Mexico World Cup stars Márquez, Guardado, Dos Santos & more play at Home Depot Center Saturday
One of these two players - seen here at the World Cup - will take the field in Carson Saturday in a charity game. Sadly, it's not the little fella on the right (AP Photo).
Who knew?
Certainly no one in the English language soccer press since a press release about Saturday's charity game featuring international stars past and present - that's in just five days time - only went out today and as near as I can tell was not sent to anyone remotely connected with the sport (I received mine from a colleague who covers Redondo Beach. Go figure). The folks at Home Depot Center, who said the event was scheduled a "few weeks ago," hadn't even seen the release, put out by the event's sponsor, Farmers Insurance.
Weird.
Anyway, what's being called the "Playing for Hope: All-Star Soccer Challenge, " will benefit two charities - the Rafa Marquez Foundation and Eva's Heroes. The former group is building a "children's center" in Zamora, Michoacán, while Eva's Heroes - it's a charity run by actress Eva Longoria of "Desperate Housewives" fame - is building a "social center in San Antonio to care for children with disabilities and special needs."
Players past and present confirmed to play so far include Rafael Márquez, Andres Guardado, Giovanni Dos Santos, Jonathan Dos Santos, Luis Hernandez, Hristo Stoitchkov, Carlos Valderrama and Fabian Estay of Chile.
The game will air on KAZA.
Tickets are $30 general admission, available at TicketMaster.
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.
Leave a comment