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With just over 24 hours to go until the Galaxy-Chivas USA Western Conference semifinal second leg (4:30 p.m. Sunday ESPN2) and the teams deadlocked at 2-2 halfway through what is essentially a 180 minute game (although, of course, it could go longer) here's press box colleague Luis Bueno on the pressure on Chivas USA.

Ives Galarcep reaches a similar conclusion here.

Oh, and happy birthday to Chivas USA defender Jonathan Bornstein (who turns 25 today).

Friday's women's college games
Washington 1 UCLA 2

Friday's men's college games
UCLA 1 Oregon 1

Loyola Marymount 2 Gonzaga 1

Cal State Dominguez Hills 2 Cal State San Bernardino 1

Washington State 0 USC 0

And finally, they throw you out of the soccer bloggers club if you don't post this video. If you're one of the three people in the country who have yet to see this check it out:

For perspective, here's the view of Los Angeles feminist soccer blogger Jennifer Doyle.

That second trivia question was a little tougher, apparently.

Far fewer readers could name one of two goalkeepers who had dressed for both the Galaxy and Chivas USA this season than correctly answered the first question.

The answers: Miguel Benitez of Cal State Dominguez Hills and Kevin Guppy of Cal State Northridge. Both were among the pool of emergency goalkeepers MLS keeps on hand to help clubs caught short in that position and both were called up by the two clubs at some point this season.

The winners: Adam Serrano of Arcadia and Far Farshad of Pacific Palisades.

Congrats to both - I've sent you e-mails telling you when and where to pick up your pair of tickets to Sunday's Galaxy-Chivas USA Western conference semifinal decider at Home Depot Center in Carson.

Thanks to everyone who entered the two contests and the Galaxy for providing the four pairs of tickets.

If you didn't win and still want to go the game, click here.

No wonder this man is smiling

LONDON (AP) -- David Beckham earned nearly $16.5 million from personal sponsorship deals during his first full season with the Galaxy.

The England midfielder's latest accounts show that his marketability was unaffected by his move from Real Madrid to the United States, where soccer is less popular.

Newly released figures from the official British company registry show that Beckham's income from his Footwork Productions company in the year ending Dec. 31, 2008, soared by 91 percent from the previous year.

The company's gross profit of $20 million, which rose about 15 percent, includes income from endorsements. That figure is believed to account for two-thirds of the 34-year-old Beckham's sponsorship income.

A separate company, Brand Beckham, receives his $5.5 million basic salary from the Galaxy, the share of the merchandising he generates for the MLS team and joint endorsements with his wife, Victoria, including their range of fragrances.

Beckham joined the Galaxy on a five-year contract in July 2007. Despite the non-renewal of sponsorship contracts with Gillette and Pepsi, his advisers at 19 Entertainment are confident of expanding his off-the-field portfolio.

As well as developing his own apparel range with Adidas, Beckham's management team is looking to secure up to six sponsors in various areas.

Beckham's global appeal is likely to be helped by a second five-month stay at AC Milan
beginning in January, which will boost his chances of going to a fourth consecutive World Cup with England.

Two days until the Galaxy-Chivas USA Western Conference semifinal from Carson's Home Depot Center (4:30 p.m. ESPN2) and the Galaxy blog reports tickets are going fast and the club is considering opening up the grass berm.

Don't have yours yet? Click here.

Suggested reading/listening/viewing:
*Reporter Phil Collin has more on the game here.

*The Galaxy's Chris Birchall, a mid-season signing, is fast becoming a regular on the starting XI. Did he expect that?

*Former Chicago Fire player Jared Montz talks to Chivas USA's Jesse Marsch in a podcast on his blog.

*Can the Galaxy get a goal or two past the reigning MLS Goalkeeper of the Year?

I'll have more on the game Saturday.

Plenty of other soccer to watch this weekend on TV (click to the right for a full listing).

Saturday's games
6:54 a.m. ESPN2 Tottenham Hotspur-Sunderland
7 a.m. Fox Soccer Channel Aston Villa-Bolton Wanderers
9:30 a.m. FSC Wolverhampton Wanderers-Arsenal
12:45 p.m. ESPND Athletico Madrid-Real Madrid
5:30 p.m. FSC Chicago Fire-New England Revolution
7 p.m. KVEA Atlas-CD Guadalajara

Sunday's games
6 a.m. FSC Lazio-AC Milan
8 a.m. FSC Chelsea-Manchester United
11:30 a.m. FSC Inter Milan-Roma
Noon TeleFutura Houston Dynamo-Seattle Sounders
2 p.m. KMEX Club America-Monterrey

In local college action:
*Cal State Dominguez Hills (stars and all) is in action today.

*But the season is over for the Cal State Northridge women's team after dropping a 2-1 decision to UC Santa Barbara Thursday. Still, the Matadors finish the year with a 10-10 overall mark and a 6-2 league record that's tied for the best conference result in school history.

*The Matador men end the regular season at 7 p.m. Saturday at UC Irvine. Cal State Northridge (9-7-2, 4-4-1, BWC) won 1-0 Wednesday at home against Cal State Fullerton in OT, keeping their playoff aspirations alive going into Saturday's game. From the Matadors press release:

A Northridge victory will give the team enough points to clinch the fourth spot while an Anteater victory will bump Cal Poly from their current position as the second seed and drop them to third place in the standings, giving Irvine an opportunity to host a first-round game.

*The UCLA men UCLA (9-3-2, 4-1-2 Pac-10) return home for a three-game homestand to close the regular season. First up is a 7 o'clock game tonight against Oregon State at Drake Stadium. At 1 p.m. Sunday the Bruins face Washington at Drake Stadium in a game that is free for all veterans and active military personnel (who receive four free admissions with proper ID). In addition, Sunday is AYSO/Youth Soccer Day. Youth soccer team members and their coaches will be admitted free if they're wearing their team jerseys. Moreover, UCLA Alumni Association card holders will receive four free admissions with alumni association card. Team posters will be given away Friday, team photo cards Sunday.

*The Loyola Marymount men (7-8-1, 2-5-1 WCC) close out their season this weekend with games at 2:30 p.m. today against Gonzaga and 2 p.m. Sunday against Portland at Sullivan Field.

Enjoy the weekend.

Feel the passion!

Thanks to the dozens of you who entered the first ticket contest with prizes courtesy of the Galaxy.

The winners: Mike Crandall of Glendora and Kristinne Uy of Rosemead, who win a pair of tickets each to Sunday's big game.

They correctly answered the question: who is the only player to score for both the Galaxy and Chivas USA this season?

The answer, as most of you knew, was Alecko Eskandarian. (Although I did like the person who answered Don Garder, which sounds like MLS Commish Don Garber's Bizarro planet alter-ego).

So for a chance to win one of two more pairs of tickets for Sunday's crucial game (and help the Galaxy fill up the upper deck), let's separate the hardcore soccer fans from the herd since so many of you observed the question was too easy.

You know Eskandarian suited up for both the Galaxy and Chivas USA this season, but did you know two other players accomplished the same feat? Now, neither actually appeared in an MLS game. Both, BTW, are goalkeepers (hint, hint).

Name one of them.

Good luck.

E-mail the answer to nick.green at dailybreeze.com. The deadline is noon Friday. Again, I'll choose two correct answers at random (if there are that many, heh, heh). BTW, credit for this obscure question should go to press box colleague Scott French.

If you don't know the answer, click here.

(Incidentally, this is a helluva RSL-Crew game I'm watching on DVR. Make sure and check out the highlights. Think someone had a point to prove?)

SuperClasico Playoff Passion (AP Photo)

The game is tied at 2-2.

There will be a winner Sunday whether it's after 90 minutes, 120 minutes or penalty kicks.

And the Galaxy are giving away two pairs of tickets to the game to the person who correctly answers the trivia question: Which player has scored for BOTH Chivas USA and the Galaxy this season?

E-mail answers to me at nick.green at dailybreeze.com. I'll accept entries through 3 p.m. and will then pick two correct answers at random.

I'll announce the winners here, so be sure to check back.

Two more pairs of tickets will be available (and a new trivia question) Friday morning for those of you who don't win today.

Alternatively, you can buy tickets to the biggest game in the short rivalry between the two clubs here.

Sorry for the short notice.

Here's the brief press release I got from the Galaxy just minutes ago:

Galaxy head coach and general manager Bruce Arena and midfielder David Beckham will go "Inside the Locker Room" with the Petros and Money Show on Fox Sports Radio on Wednesday evening. Beckham will be live with Petros and Money from 5-5:30 p.m., with Arena joining the hosts from 5:30-6 p.m. for a full hour of Galaxy coverage on the network.

Fox Sports Radio is available locally on AM 570 KLAC.

Supposedly he'll be back in mid-July 2010, after the World Cup concludes.

Beckham found time to take in the Lakers game Sunday after playing in one of his final appearances at the HDC before heading to Italy. Son, Brooklyn, looked unimpressed though. (AP Photo)

He'll join Milan Dec. 28 after the Galaxy's post-season tour and remain with the Italian club through the end of their season in May.

"After the wonderful experience of last season we are very happy to see David Beckham again wearing the red and black colors," said Adriano Galliani, Vice President and CEO of AC Milan. "We are confident his loan spell will not only improve Milan, it will help the player to take part in the World Cup in South Africa and continue to enhance his career in North America with the LA Galaxy. We would like to thank the Galaxy and MLS for their co-operation and understanding."

Here's Becks:

"I need to give myself the best chance possible to make the World Cup squad and playing for Milan on loan will help me to do that," Beckham said. "I genuinely enjoyed my time at Milan and I look forward to meeting the players and staff again. I'm thankful to Tim Leiweke and Bruce Arena for allowing me this opportunity. I'm committed to LA Galaxy and MLS in the long term and remain as passionate as ever about growing the game of soccer in America . I'm completely focused on ending this season on a high note with my club by winning the MLS Cup."

So another season of Beckham-era ticket prices then, but the team will be without Beckham for all but 11 games or so (which is what he managed this season).

A playoff win against Chivas USA - and this shot - eluded the Galaxy and goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts Sunday at Home Depot Center. (AP Photo)

So Chivas USA Coach Preki walks into the press conference after the game and virtually the first thing out of his mouth are the words:

"I guess it was a fun game for the spectators, not so much for the coaches."

Galaxy Coach Bruce Arena (who hadn't hear what Preki said) followed suit:

"Good game for the fans, I'm not sure about the coaches."

And here's David Beckham on the errors: "That's soccer sometimes. There's certain games where there's no errors, but both teams make them. There's nothing wrong with that because there are mistakes made in games. It's about learning from those mistakes and working as a team we will do that. It's entertaining for the public. It's not so entertaining for the managers and the players. When mistakes happen you don't play as you'd like, but that's life."

So that's settled then.

ESPN highlights here.

Game story

Preki was encouraged by the second half play of Maykel Galindo, who had probably his best game in months (years?) for Chivas USA:

"That's the real Galindo that we knew from a couple of years ago. ... I know he still has it and now's the time for him to bring it on."

Here's Beckham on what the team can take away from the contest: "

When we went one-nil down we came back, we showed character. We started the first half really bad especially the first 15 minutes and they scored. And then we come back from that and we regain our composure. And then at the start of the second half they do the same and they get back into the game. We'll look at that. We'll work on that this week leading up to the second game and hopefully we'll put it right."

Here's a polite Beckham on the burgeoning rivalry:

"It grows every time we play, every time we come up against them. It's always good to have that rivalry, it's always good to have that heat our there on the field and it was no different today."

Here's Arena on what lies ahead:

"It was a one-goal win for them or us today. I think the second game is going to be a heck of a contest."

Notable: The 25,218 in attendance was the largest playoff crowd at the Home Depot Center outside of a MLS Cup. The Galaxy expect to have a comparable crowd next weekend.

Chivas USA 2 Galaxy 2

An entertaining if error-ridden game with all four goals coming from unmitigated howlers has ended all square.

Alan Gordon missed a trio of chances for the Galaxy after coming on a as a second half sub that could have made the difference, but Chivas USA had their own burden to bear with striker Justin Braun seemingly intent on giving away virtually every ball he touched.

Highlight of the second half was Paulo Nagamura's stabbing turn and shot that required an agile (as always) Donovan Ricketts to turn the ball spectacularly around the post with a superb diving save.

Next: the Galaxy host Chivas USA at 4:30 p.m. Sunday at Home Depot Center.

More later.

Updated:

Trust SI's Grant Wahl to put it in succinct perspective with this tweet: GrantWahl

Let's see: 4 goals, 4 examples of crap defending. LA-CHV looking like CYO game. Beckham's head might explode. 2-2.

Chivas USA 2 Galaxy 2

This is becoming a game when different players are making their worst errors of the season at the worst possible time.

The culprit this time was usually dependable Galaxy defender Omar Gonzalez whose poor attempt at a back pass was gratefully intercepted and deposited in the back of the net by substitute Maykel Galindo who has knotted the game a two apiece.

Do Chivas USA have a third goal in the them for the first time in a year?

Chivas USA 1 Galaxy 2

Looks like we have the most entertaining game of the playoffs so far on display here this afternoon in Carson.

The upper deck has filled in nicely, too, which means a good walk-up (must be the quality of those previews this morning).

This game has threatened to spiral out of control a couple of times, with the fast pace contributing to errors in the middle of the park.

Key stat: Chivas USA has just one shot on target, the Galaxy four.

The Galaxy have looked good going up the right hand side of the park with David Beckham especially causing Chivas USA problems.

Nice little bit of showboating from Beckham we haven't seen that much of since his arrival with him clipping the ball with the back of his heel and passing it to himself three times in succession. Effective, too.

BTW, Maykel Galindo has come on at the half for Michael Lahoud.

Chivas USA 1 Galaxy 2

We just saw the Chivas USA screw-up of the season - and now the Galaxy have the lead just before halftime.

An inexplicable hoof back into the penalty box by Chivas USA forward Maicon Santos (was he trying to bicycle kick that ball out of danger?) landed right in front of Landon Donovan, bounced a couple of times, but neither Cary Talley nor Zach Thornton could prevent the Galaxy's leading scorer from claiming the go-head goal in the 41st minute.

We're trying to figure out what Santos was thinking up here; I'm sure Preki is, too.

Chivas USA 1 Galaxy 1

The Galaxy tied it up in the 14th minute when Yamith Cuesta made a terrible hash of what should have been a businesslike clearance of a speculative Landon Donovan header into the box. Instead the Columbian defender completely whiffed on the ball and a lurking Mike Magee had the simple task of putting it past Zach Thornton.

Chivas USA 1 Galaxy 0

A mixup between Mike Magee and Landon Donovan just inside the Galaxy's own half gave Chivas USA possession in the fourth minute that Sacha Kljestan used to good effect to find Maicon Santos, who's deft outside of the foot shot into the far corner gave Donovan Ricketts no chance.

Donovan was at fault for that one is the consensus up here in the press box, although Galaxy defender Omar Gonzalez surely gave Santos too much respect and space as well and should have closed him down better.