like to play the rest of this (season) and a couple more. It's similar to the U.S. team - I've never really put any time lines on anything. ... As soon as someone tells me I'm not good enough any more or they're not happy with me, that will be the end. But at this moment I feel good and I'm having fun and playing well so that's really it.

Check out the effort by the Palos Verdes Peninsula's John Thorrington (Chadwick School) and the other contenders over the weekend:

Not the most stirring of games.

But both teams got a valuable point.

And Chivas USA pulled into a tie with the Galaxy in the standings with an identical 6-9-6 record.

Preki wasn't happy:

"I'm disappointed we didn't get three points. I thought we were the better team on the night."

It was good to see Chivas USA striker Alecko Eskandarian back on the field. He played the last 31 minutes - which doubled his playing time over two other games this season:

"It definitely felt good just to be on the field with the guys," he said when asked about his health. "I'm getting there. The other two games I played I played without a groin (muscle). It was completely torn off. We just didn't know it. It just didn't show up on the MRI until I got into the surgery and found out it was completely torn off at the bone. It was a miracle I even played those games, let alone scored a goal. So now, everything got fixed, hopefully. I've just got to start from step one, strengthening and work on my fitness.

On coming on as sub:

"As a striker any time you come into a 0-0 game you know there are chances there that are waiting for you. I just wanted to help make an impact. We definitely had chances to score and put the game away. In the end it was a little disappointing, but at the same time it was good to be a part of it and create some chances."

On his injury ordeal:

"These last five months with this mystery injury, not knowing what it is and then surgery and then no surgery. I could probably write a book about the frustration I've had and gone through, but I don't want any sympathy and I 'm not going to sit here and cry about it. I'm just going to put it behind me. I'm going to focus on right now. The team has nine or 10 games left and we have to get results."

I spoke with the Earthquakes' Darren Huckerby, the star player at former team Norwich City. I wore my yellow and green City jersey for the occasion (full disclosure - I grew up in Norwich and remain a huge fan) eliciting a "what the bloody hell are you wearing?" comment from Hucks (I like to wear it when Frank Yallop comes to town; he was a long-serving Ipswich Town defender, the team considered Norwich's biggest rivals. And Frank did a double take and rolled his eyes.).

Huckerby probably had the quietest of his five MLS games so far, with Chivas USA doing well to cut off service to him:

"As a team we didn't play well, we didn't pass the ball well today. As a winger you kind of rely on everybody else getting you the ball so .... we'll take a point and move on."

(Incidentally, the Earthquakes didn't get their first shot on target until the 63rd minute; Hucks took it).

On any comparison between MLS and the Championship, the division Norwich play in:

"It's a different standard of play to be honest. They've got me good players here. It's probably not as physical here. It's a lot more rough and tumble over there."

On how teams deal with him over here compared to England:

"I got double-teamed a lot in England. Not many teams played me one on one. Its been a little bit different here they kind of play me one on one.

He finished the game with two shots, one on goal, four corner kicks and one offside call.

Here's Yallop on Huckerby:

"He's dynamic. Tonight for some reason we couldn't really get him the ball in the right areas. Chivas did a good job of shutting him down. They did a nice job of sort of denying him the ball. But when he did get it, it was exciting for us and everything good came of that when we did get him the ball in space. But we didn't play well, we didn't really get him the ball. But having said that when he did get it I thought he was dynamic and had a chance to win the game at the end. He's a player who's exciting to watch, but he's good to have on your team because he stretches teams.

He's very direct, that's one of the reasons I've really liked him. I've seen him for years. He gets it and goes straight at the defender and tries to get in a cross or a shot. He's not looking to keep the ball, he's looking to go at people and he wants to make the difference in games and I love that."

Notable:
*Chivas USA goalkeeper Zach Thornton got his first shutout in his fifth appearance for the club.
*Jonathan Bornstein played on the right side of defense for the first time since last season.
*Chivas USA departs LAX at 8 a.m. Sunday for Panama City, where they play the first match of their home and away CONCACAF Champions League qualifying series against Panamanian club Tauro F.C. at 5 p.m. Tuesday live on Galavision.

Game story.

This was a yawner of a scoreless game punctuated by a few - I stress few - scoring opportunities, mainly for Chivas USA who had the better of the play for much of the game.

Still, the Earthquakes probably had the best chance of the game, Chivas USA goalkeeper Zach Thornton saving with one hand a Ronnie O'Brien shot in the 86th minute from the top of the box that appeared destined for the back of the net.

Chivas USA's best move came in the 76th minute, when a build-up that began deep in their own half produced two scoring opportunities one after another.

Goalkeeper Joe Cannon parried an initial Atiba Harris shot, while a Alecko Eskandarian follow-up shot went wide of the far post. Incidentally, it was only the third appearance of the season for Eskandarian, who nonetheless brought an attacking verve to the game when he came on as a substitute.

Chivas USA actually had the ball in the net in the 73rd minute, but the effort by Esky was ruled offside.

San Jose finally began to threaten at game's end, but it was too little, too late.

An unfortunate 12,209 sat through this one.

There's not many talking points in the game, so I don't expect to write much in the way of post-game notes.

Besides, I'll be collecting material for a CONCACAF Champions League preview for Tuesday's column.

No goals in a rather uneventful first half that saw few clear-cut chances for either team.

Wide open Chivas USA midfielder Sacha Kljestan had the best opportunity, receiving a nice lay-off from Ante Razov, but shooting straight at goalkeeper Joe Cannon from about 12 yards with the net yawning before him.

Atiba Harris also shot wide in stoppage time, but for drama that was about it. San Jose finished the half with no shots on target

The Earthquakes' Ramiro Corrales was replaced in midfield by Kelly Gray in the 15th minute after spraining his left knee while tackling Harris.

Five changes for Chivas USA tonight with a CONCACAF preliminary round game looming Tuesday in Panama as Coach Preki tries to rest some starters, while defender Cary Talley is the latest to join a long injury list with a thigh strain. Six players are still out including striker Maykel Galindo

Zach Thornton is in goal, while Jim Curtin replaces Claudio Suarez as the long defensive change. The rest of the back four: Jonathan Bornstein, Shavar Thomas and Francisco Mendoza.

Kraig Chiles gets a start in midfield, while Sacha Klejstan returns from the Olympics to start along with Paulo nagamura and young Jorge "Sueno" Flores.

Up front, Ante Razov returns for his first MLS start since July 10 to partner Atiba Harris.

Defender Bobby Burling is on the bench, alongside Suarez, Lawson Vaughn, Alecko Eskandarian and Roberto Nurse.

The Earthquakes have former Galaxy goalkeeper Joe Cannon between the posts and former Chivas USA defender Jason Hernandez in the back four.

Former Norwich City star Darren Huckerby makes his Home Depot Center debut in midfield, while the attackers are Scott Sealey and Arturo Alvarez.

No local TV for tonight's game.

With our Chivas USA beat writer out with pneumonia (it seems sort of fitting given the team's list of casualties) this was the preview in today's print edition (in its entirety):

San Jose (5-9-6) at Chivas USA (6-9-5)

*WHEN - 7:30 p.m.
*WHERE - Home Depot Center
*RADIO - 690 AM
*OUTLOOK - The teams are separated by just two points at the bottom of the Western Conference. Chivas comes into the game with three losses in its last four games, while the Earthquakes have won two in a row and are unbeaten in their last five games. The teams are coming off opposite 4-0 results: the Earthquakes beat New England, 4-0, at home last weekend, while depleted Chivas USA lost to Houston on the road by the same score Wednesday.

And that's it.

So let's fill in the blanks.

First, here's the injury report:

CHIVAS USA -- OUT: FW Justin Braun (R ankle sprain); MF Jesse Marsch (fractured jaw); DF Lawson Vaughn (R knee sprain); MF Raphaël Wicky (R ankle surgery); DF Alex Zotinca (R knee surgery); QUESTIONABLE: FW Maykel Galindo (sports hernia surgery); PROBABLE: DF Jonathan Bornstein (R hip strain); FW Alecko Eskandarian (sports hernia surgery); MF Jorge Flores (R ankle tendonitis); FW Ante Razov (L knee sprain); DF Claudio Suárez (concussion) ... SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES - OUT: FW Gavin Glinton (R adductor strain).

Here's the view from San Jose.

But for me the main reason to go to today's game is to check out the skills of former Norwich City forward Darren Huckerby (full disclosure: the Canaries are my English team).

Here's a sampling of what Hucks is capable of (as Galaxy fans already know):

Incidentally, Chivas USA is offering a special Internet ticket deal for the game with seats starting at $10.

Women's college scores Friday:
USD 0 USC 1.
Cal State Northridge 2 San Diego State 1.
Long Beach State 4 Gonzaga 0.

USC:
*The No. 1-ranked Trojans open their season with the first of three straight road games visiting No. 25 San Diego for a 7:30 p.m. Friday clash.
*Only one starter is gone from the 2007 roster that went 20-3-2 and brought home the Trojans' first-ever NCAA women's soccer championship.

Cal State Northridge
*The CSUN women host San Diego State at 4:30 p.m.

Cal State Long Beach
*Long Beach State, winners of the last two Big West regular season titles, opens up the 2008 campaign at 1 p.m. Friday against Gonzaga.
*The 49ers return 10 of 11 starters from a team that went 13-7-0 last season and was picked to finish second in the Big West behind UC Santa Babara this year.

Bruce Arena

Photos by Scott Varley

Watched and blogging my fourth game in 24 hours or so.

Stand back and no one will get hurt.

This was one of those nights when the press conference was more interesting than the actual game.

We had a local lad having a great night, a new famous coach at his first game and Brian McBride back in MLS.

Here's Galaxy Coach Bruce Arena on his first game in charge against the Fire:

"I think they're one of the better teams in the league and I thought they came out well and put us under a lot of pressure early. It took us about 20 minutes to get settled."

On the Galaxy and what the team needs:

"The effort for 90 minutes was good. The organization of the team was improved, but certainly not good enough. We're missing a few players at the attacking end of the field to help make us a little bit better and that was pretty obvious."

On the goal:

"We lost the ball in a bad spot on the field and did not react well as a group. Give Thorrington credit, It was a very good finish."

Arena on the Carlos Ruiz transfer:

"My preference would be to have Carlos here as well as Eddie Lewis. ... Some moves had to be made. We talked to a number of teams not only on Carlos, but some other players. But in order to to be able to sign Eddie Lewis - who is a player I think this teams needs and will help us make better - we had to make a roster move. And there were certain financial implications involved with it. The other part of that equation is you need to look at that as not only a short term move, but a move that allows you more flexibility in the off-season as you try to improve this roster."

On Eddie Lewis, who Arena had observed earlier was out indefinitely after the World Cup qualifying lunge he suffered in Guatemala until he had some tests:

"He'll need some tests to make sure there aren't any issues so we need to wait and see," he said. "We want to take the right precautions to make sure they're aren't any issues you can't tell by touching, feeling. I think he's got to have a scan."

Brian McBride on Bruce Arena: "He's a great coach. If you look at his record everywhere he's went he's made a team better. When given time he's done some amazing things. So I expect him to succeed greatly. I have the utmost respect for him as a coach, as a person and I wish him the best."

Goalkeeper Steve Cronin on the goal:

"Some goals are saveable, (Yes, he said that) some aren't. I felt I did everything I could on that one. I saw it fine and everything. It's disappointing to give up a goal that started with a bad pass in midfield and a guy comes 30 yards down the field and finishes it and nobody steps to him."

The Palos Verdes Peninsula's John Thorrington played a starring role in the game before South Bay family and friends.

Here's Thorrington on how his career has turned around after getting waived by the Fire and having tryouts with the Galaxy and Chivas USA:

"I had some time away from the game last year when I wanted to come back and play at home and it didn't work out," he said, adding Coach Dennis Hamlett gave him another chance toward the end of last season. "As soon as Dennis got the job he was very clear with me with what he expected and put some faith in me and I think we've got a team where I can play a role that suits me. ... It's a nice phase in my career right now."

On how the Fire play without Blanco: "We're obviously a bit younger when he's not on the field (laughter all around the press conference). We do miss his playmaking ability and his ability to make passes out of nowhere. We become so reliant on him because he is so good so I think it's a good exercise for us."

Game story.

Highlights:

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

What's that noise? Ah, the final whistle thankfully is here. This was one of those nights to stay home and watch synchronized diving or dressage rather than endure a game of over hit crosses, flubbed back passes and inaccurate shots.

John Thorrington of the Palos Verdes Peninsula saved the game from complete non-event status with a swerving shot from 19 yards served to him on a platter by Brian McBride to give the Fire a 1-0 win.

It was his fifth goal of the season and some will recall it was the former Manchester United youth player who ensured the Galaxy didn't make the playoffs last year, scoring the winning goal for the Fire in the last game of the season.

Thorrington tried out for the Galaxy (and Chivas USA) after the Fire initially waived him before picking him up again so maybe he's motivated or it's all those friends and family in the crowd.

Take a bow, John (actually he did - two of them - in his goal celebration).

Apart from that there was little to recommend this game. It was one of those you want to keep Eurosnobs away from so they don't rail against MLS.

It was as if, said a press box joker dryly, both teams had a player of two missing.

Yes, quite.

If Bruce Arena had any illusions about the enormity of the task facing him he surely didn't after an ill-advised Sean Franklin back pass was missed by Greg Vanney in the 78th minute right in front of goal. Chris Rolfe pounced upon it, but didn't make the Galaxy pay. Goalkeeper Steve Cronin appeared so amazed as Vanney shuffled off I don't think he knew which defender to yell at.

For those keeping count at home, the Galaxy winless streak is now up to nine games.

Back with more later.

This is a game stunning in its mediocrity and as one press box wit pointed out if you change the names this could be Scunthorpe verses Grimsby. And that's probably being unkind to Grimsby.

The first half highlights consisted of a wide open Alan Gordon missing a header from all of five yards out (never seen that before have we?) and a great Steve Cronin fingertips save (how many times have I written that this season?) that pushed a Chris Rolfe shot onto the outside of the far post.

I'm off to get a coffee so I can stay awake.

Turns out Bruce Arena's first Galaxy team looks a lot like Ruud Gullit's last team - not that he's got many options of course.

David Beckham is on his way to China for the Olympics closing ceremonies, Landon Donovan is recovering from last night's Guatemalan hackfest, um, game, Carlos Ruiz is now a Toronto player, eh, and new signing Eddie Lewis has the evening off too, recovering from the nasty blow to the head he took, no doubt.

Arena's big change - moving Chris Klein off the back four and into midfield.

The Galaxy lineup: Cronin, Franklin, Roberts, Vanney, jazic, Klein, Pires, vagenas, Allen, Buddle and Gordon.

Chicago is without Blanco, too, Rolling Hills Estates John Thorrington (Chadwick School) starts in midfield and Brian McBride leads the attack.

Back later with more.

Ruiz is on the run; we won't be seeing him in a Galaxy jersey again.

The short second stint of striker Carlos Ruiz with the Galaxy is officially over, paving the way for the team to sign U.S. international Eddie Lewis.

Presumably Lewis could play tonight against the Fire.

Ruiz had just one goal in 10 appearances for the Galaxy this season and missed almost two months of the season after undergoing knee surgery.

The two official press releases are below, but for me the most interesting thing about the Ruiz move is that it's an essentially an admission by the Galaxy that their "risky" move of signing a handful of expensive, big-name players this season was a failure. Did they make a similar mistake to Real Madrid in signing their version of the Galacticos?"

I asked David Beckham about that on Monday and he stiffened, looked peeved, folded his arms and said:

"I don't see the mistake, personally - We're good players. ... It's up to other people to make their comments about whether it's a mistake or not."

Here's the Toronto press release on Ruiz' signing:

Toronto FC announced Thursday that they have acquired forward Carlos Ruiz from the L.A. Galaxy in exchange for a first-round pick and a second-round pick in the 2009 MLS Supplemental Draft and salary budget considerations. As per team regulations contract details were not disclosed.

"We're looking forward to bringing in another quality striker," said manager, director of soccer Mo Johnston. "We've now got Barrett and Dichio who is on the road to getting healthier and this will also help bring young Ibee (Ibrahim) along properly. We're very excited to get Ruiz in here - he holds the ball up well and is a clinical finisher."

Ruiz, 28, is known as the best pure goalscorer in MLS history. He leaves L.A. as the second leading scorer in Galaxy history with 50 regular season goals for the club, and helped the team to victory in the MLS Cup in 2002. The forward is the all-time leader in postseason goals in MLS, and is currently 8th on the All-time goals list with 82.

Ruiz began his professional career with his local club CSD Municipal in Guatemala City in 1995. In 2000 he went to Europe and signed with PAS Giannina of Greece on loan but returned to Guatemala the following year. In 2002 he joined Major League Soccer signing with the Galaxy, and in his first season he scored 24 goals and adding one assist in 26 games. That year he was named to the MLS Best XI and named league MVP. Ruiz set a new MLS record that season for game winning goals with nine. He registered seven multi-goal games that year.

In 2005 Ruiz was traded to FC Dallas for a 2nd round draft pick and an undisclosed amount of money. After spending three seasons in Texas, Ruiz returned to the Galaxy, and in exchange, FC Dallas received allocation money and L.A.'s natural second round draft pick in the 2009 MLS SuperDraft. The forward injured his knee in the season opener in 2008 keeping him out of the lineup for the better part of a month. His first goal of the season came July 19 in a 2-2 draw against the New York Red Bulls.

Internationally, Ruiz has been a member of the Guatemalan National Team since 1998 and is their current leading goal scorer. He has over 70 caps for his country and was a member of the squad during World Cup qualification campaigns in 2002, 2006, and is presently involved in 2010 qualification. In 2002 he scored eight goals in nine matches during qualification and again led the team in scoring in 2006, helping Guatemala reach the final phase of qualification but narrowly missing out on a chance to travel to Germany for the 2006 World Cup. However, Ruiz did make history in 2008 when on June 14; he broke Juan Carlos Plata's all-time individual goalscoring record for Guatemala, by scoring four goals against Saint Lucia in their 2010 World Cup qualifying opening match. That feat made him the first Guatemalan player to score four times in a match as he surpassed the old mark of 39 goals set by Plata.

And here's the (edited) Galaxy press release on Lewis:

The LA Galaxy today signed U.S. National Team midfielder Eddie Lewis. The Galaxy held the top spot in the MLS Allocation Table and have used that position to acquire Lewis, a Cerritos, Calif. native who played for the U.S. National Team in their 1-0 road win over Guatemala last night in a World Cup Qualifier. Per club and league policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.

"I strongly believe that Eddie Lewis will be an outstanding addition to the Galaxy," Galaxy General Manager and Head Coach Bruce Arena said. "He brings great experience to the club and will be a wonderful addition to our locker room and is a player that the fans are sure to support. I have known Eddie for a number of years, I rate him as a first class player and person and I'm honored to welcome him to the Galaxy family."

"Unfortunately, the sport of soccer is also a business and in order to bring Eddie to the Galaxy we were required to make salary budget space available and our only available option was to move Carlos," Arena added. "Carlos is proven to be one of the great goalscorers in the history of this league and I have the highest regard for him. We wish him the very best in the future."

A veteran left-sided player with both MLS and European playing experience, Lewis comes to the Galaxy following a one-year stay with Derby County of the English Premier League. Prior to joining Derby, the 34-year old had stints with fellow English sides, Fulham, Preston North End and Leeds United, as well as a four-year stay with San Jose of Major League Soccer, with who he began his professional career in 1996.

After playing four years at UCLA and helping the Bruins to a 67-14-4 record during his time in Westwood, Lewis was selected by the San Jose Clash (now Earthquakes) in the Third Round of the 1996 MLS College Draft. In four years with San Jose, Lewis became an integral member of that club, appearing in 115 of the club's 128 games, scoring nine goals and adding 35 assists. He set a career-high with 14 assists in 1997 and matched that figure in 1999 when his four goals and 14 assists in 29 games earned him a spot on the MLS Best XI.

Following the 1999 MLS season, Lewis signed with Fulham of the English First Division (now English Championship). He appeared in a handful of games in his two and a half seasons at Craven Cottage before signing with fellow First Division side Preston North End in the summer of 2002. He appeared in more than 100 games for Preston, during his three seasons with the club and narrowly missed out on promotion to the Premier League in 2004-05, when his side were knocked off by West Ham United in the Championship Playoff Final. After that season, Lewis joined Leeds United of the League Championship and helped that club reach the Playoff Final, only to fall one step short of qualifying for the Premier League.

After two seasons at Leeds, Lewis signed with Derby County, who had just been promoted to the Premier League. He played 27 games in all competitions for Derby last season, and left the club by mutual consent earlier this month in order to sign with the Galaxy. He will join up with the rest of his new teammates in Los Angeles today after retuning from National Team duty.

A true left-sided player who is capable of playing both in midfield and at left back, Lewis has also made his mark with the U.S. National Team, with who he appeared in both the 2002 and 2006 FIFA World Cups. In 81 career appearances with the Red, White and Blue, Lewis has 10 goals and 16 assists, including an assist on Landon Donovan's goal in the 2-0 win over Mexico in the Round of 16 at the 2002 World Cup. He scored his 10th National Team goal in July when he captained the U.S. to a 1-0 win in Barbados.

Brazilian attacks constantly threatened the U.S. goal. Below, Marta bedevils Kate Markgraf.

AP Photo

Redemption for goalkeeper Hope Solo, revenge for the Americans and a delay in declaring a Brazilian women's soccer dynasty as the U.S. tenaciously hung on to win 1-0 today in China over Brazil to win the gold medal.

Game story.

The box score tells the story - including 14 corner kicks for Brazil - of the Brazilian dominance.

Notable: Amy Rodriguez, who got the assist on the U.S. goal, became the first non-swimmer at USC to win an Olympic gold medal.

Quotable:
U.S. defender Kate Markgraf on whether she ever doubted the team would win the gold medal in light of all the adversity:

"I don't think we ever doubted but we just didn't think about it. Also, after the first game we had our backs against the wall and we had no choice but to fight. All 18 of us. There isn't a star on this team, there are 18 great team players. That's how we won tonight."

Below, Natasha Kai, left, and Heather O'Reilly exult in the U.S. victory.

AP Photo

Claudio Reyna and Bruce Arena in happier times when first reunited as player and coach with the Red Bulls.

Photo by Bruce Hazleton

The one thing players stress about new Galaxy Coach Bruce Arena is his man management skills:

"His best quality is as a man manager and as a team manager," said defender Chris Klein, who has had stints under Arena with the national team. "He's always gotten the most out of players and if you ask guys who played for him many more times than I have, they'll say the same thing - when you play under Bruce, he's going to get the most out of you."

Still, it was notable that a widely reported player revolt in New York likely played a role in his firing from the Red Bulls.

So it will be interesting to hear what former Arena favorite Claudio Reyna - one of the chief revolters, who publicly fell out with his former coach - has to say about him in the ESPN2 booth before tonight's game (live at 7 on ESPN2) against the Chicago Fire.

The former U.S. National Team captain will make his ESPN studio debut as a guest analyst during the pregame show.

It's a game notably short on star power, but Galaxy fans will be more concerned whether Arena can break the team's eight game winless streak.

I will blog from Carson as usual.

I'm getting up to watch the 6 a.m. U.S.-Brazil Olympic women's football final.

So briefly:
*The U.S. continued its domination of Guatemala Wednesday with a 1-0 win in the first game of the semifinal round of World Cup qualifying.

Notable:
*Seven yellow cards, two red cards and 40 total fouls kept the referee busy.
*Galaxy target Eddie Lewis needed five stitches to close a head wound sustained in a particularly nasty challenge with Guatemala's Gustavo Cabrera who earned a red card for using his body as a missile.
*Steve Cherundolo's red card means he misses the next U.S. World Cup qualifier in Havana vs. Cuba on Sept. 6.

Quotable:

"It was a very hard fought game, and for us a hard earned three points," said U.S. head coach Bob Bradley. "The win is based more on the determination of our team. Sometimes it's necessary to win games in that way. It was a game where we relied on the effort, team spirit, and the mentality of the group.

U.S. lineup: 1-Tim Howard; 15-Heath Pearce, 5-Oguchi Onyewu, 3-Carlos Bocanegra, 6-Steve Cherundolo; 10-Landon Donovan, 12-Michael Bradley, 4-Pablo Mastroeni (13-Maurice Edu, 78), 7-Eddie Lewis (17-DaMarcus Beasley, 65); 11-Brian Ching, 8-Clint Dempsey (2-Frankie Hejduk, 65)

*Sven Wins For Mexico.

*CONCACAF WCQ Scores.

*Chivas USA discovered what happens when a team missing 10 senior players or so meets one of the best teams in the league: they are hammered 4-0.

How bad was it? Lawndale's Kei Kamara, (and these TV announcers have got to decide whether his surname is pronounced "camera" or "Kamara" and not use both) who was punted from San Jose for his dismal goalscoring record, got two goals. Nate Jaqua, similarly dismissed from the Galaxy for not recognizing a net, got another.

The view from Houston.

The Chivas USA lineup: - Zach Thornton, Carey Talley (Keith Savage 13), Claudio Suarez (Eric Ebert 46), Shavar Thomas, Bobby Burling, Paulo Nagamura (Kraig Chiles 46), Daniel Paladini, Jonathan Bornstein, Francisco Mendoza, Roberto Nurse, Atiba Harris.

Highlights if you dare to watch:

Wonder what Preki thought of Sacha Kljestan sitting on the U.S. bench Wednesday unused?

*The U.S. women will face the flamboyant Brazilians at 6 a.m. on USA in the Olympics women's football final.

From U.S. Soccer:

This will be the fourth meeting between the U.S. and Brazil since the USA's crushing loss in the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup semifinal, a match in which the U.S. scored an own goal and saw Shannon Boxx sent off at the end of the first half ... All three previous matches have been played during the past two months ... The U.S. has won all three of those matches by the score of 1-0, with the first meeting at the 2008 Peace Queen Cup in South Korea on June 17, followed by two Send-Off matches in Commerce City, Colo., on July 13 and San Diego, Calif., on July 16 ... All three of those wins were against an under-strength Brazilian team that was missing their top European-based players including 2007 FIFA Women's World Player of the Year Marta, who was in Sweden playing for her club team Umea

The importance of USC's Amy Rodriguez to the team is explained here.

A David Beckham corner kick was headed home by former Manchester United teammate Wes Brown, but it took a stoppage time goal by substitute Joe Cole to assure a tepid England of a 2-2 draw today against The Czech Republic at Wembley.

Neither Beckham or England looked particularly impressive in game where the Brits were constantly chasing the game.

Becks went almost the full 90 minutes, virtually ensuring he will take no part in Thursday's Galaxy-Fire game, but at least appeared to emerge from the match unscathed.

Apologies for the late blogging since I am somewhat under the weather today (and, no, that's not because of all the soccer on TV).

Still, there is a lot.

First up at noon on Fox Soccer Channel is David Beckham and England taking on the Czech Republic in London.

Then at 7 p.m. on ESPN2, the U.S. plays Guatemala in World Cup qualifying.

U.S. Soccer observes there are plenty of MLS-Guatemala connections:

Carlos Ruiz and Landon Donovan share the same locker room at the Los Angeles Galaxy, while midfielder Guillermo 'Pando' Ramirez also used to ply his trade at The Home Depot Center. Marco 'Loco' Rodriguez and Fredy Garcia once wore the same uniform as Frankie Hejduk in Columbus. Gustavo Cabrera left Real Salt Lake for AGF Aarhus in Denmark, the club that just signed U.S. Olympic Team midfielder Benny Feilhaber. Finally, 20-year old uncapped midfielder Marco Pappa recently moved to the Chicago Fire, where he has assumed a starting role as a wide midfielder.

The Galaxy's Landon Donovan will equal Kasey Keller's U.S. caps total in today's game. Here's the top 10 players in appearances for the U.S:

Name Caps Goals (SO) Era
1. Cobi Jones 164 15 1992-2004
2. Jeff Agoos 134 4 1988-2003
3. Marcelo Balboa 128 13 1988-2000
4. Claudio Reyna 112 8 1994-2006
5. Paul Caligiuri 110 5 1984-1998
6. Eric Wynalda 106 34 1990-2000
7. Kasey Keller 102 (47) 1990-
8. Landon Donovan 101 36 2000-
9. Earnie Stewart 101 17 1990-2004
10. Tony Meola 100 (32) 1988-2006

There's plenty of other CONCACAF action today, too.

Finally, a crocked Chivas USA (6-8-5) will try to snap a four-game winless streak against a healthy Western Conference-leading Houston Dynamo (7-4-8). in a game that conveniently (for those watching the U.S. game) starts at 8 p.m. on FSN (tape delayed). It's also live at 6 p.m. on KAZA.

A bright spot for Chivas USA: Due to World Cup qualifiers, Houston is without its two leading scorers, Brian Ching (U.S. National Team) and Dwayne De Rosario (Canadian National Team).

Now excuse me, I'm going back to bed.

Soccer Insider and Soccer By Ives.

Updated: More here.

Over the next five days more than 25 of the nation's best girls youth teams will play over 40 games in the 2008 Women's Nike Friendlies at Home Depot Center.

Teams will participate in the Under-15, Under-16 and Under-17 age categories, although the Under-14 Girls' National Team will participate in the Under-16 age group, and the U.S. Under-15 Girls' National Team will participate at the Under-17 level. Got that?

"This is the kind of event that the best young soccer players in the country should be playing in," said U.S. National Staff Coach Mike Dickey, who oversees the Under-14 Girls' Development Program. "The Women's Nike Friendlies provide players an opportunity to play the sport in the right environment and for the right reasons, which ultimately helps players develop and reach their full potential."

U.S. defender Cat Whitehill and USC Women's Soccer Head Coach Ali Khosroshahin will address the teams at a 6 a.m. Thursday breakfast at the HDC Stadium Club to watch the U.S. Women's National Team battle Brazil for gold at the Olympics.

Not surprisingly, there's a healthy California presence among the participating teams.

Here's the schedule (and the public is welcome and invited to the free event):
Wednesday
Under-16
Team Field Time
U-14 GNT Stripes (2) vs. Real So Cal 1 7 p.m.

Thursday
Under-17
Team Field Time
Birmingham United vs. Real So Cal 3 10 a.m.
Surf vs. Colorado Rush 4 10:45 a.m.
FC Delco vs. U-15 GNT 1 12 p.m.
Seacoast vs. Real Colorado 4 12:45 p.m.

Under-16
U-14 GNT Stars (1) vs. Surf 1 10 a.m.
Irvine Strikers vs. PDA 2 10:45 a.m.
Slammers vs. Sereno 3 12 p.m.
Real Colorado vs. Mustangs 2 12:45 p.m.

Under-15
PDA vs. Slammers 5 10 a.m.
Sereno vs. Mustangs 6 10:45 a.m.
Real So Cal vs. Surf 5 12 p.m.
Crossfire vs. Irvine Strikers 6 12:45 p.m.

Friday
Under-17
Team Field Time
U-15 GNT vs. Irvine Strikers 1 10:45 a.m.
Colorado Rush vs. Seacoast 3 12 p.m.
Real Colorado vs. FC Delco 5 12 p.m.

Under-16
No games scheduled

Under-15
Sereno vs. PDA 2 10 a.m.
Mustangs vs. Crossfire 5 10 a.m.
Slammers vs. Real So Cal 4 10:45 a.m.

Saturday
Under-17
Team Field Time
Irvine Strikers vs. Real So Cal 4 10:45 a.m.
Surf vs. Birmingham United 4 12:45 p.m.

Under-16
Real So Cal vs. Irvine Strikers 3 8 a.m.
PDA vs. U-14 GNT Stars (1) 1 10 a.m.
Mustangs vs. Slammers 5 10 a.m.
Sereno vs. U-14 GNT Stripes (2) 1 12 p.m.
Real Colorado vs. Surf 5 12 p.m.

Under-15
Surf vs. Irvine Strikers 2 12:45 p.m.

Sunday
Under-17
Team Field Time
Birmingham Utd. vs. Colorado Rush 5 8 a.m.
U-15 GNT vs. Real Colorado 4 8 a.m.
Seacoast vs. Real So Cal 5 10 a.m.
FC Delco vs. Surf 6 10 a.m.

Under-16
U-14 GNT Stripes (2) vs. PDA 1 8 a.m.
Slammers vs. Real So Cal 2 8 a.m.
Surf vs. Mustangs 6 8 a.m.
Real Colorado vs. U-14 GNT Stars (1) 2 10 a.m.
Irvine Strikers vs. Sereno 4 12 p.m.

Under-15
Irvine Strikers vs. Mustangs 3 8 a.m.
Crossfire vs. Surf 1 10 a.m.
Slammers vs. Seren 3 10 a.m.
PDA vs. Real So Cal 4 10 a.m.

Kyle Nakazawa

Photo courtesy UCLA

Palos Verdes Estates' Kyle Nakazawa, a junior midfielder with UCLA who was last year's team MVP, was one of 50 college players selected for the Hermann Trophy watch list - equivalent to college football's Heisman Trophy.

From the (edited) UCLA press release:

Nakazawa has started every game of his collegiate career (45 starts) and compiled a total of seven goals and 15 assists in two seasons. In 2007, he led the Bruins with seven assists and was second on the team in scoring with 13 points and two game-winning goals, both of which were scored in the final two minutes of the game, at Washington and against New Mexico in the NCAA first round. Nakazawa was a second-team All-Pac-10 selection in 2007 and a Soccer America All-Freshman honoree in 2006. The former youth international totaled 21 career caps with the U.S. Under-17 National Team and was a starter on the U-17 team that placed fifth at the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championships.

A list of 15 semifinalists is selected by a coaches committee in November, three finalists are announced in early December and the winner in January.

Nakazawa and the Bruins kick off the season 7 p.m. Aug. 29 against Maryland at Home Depot Center live on Fox Soccer Channel.

The others on the watch list:
Andre Akpan - Harvard
Calum Angus - Saint Louis
Cody Arnoux - Wake Forest
Alejandro Bedoya - Boston College
Rhett Bernstein - Brown
Joshua Boateng - Liberty
Graciano Brito - Quinnipiac
Jovan Bubonja - Illinois-Chicago
Nick Cardenas - San Diego State
Chris Clements - Tulsa
Sam Cronin - Wake Forest
Byron Dacy - Creighton
Chris DeAbreau - St. Peter's
Kyle Evans - Lehigh
Michael Ferguson - Loyola-Chicago
Stefan Frei - California
Michael Fucito - Harvard
Omar Gonzalez - Maryland
Andrei Gotsmanov - Creighton
Mike Grella - Duke
George John - Washington
Cameron Keith - Binghamton
Yan Klukowski - Central Connecticut State
Milos Kocic - Loyola (Md.)
Stephen McCarthy - Santa Clara
Tennant McVea - Loyola (Md.)
Patrick Murray - Furman
Kevon Neaves - South Florida
Conor O'Brien - Bucknell
John Pardini - Fordham
Liam Parrington - Hartwick
Kyle Patterson - Saint Louis
Brad Peters - Eastern Illinois
Chris Pontius - UC-Santa Barbara
Akeem Priestley - Connecticut
Daniel Revivo - Winthrop
Barry Rice - Kentucky
Brad Ring - Indiana
Toni Stahl - Connecticut
Eric Sweetin - Saint Louis
Alex Torda - Dayton
Marcus Tracy - Wake Forest
David Tyrie - Central Connecticut State
Collen Warner - Portland
O'Brian White - Connecticut
Kareem Yearwood - College of Charleston
Steve Zakuani - Akron

In other local college news, the Cal State Dominguez Hills men's and women's teams have both been picked to finish second in their respective preseason polls by CCAA Conference head coaches.

Both were selected to the National Soccer Coaches Association of America's Top 25 preseason poll last week.

Both Toro teams kick off the 2008 season on Aug. 28 at home.

Bruce Arena gets down to work at his first Galaxy coaching session.

Photo by Sean Hiller.

The former U.S. National Team coach was officially introduced as the Galaxy's coach Monday.

It's a move that suggests more than a few parallels with Arena's last MLS coaching job in New York, an angle I explored in Tuesday's column.

Fellow columnist Steve Dilbeck, meanwhile, articulates what many of us are thinking: Is this the prescient Bruce Arena of World Cup 2002 or the questionable coach from World Cup 2006?

One thing that struck me Monday about Arena (as well as other members of the press corps who know him) was the absence of the antagonistic Arena of the past.

He may have been on his best behavior on his first day on the job, but Associate Head Coach Dave Sarachan, who has worked with Arena for more than two decades said he is a changed - if not more mellow - coach.

"I think he's a little more patient with things, he's in a better place now," Sarachan said. "He has perspective."

Yes, this a more giving Arena after his months relaxing at a home as a self-described "couch potato."

"This game has been more than fair to me and I'm at the point now where I want to give back because this game has been so good to me."

Here's Sarachan on what the new coaching staff needs to change about the Galaxy:

"You change a mentality. If you have the right mentality as a collective you can defend better than what we've seen. ... It's unfair to say (the Galaxy's poor defensive record) is a product of bad goalkeeping or bad defending. It's a mentality of the whole group."

So what did the Galaxy work on at the first practice directed by Arena and Sarachan? Thankfully, defense.

I reminded Arena that he once derided Home Depot Center as a "glorified amusement park" because of all the activities held there. He took the question in stride:

"This is one of the reasons I'm here - because we have an outstanding (practice) facility."

At the Red Bulls, the team didn't have one, he observed.

Finally, Galaxy midfielder Chris Klein said the Galaxy's most inexperienced players will benefit the most from Arena:

"His best quality is as a man manager and as a team manager - he's always got the most from his players," he said. "We have some special players, but it's the younger guys who have to carry the day."

*While I've been columnizing much of the day, plenty of other stuff is going on in the soccer world with one highlight being former Galaxy defender Chris Albright slamming departed Galaxy Coach Ruud Gullit at SI.com:

"My thought was that he'd be gone by midway through this year - I thought that two days after meeting him," said the 29-year-old defender, who was part of the Galaxy squad that made preseason trips to Australia and New Zealand.

What was the problem? "Lack of respect for the players. No real concern about wanting to know MLS or caring to know MLS. You wouldn't believe some of the stuff [he did]."

I would. Dish, Chris, dish.

*Talking about knifing, (how's that for a segue) David Beckham is spending part of his time in England where he is ostensibly on national duty Wednesday playing in his nation's friendly against the Czech Republic (live noon on Fox Soccer Channel) taking part in an anti-knifing campaign.

Handguns are banned in England so they're stabbing each other instead. Nice.

By the way, Becks will fly to China after the game where he will take part in the Olympics closing ceremonies (London has the games in 2012).

*Fontana's Maurice Edu has apparently completed his $5 million move from Toronto FC to Glasgow Rangers.

*Meanwhile, former UCLA and Chivas USA striker Matt Taylor has surfaced in the Bundesliga second division. From the U.S. Soccer Players newsletter:

Surprise signing Matt Taylor started and went 62 minutes for new club TuS Koblenz. Taylor, who only signed three days before the game, scored the second Koblenz goal in their 3-0 win over RW Oberhausen in 2Bundesliga action.

He didn't score, naturally.

*You really got a sense of the extent of the injuries Chivas USA is grappling with when the club released its injury list on Monday.

The latest to go down is defensive midfielder Jesse Marsch with a broken jaw suffered in Thursday's game against the Galaxy. His jaw was wired shut on Friday (which may be the only way to shut Marsch up) and will remain so for the first four weeks of his recovery. Reminder to self: send Jesse an e-mail and ask if he wants to blog. Give the man a voice!

Here's a telling stat from Chivas USA:

Through the first 19 games of the season, the Red-and-White have missed a total of 91 man-matches - or an average of to 4.79 players missing per game due to injury (not counting international absences).

And here's their (lengthy) injury report:

INJURIES (11):

Justin Braun Right ankle sprain Out

Jesse Marsch Fractured jaw Out

Lawson Vaughn Right knee sprain Out

Raphaël Wicky Right ankle surgery Out

Alex Zotinca Right knee surgery Out

Maykel Galindo Sports hernia surgery Questionable

Jonathan Bornstein Right hip strain Probable

Alecko Eskandarian Sports hernia surgery Probable

Jorge Flores Right ankle tendonitis Probable

Ante Razov Left knee sprain Probable

Claudio Suárez Concussion Probable

Oh, and Sacha Kljestan is on international duty with the U.S. National Team.

*On Saturday, Hayley Bolt scored two second half goals to lead Long Beach State to a 2-1 exhibition win over San Diego State. The 49ers open the regular season Friday against Gonzaga.

*The U.S. Under-15 Girls' National Team will play three matches at the 2008 Women's Nike Friendlies Wednesday through Sunday at Home Depot Center against Under-17 FC DELCO Thursday, Under-17 Irvine Strikers Friday and Under-17 Real Colorado Sunday.

The U.S. squad includes: defender Loeau LaBonta (Rancho Cucamonga), midfielders Haley Rosen (Palos Verdes), Marie MacKenzie (Palmdale) and Christina Murillo (Ojai).

Check back in the morning for more on Bruce Arena's appointment to the Galaxy coaching job.

Here's Bruce.

Photo by Sean Hiller

It was a more relaxed-looking and less intense-sounding Bruce Arena who was introduced as the Galaxy's new general manager and coach this morning at Home Depot Center.

The former U.S. National Team coach and two-time MLS Cup winner with D.C. United was under no illusions about the scale of the task facing him to get the Galaxy into the playoffs.

"There's a lot of issues we've got to deal with on the personnel side," he said.

"We're not in a great position right now," he added. "We can turn this around. (Galaxy owner AEG) realizes it's not going to happen overnight."

"I told the team the team is not about Landon Donovan or David Beckham," he said. "It's all of us."

Also:
*Cobi Jones will stay with the team as assistant coach.
*Former Chicago Fire coach Dave Sarachan has joined the team as "associate head coach."
*Arena said he is looking at bringing in Eddie Lewis.

The new Galaxy coaching regime: Sarachan, Arena and Jones.

Photo by Sean Hiller

No prizes for guessing my column topic Tuesday.

Back with more later.

Heather O'Reilly and Japan's Aya Miyama battle for a loose ball in today's Olympic semifinal.

AP Photo

The U.S. women wore down Japan, 4-2, to set up a rematch of the gold medal game four years ago in Athens against Brazil, which destroyed Germany, 4-1, earlier today.

The final is set for 6 a.m. Thursday on USA.

Two goals in three minutes just before half time sealed the U.S. win with Lori Chalupny beating three Japanese defenders with a solo effort for the second that sapped the life from their opponents.

The U.S. line-up: 18-Hope Solo; 2-Heather Mitts (14-Stephanie Cox, 86), 15-Kate Markgraf, 3-Christie Rampone - Capt., 17-Lori Chalupny; 9-Heather O'Reilly, 7-Shannon Boxx, 11-Carli Lloyd, 5-Lindsay Tarpley (6-Natasha Kai, 67); 8-Amy Rodriguez (12-Lauren Cheney, 83), 16-Angela Hucles.

Notable:
*Since women's soccer was added to the Olympics in 1996, the U.S. is the only team to advance to all four Olympic Finals, and for the second consecutive Olympics will play Brazil with the gold medal on the line.
*The crowd of 50,137 was the third largest ever to watch the U.S. play outside of the U.S., and the 11th largest crowd of all-time to see the U.S. play.

Quotable:

"Angela Hucles is a fantastic story," said Coach Pia Sundhage of the scorer of a brace in the come-from-behind-win. "As the coach for the Boston Breakers in 2003 (in WUSA), we talked about changing the point of attack and changing speed, and she was average. I saw her for the first time in December with the U.S. team and something happened as she decided to get fit and change speed. She has been one of the most important players in this team."

Just got a call from the Galaxy's PR folks: the team's new coach will lead practice Monday morning.

6 a.m. on MSNBC.

Notable:
*Japan's run in the Olympics is its best ever in a world championship and the first time it has made the semifinal of a FIFA tournament.
*The U.S. and Japan will play for the second time in 10 days after the USA's 1-0 victory on Aug. 9 in Qinhuangdao.
*The U.S. outshot Japan 18-9.
*Japan's captain Homare Sawa, a former WUSA star for the Atlanta Beat, is the nation's all-time greatest player. She has played in four Women's World Cups and three Olympics, played more than 100 games for her country and scored more than 70 goals. She was the MVP of the 2008 Asian Women's Cup.

Quotable:
*U.S. Coach Pia Sundhage on the play of USC''s Amy Rodriguez:

"She is a young player and inexperienced, but we gave her a small role and asked her to do certain things, and she's done those certain things very well. I have so much respect for fast players. It's good to have her there because if you want to get behind the back line she gives us that opportunity."

Trying to stay away from the computer this weekend, but it seems appropriate to pass along a couple of programming notes that have accumulated in my e-mail the past few days as I watch the Manchester United-Newcastle United game on Fox Soccer Channel.

Actually, this serves to remind me mostly that if you're a soccer fan in L.A. the best service to get is DirecTV. Here's why:
*In the last week Time Warner Cable has finally gotten around to adding bilingual soccer channel GolTV to their Spanish language channel lineup in Southern California (you have to wonder what took them so long in this of all markets) on Channel 856. However, it is NOT available to English-language subscribers, according to their Web site, although they did add it to their English channel lineup in New York last week.

*Now of course DISH Network has just dropped GolTV (as of Aug. 1) in a carriage dispute with the satellite provider. So naturally DirecTV dropped me a line last week crowing about the fact it's now the sole satellite television outlet for GolTV (and in most of Southern California apparently the ONLY English-language provider of the channel).

GolTV will carry the La Liga season openers Aug. 31 between Deportivo La Coruña and Real Madrid or Numancia and Barcelona, by the way.

*GolTV is also the new home of the German Bundesliga, which kicked off this weekend. Consequently, the channel has added two new shows - a 5:30 p.m. Friday weekend preview called Bundesliga Magazine and a 5 p.m. Tuesday recap of the weekend's action dubbed Hallo Bundesliga. The latter show premiers Tuesday.

*Finally, the Direct Kick MLS package is now available for $49 for the rest of the season on DirecTV, Dish and iNDEMAND, a savings of $30 over the full season price I paid if I recall correctly

I'll be back later today with the latest on the U.S.-Japan Olympic semifinal, which airs at 6 a.m. Monday on MSNBC.

What is undoubtedly the world's richest soccer league, arguably the best soccer league, (let's here it from the Serie A and La Liga fans now) but certainly the most-widely watched soccer league in the world begins in a few short hours: the English Premier League.

What's the connection to soccer in Los Angeles? (Apart from former Chivas USA goalkeeper Brad Guzan being Brad Friedel's backup at Aston Villa).

Ever-increasing numbers of Angelenos will groggily arise from their slumber (well, those without TiVo anyway) to watch ever-increasing numbers of Americans ply their trade in England beginning this weekend.

Even given the fact only four teams (Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool) have a chance of winning the league, the EPL remains a compelling spectacle.

On Fox Soccer Channel this weekend:

Saturday
7 a.m. Everton vs. Blackburn
9:30 a.m. Sunderland vs. Liverpool
11:30 a.m. West Ham vs. Wigan

Sunday
8 a.m. Manchester Utd. vs. Newcastle
10 a.m. Aston Villa vs. Manchester City

Here's a capsule look (from the Associated Press) at the 20 EPL teams ahead of Saturday's openers.

ARSENAL
Nickname: Gunners.
Stadium: Emirates Stadium (capacity 60,000).
Manager: Arsene Wenger (since September 1996).
Honors: English champion 12 times (last 2004), FA Cup champion (10 times), League Cup
twice, Cup Winners Cup once (1994), European Fairs Cup once (1970).
Last season: third.
New players: Aaron Ramsey (Cardiff), Samir Nasri (Marseille), Amaury Bischoff (Werder Bremen).
Departed players: Jens Lehmann (Stuttgart), Mathieu Flamini (AC Milan), Alexander Hleb
(Barcelona), Gilberto Silva (Panathinaikos).
Prospects: Third again, but a reliance on youth could mean a fourth straight season without a trophy.

ASTON VILLA
Nickname: Villans.
Stadium: Villa Park (39,000).
Manager: Martin O'Neill (since August 2006).
Honors: English champion seven times (last in 1981), FA Cup seven times (last in 1957), League Cup five times (last in 1996), European champion (1982), world club champion (1982), European Super Cup (1983).
Last season: sixth.
New players: Curtis Davies (West Bromwich Albion), Steve Sidwell (Chelsea), Brad Friedel (Blackburn), Brad Guzan (Chivas USA), Nicky Shorey (Reading), Luke Young (Middlesbrough).
Departed players: Luke Moore (West Bromwich Albion), Patrik Berger (Sparta Prague), Olof Mellberg (Juventus), Erik Lund (Goteborg).
Prospects: Top eight again but no nearer top four.

BLACKBURN ROVERS