Chivas USA Saturday Gameday
Much more important to Chivas USA fans than today's 7:30 p.m. regular season-ending game at Home Depot Center (live on Fox Soccer Channel) in what could be a preview of the Western Conference championship game against the Houston Dynamo is the match between Real Salt Lake and the Colorado Rapids.
That game, which kicks off an hour earlier than the one in Carson, will decide Chivas USA's first round playoff opponent.
So what's the lure of today's game?
Let us count the ways:
*Good quality soccer - Chivas USA has won four of their last five games, the Dynamo are unbeaten in eight.
*Cheap seats plus swag - four tickets, four hats and four hot dogs start at $58, plus the first 7,500 fans get a free soccer ball. Oh, and the first 10,000 also get a T-shirt.
*Soccer tennis anyone? You want to get there early anyway to check out the free soccertennis tournament starting at 5 p.m. in the adjacent tennis stadium. Participants include Playa del Rey's John O'Brien, Eric Wynalda, Alexi Lalas and Joy Fawcett. Video and more info here.
*Altruism? Cell Phones for Soldiers, a non-profit organization that recycles cell phones to buy prepaid calling cards for U. S. troops stationed overseas, will be at the match. Fans are encouraged to bring old cell phones to donate them to the group, which will have a booth outside the Southwest Entrance to the stadium. The organization will also hand out envelopes so fans who did not bring cell phones can send them in later.
Game previews are here and here.
Finally, MLS announced details Friday of the 10-round Nov. 26 expansion draft for the Seattle Sounders.
MLS teams must submit their lists of protected players by Nov. 24. No team can lose more than one player to Seattle.
About 100 Percent Soccer
Sportswriter Nick Green has written the 100 Percent Soccer column since 2005 for the Daily News, Daily Breeze and other Los Angeles area newspapers. The blog of the same name began in 2007. 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 and is married to a long-suffering soccer widow. Join Nick on FaceBook and follow him on Twitter.
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