Hope your little angels didn’t let Santa get away from them and everyone has a ball. BTW, this is a shot from a charity match for the Uwe Seeler Foundation between an aptly-clad fifth division men’s team and a girl’s youth team last year in Germany. The score was 10-10. (AP Photo)
Briefly:
*Don’t forget, the second MLS playoff game between the Columbus Crew and Real Salt Lake is scheduled for 5 o’clock today on ESPN2.
*The Cal State Northridge men closed in on a post-season berth Wednesday with a 1-0 victory over Cal State Fullerton with the goal coming in the sixth minute of OT and now hold the tiebreaker over the Titans going into the final game of the regular season Saturday against UC Irvine.
*Riverside’s Chad Marshall was named MLS Defender of the Year today (for the second straight year), while referee Alex Prus took the award for MLS officials. The Crew defender is a worthy choice, but I can’t help wondering if MLS would benefit from officials like this one:
Well, OK, maybe not.
Ooh la la!
Leave it to those Italians.
Juventus’ Paolo De Ceglie, left, and Giorgio Chiellini, right, not only gave their shirts to fans in the wake of the Italian club’s 1-0 victory over Maccabi Haifa in Israel Tuesday, but their shorts, too. (AP Photo).
I offer this picture not so much so we can ogle Italian bums (although my wife, ahem, begs to differ), but as a vivid reminder that the UEFA Champions League is on again today.
The Arsenal-AZ Alkmaar is behind Sentanta’s pay wall, but everything else can be seen on free TV (if you have El Segundo-based DirecTV).
The full schedule is here. Barcelona gets things off to an early start with a game at 9:30 a.m. today on Fox Soccer Channel.
One other note: the U.S. is out of the Under-17 World Cup in Nigeria having lost 2-1 today to the Italians.
And I’m guessing those Italian lads kept their shorts on at game’s end.
Otherwise, Chivas USA or the Galaxy could hook up with this guy who e-mailed me last month in the wake of a recent column about the two teams’ lack of scoring prowess:
Hi Nick,
I read the article today.
If Chivas USA or even the Galaxy need an effective playmaker to win the league, you should hook me up.
I’m more skilled and faster than Landon Donovan, but much taller. (6’2″)
Give me a chance and try me out seriously, thank you.
(Name deleted to protect the innocent).
If either Preki or Bruce Arena is reading this, I still have the guy’s e-mail address.
Unbelievably embarrassing black eye (literally by the sound of it) for both programs.
I say send ‘em all back down to AYSO for remedial training in sportswomanship.
“I’ve never seen anything like this in my life,” Harbor coach Jim Lillie said.
They called campus police out to the field. Pathetic.
Read the ugly story here.
Notable: There is no mention of today’s crucial Honduras-USA WCQ in the print edition of today’s newspaper – but we do have the above story.
And in other women’s college, um, action Friday it was Cal State Northridge 0 Pacific 1
and USC 1 Arizona 0.
Also, UCLA beat Arizona 2-0 Friday with Bruin Lauren Cheney scoring the second; the goal gave her 59 in her college career, good for second place on the all-time UCLA women’s scoring list behind Traci Arkenberg.
Brevity
Does this guy live in the South Bay? Is he an MLS fan? Brevity is known for “obscure cultural references,” according to Wikipedia, but still.
Also, after LA soccer blogger Jennifer Doyle wrote this scathing critique of the new WPS uniforms the following video was posted to my Facebook page; so things could be much worse:
Updated: And as if to confirm reality isn’t too far from satire there’s this manufactured report in today’s L.A. Times that breathlessly tells us Mrs. Beckham says her hubby is “hooked” on Milan.
The actual news in the story is in the fifth graph.
I’ll post an interview with new Galaxy signing Dema Kovalenko Saturday morning.
But first:
*Mexico Coach Sven-Gran Eriksson today announced his squad to face Sweden Wednesday in Oakland:
goalkeepers: Guillermo Ochoa (Amrica), Oswaldo Snchez (Santos Laguna), Jos de Jess Corona (Tecos UAG)defenders: Juan Carlos Valenzuela (Amrica), Julio Csar Domnguez (Cruz Azul), Edgar Dueas (Toluca), Leobardo Lpez (Pachuca), Fausto Pinto (Cruz Azul), Diego Martnez (Monterrey), Israel Castro (UNAM), Edgar Castillo (Amrica)
midfielders: Pvel Pardo (Amrica), Leandro Augusto (UNAM), Luis Prez (Monterrey), Israel Martnez (San Luis), Lucas Ayala (Atlas), Antonio Naelson (Toluca), Marco Fabin (CD Guadalajara)
forwards: Alberto Medina (CD Guadalajara), Vicente Matias Vuoso (Santos Laguna), Carlos Ochoa (CD Guadalajara), Nestor Caldern (Toluca), Csar Villaluz (Cruz Azul)
*Galaxy goalkeeper Charles Alamo has retired before his professional career really began after suffering two serious MCL injuries within a year. He played one reserve game for the team and will return to graduate school.
*Former Galaxy midfielder Quavas Kirk, not retained by D.C. United, will reportedly begin a trial with the Seattle Sounders.
*The club has also finalized a Feb. 12 preseason friendly against the Houston Dynamo in Texas.
*Finally, here’s a contender for soccer story of the week from the Associated Press:
LONDON – An English amateur soccer team mourning the death of one of its greatest players discovered an important error in the tributes by the club and local press to the 86-year-old man — he’s still alive.Tommy Farrer had the rare distinction of reading his own obituary as a former “legend”
with northern amateur side Bishop Auckland FC.The mistake came to light when an official of the club, which held a solemn minute of
silence before a match last week, called Farrer’s wife to offer condolences.A surprised Gladys Farrer said her husband had indeed departed — but only for a few
minutes to buy a newspaper and would be back soon if the official wanted to talk to
him.Farrer, a former England amateur who played in three Wembley finals, said in Friday
editions of the Northern Echo: “We are not upset, but we did think it was a bit of a joke
at first.”Farrer said he wants to play down the mistake, saying it was time to “let it
die.”