Wednesday Kicks: Olympics, College Cup & more
Still in catch-up mode as the blog returns:
*Mexico will play their Olympic qualifiers in March in Carson at Home Depot Center. I bet they will draw better than the U.S. would have done. Full details here.
*Four UCLA players - Eder Arreola, Andy Rose, Brian Rowe and Shawn Singh - were invited today to the MLS Combine set to begin Jan. 6 in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. Also among the 52 invited players (so far): Cal State Northridge midfielder Rafael Garcia.
*Thirteenth-seeded UCLA (18-4-1), the Pac-12 champions, will make a 13th NCAA College Cup appearance at 5:30 p.m. Friday live on ESPNU in Birmingham, Ala., against top-seeded North Carolina (20-2-2). The other semifinal between Creighton-Charlotte will precede the game at 3 p.m.
*Former Galaxy midfielder Santino Quaranta has announced his retirement at the tender age of just 29 27 after D.C. United declined to pick up his option. Quaranta, who was the youngest player ever to sign with MLS in 2001 at age 16, played 18 times and scored three goals with the Galaxy in 2006, a period of his life that he later admitted was consumed with an addiction to prescription drugs.
The former U.S. international - he collected 15 caps and played for the USMNT as recently as 2009 - said he intends to help recovering addicts in retirement and coach youth soccer. It must be a bittersweet ending to a career that never quite lived up to its youthful potential.
*Palos Verdes Peninsula's John Thorrington (Chadwick School) has re-signed with the Vancouver Whitecaps, extending what has largely been an injury-prone MLS career.
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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.
Sure a shame with Quaranta. I remember how excited I was when burst into the scene with United, very gifted player. He even scored a couple of beautiful goals in his un-even time with LA. He is on a path to be a beautiful human being now, good luck.