Thursday Kicks: Galaxy's Franklin Named Rookie of the Year & More
MLS today named Cal State Northridge product and Galaxy defender Sean Franklin as its Rookie of the Year. Franklin is scheduled to talk to reporters later today from the U.S. Men's National Team training camp in Colorado.
How big of an accomplishment is this?
Franklin played all year in the center of a bad Galaxy defense, yet according to Coach Bruce Arena he's not a central defender.
In other MLS awards-related news, Rolling Hills Estates Robbie Rogers is one of the five finalists for Goal of the Year. Vote here. Roger already beat out Beckham to become one of the finalists; can he do the same to Blanco?
And in other Galaxy-related news, Bayern Munich's Web site has more on Landon Donovan's German adventure. Hmmm, is he going to be there 10 days or 10 weeks?
Oh, and even though this was reported a while back the Galaxy has officially announced that Tristan Bowen, 17, of Van Nuys has become the first player to come through its youth academy to sign a multiyear contract with the club.
"Tristan is an exciting and talented young player who has impressed me and all of our coaches during his time training with the club," Galaxy General Manager and Head Coach Bruce Arena said. "He has many of the attributes which are required in order to become a good player in MLS and has shown the drive and desire to improve all areas of his game. We are excited to have him join the club and look forward to seeing him grow in a Galaxy uniform."
In Wednesday night games, Mexico beat Ecuador 2-1 in Arizona and CD Guadalajara lost 2-0 in the first leg of their Copa Sudamericana semifinal.
At 4:30 p.m. on ESPN2 the Crew and Fire face off in the Eastern Conference final with the winner heading to MLS Cup on Nov. 23 at Home Depot Center.
Even though former Galaxy Coach Sigi Schmid is being circumspect about what it would mean to him to walk out on the home field of the club that fired him in the league's title game, Crew forward Alejandro Moreno - who played for him in L.A. - isn't as reticent:
"We know it's special and we know he's a California guy. I think what's special is that I was in L.A. when Sigi got fired and probably at the time I thought it was wrong and even now I thought it was wrong and even with the Galaxy having won the MLS Cup after that I still think it was wrong."There was a lot of people who wrote him off and there was a lot of people who didn't think he was the coach he was when he was back with the Galaxy and I'm here to tell you he's still the coach (he was)."
Sigi talks here:
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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.
OK... can anybody explain to me why Bayern Munchen's English name is "Bayern Munich"? If you are going to translate the name it should be "Bavaria Munich". If you are going to use the German name it is "Bayern Munchen". What is up with this half translated name garbage? Why not call the club "Bavaria Munchen"? .... OK I'm done with my rant now....