- AYSO, founded in Torrance, is raising money for a soccer-themed city of Torrance Rose Float entry. Read more here.
- Both starting American goalkeepers for the men’s and women’s national teams have gone down with injuries within 24 hours of each other. Hope Solo will be sidelined up to four months following surgery to repair torn cartilage in her left wrist, U.S. Soccer said Thursday, while today Everton’s Tim Howard went down with a back injury that’s expected to rule him out of the World Cup qualifiers later this month against Costa Rica and Mexico. Former Chivas USA goalkeeper Brad Guzan is Howard’s usual backup.
- ESPN kicks off its English-language coverage of Liga MX at 5:25 p.m. today on ESPNews when Morelia plays Club America. Also, Cruz Azul faces Jaguares at 2:55 p.m. Saturday on ESPNews, while Puebla and Pumas clash at the same time on the same channel Sunday.
- MLS embarks on its second slate of weekend games, although the Galaxy, between midweek CONCACAF Champions League games, are among three teams with the weekend off. Chivas USA is at home at 2 p.m. Sunday against FC Dallas (live on UniMas).
- Finally, the Manchester United-Real Madrid UEFA Champions League game earlier this week was the third most watched game ever on Los Angeles-based Fox Soccer. An estimated 520,000 viewers watched the Red Devils get dumped out of the competition in controversial circumstances. The most watched games on Fox Soccer are the 2011 Gold Cup final between the U.S. and Mexico (1.1 million) and the Chelsea-Liverpool clash in 2011 (579,000).
