Recently in European Championships Category

It isn't, at least not yet, as this Associated Press story points out.

As soccer's popularity grows in the U.S. we'll see a similar situation here - the would-be owners of MLS clubs willing to plunk down a $40 million expansion fee are counting on it. And of course, this story doesn't mention it, but ESPN has long been rumored to be interested in securing the rights to EPL games in the U.S.

GENEVA (AP) If one sport can survive the global financial crisis, it's the world's favorite game: soccer.

Yes, individual clubs will certainly suffer - some losing sponsors or investors and perhaps players who become too pricey. But cash flowing into the top end of the market, from television deals and multinational backers, is unlikely to dry up.

If anything, soccer at its highest level is poised to become an even stronger TV draw in
hard times when people want cheap entertainment.

Look at the numbers.

The 2010 World Cup is already sold, and FIFA expects to bank $3.2 billion before
kickoff.

UEFA earned a net profit approaching $400 million from this year's European
Championship, and the Champions League will pull in $1.115 billion this season.

Also, television deals for the 2009-12 Champions League seasons are already done in
the main markets, where prices are reportedly up 10 percent, and rights to show the
English Premier League - where huge revenues help explain overseas interest in clubs
- will soon be sold for the 2010-13 seasons.

Industry experts believe the domestic deal for Britain will beat the current 3-year cost of
$2.94 billion paid by subscription broadcasters Sky and Setanta. Global television and
new media rights will earn English league clubs another $1.73 billion in that time.

Philipp Grothe has traded football media rights for two decades. Last week, his
Swiss-based Kentaro agency struck a six-year deal with the U.S. Soccer Federation to
distribute national team matches.

He believes that when money is tight, football is a reliable commodity.

"Only the big live events in sport, i.e. football, generate the mass audience," Grothe said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. "They are the ones delivering to
sponsors and broadcasters the big audience numbers."

The World Cup is one of the globe's most-watched sporting events, and FIFA claims the
2006 tournament in Germany had an accumulated television audience of 26.3 billion
viewers on 376 different channels.

FIFA, which relies on the World Cup for 90 percent of its revenue, has budgeted to get
$3.2 billion from television and marketing rights to the 2010 tournament in South Africa.

"FIFA believes that this is a realistic forecast," FIFA spokesman Pekka Odriozola said in
an e-mail. "Certain contracts are secured with bank guarantees. All TV partners have
fulfilled their contractual obligations."

The Zurich-based body has six commercial partners for the World Cup.

One, Coca-Cola, is signed until 2022. The Emirates airline paid $195 million to sign through the 2014 tournament in Brazil.

UEFA, which declined to discuss marketing strategy, had revenue of roughly $2 billion for its three-week tournament in Austria and Switzerland, but has not started selling Euro 2012, scheduled for Poland and Ukraine.

UEFA's club football commitments seem solidly grounded. It has signed four commercial partners - Ford, Heineken, MasterCard and Sony - out of six intended for the 2009-12 Champions League seasons.

The competition's playing format has been copied around the world, though not its riches.

European champion Manchester United earned $67 million in prize money and television shares last season.

Critics say the Champions League has created a self-perpetuating elite, leaving other
clubs unable to bridge the gap. UEFA president Michel Platini, however, wants the power to ban indebted clubs from the competition.

His words were widely interpreted as an attack on the English teams that now dominate
the Champions League.

Chelsea, last season's runner-up, owes more than $1 billion, though its interest-free loans from Russian owner Roman Abramovich are not yet vulnerable.

Manchester United, valued at $1.8 billion by Forbes Magazine, has big debts, but it also
has a global brand.

When shirt sponsor AIG received a bailout from the U.S. government last month, there
was speculation the insurance firm might pull out of its 4-year, nearly $100 million deal.

That might seem like a financial nightmare, but Grothe said it would be a win-win scenario for the club.

"Man United would get a hefty signoff fee to release (AIG) and the day after they could
close a deal which is even bigger," he said.

An important test of soccer's prospects will come next month, when domestic television
rights are offered in Germany to broadcast the Bundesliga.

Public broadcaster ARD and subscription service Premiere are favored to win the deal,
with the price is expected to be more than $544 million a season.

Spain 1 Germany 0

Spanish Eyes Are Smiling.

Just be glad ABC didn't show the Galaxy-D.C. United game after the Euro 2008 final.

The Galaxy froze on a sweltering day in the nation's capital, surrendering 4-1 to United.

Meanwhile, the Spain-Germany game is at half time.

Germany's inspirational captain and midfield powerhouse Michael Ballack will start in the final of the European Championship, according to this report.

The game starts at 11:30 a.m. on ABC.

D.C. United is beating the Galaxy 2-1 right now on the same channel, by the way.

The obligatory David Beckham update that passes for a Galaxy preview. Game begins at 9 a.m. on ABC.

Galaxy odds and ends.

The finale of Euro 2008 follows with Spain against Germany for whom Michael Ballack is a doubt.

Goals aplenty are expected Sunday when the Galaxy plays D.C. United on the road in a rare nationally televised MLS game on ABC that precedes the Euro 2008 final.

The official Galaxy blog has a video preview.

Speaking of Euro 2008, sports media columnist Tom Hoffarth had more today on the broadcast snafu that frankly ruined the first semifinal Wednesday between Germany and Turkey. The problem wasn't ESPN's fault and the network is due some props for hiring the likes of former Scottish pro Andy Gray to provide expertise, but it still has some serious credibility problems.

(Climbs on soap box)

For one thing, if ESPN weren't so cheap they would have somebody at the game - so they don't have to solely rely on commentators in a U.S. studio in the event of an outage - who could provide an audio feed as the BBC apparently did.

Second, with the network crowing about its Euro 2008 ratings then their coverage must go to the next level and actually have their broadcast teams at the stadium. The crowd noise is noticeably lower because ESPN is not there live and that doesn't help the atmosphere of a game that's being aired.

(Climbs down).

Chivas USA continue their lengthy home stand Saturday with a game against the Red Bulls that features a special Disneyland half time show. Good time to point out that with every adult ticket purchased a munchkin 12 or under gets in free. Tickets start at $14.

The club has a video preview here.

An interesting article about Chivas USA forward Maykel Galindo rekindling a childhood friendship with a fellow defector who now plays for the Seattle Mariners is here. (Thanks to Bruce over at DuNord for unearthing that story).

Apparently John Thorrington, who grew up on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, was such a late choice for last weekend's World Cup qualifier he had not brought along a certain important document needed to travel and had to return home to Chicago to get it.

Finally, other local games set for this weekend include:
PDL
7:30 p.m. Friday San Jose Frogs at Los Angeles Legends at A.P.U. - Cougar Stadium.
7:30 p.m. Saturday Fresno Fuego at Los Angeles Legends at A.P.U. - Cougar Stadium.
7:30 pm Saturday Lancaster Rattlers at Ventura County Fusion at Buena High School.

W-League
8 p.m. Friday Fort Collins Force at Ventura County Fusion at Newberry Park High School.
5:00 p.m. Saturday Fort Collins Force at Los Angeles Legends at Azusa Pacific.

Enjoy your weekend and rejoin me Saturday for the Chivas USA game at Home Depot Center.

Germany narrowly beat Turkey 3-2 at Euro 2008 and will take on the winner of today's Spain-Russia semifinal (11:30 a.m. ESPN2) in Sunday's final. Let's hope today's game isn't marred by the technical problems viewers both here and around the world endured during Wednesday's game. I don't know about you, but the telecast missing two of the game's goals (and returning just in time to catch Germany's last minute winner) spoiled the excitement of the game for me.

Over in Galaxyland, The Washington Post's Steven Goff is reporting more than 30,000 tickets have been sold for Sunday's game against D.C. United in the nation's capital, where he is fretting about L.A.'s status as the highest-scoring team in MLS and United's league-worst defense. He doesn't mention the Galaxy's penchant for blowing leads and defensive holes Luciano Emilio is capable of exploiting though.

Meanwhile, rookie Galaxy defender Julian Valentin has joined the world of blogging and fills us in on his trip to Costco (really) and his goldfish purchase.

The Red Bulls, heading west to play Chivas USA Saturday in Carson, beat the mothership 1-0 in Arizona Wednesday night where newly-signed former Galaxy draft pick Gordon Kljesten saw action for New York. Will he play against brother Sasha and Chivas USA this weekend?

Claudio Reyna won't play though and Red Bull fans are displeased to put it mildly.

Chivas USA learned Wednesday night that if they beat the USL's Seattle Sounders in the U.S. Open Cup they'll face either the Kansas City Wizards in Carson or USL team the Carolina Railhawks in Cary, N.C. on July 8 in the quarterfinals.

Lastly, in PDL action Wednesday the Southern California Seahorses finally got a win against the Orange County Blue Star in La Mirada.

The league table is here (scroll down).

Turkey, already a long shot to beat Germany in today's first Euro 2008 semifinal, (live 11:30 a.m. on ESPN) has several starters missing through injury or suspension and the Germans are in a confident mood. Derek Rae and Andy Gray will call the game, while the second semifinal between Spain and an entertaining Russian side follows at the same time Thursday.

The winners play Sunday on ABC in a game preceded by the Galaxy-D.C. United game at 9 a.m.

In another televised game today at 8 p.m. on Telefutura, CD Guadalajara plays the New York Red Bulls in a Phoenix friendly. The Red Bulls are heading west to take on Chivas USA Saturday night at Home Depot Center.

Meanwhile, Chivas USA learned Tuesday they will play the USL's Seattle Sounders in the third round of the U.S. Open Cup July 1 in the Pacific Northwest. The Sounders Tuesday thumped the amateurs of Hollywood United 6-0.

By the way, tickets to the 5 p.m. July 20 Chivas USA-New England Revolution game in Fullerton that is the third SuperLiga group game for both teams are now on sale. Call 1-877-CHIVAS-1.

A look at the challenges faced by Chivas USA Under-18 player Omar Becerra is here.

In a PDL game tonight, Orange County Blue Star visits the Southern California Seahorses at 7 p.m. at La Mirada High.

Finally, if you're Jewish and can play soccer, the U.S. Jewish National Soccer Team wants to hear from you.

The U.S. beat Barbados 1-0 today to advance to the next round of CONCACAF qualifying 9-0 on aggregate.

Game story is here.

Still, if you were like me you were watching the rather dull Spain-Italy Euro 2008 quarterfinal. With that, the semifinals are set.

Beat writer Scott Wolf will contribute to the 100 Percent Soccer blog while yours truly is otherwise engaged.

Here's David Beckham after today's Galaxy practice:

On the return of Landon Donovan: ``It's always great to have all of your teammates back. It's important to carry on this run.''

On being able to score goals in Donovan's absence: ``That was one of the worries, but not from the players or the team. As long as we have confidence in each other, there's a good chance of us scoring goals.''

On Euro 2008: ``I haven't seen much of it. The time difference is tough. It's still something I don't enjoy (watching without England). I've seen the majority of Spain because I have friends playing.''

Distracted as I am with Euro 2008 and this morning's compelling Spain-Sweden game, there's plenty of soccer to watch this Father's Day weekend and the difficult part will be taking it all in.

Let's try.

The Galaxy are on the road in San Jose where the Earthquakes will actually play at the Oakland Coliseum, which is much larger than Buck Shaw Stadium.

A large contingent of Galaxy fans took a bus up to the Bay Area, but hopefully won't spend the game playing spot the striker.

Fans who didn't make the bus will meet at Grunions Sports Bar in Manhattan Beach at at 7 p.m. to watch the game.

Meanwhile, on a decidedly more sober (literally) note former Galaxy midfielder Santino Quaranta details the excruciating depths he plumbed while in L.A. (and elsewhere) in this bare-all account.

Sadly, it's clear the pill popping and boozing (which was suspected by most of us in the press box) accounted for his erratic form while with the Galaxy. At least he's alive.

Chivas USA is similarly challenged with its starting line-up, but at least they're facing a team in Real Salt Lake that have a woeful record at Home Depot Center. Goalkeeper Brad Guzan will suit up for two games in two days though, while Jonathan Bornstein returns.

Incidentally, a special Kid's Pack is available that starts at just $14. For each adult ticket purchased, one child aged (16 or under) gets into the match free.

Coverage begins at 7 p.m. on FSN.

Sacha Kljestan is among the missing for Chivas USA, since he is on national team duty and gave this interview to the MNT blog.

What with the Lakers, the U.S. Open, Father's Day and Trucks Cool City Customs 200 (ahem) going on this weekend, an embarrassingly low crowd is expected for Sunday's U.S.-Barbados match at the HDC so let's pander to the huge expat Barbados population locally: here's your team, lads. Meanwhile, Barbados is as short on depth judging by this help wanted ad as the U.S. is on fans.

In women's soccer news, the international class of Tiffeny Milbrett showed Friday night as she pulled out all the offensive stops for the Vancouver Whitecaps in their W-League victory over the Ventura County Fusion.

In the PDL Friday, the Southern California Seahorses lost 2-0 to the San Jose Frogs.

A few quick items to pass along this morning:
*Chivas USA learns its first CONCACAF Champions League opponent today, so check back here for more on that later. The complete schedule will be released Monday.

*A pair of Chivas USA Under-18 players have signed letters of intent with Division 1 college programs. Defender Rod Fahmian (Riverside) will attend UC Santa Barbara, while defender Omar Elmasri, (Arcadia) has opted to play for the University of San Francisco

Meanwhile, Chivas USA has announced the schedule for its youth summer camps, with most costing $75. More info here.

Over at the Home Depot Center's other team, Carlos Ruiz may have only just returned to the field for the Galaxy after injury, but he's on the roster for Ruiz Guatemala's World Cup qualifier against St. Lucia Saturday in Guatemala City.

A bit more about Ruiz' national team and World Cup qualifying exploits from the (edited) Galaxy press release:

Ruiz has appeared 73 times for Guatemala, scoring 35 goals to make him the co-all-time leading scorer, along with former Guatemalan international Juan Carlos Plata. He played his first game with the national team in nearly a year last week when he started and played the full 90 minutes in Guatemala's 2-0 loss to Chile in South America. Ruiz was the third leading scorer in CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying ahead of the 2006 World Cup, scoring nine goals as Guatemala narrowly missed out on reaching the World Cup for the first time in their history.

A couple of local minor league teams were playing in the U.S. Open Cup Tuesday with Hollywood United (no, not the version ex-Sex Pistol Steve Jones is on) led by two goals from former Chivas USA striker Matt Taylor downing professional opposition and the PDL's Los Angeles Legends losing to Crystal Palace Baltimore.

And don't forget, the second round of Euro 2008 group games begins today at 9 a.m. on ESPN2.

Just a quick post between Euro 2008 games (and let's hope today's second match between Holland and Italy is a helluva lot more compelling than the drab France-Romania encounter that just ended) to wrap up the weekend.

A 10-man U.S. held No. 1-ranked Argentina to a scoreless draw Sunday in New York in it's last game before World Cup qualifying begins Sunday in Carson.

Notable:
*Argentina was held to zero shots on goal in the second half.
*Pablo Mastroeni was ejected in the 70th minute after receiving a second yellow card for "unsporting behavior" when teammate Maurice Edu was also given a yellow for an aggressive take down.

Quotable:

"I think we're getting stronger," said Coach Bob Bradley. "We are understanding what it takes to play in the better games. The first half we had to deal with a lot tactically, and Tim Howard of course made some very big saves. The second half we showed some real resolve, both handling the red card and adjusting to different things tactically at different times. It means that at the end we feel very good about getting a result tonight. We feel good about the depth that we have and these are things that we are building to put is in the right direction."

The U.S. lineup: 1-Tim Howard; 6-Steve Cherundolo, 22-Oguchi Onyewu (23-Jay DeMerit, 61), 5-Danny Califf, 15-Heath Pearce (7-Eddie Lewis, 78); 4-Michael Bradley (26-Maurice Edu, 46), 25-Pablo Mastroeni; 8-Clint Dempsey (19-Freddy Adu, 61), 10-Landon Donovan (capt.), 17-DaMarcus Beasley (2-Frankie Hejduk, 91+); 9-Eddie Johnson (12-Sacha Kljestan, 74). Subs not used: 18-Brad Guzan.

I'll have more in my weekly column Tuesday about the start of World Cup qualifying, incidentally.

Meanwhile, in local PDL and W-League action, the San Fernando Quakes came from behind to win, while the Ventura County men and women both won.

In other PDL games this weekend it was:
Fresno Fuego 4 Lancaster Rattlers 1
Los Angeles Legends 2 San Jose Frogs 1
Orange County Blue Star 0 Bakersfield Brigade 2

In the W-League:
Pali Blues 2 Fort Collins Force 1
Pali Blues 5 Real Colorado Cougars 1

Germany opens Euro 2008 play against rivals Poland Sunday and after last week's Crew game at Home Depot Center I asked German native Sigi Schmid about the competition in general and Germany's chances specifically.

Long time South Bay resident Schmid, a former coach with UCLA and the Galaxy and a scholar of the game, had this to say:

Q: Who's your pick to win Euro 2008?
A: When you look at Greece having won it last time I think there's a number of teams that can step up and win it.

For some dumb reason I think the Russians could be a surprise team just because of the fact (UEFA Cup Winner) Zenit (Saint Petersburg) had a good season.

They've got four, five players from that team that play a prominent role in their national team. The old thing of bloc building from a club into a national team? There's a certain benefit in that. It seems like things go in cycles, so when a club team does well (and) you look back at past championships a lot of times when a Champions League winner, a UEFA Cup winner came from certain country, all of a sudden that country also won an international country competition. I'm not sure Russia is going to win it, but I think Russia is going to make a little more noise than they have the past few tournaments.

Italy always gets stronger as a tournament goes on and the same goes with Germany.

Portugal has perhaps the most dominant player in the world right now in in (Christiano) Ronaldo so maybe they can climb on his back and he can take them forward from there.

France has all kinds of options, maybe too many options and that could hurt them a little bit.

It should be exciting and there should be some good soccer.

Q:What about Germany?
A: They're are a solid team and they're good and they have a lot of different weapons, but I don't think they were real stellar in their last two tune-up matches. They're struggling at right back a little right now. (Bayern Munich's Philip) Lahm hasn't been convincing completely. They will go as far as their defense will allow them to go.

Q: How will (captain Michael) Ballack react after Chelsea's disappointing end to the season?

A: Ballack can put Chelsea's season behind him, I don't think that's a problem for him and offensively I think the Germans are going to be OK. ... The question is can they keep people off the board in the back? Because I think that's where the question marks are - (goalkeeper Jens) Lehmann, (Real Madrid's Christophe) Metzfelder.

On long-shot co-hosts Austria: As (former Galaxy playmaker and now Austria's Assistant Coach) Andy (Herzog) said, "We're going to beat them all." It's an opportunity for them to shine even though they haven't had the best run up to (the tournament).

The Swiss are lightly-regarded coming in to Euro 2008 and not much is expected of them despite their achievement of making the last 16 at the World Cup two years ago.

Chivas USA defender Raphael Wicky, who played 75 games for Switzerland before joining MLS, agreed to sit down for a brief chat about his homeland's chances at Euro 2008.

Wicky is continuing his rehab from a calf strain (something he also suffered from before the 2006 World Cup) and is getting closer to returning to action.

The Swiss open the tournament Saturday against the Czech Republic. The game kicks off at 8:30 a.m. on ESPN Classic.

Q: What are the Swiss chances at Euro 2008?
A: In the beginning the tournament is more difficult than the World Cup because there are four really good teams in every group. ... If the team passes the group then anything is possible."

Q: Compare the 2006 World Cup team with the Euro 2008 team.
A: Out of the team's 23 players, 15 or 16 are the same. The team is more experienced now. This team is better than the team in 2006. (although he went on to elaborate that the friendlies leading up to the tournament have not reflected that).

Q: How important is it to have playmaker Tranquillo Barnetta of Bayer Leverkusen (32 caps) back from injury just in time for the tournament?
A: He's important. He's important because he's the offensive part. He's fast. But I think you're going to win the game with the defensive part. If you don't take a goal you may win the game. More important for Switzerland than one player is the whole team.

Q: Who are the players to watch for Switzerland?
A: Alexander Frei (57 caps/Borussia Dortmund) - 32 goals for the national team. He's always good for a goal.

Q: Will the expectations of the Swiss public be too high after the World Cup?
A: It's a good thing. Everybody is looking forward to it. People have expectations after World Cup 2006. The expectation is maybe a little too high from the people, but that's a part of the game.

Q: Who will win?
A: Germany is always good in tournaments. (And then he mentioned France, Italy, Holland and Portugal as other contenders).