It’s at 7 p.m. Saturday at Home Depot Center (live on ESPN2).
In other local soccer news:
*Remember when the Galaxy foolishly shot their collective mouths off about being a so-called “Super Club,” a hollow boast that roughly coincided with the worst period in the club’s history thanks to Ruud Gullit, Alexi Lalas et al.
Well, now it’s Chivas USA’s turn to sound silly babbling on about eventually fielding only local players:
“We will play only with South California players,” Rodrigo Morales, the club’s recently-hired vice president of marketing and sponsorship told The Sporting News. “It will be the real thing — homegrown players through development rather than hiring stars.
“We believe the artificial passion comes from those teams that have to buy expensive players and create stars. It’s a very Hollywood way of creating a fan base. That’s how you compare real to artificial. We have real passion for the game; they build a fan base through the incorporation of big stars.”
Read the full story here.
Anyone know what a South California player is, BTW? Does that include Mexican immigrants or only those born locally? So is this a tacit admission fans shouldn’t expect the long-awaited DP Chivas USA has talked about incessantly, but never signed? Does Chivas USA even have a definition?
Of course, the Galaxy have always spoken about building a roster that reflects the entire community, often drafting kids who have played at local colleges and yes, hiring big-name stars. Hollywood, after all, is part of Southern California.
And the Chivas USA perspective would sound a little more convincing if they had a larger fan base outside of the cheap, bulk tickets sold to AYSO teams the club seems to be largely relying on these days judging by all the high-pitched screams of kids you hear in the stadium on game days.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for a successful Chivas USA and am disappointed more local fans haven’t embraced the team because what’s good for the club is good for MLS.
But is this the way to go about it? Time will tell.
Here, incidentally, is what Galaxy fan group the LA Riot Squad had to say about the Chivas USA initiative on their Facebook page:
“Chivas USA couldn’t be less “L.A.” if they tried. Now they want to have a 100% Southern Californian roster. L.A. is an International City with people from every corner of the world, not a locals only xenophobic exclusive ghetto. Still One Team in L.A.!”
*U.S. Coach Bob Bradley will announce the Gold Cup squad at 7 a.m. Monday on ussoccer.com.
*UCLA, which returns every starter from last season’s squad that made the NCAA quarterfinals, has released their 2011 schedule, which kicks off Aug. 27 at Louisville with a rematch of the quarterfinal game.
UCLA will play the first of 11 home games at Drake Stadium on Sept. 9 against Saint Mary’s. Other home schedule highlights: UC Santa Barbara Sept. 16 and the Pac-12 (weird to read, huh?) opener Sept. 30 against Cal.
Returning UCLA players including 2010 Pac-10 Freshman of the Year and U.S. Under-20 international Kelyn Rowe (assuming a European club doesn’t offer him a contract, I suppose), fellow U.S. Under-20 international Eder Arreola and last year’s team MVP goalkeeper Brian Rowe.
Here’s the complete UCLA schedule.
*Finally, Galaxy fans can rejoice: Should David Beckham skip out on the Galaxy midweek as expected you can watch him trundle around a soccer field after all since Fox Soccer Channel announced today it will televise Gary Neville’s testimonial game Tuesday against Juventus (live 11:30 a.m.) from England. Won’t that be fun?
Also expected to play: Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt and Ryan Giggs.
I’ll have a full SuperClasico preview Saturday.
