Saturday Stupid Scheduling Gameday: Galaxy, Chivas USA, U.S. World Cup Qualifying & More

Before we get started, it's worth noting that Deputy MLS Commissioner Ivan Gazidis announced on the commissioner's blog on the league Web site Friday that the issue of scheduling will belatedly be reviewed.

About time. And why couldn't Garber blog about that himself? He's in Cuba for the U.S. World Cup qualifier. Let's hope that irony hasn't escaped Garber et al.

Still, that doesn't help Chivas USA or Toronto FC. Both teams spent the week scrounging for warm bodies to put on the field for today's 1 p.m. game in Canada that's live on Prime.

The U.S.-Cuba game is live at 5 p.m. on ESPN Classic and Galavision.

The political implications of the game have overshadowed the sporting ones, but on paper Cuba have little chance against the U.S. Cuba hasn't beaten the U.S. on a soccer field since 1976.

Notable:
*Defender Steve Cherundolo is suspended for the game.
*Michael Bradley leads the U.S. in 2008 in minutes played (647).
*Leagues from eight different countries are represented on the U.S. roster: Belgium, Denmark, England (4), France, Germany (3), Mexico, Scotland (2), and the United States (7).

Standings so far:
GROUP 1 W D L GF GA Pts.
Trinidad & Tobago 1 0 0 3 1 3
United States 1 0 0 1 0 3
Guatemala 0 0 1 0 1 0
Cuba 0 0 1 1 3 0

BTW, Hurricane Ike isn't expected to hit Cuba until later in the week, but the weather sounds brutal to play soccer in.

Finally, the Galaxy plays at 7:30 p.m. against Real Salt Lake live on Prime.

Here's what former RSL midfielder Chris Klein had to say about the transformation in Utah:

"It's a completely different team. (Coach) Jason (Kreis) has completely over-hauled them and done a good job of getting them to play better as a team. They've got good players at every position and they're very organized when they come out to play.

They've struggled on the road a little bit, but I don't think that's any indication of the team we're going to see Saturday night.

The real engine of their team is (Javier) Morales in the middle. He's a guy who provides their service and creativity. Obviously they're very sound defensively, but offensively they have Morales and (Fabian) Espindola scored their two goals last week (in the 2-0 RSL victory over the Rapids) so those are two of the guys we can key on Saturday night."

Since I am in vacation, a barbecue beckons and there is plenty of soccer on TV, I'll skip the Galaxy game tonight.

For those of you going, there's a T-shirt and towel giveaway, while L.A. band Under the Influence of Giants plays a pre-game concert.

Check them out:

Almost forgot:
Here is a brief college soccer roundup of Friday scores.

In other games it was:
Long Beach State 3 Harvard 0
Pepperdine 1 Iowa 0
Cal State Northridge men 1 UNLV 0
Cal State Northridge women 2 UC Irvine 1
LMU men 1 Cal Poly 0
LMU women 3 UC Irvine 1