Kamara’s Redemption

OK, we all had plenty of fun at Kei Kamara’s expense after his atrocious miss against the Galaxy and the YouTube clips went viral, so let’s give the Lawndale Leuzinger High product his due today.

Kamara scored twice as the Kansas City Wizards recovered from a two-goal deficit to tie the Fire Saturday, with the last goal – a routine tap-in – undoubtedly a simple, yet satisfying moment for the striker.

Tweeted Kamara: “This time I was wearing blue shoes.”

Game story

Highlights:

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Galaxy-Toronto wrap

Galaxy 0 Toronto FC 0

The Galaxy (7-0-2) are now unbeaten in a dozen games, the second-longest streak in club history.

Notable: The Galaxy outshot Toronto 11-1 in the second half.

Quotable:

“In the second half they had nothing left (Toronto played in Montreal midweek) and we should have done a better job making them pay for it,” said Landon Donovan.

Announced attendance: 20,007

Luckiest man on the field? Gregg Berhalter.

Read the game story to find out why.

Standings

Next for the Galaxy: at Dallas Thursday (delayed 9 p.m. Fox Sports West).

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Final: Chivas USA at Columbus Crew

Columbus Crew 1 Chivas USA 0

A sickening way to lose a game for Chivas USA, striker Justin Braun conceding a wholly unnecessary penalty in the 89th minute at the end of a final 45 minutes Chivas USA not only dominated, but saw two Crew goal line clearances within a minute deny them a road win.

Chivas USA Coach Martn Vsquez sounded as if he’d been punched in the stomach:

“We had the ball, we had the possession, we had the tempo, and we had a couple of great chances at least to put on in. I’m happy about that, but the result obviously leaves you with a very empty feeling.”

Key stat: Chivas USA outshot the Crew 10-4 in the second half.

Columbus improved to 4-0-2, while Chivas USA dropped to 3-5-1.

Justin Braun’s eventful night ended even worse: he left the game with a left knee injury that will be evaluated back in LA.

Game story

Chivas USA XI: Zach Thornton, Mariano Trujillo, Daro Delgado, Michael Umaa, Jonathan Bornstein, Jess Padilla (Maicon Santos 90), Ben Zemanski, Blair Gavin, Michael Lahoud (Marcelo Saragosa 83), Sacha Kljestan, Justin Braun (Chukwudi Chijindu 90+)

Next for Chivas USA: defending MLS champion Real Salt Lake Saturday at Home Depot Center.

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Final: Toronto at Galaxy

Galaxy 0 Toronto 0

Somehow it figures the league’s hottest team would allow their sub-.500 opponent (coming into the game) their first road point of the season.

At times watching Toronto (4-4) defend tonight was like watching Chivas USA last season; all the typical Preki-coached elements were all there – the resilient, tenacious bend but don’t break defense, – with the counter-attacking Chad Barrett a pest all night for the Galaxy.

For their part the Galaxy (7-0-2) kept their opponent scoreless for the seventh time in nine games, but Edson Buddle also failed to score for the third straight game before heading with Landon Donovan to the U.S.pre-World Cup camp.

Buddle looked dangerous though, beating defender Adrian Cann to the ball and getting on the end of a Donovan cross from all of three yards in the 66th minute that hit the post and then forcing Stefan Frei into a fine save eight minutes after that with a 25-yard shot.

Toronto finished a man down after defender Maksim Usanov earned a second yellow after throwing an ill-advised body check on an advancing Donovan. Mike Magee got open from the resulting free kick, but failed to squeeze home a shot from eight yards.

The Galaxy will feel they they should have found the winner, but a gutsy Toronto performance earned Preki’s lads a point.

Buddle and Donovan were honored after the game with a brief ceremony before heading to Princeton Sunday.

More later.

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Halftime: Toronto at Galaxy

Galaxy 0 Toronto 0

After an early flurry of attacks from both sides, things largely settled down and the respective defenses largely kept the opposing attackers in check.

Toronto’s best chance came in the ninth minute when former UCLA forward Chad Barrett snapped off a quick shot that required Galaxy goalkeeper Josh Saunders to quickly get down and parry it around the post for a corner.

The most notable Galaxy effort came from Juninho in the 34th minute. His shot was defected off the rear end of a Toronto defender and the resulting deflection went just wide for a corner.

Key stat: The two teams combined for a somewhat deceptive 10 shots, but only one – from Toronto – was on target.

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Toronto FC (3-4) at Galaxy (7-0-1) at Home Depot Center

A chilly evening here in Carson with the marine layer that has engulfed the coastal South Bay threatening to encroach a little further inland here at the stadium (don’t let anyone tell you the beaches of Southern California are particularly warm in May and June).

There’s two changes for the Galaxy tonight.

Goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts is out with a hyper-extended right elbow suffered in training Tuesday, so Josh Saunders replaces him between the posts for his first MLS appearance since MLS Cup 2009.

Also, Juninho returns from injury, while veteran Chris Klein heads to the bench and Bryan Jordan retains his place at full back with A.J. DeLaGarza still out with back spasms.

Galaxy XI: Saunders, Jordan, Gonzalez, Berhalter, Dunivant, Stephens, Birchall, Juninho, Kirovski, Buddle, Donovan.

Preki returns to Home Depot Center for the first time since parting ways with Chivas USA; UCLA product Chad Barrett and Dwayne De Rosario lead the attack.

The game is on FSN.

Incidentally, I’ll blog more on this later, but Chivas USA lost to Columbus 1-0 earlier today, Justin Braun wrecking what looked like a hard-won road point in an entertaining game by giving up a silly penalty in the 89th minute.

Doh!

Updated:

A late change for Toronto – midfielder Julian de Guzman has what we believe is a left hamstring problem he originally tweaked against Montreal Wednesday and Martin Saric takes his place in the starting XI.

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Double-winning World Cup send-off Saturday MLS gameday

I think that headline manages to sum today up.

i-cf75afd0c6a7ff9e88e1668b7960506e-chelseacupwin.jpgChelsea blue is the color today in London (AP Photo).

Not a classic FA Cup final, but double-winners Chelsea won’t care.

Despite the 1-0 scoreline, the result was never really in doubt.

Chelsea hit the woodwork five times, each team missed a penalty – the miss by Portsmouth striker Kevin-Prince Boateng that would have leveled the score telegraphed the inevitable outcome – and yet another Didier Drogba goal was enough for Chelsea to take its first-ever league and cup double.

Game story.

With the English season officially over, MLS briefly takes center stage before the World Cup begins.

Galaxy fans will want to revel in this.

Phil Collin has the basics on the Galaxy-Toronto and Columbus Crew-Chivas USA games here.

And Mr. Collin has more on what the loss of Edson Buddle and Landon Donovan means to the Galaxy here.

That’s pretty much the subject of the official Galaxy preview, too:

The Toronto perspective is here.

Lastly, Rolling Hills Estates’ Robbie Rogers, the Crew winger on the cusp of making the World Cup team (or not), is the focus (along with fellow winger Eddie Gaven) of the Columbus Dispatch story previewing Chivas USA’s road game. Both scored last week for the Crew.

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U.S. injury update: Bocanegra, Gooch, EJ

Better news for U.S. fans on the injury front:

ZURICH (AP) – U.S. captain Carlos Bocanegra says he’ll be ready for next week’s World Cup training camp after a late-season injury had him fearing for his place in the roster.

The defender has missed Rennes’ last two Ligue 1 matches because of stomach pains he could not explain and will skip Saturday’s season finale at Boulogne.

“Obviously, I was scared,” he told The Associated Press Friday. “I just got fatigued and had to take a few weeks off.”

Bocanegra’s problems began when an opponent kicked his left knee in a March 28 match against Le Mans.

“I was overcompensating because I wasn’t running properly,” he said.

The 30-year-old from Alta Loma tried to play through groin and abdominal
pain against Lyon the next week.

He became alarmed with the approach of the U.S. team’s World Cup opener against England on June 12 in South Africa.

“I came to a point where I thought, OK, I need to think about the World Cup a little bit now,” he said. “It’s not far away. What’s going on here? So I had to shut it down.”

Bocanegra got his club’s approval to train at his own pace. By skipping Rennes’ final Ligue 1 match, he was free Friday to join U.S. Soccer Federation president Sunil Gulati at FIFA in presenting the five-volume bid book to host the World Cup in the United States for a second time in 2018 or 2022.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter thanked the U.S. delegation for bringing the national team
captain.

Bocanegra flies home Saturday. The 30 players selected by coach Bob Bradley for his
preliminary roster start workouts Monday in Princeton, N.J.

“The club was good with me in that aspect,” Bocanegra said. “Now I can fully focus on the World Cup.”

American defender Oguchi Onyewu was among 22 players selected for AC Milan’s season finale on Saturday night against Juventus and could play for the first time since injuring a knee in October.

Onyewu traveled for last Sunday’s Serie A game at Genoa but didn’t dress.

He had left knee surgery Oct. 21, seven days after tearing his patellar tendon during a World Cup qualifier against Costa Rica.

Onyewu joined AC Milan last summer from Belgium’s Standard Liege but played in just one of 10 competitive matches before getting hurt — he came on as a 60th-minute substitute against Zurich in the Champions League on Sept. 30.

Meanwhile, forward Eddie Johnson has been diagnosed with a strained hamstring. Johnson was hurt while playing for Aris in a Greek league playoff game against AEK Athens on Wednesday, a day after he was selected for the preliminary U.S. roster.

He will report to training camp for the start of practice Monday, U.S. Soccer spokesman Michael Kammarman said.

The 26-year-old from Palm Coast, Fla., has 12 goals in 40 international appearances. He is on loan to Aris from Fulham.

World Cup teams must cut to the 23-man limit by June 1.

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World Cup derby: Becks, bids, bikes & megabucks

i-66b371c8b5217a115fa5300efb136300-carlosbid.jpgSunil Gulati, President of the U.S. Soccer Federation, U.S. defender Carlos Bocanegra and FIFA President Joseph Blatter pose with the U.S. bid book. (AP Photos).

ZURICH (AP) – Nine candidates to host the World Cup in 2018 or 2022 brought big hitters including David Beckham, the crown prince of Qatar and billionaire benefactors to hand over their bid books to FIFA on Friday.

“It is now the kick off,” FIFA president Sepp Blatter told Australia’s delegation, which led
in alphabetical order.

Four bidders from Europe, four from the Asian confederation, plus the United States presented their technical documents at the headquarters of soccer’s global governing body.

The formal handover started the final phase of campaigning, when FIFA will analyze the
candidates’ plans before its executive committee chooses the two tournament hosts in
December.

While England and the United States say they have venues ready to host a World Cup,
construction projects for Qatar and Russia would run to several billions of dollars.

“It will require huge investment, but nothing that can’t be done,” said Sheik Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, heir apparent of the Qatari state.

Sheik Tamim called on FIFA to award the Middle East its first World Cup, and break down barriers as it did by giving this year’s World Cup to South Africa.

U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati said an American World Cup needed no public funds and would average 76,000 spectators per match, a tournament record.

“We think we offer FIFA an extraordinary opportunity in the U.S., commercially and
soccer-wise,” Gulati said.

Football Federation Australia chairman Frank Lowy said he recognized it was a difficult
contest.

“We hope and pray that we might be the lucky country,” said Lowy, a billionaire businessman leading the bid.

England’s bid team was fronted by Beckham — the star of the show when candidates were brought together in Cape Town six months ago.

i-95daacb37256950755140c19d10b320b-becksnblatter.jpg

Beckham said his country had a passion for soccer running through its veins, and a diverse population that would welcome the world. Every team will turn up and have their own fans supporting them,” said Beckham, who is vice president of England’s campaign.

Blatter described England as “the motherland of football,” and said new British Prime Minister David Cameron called him on Thursday offering government support for the bid.

The FIFA chief dropped several hints that England should focus on hosting in 2018, and teased bid leaders whether they meant to include “2022” on the cover of their book. Europe is favored to be given the 2018 finals, with England and Russia competing against joint bids from Netherlands-Belgium and Spain-Portugal. All four are also in the 2022 race but would be barred if one gets the 2018 tournament.

Russia’s bid team gave Blatter a letter from Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who has made
hosting the World Cup a national priority. Igor Shuvalov, first deputy prime minister, said Russia had become unofficial favorite in the 2018 race because the nation of 200 million people offered the most potential to spread the game.

“Russia can deliver more than England or Spain,” Shuvalov said. “Development will be on a different level.”

i-47554d832cd67ed97527fc320987ce46-bikeruud.jpgDutch playing greats Ruud Gullit, left, and Johan Cruyff presented the Netherlands-Belgium case for a green finals, promising to provide two million bicycles for fans to use.

Australia and the U.S. also are bidding for both contests. Japan, Qatar and South Korea have focused solely on 2022, believing Europe is a lock for 2018 because the 2010 tournament is in South Africa and Brazil hosts in 2014.

The U.S. was last of the nine scheduled to meet Blatter and deliver its five-volume technical plan.

Each bid book explains how the monthlong, 64-match tournament would be organized, with details of at least 12 stadiums, plus training camps, hotels, security protocols, IT and medical support, and fans’ entertainment.

Candidates must also give FIFA copies of government guarantees, contracts with each city and venue, and details of finance and insurance.

FIFA officials will use the bid books as the basis for technical inspections of each
candidate, starting with Japan from July 19-22 and ending Sept. 13-17 in Qatar.

Chilean federation leader Harold Mayne-Nicholls will lead the inspection team, which also includes Dali Tahir, a member of the FIFA ethics panel. It is monitoring the bid process to ensure candidates do not try to influence FIFA officials with gifts and inducements.

FIFA’s 24 executive members will choose the two hosts on Dec. 2 in Zurich.
Five of the current bidders have previously staged a World Cup: England (1966), Spain (1982), U.S. (1994), and Japan and South Korea (co-hosted 2002).

Five nations — Brazil (1950 & 2014), France (1938 & 1998), Germany (1974 & 2006), Italy (1934 & 1990) and Mexico (1970 & 1986) — have been awarded two World Cups.

Here’s more on the U.S. bid:

NEW YORK (AP) — The United States has proposed holding the World Cup draw in Miami ahead of a tournament in 2018 or 2022 and suggested the possibility of hosting the opener in Dallas.

The U.S. bid, presented to FIFA on Friday, would put the qualifying draw in New York, its
location ahead of the 1994 tournament.

U.S. Soccer Federation president Sunil Gulati said from Zurich that the proposals were “very preliminary.”

Gulati also said FIFA has not brought up the new immigration law in Arizona but suggested “it may not need to cost us votes.” The U.S. proposed 18 cities and Gulati noted only 12 were needed, a sign Glendale could be dropped if it becomes and issue.

FIFA’s executive committee will choose the 2018 and 2022 hosts on Dec. 2.

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Waiting for the weekend: Atlantis, Henry, Becks & more

It’s hard to keep track of what and who is allegedly coming or going this morning as we head into the weekend.

Space Shuttle Atlantis will slip the surly bonds of earth one last time, Thierry Henry is supposedly finally heading to MLS if you believe of one of England’s trashiest tabloids, and David Beckham will allegedly accept that assistant coaching role with England and head to South Africa.

While that all gets sorted out we have some games to play this weekend:

*First and foremost is the FA Cup Final between EPL champs Chelsea and bankrupt Portsmouth, a venerable event worth putting on a pot of coffee for to watch live at 7 a.m. on Fox Soccer Channel. Click to the top right for the rest of the weekend’s games on TV.

*Early runaway MLS leaders the Galaxy (7-0-1), who have taken an incredible 22 of a possible 24 points so far this season, take on former Chivas USA coach Preki and Toronto FC Saturday, (a team that is still looking for their first road point this season) at Home Depot Center (7:30 p.m. Prime).

*Chivas USA (3-4-1) are in Columbus facing the unbeaten 3-0-2 Crew at 4:30 p.m. Saturday on Prime. Will highly-paid Sergio Herrera finally get some significant minutes for the Crew?

Stay tuned.

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