Recently in International Soccer Category

I previewed Wednesday's Chivas USA-CD Guadalajara game Wednesday at the Rose Bowl. Read the column here.

BTW, two Chivas USA players - Gerson Mayen and Jorge Flores - won't play because they, along with UCLA goalkeeper Brian Perk and midfielder Michael Stevens, are in Egypt preparing for the FIFA Under-20 World Cup that starts Thursday.

ESPN will show all 52 games from the tournament, most on ESPN 360.com.

All three of the U.S. group games will be on TV, however:

*6:55 a.m. Saturday ESPN Classic U.S.-Germany
*9:40 a.m. Tuesday ESPN2 U.S.-Cameroon
*9:40 a.m. Oct. 2 ESPN2 U.S.-Korea

ESPN will also show the final Oct. 16.

A tournament preview is here.

Eurosnobs and assorted critics (like this one) often wish MLS would open its wallet a little more to attract better players and improve the quality of play.

Well, a fiscally conservative approach has its benefits as this story below out of Europe today confirms. Put this one in the careful what you wish for department.

BRUSSELS (AP) -- Almost a quarter of Europe's top division soccer clubs reported major financial losses last year, UEFA said Thursday, with a third of the teams in the rich and successful English Premier League losing at least 20 percent of income.

UEFA secretary general David Taylor warned a conference on financial responsibility in sport that more red ink is expected this year as leagues feel the full weight of the sputtering global economy.

Of the top leagues in the world, the Premier League was by far in the worst position when it came to the number of clubs with major losses. Only Romania, Ukraine, the Czech Republic and Poland had more clubs losing money among Europe's 53 federations.

Italy was in 15th position on the 2008 club losses list, with Spain ranked 35th and France and Germany among those in the best financial shape.

Across Europe, barely half of teams break even or make a profit, UEFA reported.

The financial problems come despite income that's tripled for clubs since 1997, largely
through marketing and media revenue.

The problem is costs are rising, too. For instance, while income rose 5 percent last year, player costs increased 9 percent.

"The huge spending on players produces constantly an inflationary effect with consequences on the whole club football movement," Taylor said.

On top of that, "the current financial crisis has exacerbated the situation."

This offseason alone, Real Madrid and Manchester City combined to spend more than $487 million on new talent.

In an attempt to contain such massive spending, UEFA has imposed new rules for clubs to break even on soccer-related businesses by 2012 or be stripped of their licenses. The governing body of European soccer appointed former Belgian Prime Minister Jean-Luc Dehaene to lead its campaign to control excessive spending.

On Thursday, the European Union, often at loggerheads with soccer when it comes to imposing sports-specific rules, embraced UEFA's efforts.

"I welcome and support these," EU Sports Commissioner Jan Figel said. "I look forward to the implementation."

Taylor said the system will teach leading clubs to compete for European titles with their
revenues instead of their debt, and to protect the long-term future of the sport. UEFA's
financial fair play policy has also been endorsed by most club owners.

Early this week, the Premier League also announced a new financial plan to regulate its 20 clubs. The league will take temporary control of clubs that run into financial problems and ban them from buying players or raising salaries. Clubs will have to submit accounts each March to ensure they can begin the next season in August.

It's hot, a long, lazy Labor Day weekend approaches and I'm feeling about as motivated as Carlos Ruiz in his second Galaxy stint.

The Galaxy and Chivas USA both have the weekend off, but an important World Cup qualifying weekend looms nonetheless and the Home Depot Center won't be completely devoid of activity..

Here's what else is happening:

*FIFA has released its new monthly rankings today with Mexico rising fast after the win over the U.S., although the Americans remain tops in CONCACAF.

*Here's the current CONCACAF WCQ standings and schedule ahead of this week's games.

*The Galaxy's Landon Donovan and Chivas USA's Jonathan Bornstein are in Utah where the U.S. plays El Savador Saturday (5 p.m. ESPN Classic) and then flies to Trinidad & Tobago for a second World Cup qualifier Wednesday (4 p.m. ESPN Classic). New Galaxy midfielder Chris Birchall is in the squad for T&T squad, which also plays Honduras Saturday. Update from the Galaxy blog (which also has good news about Edson Buddle and Sean Franklin: "Chris Birchall was removed from the Trinidad and Tobago squad for their upcoming qualifiers in Honduras and at home to the U.S. because of nagging hamstring injury that was exacerbated over the weekend. He has elected to remain in Los Angeles to get treatment from the Galaxy training staff in an attempt to be ready to play against FC Dallas on the 12th."

*David Beckham is on national team duty for England, which plays a friendly against Slovenia Saturday (9:30 a.m. Fox Soccer Channel) and a WCQ against Croatia Wednesday. An England win would clinch a spot in South Africa.

*Closer to home, the Cal State Dominguez Hills men and women both won Tuesday, while the Cal State Northridge men lost 2-0 to San Diego in their season opener.

*Finally, former Galaxy coach Sigi Schmid and his Seattle Sounders clash with D.C. United today in the final of the oft-overlooked U.S. Open Cup (4:30 p.m. FSC) where both teams have exchanged opposing views on who should host the game, never mind win it. Hey, this is a tournament that needs all the heightened awareness/trash-talking/controversy it can get.

Relief for Mexican coach Javier Aguirre after Israel Castro's tying goal against the U.S. (AP Photo).

A valiant U.S. effort fell about eight minutes short today against Mexico. In large measure, the U.S. ran out of gas in a territorial game they mainly ceded to Mexico in a bid to survive the conditions.

BTW, does anybody know if they've launched a search and rescue effort for missing U.S. midfielder Michael Bradley?

Here are the CONCACAF standings and the other result today in the region.

Here are all the World Cup qualifying results.

Meanwhile, a "pedestrian" David Beckham was replaced at the half of England's draw with the Netherlands.

Another busy weekend of soccer begins this afternoon at 4:30 p.m. when Real Madrid plays Toronto (live on ESPN) and at the same time the Pali Blues take on the Washington Freedom (live on Fox Soccer Channel).

Both the Galaxy and Chivas USA are out of town this weekend, but does that mean no live soccer locally?

Not at all.

The Ventura County Fusion and Chicago Fire Premier play for the PDL title at 7 p.m. Saturday at Ventura High.

If you haven't been to Ventura in a while, I recommend you make a day of it. There's tons to do in the area, downtown Ventura is a great place to shop or grab a bite and as an added bonus the Ventura County Fair is going on very near Ventura High.

I'm taking my own advice and I'll be sitting in the stands with friends and family for the Fusion game, so give a shout-out if you see me.

Clarification: The game is at Buena High School (5670 Telegraph Rd., Ventura) not the high school on Main in midtown.

Click on the link to the right for a full slate of games, but here's the ones I recommend in addition to those already mentioned:

*3 p.m. Saturday FSC Galaxy at New England
*6:30 p.m. Saturday Fox Sports Net Chivas USA at Colorado Rapids
*8 p.m. Saturday FSC CD Guadalajara-Barcelona

*7 a.m. Sunday FSC Chelsea-Manchester United in the Community Shield
*Noon Sunday FSC Real Madrid at DC United
*3 p.m. Sunday FSC Sol at Boston Breakers

Have a great weekend.

Needed: more fans in L.A. like these (still cheering on Seattle in the waning moments of Wednesday's game even with the Sounders dead and buried at 4-0). (AP Photo)As I lined up to take the shuttle bus at the Rose Bowl after last Saturday's Galaxy-Barcelona exhibition game, I chatted with three teenage fans about their experience.

The trio were Galaxy fans and often attended games at Home Depot Center.

But on this night - just for one evening they insisted - they were Barcelona fans, their bare chests daubed in the club's colors and carrying flags signifying their allegiance.

The conversation became more striking after seeing the frenzied 67,000 in attendance Wednesday night in Seattle for the Sounders game against the European champions.

Many came to see visiting Barcelona, but they were cheering for the home Sounders.

"They were amazing," French striker Thierry Henry, who seems likely to join MLS after his career with Barca winds down, told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. "It reminded me of Europe. They were really cheering for the Sounders. We were definitely the away team.

"It's a tremendous atmosphere. They made it difficult for us in the first half."

In contrast, Barca fans easily outnumbered Galaxy supporters among the 93,000-plus in attendance at the Rose Bowl.

Why the difference?

After seeing the fanaticism in Seattle first hand earlier this season it was something I anticipated and asked MLS Commissioner Don Garber, who on Tuesday marked his 10th year guiding the league's business fortunes, about at the half of Saturday's game:

"I don't think there's any one reason," he said. "It's a perfect storm of a lot of things that have worked - branding, the right team on the field, the right stadium environment, the right sort of authenticity that exists from start to finish and there was a lot of pent-up demand - there's not a lot of competition in that market. But I feel good that we're moving in the right direction in almost every one of our markets."

Perhaps, but it makes me - and other journalists - wonder about the long-term effect this summer of soccer with its incredible attendances ultimately means for MLS.

Thanks to the Riot Squad and Angel City Brigade, the Galaxy certainly has that kind of support. There's just not as many of them as in Seattle. Even the rank and file supporters in Seattle outside of hard-core fan groups certainly look and sound more into soccer than their counterparts among the affluent/celebrity crowd that appear to populate the stadium at Galaxy games. And their loyalty to the Sounders is more unwavering than that of Galaxy fans apparently.

Is their hope Southern California fans will eventually match the fanaticism of those in the Pacific Northwest in similar numbers? Will that "authenticity" Garber spoke about ever exist here?

Garber again:

"Two years ago we didn't have the L.A. Riot Squad and have the Galaxians (I'm guessing he really means the Angel City Brigade here) like they are now either so the sport is slowly building up its core. The international following has sort of taken off with incredible, incredible speed, faster than we thought it would. This summer of soccer has attracted almost two million spectators, many of those games are games that we've promoted and most of those games have been against our teams. So if we can start participating against those teams like we are now and playing somewhat (evenly with them) then I think slowly that core fan base is going to grow and then you'll start seeing some of that core fan base transfer over."

Well, I hope he's right, but I'm not convinced, especially here in LA.

Still, Garber pointed to the recent furor over David Beckham as proof that more and more people are feeling passionately about the Galaxy as opposed to the visiting European team:

"He creates drama every one of our fans go to expect. The opposite of love isn't hate, it's indifference. And we have people now that care about what goes on on our fields and I'd rather deal with people having challenges and issues with some of the things that take place on the field than not care at all. ... It's been one of the biggest stories in professional sports right around the world and that's a good thing for Major League Soccer."

Many of you who read this blog I would consider hard-core fans. What do you think about Garber's comments? Will we ever see fans cheering for the Galaxy or Chivas USA with the kind of enthusiasm (and in the numbers) seen in Seattle? Sound off in the comments section below.

Midweek seems an apt time to touch on a few things I've overlooked:

*The Sounders play Barcelona at 7:30 tonight in Seattle on ESPN2. It will be interesting to see who that usually delirious crowd will predominantly be rooting for - the home team or the European champions. More here.

Here's Barcelona's Lionel Messi doing a little ball juggling atop the 605-foot-high Space Needle ahead of the game.Photo courtesy FC Barcelona/Sounders FC/SUM

*Earlier this evening the Chicago Fire meets Tigres in the SuperLiga final that begins at 5 p.m. on Fox Soccer Channel.

*Speaking of the Fire, their PDL team will contest the title at 7 p.m. Saturday against the Ventura County Fusion at Ventura High on Main Street. With the Galaxy and Chivas USA out of town this weekend I plan to attend the game (as a fan). More details and a special ticket deal here.

*Meanwhile, a night earlier the Pali Blues plays in the W-League championship against the Freedom in Washington. That game can be seen live at 4:30 p.m. on Fox Soccer Channel.

*Belated condolences BTW to Coach Brian Boswell and his Rolling Hills Estates-based Ajax America who fell 1-0 to the Long Island Fury last weekend in New York in the Women's Premier Soccer League final after posting an excellent 15-2-1 record on the season.

*In other women's soccer news, Long Beach State, winners of the last three Big West title have been picked to finish second this year in a preseason coache's poll. Cal State Northridge were picked to finish fifth.

*Former UCLA and Galaxy player Zak Ibsen (who played 50 games for the Galaxy over two seasons ending in 2000) detailed his descent into crystal meth addiction for the New York Times' Goal blog.

*Finally, fellow blogger Steve Davis explains why he doesn't hate Crew midfielder Robbie Rogers of Rolling Hills Estates.

Saturday's Galaxy-Barcelona game represented the latest installment of the rich soccer history at the Rose Bowl.

Look familiar? The Rose Bowl awaits soccer Galaxy fans Saturday for the first time since 2002.

The line forms:

Now you (don't) see them:

Now you do:

Galaxy 1 Barcelona 2

But really, on this night, the score was irrelevant.

After all this was a friendly - just look at these best pals after David Beckham scored. (AP Photos).

Barca were wonderful to behold - their movement, positioning, passing. There was a typically stunning Beckham goal from a free kick. And this was a genuinely massive crowd, too, (it really filled in) that at 93,137 was the biggest to see a soccer game in the U.S. since the 1994 World Cup.

Let's not kid ourselves: this was arguably the world's best team against one that hadn't made the MLS playoffs in three years. The gulf in class - even if Barcelona played two entirely different teams in each half at this early stage of their preseason - was obvious.

Key stat: Barcelona finished with nine shots on goal; the Galaxy had just three.

"Barcelona is a fantastic team," said Galaxy Coach Bruce Arena. "I was happy we played them August 1 and not October 1st or November 1st. For us, the definition of speed of play came into full effect tonight. Some of our players that have not been in games like this were overwhelmed in the early going, but second half we played better."

Barca could have had three or more goals, but the Galaxy had goal line clearances, bounces that went their way and moves that didn't come off for their rusty opponent.

But this was a fun evening given the buzzing crowd and the privilege of watching at team like Barcelona.

Lionel Messi was a joy to watch in the first half as he orchestrated attacks, like the one below against Tony Sanneh.

Barca's Thierry Henry had a great second half battle against right back A.J. DeLaGarza (that's the two of them tussling below, although I don't think A.J. was trying to call a cab to keep up with him). DeLaGarza acquitted himself well against the former Arsenal star (although it looks to me like the Frenchman has lost a bit of pace).

"Henri was a handful for him in the second half," Arena said of DeLagarza. "But for a young kid in his first year of professional soccer and to play with the kind of confidence he exhibited, I thought was fantastic. I was really pleased with our two young defenders (Omar) Gonzalez and DeLaGarza."

Still, Henri created the best chance of the second half that didn't result in a goal, when he froze DeLaGarza and Jeffren Suarez almost snuck one in at the near post.

More later.

Game story.

Galaxy midfielder Stefani Miglioranzi sounded dazzled by the whole thing:

"It was a tremendous experience, what a team they are, first of all let me say that. A lot of times I caught myself watching as an extra spectator. I shouldn't admit to that, but how can you help it, you know, they're such a great team."

Here's Miglioranzi on Barcelona's domination in the first half:

"We were a little confused about how to face them. Our game plan was to just sit back in a nice defensive block and counter when we could, but we weren't moving to spots to get the ball back quickly enough and when you're facing a team of that quality if they can come up with a bit of space they exploit it and they come up with a couple of chances I think we could have prevented."

Highlights:

Galaxy 1 Barcelona 2

Barca retook the lead in the 67th minute when substitute Sergio Busquets threaded the ball through to Jeffren Suarez, who full back Todd Dunivant had clearly lost track of.

BTW, Barca started an entirely new lineup at the break (Messi is out, for instance).

Full details.

Galaxy 1 Barcelona 1

A trademark David Beckham free kick that curled into the top left hand corner of the net almost on the strike of half time evened the score after Landon Donovan was brought down by substitute Adriano Henrique.

Barca had the better of the half, but despite the best efforts of Lionel Messi couldn't find a way to score a second.

Todd Dunivant cleared off the line in the 38th minute though; prior to the Galaxy goal he also had the best chance of the half for L.A., sending a header inches over the bar at the half hour mark.

Galaxy 0 Barcelona 1

That didn't take long - and looked painfully familiar

Galaxy goalkeeper Josh Saunders failed to hold Rodriguez Ledesma's initial 11th minute shot from just inside the box, the ball fell to Lionel Messi who saw another shot cleared off the line, but Rodriguez Ledesma again picked up the rebound to score.

Former Real Madrid star Beckham is getting booed every time he touches the ball from Galaxy fans and (one assumes) fans of Real's arch rival.

It's just after 6:20 p.m. here at the Rose Bowl and the crowd is beginning to filter in.

I took a ride over here on the free shuttle from Old Town and it was incredibly fast and easy; parking spots were available within just a couple of blocks for all of $5, so I recommend that option for those of you still planning to head to the game (shuttle details are in this morning's post - click on arrive early!). They forecast 55,000 fans will take the shuttle buses.

The crowd looks to be about 50:50 Galaxy-Barcelona fans and the party atmosphere outside the stadium is reminiscent of a big Galaxy game pre-2002. (They're giving the pitch a good watering right now, BTW). And, yeah, it's hot.

A little team news: I'm told the Galaxy will play 4-5-1 with Jovan Kirovski starting up front (!). We'll see if that's accurate when they hand out the lineups in an hour or so.

Edson Buddle (right foot strain), Alecko Eskandarian (broken nose) and goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts (who didn't train all week after hitting the post in the AC Milan friendly) as well as long-term absentees Sean Franklin and Julian Valentin, will all miss the game through injury.

Midfielder Dema Kovalenko, however, is expected to play tonight for the first time in six weeks.

BTW, central defender Gregg Berhalter turns 36 years old today; let's hope he doesn't drag down a speedy Barca forward and gets sent off for a third time this season.

MLS Commish Don Garber is here and will chat with the media at the half. Anyone got any questions for him?

Back later with lineups.

Updated: The Galaxy are out warming up (accompanied by a mix of boos and cheers as they entered the field) and will indeed play a 4-5-1 formation: Josh Saunders, A.J. DeLagarza, Omar Gonzalez, Tony Sanneh, Todd Dunivant, Landon Donovan, David Beckham, Chris Birchall, Stefani Miglioranzi, Eddie Lewis, Jovan Kirovski.

Options off the bench include: Gregg Berhalter, Alan Gordon, Bryan Jordan, Chris Klein, Dema Kovalenko and Mike Magee.

Barcelona (4-3-3): Jose Manuel Pinto, Marc Muniesa, Rafael Marquez, Maxwell Andrade, Daniel Alves, Seydou Keita, Toure Yaya, Jonathan Dos Santos, Lionel Messi, Bojan Krkic, Pedro Rodriguez Ledesma.

Among those on the bench are Carlos Puyol, Xavi Hernandez, Eidur Gudjohnsen and Thierry Henry

Updated: Barcelona received a much bigger cheer than the Galaxy when they entered the field to warm up. Despite my earlier comment, this is not an evenly split crowd - many more Barca replica jerseys can be seen than those wearing Galaxy gear.

I'm told the announced 82,000 crowd for the Chelsea-Inter Milan game was probably 10,000-15,000 fewer than that; a press box colleague who was at that game said the crowd here looks lighter than that.

A gaggle of former Galaxy players are on the field prior to kickoff including Dan Calichman, Mauricio Cienfuegos, Cobi Jones, Jorge Salcedo and Harut Karapetyan.

Nice moment of silence before the game for former Barca coach Bobby Robson (and Ipswich, England, etc.) who died of cancer earlier in the week.

FC Barcelona poses for a team photo in Hollywood Thursday at the opening of a rooftop soccer facility at The Montalban Theater that's part of a partnership between Nike and the LA84 Foundation to build or refurbish playgrounds throughout Los Angeles. (Photo by Susan Goldman courtesy of Nike).

The first Galaxy game at the Rose Bowl in seven years will see the team play Barcelona and stars such as Lionel Messi and Thierry Henry, but not injured new signing Zlatan Ibrahimovic at 8 o'clock tonight.

Tickets are still available, but if there's one lesson to be learned from seeing a game at the Rose Bowl it's this: arrive early!

Season ticket holders got a sneak peek Friday night, but for most of you remember, the game is live on Fox Soccer Channel.

I'll blog from the game tonight as usual.

"It's Called Football" is a Canadian podcast out of Toronto.

I've been on the show three times and despite the feeling I get more incomprehensible every time they keep asking me back.

This is their MLS mid-season show and I'm on babbling about Alecko Eskandarian, the Galaxy and David Beckham. And in that order, too.

Here's the link.

Before I forget here's the Barcelona roster for their three-game U.S. tour including Saturday's game against the Galaxy at the Rose Bowl (BTW, I don't think any of their practices are open to the public and the media are being asked not to reveal the locations anyway):

GOALKEEPERS - Albert Jorquera, Jose Manuel Pinto, Victor Valdés

DEFENDERS - Eric Abidal (FRA), Maxwell Andrade (BRA), Henrique Adriano (BRA), Daniel Alves (BRA), Rafael Márquez (MEX), Gerard Piqué, Carles Puyol, Víctor Sanchez, Marc Muniesa, Andreu Fontás

MIDFIELDERS - Sergio Busquets, Xavi Hernández, Andres Iniesta, Pedro Rodriguez, Victor Sanchez, Seydou Keita (MLI), Toure Yaya (CIV), Jonathan Dos Santos (MEX)

FORWARDS - Eidur Gudjohnsen (ICE), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (SWE), Thierry Henry (FRA), Bojan Krkic, Lionel Messi (ARG), Jeffrén Suárez.

(Nationalities of players are Spanish unless otherwise).

Barcelona has arrived in Los Angeles.