Monday Morning Major League Soccer Wrap: Galaxy fall to worst defeat of season, Chivas USA-Vancouver scoreless at StubHub

Gyasi Zardes’ ninth goal in 10 games kept him on course for a call-up to the annual January USMNT camp, but he couldn’t prevent the Galaxy falling to their worst defeat of the season in Columbus against a Crew team LA made look better than they have most of the year.

The Galaxy also came up with a new excuse for losing — Landon Donovan’s farewell presentation by the Crew at the start of the game:

“It’s going to be happening every time,” Galaxy coach Bruce Arena said. “It certainly looked distracting tonight.”

Meanwhile, Real Salt Lake reclaimed the Western Conference lead Saturday with a win over the Sounders. Standings.

Lastly, here’s how the Chivas USA game broke down by the numbers:
chivascapsmatch

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MLS Weekend Preview: LA Galaxy in Columbus to face Crew, Chivas USA host Vancouver Whitecaps in Carson

Newly-signed Galaxy veteran (if you know what I mean) Alan Gordon and the Galaxy face the Crew in Columbus Saturday at 4:30 p.m. live on Time Warner Cable SportsNet, with the hosts scheduled to make “significant announcement” before the game.

chivascaps

Borja

Meanwhile, lowly Chivas USA have signed Ecuadorian forward Felix Borja, who played three season’s in Mexico with Puebla, on a year-long loan from Ecuador’s LDU Quito.

“We are extremely pleased to add such a gifted, international striker,” said Chivas USA coach Wilmer Cabrera. “Felix’s great experience in some of the other top leagues worldwide will help us not only on the field where we expect him to score and create goals, but also in the locker room where he can help mentor our younger players.”

Borja, 31, played 23 times for his national team and featured at the 2006 World Cup. He also had stints in Germany and Greece.

Also Houston plays Philadelphia at 7:30 tonight on NBCSN, while Real Salt lake and Seattle face off on the same channel at 11:30 a.m. Saturday.

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Major League Soccer All-Star game highlights: Watch the Galaxy’s retiring Landon Donovan score the winning goal in MVP-winning performance in his final season as a soccer player

Take that Jurgen Klinsmann.

Galaxy playmaker Landon Donovan grabbed the biggest mid-season stage in MLS with a star turn in Portland Wednesday
(while Chivas USA striker “Cubo” Torres didn’t have a bad night, either).

Guess we know what that Galaxy press conference is (and is not) about this afternoon:

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MLS-All-Star Game tonight at 6:30 p.m. on ESPN2

Full disclosure; I’m no fan of the artificial MLS All-Star game that frankly is a lot more about marketing than soccer as even Landon Donovan admits:

“I think this year I’m realizing more than ever how important this is,” Donovan said. “When you have the opportunity to promote our game and our league, we want to do it.”

I’m still not convinced a meaningless game like this will convert new fans, but at least the sole LA Galaxy participant sounds excited — for the sponsors. Still, at least soccer-mad Portland sounds up for the event even if the players involved have had little time to prepare.

However, I will follow the lead of selected, but absent Galaxy All-Stars Omar Gonzalez and Robbie Keane and skip the whole thing with an eye on Friday’s Galaxy-San Jose Earthquakes game — just like those missing players from LA.

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Major League Soccer Monday Video Rewind: Galaxy dominate wooden Timbers in Carson, few see Chivas USA lose again

On a Saturday afternoon when the eyes of most American soccer fans was on Michigan and the spectacle of the largest crowd ever to see a game in this country, the LA Galaxy burnished their MLS Cup credentials with a dominating performance over the Portland Timbers before just a touch over 20,000 at almost exactly the same time in Carson.

In contrast, Chivas USA couldn’t even attract a crowd exceeding 4,000 to the StubHub Center Sunday in a loss to FC Dallas that further underlines the club’s sad slide to irrelevance.

Meanwhile, a crowd of almost 50,000 watched the San Jose Earthquakes do the Galaxy a huge favor by knocking off the Western Conference-leading Seattle Sounders, tightening the playoff race in the division ahead of Friday’s game in the South Bay against LA.

I’ll take a look at the Galaxy’s season so far in Tuesday’s column as we reach the halfway point of the season with the MLS All-Star Game set for Wednesday in Portland.

Check out the highlights of the Galaxy game:

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60 second Major League Soccer Weekend Wrap: Galaxy, Chivas USA both lose, Manchester United play Wednesday in Pasadena

Need to get caught up after a busy summer weekend? You’ve come to the right place.

Despite goals from top goalscorers Robbie Keane and “Cubo” Torres respectively — both added to the MLS All-Star Game roster incidentally — the Galaxy and Chivas USA both fell to Sporting Kansas City and D.C. United respectively.

Check out the Robbie Keane goal:

Next up for the Galaxy: Manchester United Wednesday at the Rose Bowl who have added a certain Javier Hernandez to its travel roster. I will have more on the humbling fall of Manchester United in Tuesday’s column.

Chivas USA face the Rapids in Colorado Friday.

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Touting World Cup stars Major League Soccer resumes, but Omar Gonzalez likely missing for LA Galaxy tonight against Real Salt Lake in Carson

But RSL are likely to have USMNT players Nick Rimando and Kyle Beckerman available.

MLS beat reporter Phil Collin will be at the game and has the capsule game preview.

Meanwhile, Chivas USA are in Canada to take on the Whitecaps.

capsgoats

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The biggest Mexican Major League Soccer star no-one has ever heard of: Chivas USA striker Erick Torres

The statistically most successful Mexican striker in Major League Soccer history is not Luis Hernandez, Carlos Hermosillo or Cuauhtémoc Blanco.

He is a young striker deemed surplus to requirements at Chivas Guadalajara who has now scored more goals in MLS than any other Mexican striker in history; Cubo “Erick” Torres, who is now the second most prolific scorer in MLS this season.

He was voted the MLS Soccer Player of the Week by the North American Soccer Reporters after scoring  two goals that propelled Chivas USA to two 1-0 victories, defeating the San Jose Earthquakes and Montreal Impact.

And he has done so largely ignored by fans of his same heritage; just an announced 4,201 took in the last Chivas USA game over the holiday weekend.

“He’s got a quality you can’t teach,” Chivas USA goalkeeper Dan Kennedy said recently. “His focus is just superb and for his age, it’s hard to believe what he can come up with and pull off. The goal tonight reminded me of that bicycle kick in Vancouver last year, where it’s just something out of nothing.”

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