SuperClasico Gameday
The (Torrance) Daily Breeze, LA Daily News and other sisters newspapers in Southern California have a nice-looking graphic preview of today's game in the print editions; sadly that does not translate to the Web.
So here's what you need to know:
*I set the stage earlier in the week with this column.
*Stupid comment of the day goes to the Galaxy's David Beckham who told MLSnet.com: "It's about pride at the end of the day."
No, it's not. It's about three points, especially with just two points separating the teams. Here are the standings to prove it.
*History lesson - don't expect a lot of goals today; two previous games this season have resulted in just one goal, in the Galaxy's 1-0 win July 11, while the other game back in April ended 0-0. And the Galaxy could be missing first-choice striking duo Edson Buddle and Alecko Eskandarian, while Chivas USA have had trouble scoring goals lately. The Galaxy lead the series 9-3-5.
Finally, here's Chivas USA's Cary Talley on the poor form midfielder Sacha Kljestan has dealt with this season and his first two goals of the season last weekend in the 2-0 win over Toronto:
"We look to guys like Sacha and we want to get him the ball as often as possible. I don't know if it was losing confidence or trying to do a little too much, but this game is going to help him tremendously and that's only good news for us because he hasn't had the greatest of seasons. But a guy like that who has been dormant if you want to call it that for part of the season and then come out and score two goals and do some very good things, all right we woke the sleeping giant it looks like."
*Kickoff tonight is at 8 p.m. on ESPN2. I plan to blog from the game.
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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