Galaxy: June 2008 Archives

Needed a deep breath after the weekend (and spent the day writing Tuesday's column), so late blogging.

Chivas USA is one of 16 teams participating in the third round of the U.S. Open Cup at 7 p.m. Tuesday playing a game in Seattle against the Sounders you can see here. Chivas USA lost at this stage of the competition last year to Seattle.

Long Beach State sophomore-to-be Janet Mendez of Palmdale helped Mexico qualify for the Under-20 World Cup in Chile in November, starting and playing 72 minutes as Mexico beat Costa Rica 3-2 on penalty kicks over the weekend.

In the PDL Saturday it was:
Fresno Fuego 1 Los Angeles Legends O
Southern California Seahorses 1 Bakersfield Brigade
Lancaster Rattlers 1 Ventura County Fusion 1

Standings

W-League:
Fort Collins Force 1 Los Angeles Legends 1 (Saturday)
Fort Collins Force 0 Pali Blues 2 (Tonight)

Standings

Also this weekend (from the edited Galaxy press release):

In a top of the table clash with the Ventura County Fusion, the Galaxy Rios Under-20's lost 2-0 on Sunday afternoon at Home Depot Center. The Fusion scored twice inside the final 20 minutes to move into a tie for first place in the league with Bakersfield.

Standings

WPSL
San Diego WFC SeaLions 0 Ajax America Women 3
West Coast FC 2 Los Angeles Rampage 0

Standings

If you're already waiting on the long weekend, note the Galaxy play Independence Day in Carson against the aptly-named New England Revolution.

Chivas USA play Saturday night against the San Jose Earthquakes.

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.

Here are the essentials for tonight's Chivas USA-New York Red Bulls game at Home Depot Center:

*NYRB are without Claudio Reyna, Juan Pablo Angel (both injured) and, of course, one Senor Altidore (sunning himself in Spain).

*Fear not. Chivas USA has Justin Braun.

*The Red Bulls are playing their fifth game in 15 days tonight, which could help Chivas USA avoid losing twice to New York in one season.

*Oh, and Mickey Mouse will perform the coin toss before the game.

Want more? Here's a longer preview.

And while we're at it here's a Galaxy-D.C. United preview (it's a nice try at a different sort of advance, but turns out to be a bit of a stretch since United's Marcelo Gallardo decided not to play ball). This may be the only preview posted here since the game kicks off on ABC at 9 a.m. and it's highly unlikely I will crawl out of bed early on a Sunday morning to actually blog. And don't forget the Euro 2008 final between Spain and Germany follows immediately after on the same channel.

Friday scores:
Fort Collins Force 4 Ventura County Fusion 1 (W-League).
San Jose Frogs 3 Los Angeles Legends 3 (PDL).

Finally (and for no other reason than I could do with a laugh this morning) take five seconds out of your day and watch this contender (that appears to be from a league game in Russia) for the worst penalty kick ever.

Back this evening with more from the Chivas USA game.

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.

Galaxy defender Abel Xavier was fined $500 by MLS following comments criticizing the officials after last week's 3-3 draw with Columbus.

Xavier was given a yellow card by referee Mark Geiger and called for a foul that set up the game-tying goal in the 88th minute. Xavier was upset afterward and said his foot cleanly touched the ball first.

``C'mon, the referee is so bad,'' Xavier said after the game. ``The question of one of the things they must improve in this league is the referees. It is very clear my foot was on the ball. If someone has eyes, they see clear contact with the ball.

``I can name 15 wrong decisions with the ref on both sides.''

Galaxy coach Ruud Gullit was absent from today's training session because he went to Holland for personal reasons, according to officials. Gullit is expected to rejoin the Galaxy in Washington, D.C., for Saturday's match with D.C. United.

``We won without David (Beckham) and Landon (Donovan) and then we won with Landon, so now we'll win without Ruud,'' Galaxy defender Chris Klein joked.

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).

Landon Donovan was named MLS Player of the Week for the third time this season after his two-goal performance in the 3-3 draw with Columbus Saturday that gave him a league-best 11 goals in 10 games.

Donovan's second goal was the 75th of his MLS career, making the 26-year-old the youngest player to reach that milestone.

Also on the awards front, Edson Buddle has been nominated for MLS Goal of the Week for the second consecutive week.

The Galaxy Rios Under-20 demolished the Bakersfield Brigade 8-0 in a USL Super-20 game last weekend. The 3-1-1 Rios are currently tied for first place in the league with the Ventura County Fusion, who they meet 5 p.m. Sunday at Home Depot Center. Admission is free.

Finally, the studliest pen commercial you'll ever see:

Coach Pia Sundhage will announce the roster in a teleconference at noon today, although few, if any, surprises are expected.

The roster is likely to be virtually unchanged from the just-concluded Peace Cup, which means Torrance's Shannon Boxx, USC's Amy Rodriguez and UCLA Lauren Cheney are anticipated to head to China.

While we await the official announcement, here's a few weekend leftovers:

*The Galaxy Rios, the Galaxy's youth team, holds three open tryouts next month in Irvine, Chino Hills and Glendale.

From the (edited) press release:

The LA Galaxy will be holding open tryouts for the Galaxy Rios, the club's official youth development program, for any male player born between 1990 and 1994 at three different locations throughout Southern California from July 11 through July 13. Players must register and pay the $30 fee by Sunday, July 6th for one of the three open tryout venues.

Players will play a seven v. seven, 50-minute game, while being assessed by Galaxy Rios Coaching Staff, including Galaxy Director of Player Development Trevor James and Galaxy Director of Soccer Paul Bravo. The top players from each of the three tryouts will be invited back to participate in a training session at The Home Depot Center for further evaluation by the Rios Coaching Staff.

All players must apply online and have a valid email address. More info is available here.

*Sixteen U.S. Youth Soccer Region IV Champions won titles Sunday in Hawaii, with 12 teams representing the Under-14 through Under-19 boys and girls divisions earning spots at the U.S. Youth Soccer National Championships July 22-27 in Little Rock, Ark.

Among the championship highlights from the (edited) press release:

The Under-15 Girls Slammers FC earned their second shot at the U.S. Youth Soccer National Championship title Sunday after beating fellow California South team Real So Cal, 4-1. Last year the Slammers lost in the final game of the U.S. Youth Soccer National Championships.

Under-16 Girls So Cal Blue is the only U.S. Youth Soccer Region IV team to return to defend its U.S. Youth Soccer National Championship and won 3-0 against Real So Cal.

Arsenal FC Under-14 Boys won the championship against the LA Rampage with a goal from Jake La Porte (34:00).

Other results involving teams from Southern California include:
Girls Under-13 - So Cal Blues 3 Real Colorado National 0
Boys Under-15 - Arsenal FC 0 Valley United 4
Boys Under-16 - FC Barcelona 0 Real So Cal Blue 2
Girls Under-17 - Eagles FC 0 Slammers FC 1
Girls Under-18 - Colorado Nike Rush 2 Slammers FC 1
Girls Under-19 - FC Portland 0 Slammers FC 3

*In the PDL Sunday:
Orange County Blue Star 2 San Fernando Valley Quakes 2

W-League:
Pali Blues 3 Vancouver Whitecaps 0

Galaxy defender Abel Xavier was upset over the foul and yellow card from referee Mark Geiger that set up the game-tying goal by Columbus.

``C'mon, the referee is so bad,'' Xavier said. ``The question of one of the things they must improve in this league is the referees. It is very clear my foot was on the ball. If someone has eyes, they see clear contact with the ball.

``I can name 15 wrong decisions with the ref on both sides.''

So the Galaxy still haven't beaten a team with a winning record this season.

But at least they didn't lose after blowing a lead as Coach Ruud Gullit noted has already happened this season:

"At the beginning of the season we lost these games in the last couple of minutes."

Still, as Gullit and several players observed, it was a draw that felt like a loss:

"We gave the goals away," he said. "You have to win these games. It's two points thrown away."

Crew Coach Sigi Schmid was none too impressed with how Donovan snatched the first Galaxy goal with his challenge on goalkeeper Will Hesmer:

"That was an obvious push. ... Landon obviously pushed Hesmer. ... He gets a way with a great shove in his lower back."

Here's David Beckham thinking like a referee on the penalty he drew:

"He grabbed me around the waist. I felt that was enough contact for a penalty."

Landon Donovan, well, wasn't so sure - but wasn't complaining either:

"I wasn't sure David really got fouled, but whatever. It's the referee's decision to make.

Donovan believes the team isn't doing enough to protect the defense:

The issue is (opponents) are able to get from their defensive end into our attack in sometimes two or three passes and easily. It's not always just the back four that's struggling."

Here's Schmid on South Bay product Robbie Rogers:

"Sometimes Robbie dropped too deep at times. He's been too honest defensively. Now he's got to that point of learning how to cheat (going forward) and when to cheat and get forward at the right time. But still he's an important player for us and he had an impact on the game for us."

By the way, Beckham insisted he was 100 percent, but then conceded a left foot injury was bothering him in the first half until he got treatment at half time:

"I got a kick on it a couple of days ago in training and it was still playing up slightly."

The game story is here.

Finally, just to end things on the right (wrong?) foot, here's Beckham on his blazing miss that could have sealed the game for the Galaxy:

"I'm disappointed not to finish the game off there. I felt personally the ground gave way, the grass gave way as I hit the ball. ... When you get an opportunity like that in the last couple of minutes, it's disappointing not to score."

The grass gave way?

I dunno. He sure looks like he knows he screwed that up.

The Galaxy managed to blow two leads in the second half and in the end escaped with a 3-3 tie with David Beckham blowing a gorgeous chance to smash home the winner in the 90th minute. Afterward he slumped to the turf, hanging his head in shame.

Substitute Steven Lenhart was the hero for Columbus, poking home the ball in the 88th minute to make it 3-3 after Steve Cronin punched away a hard Frankie Hejduk shot.

Edson Buddle's ninth goal of the season had made it 2-0 for the Galaxy in the opening moments of the second half. But the Crew came back via a freakish Brad Evans goal in the 67th minute and Robbie Rogers drawing a penalty two minutes later that Barros Schelotto converted to make it 2-2.

Beckham drew a penalty in the 82nd minute that allowed the Galaxy to take a 3-2 lead after Edson Buddle's fine work down the left sideline had the Crew back-pedaling. He pulled it back to Beckham, who was tripped in the box by O'Rourke.

Back later with locker room reaction.

Defensive calamities for the Crew and a tepid offense combined to allow the Galaxy to take a one goal lead after the first 45 minutes.

A horrendous mistake by Crew goalkeeper Will Hesmer in just the fourth minute gifted the Galaxy their goal, the Columbus net minder failing to hold a David Beckham cross when challenged by Landon Donovan who then turned and fired the ball home.

The Galaxy could have had a couple more, notably when defender Chad Marshall completely missed a pass from Hesmer, allowing Beckham to almost chip the goalkeeper.

Donovan also missed from eight yards when wide open and an unmarked Edson Buddle sent a ball from a diving header wide of the post, too.

The Crew's best chance came just before half time, Robbie Rogers almost nipping in to get on the end of a long through ball, but he got under it too much and put it over the bar from about 12 yards.

That was the most we'd seen so far from Rogers, who like Argentine star Guillermo Baros Schelotto, were largely kept in check by the Galaxy.

Beckham has also looked out of sorts and appeared to limp slightly in the 34th minute after an apparent problem with his left foot.

The Galaxy (6-4-2), the highest-scoring team in MLS and sitting first in the Western Conference plays the Columbus Crew (7-4-1), which is lying second in the Eastern Conference.

The Galaxy have won four of their last five games propelled by the scoring exploits of Edson Buddle, who has eight goals during that stretch.

In contrast, the Crew have won just once in five games and scored a mere three goals, which all came in their last outing against Kansas City.

Galaxy Coach Ruud Gullit makes just two changes to the team that defeated San Jose last weekend with Josh Tudela dropping to the bench and Ely Allen moving back into midfield since Landon Donovan has returned from international duty to partner Edson Buddle up front.

Steve Cronin is in goal as usual behind an unchanged back four of Chris Klein, Sean Franklin, Abel Xavier and Mike Randolph.

David Beckham, Alvaro Pires and Ante Jazic line up alongside Allen in midfield.

On the bench: Joe Franchino, Alan Gordon, Brandon McDonald, Troy Roberts, and Greg Vanney.

Crew Coach Sigi Schmid makes three changes with Frankie Hejduk returning from international duty with the U.S. to slot into the defense in place of Andy Iro, while Brad Evans and Nicholas Hernnandez move into a five-man midfield in place of Duncan Oughton and Emmanuel Ekpo.

Former Galaxy forward Alejandro Moreno will play as the lone striker as Schmid seeks to slow the rampant Galaxy attack by clogging up the midfield.

Rolling Hills Estates Robbie Rogers, who has five goals so far this season, starts in midfield.

It's finally cooling down in Carson, so hopefully the heat wave won't interfere (too much) with the game.

I'm on Barbados time, so late blogging this morning.

The Galaxy face the Crew at steamy Home Depot Center (7:30 p.m. live on Prime) later today. Game previews are here and here.

The U.S. women (narrowly) won the Peace Cup overnight.

On the men's side, CONCACAF World Cup qualifying resumes this weekend. The U.S. is in Barbados for the second leg where the weather is typically tropical.

Back with more tonight from Carson.

Here's Landon Donovan after today's Galaxy practice:

On following the Galaxy while playing for the U.S. national team: ``I was watching like every other fan, online.''

On the Galaxy being in first place: ``It's early. But this can help us if we get home-field advantage.''

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.''

Hot soccer, hot weather.

Two of the best teams in MLS, the Galaxy - who sit in first in the West - and second place Columbus in the East clash Saturday at Home Depot Center. I'll have a complete preview of the game Saturday.

Things are heating up for local PDL teams, too, as the season hits the halfway mark, while in a case of bad timing the Ventura County Fusion leave the cool air of coastal Ventura for the steamier Conejo Valley for their game tonight against the San Jose Frogs.

In other PDL games in the Los Angeles area this weekend:
On Friday - Orange County Blue Star at Lancaster Rattlers at 7 p.m. at Pete Knight High.
San Francisco Seals at Los Angeles Legends at 7:30 p.m. at A.P.U. Cougar Stadium.

Saturday - San Francisco Seals at Southern California Seahorses at 7 p.m. at La Mirada High.

Sunday - Orange County Blue Star at San Fernando Valley Quakes at 7:05 p.m. at Calabasas High.

In the WPSL Saturday - Ajax America Women v West Coast FC at noon at Nansen Field in Rolling Hills Estates.
Claremont Stars v Los Angeles Rampage 5: 30 p.m. at Claremont High.

Sunday - Los Angeles Rampage v Ajax America Women at 5:30 p.m. at Granada Hills.

Finally, former U.S. Under-17 Men's National Team coach John Ellinger has resurfaced at Dallas after leaving Real Salt Lake.

Stay cool.

So my wife is taking the day off work to watch the Portugal-Germany Euro 2008 quarterfinal (11:30 a.m. ESPN).

I'm going to work in part because of tonight's Chivas USA-Chicago Fire game at Home Depot Center (7 o'clock ESPN2).

What's wrong with this picture?

A preview of the MLS game tonight is here.

Meanwhile, as U.S. Coach Bob Bradley tries mightily to persuade MLS clubs to release players for the largely pointless second leg of the World Cup qualifier Sunday against Barbados, names are filtering out although the complete squad apparently won't be released until Friday.

There have already been Chris Seitz and Danny Szetela sightings at the U.S. camp in Florida and the Chicago Tribune's Luis Arroyave is now reporting on his blog that a trio of Fire players including John Thorrington (Chadwick School) and Chad Barrett (UCLA) will join the team after the Chivas USA game.

Over in Galaxyland there have been sightings in Carson of the mercurial Clint Mathis, former Dutch international Edgar Davids and um, Brian Perk. More at the official Galaxy blog.

Meanwhile, I had hoped to ignore this one (much as I did the baseless rumors about a certain Brazilian joining the team - I'll let you guess the name).

The only problem with the story?

Galaxy officials told me Wednesday they don't have a player with a Brit wife. Except David Beckham. And he's too busy selling underwear to go to mighty Scunthorpe.

Lastly, as expected, the U.S. women beat Italy 2-0 overnight in Korea and advances to Saturday's Peace Cup final against Canada. More here.

Chivas USA learned its group opponents in the CONCACAF Champions League today (providing it gets by Panama's Tauro FC first).

From the (edited) Chivas USA press release:

The winner of the Chivas USA vs. Tauro F.C. pairing will play Santos Laguna of Mexico, either Municipal or Deportivo Jalapa of Guatemala, and the winner of the preliminary round matchup between LD Alajuelense of Costa Rica and the Puerto Rico Islanders of the USL First Division in Group D.

Chivas USA also learned today it will travel to Panama City for the first leg of the home-and-home series against FC Tauro Aug. 26 and then will host Tauro one week later, on Sept. 2, at a Los Angeles location to be determined.

Full details here.

Over in Galaxyland, backup goalkeeper Josh Wicks, who has yet to start an MLS game, went under the knife today in Santa Monica for left knee surgery. The San Bernadino native is out 4-6 weeks. Vito Higgens will deputize.

Edson Buddle was named MLS Player of the Week today for his three goals Saturday against San Jose.

Meanwhile, David Beckham was in Long Beach Sunday for a special event.

The U.S. women face Brazil in the second game of the Peace Cup in Korea tonight, which kicks off at 10 o'clock our time.

The U.S. beat Australia 2-1 in the first game, which began at 10 p.m. Saturday our time.

Three teams from Southern California are participating in the U.S. Youth Soccer 2008 Region IV Championships, which started today in Hawaii.

Local teams playing are the Real So Cal (Calabasas) Under-14 and Under-17 girls, Under-16 L.A. Rampage Blue Premier (Granada Hills) and the DMS11 (pasadena) Under-18 Boys.

From the U.S. Youth Soccer Press Release:

The teams will be among the more than 248 top boys and girls U.S. Youth Soccer teams from 14 (Western) state associations competing for the regional title.

A little weekend catch-up with results from the PDL Saturday:
San Fernando Valley Quakes 2 San Francisco Seals 1
Fresno Fuego 3 Orange County Blue Star 0
Ventura County Fusion 0 Bakersfield Brigade 2

On Sunday:
San Fernando Valley Quakes 2 San Jose Frogs 0
Southern California Seahorses 0 San Francisco Seals 0

In the W-League Sunday:
Vancouver Whitecaps 0 Pali Blues 4

In the WPSL Saturday:
Ajax America Women 3 San Diego WFC SeaLions 1
Los Angeles Rampage 0 West Coast FC 2

On Sunday:
Ajax America Women 3 Claremont Stars 0
Los Angeles Rampage 1 SD United 2

Finally, trivia time: U.S. Soccer unveiled a memorial this weekend at Home Depot Center to which former U.S. Soccer president?

Answer Tuesday morning.

It starts here.

Did that get you in the mood for today's U.S.-Barbados qualifier at Home Depot Center?

The game begins at 2 p.m. live on ESPN2 and Galavision.

Here's a game preview from the U.S. perspective and another from the view of Barbados wherein we learn the name of Barbados' playmaker: Norm.

Here's an update on the rest of the CONCACAF World Cup qualifiers this weekend, including four goals by Galaxy striker Carlos Ruiz for Guatemala against St. Lucia.

Meanwhile, Galaxy striker Edson Buddle was similarly pumping in the goals - but for L.A. in Oakland Saturday against the Earthquakes.

Well taken goals, too, judging by the highlights.

Of course, the largest crowd ever to see an Earthquakes game in the Bay Area didn't come to see Buddle - or San Jose for that matter.

Game story here.

Happy Father's Day.

I'll rejoin you later from Victoria Street.

Chivas USA Coach Preki took off Jonathan Bornstein and Atiba Harris at half time, replacing them with Justin Braun and Raphael Wicky.

It didn't help.

Statistically, Chivas USA held the edge over RSL in the second half in terms of shots. But not on the score board.

Final score: 1-0 RSL.

The Galaxy, meanwhile, defeated San Jose 3-0 with Edson Buddle scoring all three goals for his second hat trick of the season. That's eight goals in nine goals for Buddle this season.

Back with more later.

Real Salt Lake, looking for their first-ever win against Chivas USA in Carson (and their first on the road this season), found something to build on in the first half, taking a 1-0 lead through Robbie Findley, for his third goal of the season.

RSL, which showed more attacking initiative than Chivas USA, deserved the lead. Indeed, Chivas USA were held to zero shots on target.

Chivas USA were fortunate not to be down by more, Dan Kennedy denying a Kenny Deuchar header from seven yards by tipping it over the bar with his fingertips.

The goal came in the 33rd minute, a long cross from Javier Morales finding Findley, who used Carey Talley as a diversion and lured the inexperienced Kennedy from his goal line to score.

Findley almost had a second in first half stoppage time, but this time Kennedy correctly and smartly came out of his box to stop the breaking striker who had got behind the entire Chivas USA defense.

The best Chivas USA chance came from a corner kick, Jonathan Bornstein crossing to a wide open Talley, who managed to scoop his shot harmlessly over the bar in the 38th minute.

The Galaxy, by the way, are leading San Jose 1-0 in Oakland early in the second half, with Edson Buddle scoring his sixth goal in nine games.

David Beckham and Josh Tudela were credited with assists.

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.

Very quickly this morning:
*With the Galaxy on the road against intrastate rivals the San Jose Earthquakes Saturday (7 p.m. live on Fox Soccer Channel), Chivas USA takes center stage locally with a game against Real Salt Lake at Home Depot Center.

A preview from the official Chivas USA blog is here.

Chivas USA, still seeking to draw fans, has a ticket deal for the game.

*Meanwhile, CONCACAF begins World Cup qualifying this weekend and in addition to the U.S.-Barbados game at Home Depot Center Sunday (plenty of tickets are still available) there's a full slate of action.

Mexico's game against Belize airs at 1:30 p.m. on KVEA.

*In the WPSL there are four local games this weekend with Ajax America Women meeting the San Diego WFC SeaLions at noon Saturday at Nansen Field in Rolling Hills Estates and the Claremont Stars at home at 2 p.m. Sunday.

The Los Angeles Rampage also host a pair of games: West Coast FC at 7. p.m. Saturday in Granada Hills and SD United at 6 p.m. Sunday.

*In the W-League former U.S. Women's National Team star Tiffeny Milbrett and the Vancouver Whitecaps visit the Ventura County Fusion tonight.

The Whitecaps also play the Pali Blues 1 p.m. Sunday at Palisades High School.

*Lastly, in the PDL Saturday, the Fresno Fuego visit Orange County Blue Star at 5 p.m. at Concordia University.

Have a great weekend and if you can't make it out to a game, I'll be blogging from both the Chivas USA and U.S. games so check back for more details.

Thought that headline would get your attention.

But before we get to that revelation, a second female U.S. soccer player has gone down with a serious injury and will miss the Olympics. Find out who here.

OK, onwards with the trivial journalism of the day including this "report" from Forbes Magazine, (whose major contributions to journalism these days seems to consist of pumping out lists) which names David Beckham as the world's fifth most powerful celebrity.

The only other soccer player on the list is Ronaldinho at No. 38, for those who can't be bothered to sift through the entire list.

And here, as promised, is Beckham's take on English cuisine from The Jimmy Kimmel Show earlier this week. (Warning: complete time waster). And thanks Becks, for perpetuating the myths about weird English cuisine.

Finally, this is trivial too, but at least it's for a good cause: if you're in Carson or close by this afternoon a team of Galaxy players will take on a team of Avengers (that's an arena football team for the pigskin impaired) players in a race around a local supermarket grabbing food for a local food bank.

More here from the (edited) Galaxy press release:

"Dash for the Hungry" - a race where players from the LA Galaxy and the Los Angeles Avengers "dash" around Albertsons pushing grocery carts and collecting food to feed the hungry will be held at 3 p.m. today at a store at 200 E. Sepulveda Blvd. (at the intersection of Main Street) in Carson. With only five minutes on the clock, the goal is to collect as much product as possible and raise plenty of money to benefit families and residents who rely on the Los Angeles Regional Foodbank for assistance.

Galaxy players set to race: forward Edson Buddle, goalkeeper Steve Cronin, forward Alan Gordon and defender Julian Valentin.

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.

The 21-man squad for Sunday's game against Barbados is exactly the same as the 19-man squad named for the Argentina game with the addition of Houston Dynamo striker Brian Ching (rewarded for his five goals and three assists in 12 MLS games so far this season) and defender Carlos Bocanegra.

That means goalkeeper Brad Guzan and midfielder Sacha Kljestan of Chivas USA and the Galaxy's Landon Donovan all retain their places, as does Fontana's Maurice Edu.

Unfortunately, that also means AWOL striker Eddie Johnson retains his place, despite the U.S. failing to score in any of its last three games.

The full squad with caps and goals in parentheses: goalkeepers Dominic Cervi (out of contract: 0/0), Brad Guzan (Chivas USA: 0/0), Tim Howard (Everton FC: 3/2 SO); defenders Carlos Bocanegra (out of contract: 11/1), Dan Califf (FC Midtjylland: 1/0), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96: 14:0), Jay DeMerit (Watford FC: 0/0), Frankie Hejduk (Columbus Crew: 11/1), Oguchi Onyewu (Standard de Liege: 7/0), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock: 0/0); midfielders Freddy Adu (SL Benfica: 0/0), DaMarcus Beasley (Glasgow Rangers: 14/4), Michael Bradley (SC Heerenveen: 0/0), Maurice Edu (Toronto FC: 0/0), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA: 0/0), Eddie Lewis (Derby County: 17/2), Pablo Mastroeni (Colorado Rapids: 9/0); forwards Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo: 6/2), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy: 20/7), Clint Dempsey (Fulham FC: 7/0), Eddie Johnson (Fulham FC: 7/7).

Seven of the players on the roster started the last U.S. World Cup game two years ago against Ghana, but eight players have never played in a World Cup qualifier.

The team began training in Carson today.

Thoughts?

An unusual number of good one-liners today, especially from a happy Ruud Gullit who finds his team first in the West.

But in some respects the game bore a strong resemblance to a defeat given the poor second half performance.

"It was a crazy match for a coach," Gullit said. "The second half instead of being 4-0 up you make it difficult, unnecessary. ... We failed I think to close the game earlier.

"The thing is we won the game," he reminded himself. "I have a feeling I'm sitting here and we lost. We won the game."

David Beckham agreed:

"We made it difficult for ourselves because we stopped playing the ball around, we stopped keeping the ball. Being in the locker room there it was like we lost the game."

On the "fan" who ran onto the field, he said:

"I was slightly concerned when I first saw him running up because he didn't have a smile on his face and he wasn't wearing a Galaxy shirt."

Gullit singled out the forwards - and one in particular - for putting undue pressure on the team:

"The defense had nothing to do with it today because it had to do with what you do up front. Ruiz didn't hold one ball for us.

Gullit clearly would rather be sitting at home watching Euro 2008:

"It's a little bit odd for me to play while your players have international duties.It would have been nice for us to have a break.

But he had praise for Ely Allen and his game-winning goal.

"Ely has huge potential and I'm willing to get it out of him, I want to get it out of him and if he has a little bit of pepper up his arse..."

Gullit brushed aside the notion the referee only sent Erpen off because he saw the replay on the big screen saying that had no influence on his decision: "He wanted to talk with his linesman about it. And at the same moment he saw it on screen.

Ely Allen was clearly in a partying mood:

"I'm pretty excited. I haven't let it out. When I get home away from everyone I think it will be pretty crazy."

When asked for the address of the party he said: "Only if you bring the girls."

Game story.

Pitch invasion.

The Galaxy hung on to win 3-2, but this game was much closer than it should have been.

That was partly because Colorado belatedly discovered its offense in the second half - at one point late in the game the Rapids had out shot the Galaxy seven to one.

The Galaxy had looked to be heading for a comfortable win when Ely Allen scored his first MLS goal of his career just after the break, getting on the end of a Pete Vagenas through ball to make it 3-0.

The Rapids pulled back what at first blush appeared to be just a consolation goal in the 74th minute when Omar Cummings beat Sean Franklin down the left and slipped the ball to Colin Clark who scored from 18 yards when Abel Xavier capitulated fell over.

The second Colorado goal came nine minutes from the end of regulation, substitute Herculez Gomez poking home a free ball from a corner after Xavier had missed it, Cronin failed to corral it and everyone else stood around ball watching.

Incidentally, Beckham's bodyguard got involved in the game in the 85th minute when a kid ran on the field, hugged Becks, got nailed by Chris Klein and then was taken out when the bodyg