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Weekend Rewind

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Get caught up on the weekend's soccer in 60 seconds or less:
*The Galaxy had three shots on goal, scored on one of them and beat the MLS-leading Dynamo Sunday at Home Depot Center.

*Highlights:

*Heartbreak for the Americans in South Africa.

*Reaction:

*Mexico and Guatemala drew Sunday in San Diego in Gold Cup warmup.

*SuperLiga is over for Chivas USA.

*The Sol shine on.

Sunday Soccer

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Waiting for the Weekend

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A busy weekend of soccer with all three pro teams playing at home and the U.S. in the final of a FIFA competition for the first time:

10 a.m. Saturday - The runaway WPS-leading Sol plays its last weekend game of the season at the early hour at Home Depot Center against the Chicago Red Stars. There's a ticket special: two for $30 plus a Marta bobblehead and a $50 ESPN Zone game card. Call 1-877-4-SOL-TIX.

7 p.m. Saturday - Chicago must defeat Tigres Saturday and then Chivas USA must beat San Luis by at least two clear goals to advance in SuperLiga. Tickets start at $15. Call 1-877-CHIVAS-1 for tickets.

11 a.m. Sunday - Coverage begins on ESPN and Univision for the U.S. showdown with Brazil in the Confederations Cup final. BTW, the National Soccer Hall of Fame tweeted that the organization "is requesting a game ball from Sunday's championship match for display What else should we ask for?" What about a U.S. win?

7 p.m. Sunday - $1 beer, $1 dogs as the 2-3-9 Galaxy play the Western Conference leading Houston Dynamo in Carson. Call 1-877-3GALAXY for tickets.

In related news, the Galaxy's Landon Donovan has again been nominated for an ESPY.

So has the Sol's Marta. The current and three-time FIFA World Player of the Year is up against Russian pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva, Mexican golfer Lorena Ochoa, Australian swimmer Stephanie Rice and Russian tennis player Dinara Safina in the category of Best Female International Athlete. I'm told only ESPN's international viewers can vote in this one.

ESPN hands out the awards in July at the Nokia Theater at LA Live.

Chivas USA Acquire Former Galaxy Midfielder Harmse From Toronto

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Apparently South African-born Canadian Kevin Harmse was homesick - for Southern California.

Chivas USA acquired the 24-year-old defensive midfielder from Toronto today for allocation money.

"Kevin is a strong, technical player who can play in both midfield and defense," said Chivas USA Coach Preki. "We're excited to welcome him to the club and eager for him to contribute to our team."

Harmse played 17 games for the Galaxy in 2007 before joining Toronto last year.

"Kevin requested a move back to the U.S," said Toronto manager Mo Johnston. We tried very hard to hang on to him, but this move is what's best for Kevin right now."

He will join Chivas USA after he represents Canada at the Gold Cup, requiring the club to make a roster decision of some kind at that point, club officials said.

A somewhat surprising move from Chivas USA given that Paulo Nagamura is having a career season, but perhaps he's seen as a long-term replacement for veteran Jesse Marsch.

Chivas Chokes & the Spain Game

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Barring two super results Saturday Chivas USA is done with SuperLiga.

Highlights:

Prediction: SuperLiga will soon go the way of this tournament.

U.S.-Spain Confederations Cup preview.

The game starts at 11:25 a.m. today on ESPN.

The Week Ahead

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Just so we're all keeping track:

Tuesday
SuperLiga - Chivas USA at Chicago Fire 5 p.m. on TeleFutura in the second game of the tournament. Chivas USA were outplayed 2-1 game at Home Depot Center against Tigres last weekend. Chivas USA striker Eduardo Lillingston is suspended after his red card. Chicago beat San Luis 1-0 last weekend on a Brian McBride goal. A game preview from a Chicago perspective is here.

Online chat - Galaxy defender Gregg Berhalter chats with ESPN SportsNation at noon. Follow this link.

Wednesday
Confederations Cup Semifinal - U.S.-Spain 11:25 a.m. ESPN. No. 1 ranked Spain, undefeated in 35 games and on a 15-game winning streak. Ulp. Defender Carlos Bocanegro remains "questionable." Absolutely useless factoid from U.S. Soccer: Michael Bradley's goal against Egypt was the sixth of his career; that matches the total scored by Bert Patenaude. He had six goals in four appearances back in 1930, according to my MNT media guide; Bradley has played more than 25 games. Get your finger out, lad!

WPS - Sol (8-1-4) at St. Louis Athletica (4-4-2). The Sol are unbeaten in eight games, a sequence stretching back to May 2; Athletica have yet to score on the Sol in two games this season, a scoreless draw and a 2-0 loss at the HDC in April.

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Thursday
Confederations Cup semifinal - Brazil-South Africa 11:25 a.m. ESPN.

Saturday
WPS - Chicago Red Stars at Sol at 10 a.m. (!) at Home Depot Center. Deal of the week to soften the early hour: two tix, a Marta bobblehead and $50 ESPN Zone gamecard for $29.99. Call 1-877-4-SOLTIX. Quality bobblehead, BTW.

SuperLiga - Chivas USA -San Luis 7 p.m. at Home Depot Center.

Sunday
MLS - Best reason to attend the 7 p.m. Galaxy-Dynamo game at the HDC: $1 beers and $1 hot dogs before the game. Also, the first 10,000 fans get a free Galaxy Sinch Sack; the first 7,500 a free Galaxy Car Flag. The Dynamo are first in the West with an MLS-best 28 points; the Galaxy lost last time out to struggling San Jose. I'll have another hot dog, please. Weird fact: the Galaxy's current two-game losing streak is just the second in Bruce Arena's tenure with the Galaxy. ... Notable: Van Nuys' Tristan Bowen, the first player in MLS history to be signed by a club through the league's youth development initiative, made his MLS debut Saturday. The 18-year old forward is the fourth youngest player to ever play a game for the Galaxy; younger were Izzy Sesay, Memo Gonzalez and Quavas Kirk. Not good company.

Weekend Wrap

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Busy this weekend?

Get caught up here in 60 seconds (or less):

*The U.S. overcame staggering odds Sunday to see Italy suffer its biggest loss to Brazil in 33 years combined with the first American win ever over Egypt and improbably scoring three after only managing one in the tournament to that point. The no margin for error result: a semifinal berth in the Confederations Cup against Spain Wednesday. The world's No. 1 ranked team are unbeaten in 35 games.

*The Sol continued to shine Sunday.

*Chivas USA tanked against Tigres in SuperLiga Saturday.

*The Galaxy crumbled Saturday against the Earthquakes.

SuperLiga Update: Tigres at Chivas USA

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Chivas USA 1 Tigres 2

Chivas USA defender Mariano Trujillo got caught in possession in the 82nd minute, coughed up the ball and Jesus Duena stabbed it home from short range after an initial shot by Alan Pulido was parried by Zach Thornton.

Attendance tonight: 11,197.

Final: Galaxy at San Jose Earthquakes

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Earthquakes 2 Galaxy 1

The Galaxy (2-3-9) took one shot on goal and scored. It was well-worked: a Mike Magee free kick was headed on by Alan Gordan and met by a ghosting Jovan Jirovski.

But Earthquakes goalkeeper Joe Cannon wasn't forced into making a single save the rest of the way. And the Galaxy continue to generously give struggling opponents a boost. The Earthquakes move to 3-8-3.

Central defender Gregg Berhalter was to blame for the early first goal holding Pablo Campos to give up the PK.

Let's recap: Former Pasadena City College star Yura Movsisyan completely turned Gregg Berhalter inside the penalty area last week to score Real Salt Lake's first goal in their road win; Berhalter was sent off against the Wizards for holding Claudio Lopez just outside the box as the last man back; he was sent off in similar circumstances on his Galaxy debut against Chivas USA.

Anyone sense a pattern?

Highlights:

Galaxy, Chivas USA Soccer Saturday Gameday & Gold Cup Rosters Announced

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The 2-2-9 Galaxy face the similarly struggling 2-8-3 Earthquakes at 1:30 p.m. today on ESPN2, the start of a seven-game stretch that sees LA play five matches on the road. The Galaxy, seeking to rebound from last week's 2-0 home loss to Real Salt Lake, are without the suspended Eddie Lewis, while Landon Donovan is on national team duty.

More from an Earthquakes perspective is here.

BTW, the Galaxy and Earthquakes have both scored just 15 goals this season (only the Red Bulls have scored fewer), but the Earthquakes have conceded 10 more than LA. Can Edson Buddle and the Galaxy take advantage of that on the road?

Chivas USA, meanwhile, embark on their SuperLiga campaign at Home Depot Center against Tigres. The game kicks off at 7 p.m. live on KFTR.

Game notes here.

CONCACAF has released the 30-player rosters for the Gold Cup.

Here's the U.S. roster.

The Galaxy's Landon Donovan is absent, but Chivas USA Jonathan Bornstein is named as are Southern California products John Thorrington and Robbie Rogers. The most unfamiliar name: Aston Villa's Eric Lichaj.

Chivas USA was named to Canada's squad, BTW, and while we're at it here's Mexico's roster.

I'll blog from the Chivas USA game tonight, so please join me then.

Blatter Blathers on MLS

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MLS has responded to the latest pontificating by the FIFA boss. In case you missed it, here it is:

PRETORIA, South Africa - (AP) FIFA president Sepp Blatter renewed his call for Major League Soccer to adopt an August-May schedule, saying it will struggle to persuade more star players to follow David Beckham to the United States unless it matches its season to those in Europe.

Blatter said that the current March-October season was the overwhelming reason that MLS cannot compete with Europe's top leagues.

"There is one big problem there and they know, the organizers know, that as long as you don't have your own stadia in the MLS, you have to use stadia from another sport, which is American football," Blatter said. "With the season played from March to October, you are not in the so-called good international season. The result is that you will not attract star players from Europe to play for only six or seven months, with the exceptional case of Beckham."

Beckham joined the Los Angeles Galaxy from Real Madrid in July 2007 but was loaned to AC Milan from January through the end of the Italian season last month to better his chances of maintaining a spot on England's national team.

Beckham is set to rejoin the Galaxy for its July 16 game at the New York Red Bulls.

Citing that 17 of the U.S. Confederations Cup players are based outside the U.S., Blatter said Beckham is likely to be MLS's sole star import for the foreseeable future.

"Your best players play in Europe," Blatter said. "You take your 23 players here and most of them play in Europe, so this is not the right solution for MLS."

MLS commissioner Don Garber agrees with Blatter in theory. By next season, 12 of the 16 teams will control their own venues, all but Washington's RFK Stadium, Houston's Robertson Stadium, Kansas City's Community America Ballpark and San Jose's Buck Shaw Stadium.

"We regularly evaluate all aspects of our competition, including the timing and format of our season," Garber said in a statement. "Because of the extreme winter weather in many of our markets in the U.S. and Canada, a switch to the international calendar would pose many challenges for MLS and its fans. I am convinced that the time will come when we do adapt to the international calendar. I just don't believe that time is in the foreseeable future."

Soccer's governing body demanded that the United States create a national league as one of its conditions for awarding the country the right to host the 1994 World Cup. The MLS began in 1996 and Blatter said organizers had long been aware of the problems regarding the clash in calendars.

MLS routinely schedules matches on international fixture dates.

"They have to play and adapt themselves to the international calendar," Blatter said. "If they do that, they can have success. I spoke several times and I spoke on this 10 years ago when I was still secretary general and nothing has changed in the USA.


Thoughts: I vote we give Blatter a ball in Toronto in February and see how long it takes for him to break a foot as he kicks the frozen thing around.

Hmmm, Brazil's best players are in Europe. Really hurt their national team hasn't it?

He's right about the stupidity of MLS playing on international fixture dates though. (Only Don Garber could make Blatter sound relatively intelligent).

What do you think?

Waiting for the Weekend & the Galaxy Curse Continues

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The games that matter:

1:30 p.m. Saturday ESPN2 Galaxy at San Jose Earthquakes
5 p.m. Saturday KFTR San Luis at Chicago Fire
7 p.m. Saturday Tigres at Chivas USA
11 a.m. Sunday ESPN Brazil-Italy
11:25 a.m. Sunday ESPN2 Egypt-U.S.
3 p.m. Sunday Fox Soccer Channel FC Gold Pride at Sol

Meanwhile, the Galaxy tradition of shipping out apparently subpar players only to see them become reborn elsewhere continues in Portland with former goalkeeper Steve Cronin and in the nation's capital where Josh Wicks is supplanting Louis Crayton.

But former Chivas USA midfielder Panchito Mendoza has seen his time at the mothership come to an end.

Tuesday's Column: The Game Glut

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Hollywood Hitmen. Coldplay. Ballack. SuperLiga. Fireworks. Canada. Messi. NBA.

A FourFourTwo magazine spineline stumper? No, today's column.

BTW, more info on the July 4 game at the Coliseum is here.

And here's the official SuperLiga Web site.

Final: Chivas USA at Columbus Crew

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Crew 2 Chivas USA 1

Chivas USA (8-4-3) have one MLS win in six games going into SuperLiga; surging Columbus now haven't lost in nine games.

Notable: Chivas USA are tied with the Dyanmo for the lead in the Western Conference; Houston has two games in hand.

Quotable:

"We don't want to make any excuses but for whatever reason, we ran out of gas," said Chivas USA Coach Preki. "I'm surprised in the first goal that they got off a goal kick. It's the second time we concede a goal off a goal kick ... first in Houston. It's the exact same play. So it's disappointing ... It happens in soccer, it's a fast game, you got to think fast, react fast, and we certainly didn't react fast"

Chivas USA now has three consecutive Super Liga games beginning Saturday against Tigres.

Box score.

Game basics.

Chivas USA Sunday Gameday

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Houston have caught faltering Chivas USA in the Western Conference standings, but the Goats can reclaim the lead with a point on the road at noon in Columbus.

Brief game preview.

The statistical approach.

The game is live on Prime.

About 100 Percent Soccer


Sportswriter Nick Green has written the 100 Percent Soccer column since 2005 for the Daily News, Daily Breeze and other Los Angeles area newspapers. The blog of the same name began in 2007. A native of England, he began writing about soccer in the mid-1980s and in 2000 permanently exchanged a seat in the stands for one in the press box. He lives six miles from Carson's Home Depot Center, home of the Los Angeles Galaxy, Chivas USA and the training headquarters for U.S. Soccer and is married to a long-suffering soccer widow. Join Nick on FaceBook and follow him on Twitter.

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