Major League Soccer: September 2008 Archives

Here are the results that mattered Saturday for Chivas USA:
Chivas USA 2 Kansas City Wizards 1
Houston Dynamo 1 Toronto FC 1
Colorado Rapids 5 Red Bull New York 4
Real Salt Lake 3 San Jose Earthquakes 2
Dallas plays D.C. United at noon Sunday
(Just for the sake of completeness, Sigi Schmid's Columbus Crew beat the New England Revolution, 1-0, and lead the league. Let's hope he doesn't get fired)

Here's how the Western Conference shakes out so far in the 30-game season:

Team GP PTS
Houston Dynamo 25 40
Chivas USA 26 36
Colorado Rapids 26 34
Real Salt Lake 26 34
FC Dallas 25 30
Los Angeles Galaxy 26 29
San Jose Earthquakes 25 29

Of the last four regular season Chivas USA games left, the next two are on the road (Saturday at D.C. United, Oct. 11 at the San Jose Earthquakes) and the last two at home (Oct. 19 vs. the Colorado Rapids, Oct. 25 vs. the Houston Dynamo).

Game story.

Just to expand on what eagle-eyed beat reporter Phil Collin noted in his gamer: Victorine spells his first name "Sasha," while Kljestan spells his "Sacha;" for some reason both were spelled the way Mr. Klejstan spells his name over both players' lockers. (I empathize with the locker room staff, BTW; you just know this reporter and others are likely to make the same mistake).

Quotable:
Peki on the team effort:

"I give my guys an incredible amount of credit. Because they fought and they're fighting the whole year. They deserve what they're getting. They put themselves in a good position. Hopefully we'll take care of the business in the rest of the season.

On Sasha Victorine:

"He fits good in our system. He plays the ball on the ground. He sees things around him. He's a smart soccer player. He can score goals. He's good on set pieces. You could see in the 72nd minute he starts cramping, but he stuck to it. He has a good mentality that fits our group."

Notable:
*Striker Maykel Galindo was pleased to get his first minutes since mid-July when he came on as a 77th minute sub for Alecko Eskandarian.

"Little by little I'll keep improving and hopefully I'll be fine for the end of the season," he said. "I feel a little bit of pain, but I think it's (from) the surgery I had."

*Striker Alecko Eskandarian, who now has two goals in two straight games ("a streak," insisted the scribe seeking an angle next to me in the press box) sounded relieved he's continuing to work his way back into match fitness:

"I'm just very happy to be back playing. At the end of the day it was very, very frustrating to go through what I went through: six months of not knowing what was wrong with me and then doctors couldn't find what was wrong with me and me questioning myself. And then finally with the exploratory surgery finding that my groin was torn. When they fixed that it was a huge weight off my shoulders. I put it all behind me and focused on salvaging the season and really trying to help my teammates. A lot of the guys, since I'm new here, didn't know what I could bring to the team or if I could contribute so every day I've just been fighting for the respect of my teammates and seeing if I can help this team.

"I feel better every day. Obviously I'm not 100 percent and my fitness still needs work, my touches, my sharpness. When you're out for so long you take for granted the little good habits you need to get into."

Highlights:

Finally, the Chivas USA reserves play a make-up game 10 a.m. today (Sunday) against the Galaxy reserves on Field 4 at Home Depot Center. Originally scheduled for Aug. 15, the game was postponed due to injuries and international call-ups. The Chivas USA reserves are coming off a 3-1 loss against Real Salt Lake on Sunday, which gave them a 1-3-3 record.

I had a pretty good conversation with Sasha Victorine after the game, too, and I'll post that Sunday.

It's the Sasha and Sacha show at Home Depot Center where Chivas USA is leading the Wizards 2-0.

Sacha Kljestan has an assist, while Sasha Victorine has an assist and added the soaring second goal on his first start for Chivas USA that comes against his old club.

Ante Razov created the first in the 26th minutes, sending a telling pass that pierced a flat Wizards defense allowing Victorine to get behind it on the left wing and cutting a ball back that was met by Alecko Eskandarian from about seven yards out. It was his second goal in two games.

The second came in second half stoppage time, Kljestan passing to Atiba Harris, who made a deft touch to set up Victorine's handsome effort from 19 yards out.

But Chivas USA's injury woes continue, Razov coming out with a likely calf problem after just half an hour. Justin Braun replaced him.

The lone striker left on the bench, Maykel Galindo, who is struggling to recover from sports hernia surgery, is warming up. Incidentally, Roberto Nurse, largely ineffective since signing from a Mexican team, isn't even on the bench.

Chivas USA finished the half with eight shots to the Wizards' two, who haven't managed to hit the target.

NPR is in the building this evening preparing a story on Jorge Flores and tabbed your truly for a quick interview, so I'm a little late with the lineups.

The night's important numbers: the Wizards have won just once on the road this season and and Colorado's 5-4 win over the Red Bulls earlier today means Chivas USA is third in the table and seven points behind Western Conference leaders Houston, which drew 1-1 with Toronto.

Dan Kennedy continues in goal for Chivas USA, while there are two changes in the back line with Carey Talley and Jonathan Bornstein both out with concussions. Alex Zotinca returns for his first game of the season after suffering a long-term knee injury and Panchito Mendoza moves from midfield to defense alongside regulars Claudio Suarez and Shavar Thomas.

In midfield, Sasha Victorine gets his first start against the club that just traded him to Chivas USA, Jesse Marsch gets his first start after returning from a jaw fracture, while Atiba Harris and Sacha Kljestan complete the midfield.

Up front it's Alecko Eskandarian and Ante Razov.

Maykel Galindo is on the bench.

The Wizards start former Galaxy goalkeeper Kevin Hartman, while Herculez Gomez resurfaces in Kansas City, too, after his recent trade from the Rapids and starts in midfield.

In attack for the Wizards - Abe Thompson and Josh Wolff.

The game is on Fox Soccer Channel.

In their quest for a fan base, Chivas USA has never met a promotion club officials didn't like (the Mexican-oriented club even had an Armenian night earlier this season) and tonight is Manhattan Beach Night.

Given the city's connections with soccer this makes a modicum of sense (former Galaxy coach Sigi Schmid, Galaxy playmaker Landon Donovan, U.S. National Team Coach - and former Chivas USA Coach - Bob Bradley all live there, while new Galaxy Coach Bruce Arena has said he intends to move there).

While most Chivas USA fans simply hope the team beats the Kansas City Wizards tonight (7:30 Fox Soccer Channel) and continues its playoff push, it's bonus night for residents of Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach and Redondo Beach.

Residents of those communities qualify for $4 off a prime seat at midfield ($32) and $3 off one behind the goals ($15) and get a free Chivas USA hat to boot. The first 200 fans who buy a ticket will attend a meet and greet with Chivas USA holding midfielder (and Manhattan Beach resident) Jesse Marsch as well as defender Jim Curtin who lives on the border of Manhattan and Hermosa. Call Chivas USA ticket rep Mike Gratten at 310-630-4599 to get in on the action.

MB Mayor Richard Montgomery (a nice guy and soccer fan as it turns out) will conduct the pre-game coin toss and a five-minute film about the city will air on the stadium's big screen. About 1,300 MB kids play soccer, according to the mayor, and they are invited to parade across the field before the game.

The Daily Breeze wrote about Marsch (one of the game's nice guys as long as you don't have to play against him) when the brat-eating Wisconsin boy moved to MB a couple of years ago. Here's writer Bob Holtzman's October 2006 story on his change of lifestyle:

Jesse Marsch carried his surfboard away from the water and through the sands of Manhattan Beach and gazed up at the homes of the beachside town.

It was more than 10 years ago and Marsch dreamed about watching the sun set every night across the Pacific Ocean.

The Chivas USA midfielder retold this story last week from his home on The Strand, sitting on his patio, looking down at the water and beach.

The native Midwesterner has adjusted well to the South Bay lifestyle, welcoming visitors into his home while drinking a cup of coffee while wearing black sunglasses, dark plaid skater shorts and a pink designer T-shirt. His hair is a little shaggy and he bragged about how Emerson, his 5-year-old daughter, proudly wears flip-flops everywhere she goes.

Marsch has scored two goals and had three assists for Chivas in 30 matches and will try to help Chivas advance to the Western Conference championship today at 5 p.m. in Houston.

Marsch and his wife, Kim, grew up in Racine, Wis. So far, they have no complaints about the ocean view from their house or the moderate weather that enabled them to take Emerson and their son, Maddux, who turned 3 last Monday, to Disneyland with Marsch's parents on Tuesday.

"It makes things a lot easier when you don't have to help the kids get on their snow pants and boots," Kim Marsch said.

The family almost never made it to California.

They were living in Wrigleyville, the Chicago neighborhood surrounding the Cubs' Wrigley Field, while Marsch played for the Chicago Fire. But the Fire told Marsch he wasn't part of their plan for the future. Marsch, who will turn 34 on Nov. 8, considered retirement.

Instead of making a snap decision, Marsch consulted with an old friend and coach, Bob Bradley, who recruited Marsch to Princeton University and coached him as a rookie at D.C. United and then from 1998 to 2002 in Chicago.

Marsch liked the idea of playing for Bradley again and couldn't turn down the chance to live in Southern California again. This time, it would be in one of those houses overlooking the ocean.

"I came out here a little early and researched it, looking at Westside Rentals and on Craigslist," Marsch said, retracing the steps so many people do to find a rental home by the beach. "And the woman we rent from is actually from Kenosha, Wis., which isn't far from Racine. And she took a liking to me."

Marsch has seemed to have a bit of a blessed time during his time in Southern California. When he spent the summer working on his senior thesis, friends helped him get a job bartending for a catering company, serving drinks to "Hollywood-type people," and living in Westwood.

He actually had a chance to work the Emmy Awards, but it didn't work out.

"I bartended the L.A. (PGA event) Open and if I had been here another week, I would have worked the Emmys but that meant calling Bob (Bradley) and telling him I'm going to be late for preseason camp. I didn't have the (guts) to do that."

Decision-making like that is why Bradley has such deep trust in Marsch. Bradley said that he could tell from the first time he saw Marsch play he knew Marsch "had a soccer brain and an idea of how to play."

Marsch has shown that knack all season for the Goats.

"My soccer career is rejuvenated," Marsch said. "Playing for Bob again feels right. On the field, I know what he wants and expects. He's done a fantastic job with this team. Before I got here, I thought, maybe I'll retire. Now, I'm thinking about one or two more years, maybe a little bit longer. Of course, you've got to look at it year-by-year at this point."

Kim said it took some adjusting, and was a little confused when people would ask where she was from.

"I thought do I look that different?" Kim said. "People would tell me they know I'm not from here because I'm too talkative, too nice."

Marsch is doing his best to fit in, though. He's got a surfboard in his bedroom and the ocean is just steps away.

Not that everyone is completely buying this transition from the Midwest to West Coast. Fellow midfielder Sacha Kljestan grew up in Huntington Beach and he's not convinced that Marsch has fit right in just yet, either.

"He tries to think he's SoCal with his shaggy hair," Kljestan said. "He's still got no style, but we love him anyway."

Chivas midfielder Jesse Marsch enjoys walking with his wife, Kim, along The Strand behind their home in Manhattan Beach. The winters are more enjoyable in the South Bay than in Chicago, where he used to play.

Photo by Scott Varley

Here's more on the game from a Kansas City point of view.

I'll blog from the game as usual.

There was plenty of local college action Friday:
*No. 5 USC 3 LMU 0 (The sixth consecutive home win for the Trojans (8-1-0), which also set a program record with what's now a 15-game home unbeaten stretch. LMU is now 4-4-2).
*Pepperdine 6 Idaho State 0 (Amanda Rupp of Encinitas, a La Costa Canyon High grad, had two goals and three assists as Pepperdine moved to 4-4-2).
*Long Beach State 2 Arizona 0 (Lindsay Bullock scored two goals as Long Beach State improved to 6-2-2).
*Cal State Dominguez Hills women 1 Cal State San Bernadino 0 (Sophomore Kristan Boyle of Long Beach's Wilson High headed home a cross from Jessica Murphy of Torrance's West High with just two seconds left in regulation for the win. The Toros evened their record at 5-5).
*No. 9 Cal State Dominguez Hills men 1 Cal State San Bernadino 0 (CSUDH moves to 8-1-1 on the season).

Just not good enough is the verdict.

An unspectacular David Beckham. A sublime Blanco move. A goalkeeper and others - Sean Franklin is not the MLS MVP folks - that are just not good enough. Did I say that already?

At this stage of the season it's not worth doing tactical analysis. The season (again) has pretty much passed the Galaxy by.

Game story.

Box score basics.

YouTube highlights:

Apologies: the blogging software has been down for hours, only just came back up and I have other things to do.

So very briefly:
*The Galaxy play another must-win game against Chicago at 6 tonight on ESPN2.

*Former Chivas USA goalkeeper Brad Guzan played - and lost - his first game with Aston Villa Wednesday night.

*The Cal State Dominguez Hills men are eyeing another championship.

Toros midfielder Scott Mariano started 14 games last year.

Photo by Scott Varley

A smattering of Galaxy related reads for your perusal:

*Soccer America's Ridge Mahoney looks at Landon Donovan's MLS MVP chances. (On track for a career-best season, Donovan is doing his best to impress so he can jump ship to Bayern Munich, Europe in general or really anywhere as long as he flees the increasingly erratic Galaxy).

*Sports Illustrated's Grant Wahl checks in with the latest scheme being concocted by Galaxy power broker Tim Leiweke. (Leiweke's latest contention that the Galaxy are actually being harmed because of the designated player rule has a kernel of truth, but good luck selling this to the rest of MLS long since convinced L.A. receive preferential treatment).

*Variety reveals the television empire building plans of Galaxy owner Anschutz Entertainment Group. (Televised reserve team games anyone?).

*Finally, I keep forgetting to blog this, but if you've always wanted to know whether Alan Gordon can hit a really little hole better than a yawning big one (and you have $500 you didn't put in WaMu stock burning a hole in your pocket) you might want to sign up for the annual Galaxy Day on the Links.

From the (edited) Galaxy press release:

The LA Galaxy Foundation will host their annual Day on the Links golf tournament on Monday, October 20 at Industry Hills Golf Club at Pacific Palms Resort in Industry Hills, Calif. LA Galaxy players, coaching staff and TV personalities will tee off at 11 a.m. on the Eisenhower Course, with on-course contests and prizes, a post-tournament awards dinner, raffle and silent auction adding to the festivities. Foursomes and individual spots start at just $500.

The event's proceeds will benefit the LA Galaxy Foundation's outreach programs, including Kicks for Kids, Camps for Kids, a new Reading Garden built with the Home Depot Charitable Foundation, the annual Foundations' Feast and the Holiday Assist Program.

To register for "Day on the Links," go here, call Gloria King at 310-630-2222 or e-mail gking@lagalaxy.com.

Spent the day columnizing for Tuesday's newspaper about the most popular national team in Southern California - Mexico - which plays an 8 p.m. Wednesday exhibition at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum against Chile.

Fans who want to get an autograph or two from Mexican National Team stars should show up at the adidas Sports Performance store Tuesday on Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica. Tecos goalkeeper Jesús Corona, Pachuca's Fausto Pinto and Jaime Correa, Toluca's Antonio Naelson and Monterrey's Luis Pérez will be on hand for the hour-long autograph session that begins at 11 a.m. Fans can win match tickets and gift cards.

In other news, Landon Donovan was named MLS Player of the Week Monday (surprise!) after his dominating three-goal performance in the 5-2 win over on the weekend over D.C. United. The award is the ninth of Donovan's MLS career, tying him with Jeff Cunningham, retired Galaxy great Cobi Jones and Chivas USA's Ante Razov for the most in MLS history.

Donovan, who leads the league in goal scoring, now has 19 goals and will inevitably become the third player in Galaxy history to score 20 or more goals in a season. Carlos Ruiz got 24 goals in 2002 and Eduardo Hurtado slammed home 21 goals in 1996. The Galaxy have reached the MLS Cup in each of the previous seasons in which they had a 20 goal scorer. Oh great, helluva time to break the string, huh?

How prolific is Donovan? This from MLS:

"For just the second time in MLS history, a player has reached the 19-goal mark in 20 games. Landon Donovan did it Saturday with his hat trick against D.C. United. The only other player to score at that pace through 20 games was Trinidadian Stern John, who did it with the Columbus Crew in 1998 en route to 26 goals in 27 games.

John's 1998 campaign is still the best scoring rate during a single season at 0.96 goals per game. Donovan could break that record this season."

The chart:
Highest Single-Season Scoring Rates in MLS History:

Yr. Player Team GP Goals AVG
1998 Stern John CLB 27 26 0.96
2008 Landon Donovan LA 20 19 0.95
2000 Mamadou Diallo TB 28 26 0.93
2002 Carlos Ruiz LA 26 24 0.92
1996 Roy Lassiter TB 30 27 0.90

Oh, and Donovan was saying all the right things over the weekend in encouraging Juergen Klinsmann's Bayern Munich to come in for him after the season. Contrary to at least one report, however, the German giants have not tendered any sort of offer for Donovan.

BTW, David Beckham and Alan Gordon have joined Landon Donovan and Greg Vanney on official warning from MLS, meaning that they will receive a mandatory one-game suspension if they receive one more yellow card. Next for the Galaxy: the Fire Thursday in Chicago on ESPN2.

In college soccer, Loyola Marymount University junior goalkeeper Patrick Simpson was named West Coast Conference Player of the week for the second time this season. That's the first time an LMU player has won the honor in a season since former Chivas USA player Arturo Torres did it three times in 2000. Simpson came within seven minutes of pitching two shutouts against #9 Northwestern and #11 Illinois-Chicago over the weekend.

Serious bloggers actually blog immediately after the game.

The rest of us go to Oktoberfest.

Game story from a Galaxy perspective.

The United view.

By the way, David Beckham had yet another sub-par game complete with errant passes, petulant behavior and little creativity. Yet Galaxy Coach Bruce Arena, perhaps playing politics, praised his performance as "excellent," while Becks himself simply conceded it was "all right."
"I'm sure I've played better," he said. "I've definitely played worse."

Best line of the night goes to Bruce Arena as he left the post-game conference, leaving David Beckham to face the media. "Monday!" said Bruce brightly of the next practice day, which players usually have off. "Yes, Monday," said Becks, considerably less enchanted with the idea.

Quotable:
Pete Vagenas on the early goal:

"I was ready to walk out the stadium when they scored off the corner kick to be honest with you. I can't tell you how many times we went over set pieces this week."

United Coach Tom Soehn on the outcome:

"We got careless. I'm not sure if the early goal caused that. We turned over the ball in some really bad spots. Guys like Landon, you can't afford to leave them unmarked."

On the officiating:

"The officiating crew had a bad night. ... The red card? The whole Galaxy staff looked at me - it was just a soft card."

On the season:

"I won't lie - it's been a tough season. As we look to get guys back it's going to take a little bit of time to find our rhythm. ... Some of the mistakes we're making are real basic."

On the Swiss cheese-like United defense:

"Landon did a good job of finding the holes and we didn't account for them. ... They moved the ball around well and exposed some of our weaknesses."

Arena on the early goals in each half:

"The way we came out in the second half - we gave up another goal. These are bad habits. These are things we have to get better at - concentration has to improve."

On the difference between the desultory performance last weekend in Kansas City and tonight:

"I accept the responsibility for Kansas City - because I put Landon and David in an unfavorable position. They had a lot of games, travel and I put at least two tired players on the field. My job as the coach here is to position players to be successful and I didn't do David any favors in Kansas City nor did I do Landon any favors. ... If I had to redo it, I'd probably do things differently on that day."

On the officiating:

"What can I say? At this point we're not willing to give back the three points. We needed three points tonight so we're going to take them anyway we can get them."

Beckham on the end of the winless streak:

"To go so many games without a win - I've never done that before - and I'm sure many of the other players have not done that before."

Ante Jazic on the D.C. defense: "They reminded me of our defense early on in the season."

On the difference Arena has made:

"If anyone knows soccer, they can see we're more organized, more compact, especially the back line. ... Before we were a little bit of a make-shift team. But now we're playing as a unit."

Landon Donovan on the season so far:

"Before the season started my goals were to lead the league in scoring and be the league MVP and I got a lot closer to both those tonight, which is good."

Chivas USA did exactly what they needed to do Saturday, beating Real Salt Lake 1-0 on a 72nd minute Alecko Eskandarian goal and moving above their opponents to take second place in the Western Conference.

Somewhat of a comedy routine gave the former Real Salt Lake striker the winner over his old team: Real Salt Lake goalkeeper Nick Rimando and defender Nat Borchers collided and the ball bounced past them to Eskandarian, who gratefully accepted the gift that was his third goal of the season.

Quotable:

"We got a fortunate goal," said Chivas USA Coach Preki. "This year luck hasn't been on our side too often, so tonight we'll take it. It's that time of year that we'll take the points, it doesn't matter how they come."

Notable:
*The win means Chivas USA holds the head-to-head tiebreaker over RSL in the event the teams finish level on points.
*Chivas USA defender Jonathan Bornstein suffered a concussion in the first half and was replaced by former Galaxy midfielder Sasha Victorine, who made his debut for the club.
*Enforcer Jesse Marsch made his first appearance for Chivas USA since sustaining a fractured jaw Aug. 14 against the Galaxy when he entered the game as a 66th minute sub for Ante Razov.
*The third largest crowd in RSL history - 26,391 - took in the final game at Rice-Eccles Stadium before the team moves next month into its new home in Sandy.
*Next for Chivas USA Saturday: the Kansas City Wizards when at Manhattan Beach Night "city leaders will be greeted by Manhattan Beach resident Jesse Marsch and a special 'Parade of Champions' will give soccer-loving kids from Manhattan Beach the opportunity to walk around the field before the game."

Game story.

Highlights:

The Galaxy snapped their 12-game winless streak in some style, dissecting a defense that had more holes than their own for a 5-2 win capped by a Pete Vagenas (!) volley in the 81st minute.

Donovan scored his third and the Galaxy's fifth in second half stoppage time although he appeared more than a tad offside.

D.C. played with 10 men for the final half hour, after Marc Burch stupidly received a straight red for hacking David Beckham's ankle with the ball already out of play It wasn't a particularly nasty challenge and it appeared even Beckham thought a straight red was overly harsh and he appeared to have more than few words with the assistant referee.

Before Vegenas' late goal - created by Donovan who held the play up while awaiting Vagenas' arrival - the Galaxy had led by just one goal after South African striker Thabiso Boyzzz scored his first MLS goal three minutes after the break.

It was the third time the Galaxy had scored five goals all season.

The first win for Bruce Arena hauled the Galaxy off the Western Conference basement and into a tie with San Jose for fifth place.

Back with more from the locker rooms later.

.

After giving up a goal just 71 seconds into the match - and earning deafening boos from the almost capacity crowd - the Galaxy came back to score three straight, the first three goal outburst in a half since May for L.A.

It should have been four - Edson Buddle couldn't beat D.C. goalkeeper Louis Crayton (a Liberian who played most of his career in Switzerland and was picked up by D.C. in August) when he was in alone on stoppage time and then hit the bar when the ball came back out to him.

Landon Donovan got two of them, extending his MLS best goalscoring streak to 18 in 20 games, already the fourth most goals in a season for the Galaxy.

Devon McTavish got the first for D.C. from an Ivan Guerrero corner kick, deftly trapping, turning and firing home while his marker - Buddle - had completely lost him. It was the fourth fastest goal the Galaxy had ever given up.

Donovan equalized in the 23rd minute, when a Chris Klein through ball from his own half beat three square D.C. defenders and LD coolly shot over a sprawling Crayton.

A Donovan scorcher from 25 yards out in the 35th minute made it 2-1 and three minutes later Alan Gordon made it three. A hard Lewis shot was only parried by Crayton and the ball fell to Gordon who snuck home a shot just inside the near post, two D.C. players on the goal line failing to stop the ball. It was Gordon's fifth goal of the season.

In between, a Lewis header hit the post and Beckham received a yellow card for dissent after screaming at the referee. One more booking in the next three games and he'll be suspended for a game.

The Galaxy ended the half with 11 shots on goal to United's four.

Here's your live soccer and television viewing guide for the weekend.

The Galaxy (6-10-8) look for their first victory in 12 games at 8 p.m. Saturday at Home Depot Center (live on Fox Soccer Channel) against D.C. United (10-11-3), while Chivas USA (8-10-6) are on the road in Salt Lake (live at 6 p.m. on KAZA or delayed until 8 p.m. on FSN) and will look to leapfrog their opponents in the standings and haul themselves back into an automatic playoff spot.

Incidentally, veteran defensive leader Jesse Marsch has had his jaw unwired and could play for the first time since breaking it Sept. 14 against the Galaxy.

Other televised games include:
*Manchester United-Chelsea at 6 a.m. Sunday (Fox Soccer Channel) in the undoubted game of the weekend. Incidentally, this is so big so early in the season, the BBC unearthed former Galaxy and Chelsea Coach Ruud Gullit to offer his wisdom on the game. Among Gullit's insights regarding Luiz Felipe Scolari taking over at Chelsea:

"A coach must adjust to the players he has and, at a club like Chelsea, get results," he says.

*7 a.m. Saturday FSC - Managerless Newcastle United face West Ham.
*9:30 a.m. Saturday FSC - Arsenal-Bolton Wanderers.
*5 p.m. KVEA - Jaguares-CD Guadalajara.

College soccer offerings locally this weekend include:
*The UCLA Women's Cup begins today with No. 2 UCLA (5-0-1) taking on Miami (7-0) at 5:00 p.m at Drake Stadium, followed at 7:30 p.m. by No. 24 USD (5-2) against New Mexico (3-1-3). On Sunday it's USD versus Miami at 11:00 a.m., and UCLA against New Mexico at 1:30 p.m. Tickets are $7 adults, $5 youths/UCLA students. The Bruins slipped to No. 2 in the rankings after their scoreless draw with Brown last weekend.
*The UCLA men (1-3-1) hosts Santa Clara (1-3-1) 7 p.m. Saturday at Drake Stadium in a rematch of last season's NCAA second round playoff match, which Santa Clara won 3-1.
*The No. 4 Trojans (6-1-0) begin a six-game home stand at McCalister Field 1 p.m. Sunday hosting SMU (1-4-1).

Assuming the role admirably usually performed by hamstring-challenged Argentine playmaker Guillermo Barros Schelotto, this year's likely MLS MVP, South Bay Boy Robbie Rogers curled home the audacious winning goal for the Columbus Crew in a 3-1 win Thursday over New York.

In a man of the match performance, Rogers could have had a second and drew a red card from frustrated Red Bulls defender Kevin Goldthwaite at game's end.

Game story.

Highlights:

Updated:
Want more? Rogers' contributions were broken down nicely at this blog.

Given a choice between watching soccer and blogging about it, I'd much rather do the former, but the scant rewards Wednesday for doing so included a tepid Manchester United 0-0 draw with Spain's Villarreal in the UEFA Champions League and a surprising 2-0 win by Marathon of Honduras over Cruz Azul in the CONCACAF version

I will likely impose radio silence again today with two UEFA Cup games on Fox Soccer Channel (Spurs-Wisla Krakow at noon followed by Tim Howard's Everton against Oguchi Onyewu's Standard Liege) and New York meeting Sigi Schmid's Columbus Crew over on ESPN2 at 4 p.m.

The Red Bulls' Juan Osorio is calling this New York's most important game of the season. Local soccer fans know this is Rolling Hills Estates' Robbie Rogers chance to shine in prime time with likely MLS MVP Guillermo Barros Schelotto expected to continue resting his aging hamstrings before the playoffs.

Catching up briefly:
USA Today brings people up to speed with a feature on the global ambitions of Chivas USA co-owner Jorge Vegara

*The U.S. Women's National Team beat Ireland 1-0 in New York Wednesday with Natasha Kai getting the goal before a little over 4,000 (an Olympic gold medal apparently not going as far as it used to in terms of crowd appeal).

U.S. lineup: 1-Hope Solo (22-Briana Scurry, 46); 17-Lori Chalupny (21-Kacey White, 70), 3-Christie Rampone - Capt, 15-Kate Markgraf (4-Rachel Buehler, 46), 2-Heather Mitts; 7-Shannon Boxx, 10-Aly Wagner, 11-Carli Lloyd, 9-Heather O'Reilly (14-Stephanie Cox, 46), 6-Natasha Kai, 16-Angela Hucles.

Finally Wednesday, the No. 7-ranked Cal State Dominguez men drew 0-0 with UC San Diego; the women lost 3-2 to UCSD.

I wasn't kidding about the witchcraft.

Depressing way to start the week (sorry about that), but somehow in tune with the catastrophes, accidents and Wall Street mayhem afflicting us of late.

As expected, not a great deal happened on MLS trade deadline day, but don't tell that to former Galaxy midfielder Sacha Victorine; the now former Kansas City Wizards player and Southern California native is back in L.A. - with Chivas USA - which also signed largely unknown Brazilian attacking midfielder Dejair (pronounced 'dey-zha-IR'), as an international player.

"As we enter the last six weeks of the season, we are pleased to be adding some additional depth to our midfield in the face of injury and international call-ups," said Chivas USA Head Coach Preki Radosavljevic. "We hope both Sasha and Dejair will make important contributions to Chivas USA as we continue our push toward the playoffs."

Translation: We are desperate.

Victorine will be in L.A. Tuesday and be available for Saturday's game in Salt Lake City; Dejair awaits his visa.

In related transactions today, Chivas USA placed midfielder Raphaël Wicky and defenders Lawson Vaughn and Eric Ebert on the season-ending injury list.

Swiss international defender Wicky, 31, was a major disappointment after signing in the off-season from FC Sion. He started just one game before undergoing reconstructive ankle surgery in July.

Vaughn, 25, managed seven games. He's slated for left ankle surgery.

Ebert, 24, also started two games this season before suffering a lateral meniscus tear in his right knee during Chivas USA 's Sept. 6 game in Toronto.

From the (edited) Chivas USA press release on the trade:

Former Bruin Sacha Victorine, a nine-year MLS veteran, Victorine was drafted in 2000 by the Galaxy as a first-round pick. Victorine has played in 227 MLS regular-season games (starting 205). He has four U.S. caps

A product of the Botafogo youth system, attacking midfielder Dejair joins Chivas USA from Brazilian club ABC FC of Natal, which won the 2008 Rio Grande do Norte state championship. The 12-year veteran has played in Brazilian Serie B and C football with Criciúma and won state championships with club sides Moto Clube and ABC FC.

Meanwhile, the as yet unnamed L.A. entry in Women's Professional Soccer will participate in Tuesday's draft of national team players - without a coach being officially named. L.A. will receive three players.

The U.S. women beat Ireland Sunday, BTW, 2-0 in the first of three post-Olympic victories games against the nation.

Sunday college scores:
No. 3 USC 6 Clemson 2 (USC 16 goals in last three games).
UCLA women 0 (5-0-1) Brown 0
Cal State Northridge women 2 Saint Mary's 1 (CSUN moves to 5-1)
UW-Milwaukee 2 Cal State Northridge men 1
Loyola Marymount women 0 (3-2-2) Utah 0
Pepperdine 1 (3-3-1) Washington State 0
Long Beach State 3 (4-1-2) Oregon 3 (double overtime)
No. 7 Cal State Dominguez Hills men (7-0) 4 San Francisco State 1

Lastly, the group stage of the UEFA and CONCACAF Champions League starts Tuesday. More on that in Tuesday's column.

In just under 24 hours as I write this, at 5 p.m. Monday, MLS rosters will be set in stone for the rest of the season, until the day after MLS Cup.

Which means, incidentally, the Galaxy will be stuck with $130,000 a year defender Eduardo Dominguez ("he was all we could afford," one team official allegedly told a colleague of mine).

In any event, unlike in England, where the closure of the transfer window includes dramatic deadline day deals and live countdown coverage, things are likely to be significantly less tense here (the Galaxy swooped for USL goalkeeper Josh Saunders Friday - who hoo - and other names that were exchanged include the likes of Hunter Freeman).

Still, MLS trumpeted the improvement in talent in the league recently, issuing a list of the top in-coming players (50 from 21 countries) and 17 MLS players heading overseas.

Interesting reading:
Incoming Player Current Team Last Club Country of Birth
Tomasz Frankowski Chicago Fire CD Tenerife (Spain) Poland
Lider Marmol Chicago Fire Hercules CF (Spain) Paraguay
Brian McBride Chicago Fire Fulham FC (England) USA
Marco Pappa Chicago Fire CSD Municipal (Guatemala) Guatemala
Roberto Nurse Chivas USA Queretaro (Mexico) Mexico
Raphael Wicky Chivas USA FC Sion (Switzerland) Switzerland
Greg Dalby Colorado Rapids Charleroi SC (Belgium) USA
Cory Gibbs Colorado Rapids Charlton Athletic (England) USA
Tom McManus Colorado Rapids Dunfermine Ath. (Scotland) Scotland
Emmanuel Ekpo Columbus Crew Enyimba International (Nigeria) Nigeria
Pat Noonan Columbus Crew Aalesunds FK (Norway) USA
Gino Padula Columbus Crew Montpellier HSC (France) Argentina
Louis Crayton D.C. United FC Basel (Switzerland) Liberia
Marcelo Gallardo D.C. United Paris-Saint Germain (France) Argentina
Gonzalo Martinez D.C. United Millonarios (Colombia) Colombia
Gonzalo Peralta D.C. United Almirante Brown (Argentina) Argentina
Duilio Davino FC Dallas Club America (Mexico) Mexico
Andre Rocha FC Dallas Atletico Paranaense (Brazil) Brazil
Victor Sikora FC Dallas NAC Breda (Netherlands) Netherlands
Tony Caig Houston Gretna (Scotland) England
Nate Jaqua Houston SC Rheindorf Altach (Austria) USA
Claudio Lopez Kansas City Club America (Mexico) Argentina
Ivan Trujillo Kansas City La Equidad (Colombia) Colombia
Josh Wolff Kansas City 1860 Munich (Germany) USA
Eduardo Dominguez Galaxy Huracan (Argentina) Argentina
Eddie Lewis Galaxy Derby County (England) USA
Alvaro Pires Galaxy Spartak Nalchik (Russia) Brazil
Gabriel Badilla Revolution Saprissa (Costa Rica) Costa Rica
Mauricio Castro Revolution Olimpia (Honduras) Honduras
Oscar Echeverry Red Bulls Atletico Nacional (Colombia) Colombia
Gabriel Cichero Red Bulls Deportivo Italia (Venezuela) Venezuela
Diego Jimenez Red Bulls UAG Tecos (Mexico) Mexico
Juan Pietravallo Red Bulls A.S. Veria (Greece) Argentina
Jorge Rojas Red Bulls UA Maracaibo (Venezuela) Venezuela
Nat Borchers Real Salt Lake Odd Grenland (Norway) USA
Kenny Deuchar Real Salt Lake Gretna (Scotland) Scotland
Ian Joy Real Salt Lake St. Pauli FC (Germany) USA
Clint Mathis Real Salt Lake Ergotelis FC (Greece) USA
Jamison Olave Real Salt Lake Deportivo Cali (Colombia) Colombia
Robbie Russell Real Salt Lake Viborg FF (Norway) USA
Mikel Arce San Jose CD Lourdes (Spain) Spain
Ramiro Corrales San Jose S.K. Brann (Norway) USA
Darren Huckerby San Jose Norwich City (England) England
Francisco Lima San Jose Brescia Calcio (Italy) Brazil
Kasey Keller Seattle Fulham FC (England) USA
Amado Guevara Toronto CD Motagua (Honduras) Honduras
Rohan Ricketts Toronto Barnsley (England) England
Tyler Rosenlund Toronto Atvidaberg (Sweden) Canada
Johann Smith Toronto Bolton Wanderers (England) USA
Jarrod Smith Toronto Hawke's Bay Utd (New Zealand)New Zealand
Marco Velez Toronto Puerto Rico Islanders (USL) Puerto Rico

Outgoing Player Original Team New Club Country of Birth
Matt Pickens Chicago Fire QPR (England) USA
Brad Guzan Chivas USA Aston Villa (England) USA
Marcos Gonzalez Columbus Crew Universidad Catolica (Chile) Brazil
Bryan Arguez D.C. United Hertha Berlin (Germany) USA
Troy Perkins D.C. United Valerenga (Norway) USA
Chris Gbandi FC Dallas FK Haugesand (Norway) Liberia
Clarence Goodson FC Dallas IK Start (Norway) USA
Juan Carlos Toja FC Dallas Steaua Bucuresti (Romania) Colombia
Nate Jaqua Houston SC Rheindorf Altach (Austria) USA
Joseph Ngwenya Houston SK Austria Karnten (Austria) Zimbabwe
Will John Wizards Randers FC (Denmark) USA
Eddie Johnson Wizards Fulham (England) USA
Clint Mathis Galaxy Egotelis FC (Greece) USA
Andy Dorman Revolution St. Mirren FC (Scotland) Scotland
Pat Noonan Revolution Aalesunds FK (Norway) USA
Jozy Altidore Red Bulls Villarreal CF (Spain) USA
Maurice Edu Toronto FC Rangers FC (Scotland) USA

Wizards 2 Galaxy 0.

This was a game that looked like it involved the two last-place teams in the league, at least until the Wizards scored two goals in two minutes to dispose of the Galaxy.

The largest Wizards crowd of the season - 26,113 - watched as the Galaxy winless streak reached 12 games, a stretch that has seen L.A. go 0-6-6 while getting outscored 28-16.

How bad is this?
*The winless streak is longer than any Chivas USA endured during its horrific inaugural season.
*New York hasn't been this bad in almost a decade, back when they were called the MetroStars.
*The Galaxy are within striking distance of tying the all-time MLS winless streak set by Real Salt Lake, something they will do if they fail to win any of the rest of their games.

Here are the all-time MLS winless streak "leaders:"
Team Number When set
Real Salt Lake 18 8/10/2005-5/6/2006
Real Salt Lake 15 9/23/2006-6/17/2007
Columbus Crew 13 6/10/2006-8/16/2006
New York 12 7/14/1999-9/5/1999
Galaxy 12 6/21/2008-?
Chivas USA 11 5/14/2005-7/2/2005

Incidentally, defender Eduardo Dominguez may have made the best move of the night and he wasn't even on the field. The Argentine flew home to be with his wife who was due to give birth to the couple's first child.

Game story.

And David Beckham is clearly not with us.

Watch and weep:

Perhaps this video makes the point even better. The Galaxy have just six MLS games left in the season.

The remnants of Hurricane Ike are expected to miss Kansas City today meaning reporters there can focus on another overblown phenomena - David Beckham - during today's 2 p.m. game (live on Prime) between the Wizards and Galaxy.

A big crowd is expected despite the iffy weather to see Becks; Galaxy fans just hope it's a case of 12th time lucky.

Friday's men's college results:
No. 24 UCLA 0 (1-3-1) No. 19 Indiana 3 (The three goals came within eight minutes).
Wisconsin 2 Cal State Northridge 0 (3-2-0).
No. 7 Cal State Dominguez Hills 1 (6-0) Cal State Monterey Bay 0

Women's scores:
Loyola Marymount 3 (3-2-1) Cal State Bakersfield 0
No. 3 USC 3 (5-1-0) Georgia 2 (Trojans came back from two-goal deficit to win in double overtime).
Pepperdine 2 No. 23 Tennessee 0
No. 20 Cal 1 Cal State Northridge 0 (4-1-0)
Cal State Dominguez Hills 3 (3-3) Cal State Monterey Bay 0

Josh Saunders, a goalkeeper the Galaxy signed to a developmental contract in 2005, but never played a game for the club, has signed on loan with the team for the remainder of the season from Miami FC of the USL.

The Grants Pass, Ore., native hooked up with the team today in Kansas City ahead of the Galaxy's game Saturday against the Wizards.

The Galaxy needed to sign a back-up for goalkeeper Josh Wicks after regular starter Steve Cronin broke a hand.

Saunders, 27, who played at Cal State Fullerton before transferring to Cal, was originally drafted by the San Jose Earthquakes in 2003, but never played a game for the club.

Conceding three goals inside the last nine minutes of the game condemned Chivas USA to a 4-0 defeat against the New England Revolution Thursday and put their place in the third and final playoff spot in the Western Conference in jeopardy.

The result tied Chivas USA for their second highest margin of defeat of the season.

Chivas USA were without nine starters through international call-ups, injury and suspensions; the Revs were playing their 11th game in 38 days.

Box score.

Game story from Boston.

Highlights:

Two tired and/or banged up teams desperately needing points to stay in the playoff hunt stagger into Gillette Stadium at 4 p.m. today live on ESPN2 as Chivas USA visits the New England Revolution.

Chivas USA forward Alecko Eskandarian is suspended for the game.

Brief game preview here.

Preview from a Revolution perspective here.

Belatedly noted: The seventh-ranked Cal State Dominguez Hills men (5-0) won 2-1 win over NAIA second-ranked Concordia University Tuesday.

I'm not sure about these lists of virtually everything these days that passes for journalism, but for what it's worth Forbes has now issued its inaugural list of the most valuable teams in MLS with the Galaxy sitting atop the rankings.

The financial magazine estimates the Galaxy are worth a cool $100 million (have they seen them play lately?) with revenues of $36 million that are double that of any other MLS team.

By comparison, Chivas USA are No. 10 among MLS teams, valued at a mere $24 million with revenue of $10 million.

The complete story and rankings are here.

After spending the weekend watching as a fan (I was on vacation last week and skipped a home Galaxy game for the first time this season) rather than a journalist, it's clear to me that if there are many more repeats of last weekend and I didn't get paid to do this I would have to question my devotion to the league.

Pretty dismal games and few recognizable stars (and in the case of Toronto few recognizable players period) frankly led to the integrity of the competition being undermined. All because MLS insists upon playing on FIFA designated match days.

It's not fair to teams, fans or players - and no one I've talked to believes what MLS is doing is helping the sport in this country.

So, I know it's an old saw, but I took another swing at the issue in Tuesday's column. If nothing else, it will continue to drive home to the MLS suits how important the issue is and how stupid they look and are making the sport look.

What do you think? Vent, discuss or comment below.

MLS Commissioner Don Garber will dispense his wisdom on "the state of Major League Soccer by highlighting key accomplishments and challenges to date, as well provide insight as to where he sees the league headed in the years to come" at the USC Marshall School of Business Thursday Nov. 20 in the run-up to MLS Cup in Carson.

Cost is $50. Details here.

But Garber is an NFL guy; the jury is out on whether he truly understands the other football at the global level and is capable of getting American soccer in tune with the rest of the world. That's essentially my column Tuesday (not-so-coincidentally) after last weekend's World Cup qualifying debacle.

The college season has begun; so have the awards;
*Cal State Dominguez Hills senior midfielder Kyle Holland of Anchorage, Alaska was named the California Collegiate Athletic Association Player of the Week Monday after three goals and an assist in three games.
*LMU junior goalkeeper Patrick Sampson has been named the West Coast Conference
Player of the Week after shutting out 24th-ranked Cal Poly in a 1-0 Lions victory.

The power of two. The Galaxy scored two, conceded two and were without star players Landon Donovan and David Beckham for Saturday's game against Real Salt Lake. Here Head Coach Bruce Arena directs operations as Associate Head Coach Dave Sarachan looks on.

Photo by Sean Hiller

Full disclosure: I did not attend the game, opting to stay at home and watch on TV since I was technically on vacation.

Notable:
*The final score was 2-2.
*Bryan Jordan, recalled earlier this week from the USL Portland Timbers, scored in his first MLS start.
*The Galaxy winless streak hit 11 games, a team record.
*The Galaxy slumped to dead last in MLS.
*Salt Lake City striker Fabian Espinola scored a goal that was disallowed and broke a bone in his leg while spectacularly flipping during his celebration.

Galaxy beat writer Phil Collin kindly sent along some quotes that did not make it into the print edition.

Here's Real Salt Lake Coach Jason Kreis on the disallowed goal:

It was a little bit mind-boggling there. I'm not exactly sure how it went down. We all kind of thought he may have been in an offside position and we were all looking at the linesman and everybody on the field was as well. The linesman was running back indicating a goal and there was some discussion there between (Galaxy Coach) Bruce (Arena), the linesman and the fourth official and the referee. They came to a collective agreement that it was offside.

My initial indication from upstairs was that it was offside so I can't complain too much about the call. I wish it had been a little quicker because then my player wouldn't have celebrated the goal and broken his leg.

Here's Kreis on whether he has seen injuries from overly-exuberant goal celebrations before:

"Yeah I have. I used to do the same thing and came very close to injuring myself one time and I know there was another player in Dallas who did a flip after a goal one time and hurt his back and had to miss the next match," yet he added he won't curtail them. "No, absolutely not. That's what the fans come to see. They come to see the goals, they come to see the passion and the emotion the players have after they score a goal. It's a fluke accident and he could just as well could have broken his leg walking down the stairs this morning."

Actually, Jason fans come to see healthy players playing to their potential for their team so they get to see the best possible game of soccer they paid good money for. They don't come to see some flashy foreigner stupidly injure themselves.

At least Espinola was embarrassed by his dumb move even if Kreis wasn't: as far as I could tell he spent the rest of the game hiding behind his towel no doubt hoping the ground would open up and swallow him.

By the way, Kreis sounded like a coach who knew this result was a missed opportunity:

"I think in our locker room we're a bit disappointed with that result. We came into this game knowing they're missing a lot of key players, a lot of important players. We were confident enough to come in here and think we could take away the full three points. Having said that, we haven't been very good on the road this season so I think we do have to take some positive stuff out of tonight."

Here's Arena on the ever-lengthening 0-5-6 run:

"Am I worried about the streak or the length of it? No. I can't worry about that. I guess if they wouldn't have that streak, I probably wouldn't be here either."

Fair enough.

Here's Arena on Jordan:

Certainly he had a great effort tonight. I don't want to single out any one two or three particular players - it sticks out in my mind right now that the performance of Bryan Jordan was excellent.

"In terms of Bryan getting continued minutes we'll have to wait and see, but that performance tonight certainly doesn't hurt his cause at all," Arena added. "We were thin at a bunch of positions tonight and Bryan was having a good year at Portland and I'm aware of him from our coaching staff from preseason and he had a good week of training. We had not a whole lot of choices. Bryan certainly showed that he's a player that belongs on the field."

Arena sounded considerably less convinced about the latest contribution from Eduardo Dominguez:

"He did OK. He hasn't done much here and we knew the position would be challenging. By trade he's more of a center back. We put him in a new position and we knew fitness would be a problem as well. He gave us 55 minutes we needed because Brandon McDonald just came back from injury."

Finally, here's Jordan on the likelihood of getting back on the field once the likes of David Beckham and Landon Donovan return:

"I've been waiting for the opportunity and now that I got it I feel I did very well. I know we do have key players missing who might take over my role again but I'll still be fighting hard and trying to get out there."

Game story.

Highlights:

Chivas USA beat a severely depleted Toronto FC 3-1 Saturday afternoon.

Daniel Paladini, briefly a Galaxy player, scored his first-ever MLS goal for Chivas USA just before half time and Los Alamitos' Jonathan Bornstein added the second half winner. Ante Razov got the third in stoppage time. Goalkeeper Zach Thornton was carted off injured.

Notable:
*The win was Chivas USA's second victory in two weeks over Toronto; it was the club's first-ever come-from-behind victory on the road.

*The win improves the team's record to 8-9-6 and ties Chivas USA for second place in the Western Conference with Real Salt Lake, which plays the Galaxy later tonight.

* Next for Chivas USA - A game against the New England Revolution Thursday on ESPN2; the team will stay on the East Coast between games. Sacha Kljestan is suspended for the game.

Quotable:

*"[The result] is incredibly important," Coach Preki said. "I think right now we put ourselves in a really good spot to push in last seven games for a playoff spot."

*Dan Paladini on his first goal as a pro:

"Unbelievable feeling. ... I didn't even see it go in. I turned, shot, it went in and my teammates crowded around me, it was fun."

Game story.

Highlights:

Before we get started, it's worth noting that Deputy MLS Commissioner Ivan Gazidis announced on the commissioner's blog on the league Web site Friday that the issue of scheduling will belatedly be reviewed.

About time. And why couldn't Garber blog about that himself? He's in Cuba for the U.S. World Cup qualifier. Let's hope that irony hasn't escaped Garber et al.

Still, that doesn't help Chivas USA or Toronto FC. Both teams spent the week scrounging for warm bodies to put on the field for today's 1 p.m. game in Canada that's live on Prime.

The U.S.-Cuba game is live at 5 p.m. on ESPN Classic and Galavision.

The political implications of the game have overshadowed the sporting ones, but on paper Cuba have little chance against the U.S. Cuba hasn't beaten the U.S. on a soccer field since 1976.

Notable:
*Defender Steve Cherundolo is suspended for the game.
*Michael Bradley leads the U.S. in 2008 in minutes played (647).
*Leagues from eight different countries are represented on the U.S. roster: Belgium, Denmark, England (4), France, Germany (3), Mexico, Scotland (2), and the United States (7).

Standings so far:
GROUP 1 W D L GF GA Pts.
Trinidad & Tobago 1 0 0 3 1 3
United States 1 0 0 1 0 3
Guatemala 0 0 1 0 1 0
Cuba 0 0 1 1 3 0

BTW, Hurricane Ike isn't expected to hit Cuba until later in the week, but the weather sounds brutal to play soccer in.

Finally, the Galaxy plays at 7:30 p.m. against Real Salt Lake live on Prime.

Here's what former RSL midfielder Chris Klein had to say about the transformation in Utah:

"It's a completely different team. (Coach) Jason (Kreis) has completely over-hauled them and done a good job of getting them to play better as a team. They've got good players at every position and they're very organized when they come out to play.

They've struggled on the road a little bit, but I don't think that's any indication of the team we're going to see Saturday night.

The real engine of their team is (Javier) Morales in the middle. He's a guy who provides their service and creativity. Obviously they're very sound defensively, but offensively they have Morales and (Fabian) Espindola scored their two goals last week (in the 2-0 RSL victory over the Rapids) so those are two of the guys we can key on Saturday night."

Since I am in vacation, a barbecue beckons and there is plenty of soccer on TV, I'll skip the Galaxy game tonight.

For those of you going, there's a T-shirt and towel giveaway, while L.A. band Under the Influence of Giants plays a pre-game concert.

Check them out:

Almost forgot:
Here is a brief college soccer roundup of Friday scores.

In other games it was:
Long Beach State 3 Harvard 0
Pepperdine 1 Iowa 0
Cal State Northridge men 1 UNLV 0
Cal State Northridge women 2 UC Irvine 1
LMU men 1 Cal Poly 0
LMU women 3 UC Irvine 1

With MLS blithely carrying on with a regular schedule this weekend despite the heavy World Cup qualifying fixture list around the world, criticism is mounting about the harm the domestic league is doing to its credibility at home and internationally.

Coaches hate it, players hate it, fans hate it, but the MLS suits don't appear to understand the harm they are doing to the league. Soccer is a global game. MLS needs to get with the rest of the world and at least - the very least - honor FIFA international dates.

By this point it's a bit of an old saw, but it's worth talking about just to keep it in the public eye and keep the pressure on MLS.

Toronto FC Coach John Carver fired the first salvo last weekend after the game against Chivas USA, observing he will be without nine or 10 players who are on World Cup qualifying duty this coming weekend:

"We asked the MLS, because we thought it's an extreme circumstance, if we could postpone the (return) game (this weekend against Chivas USA). They turned us down. ... On this occasion I don't think common sense has prevailed.

"I'm going to have to get kids and put kids in. It's that embarrassing. I may even have to go get kids who play in amateur teams.

If I'm a fan of Toronto FC, I don't think I'm getting value for money because I've paid good money for my season ticket - we've got fantastic support up there - yet we're not putting the product on the pitch.

"It's something they have to look at. I don't think there's another league in the world that would ask a team to play in these circumstances."

He's right and Galaxy midfielder Chris Klein piled it on:

"It's a disgrace. ... (MLS) Commissioner (Don) Garber came out and said a few things about scheduling problems and all I can say is we have to figure those out. You play a game on Thursday night when you're missing David Beckham and Landon Donovan and Cuauhtemoc Blanco and (Gonzalo) Segares and the list keeps going. And these are games that are at the most important time of the season. For us, come Saturday night, we're missing four guys - four very important guys and that doesn't help the league. We need to make this league about the product on the field first."

(The Galaxy are without Donovan, Eddie Lewis, Beckham and Canadian Ante Jazic, who are all on international duty).

Galaxy Coach Bruce Arena is similarly unimpressed with MLS scheduling:

"That needs to be again reexamined by the people who make the decisions in MLS. I've spoken about that for years. I don't think it's the way to go, but I'm a non-voting member, so-to-speak. You look at our team this weekend and we lose four players in our first XI. That's a factor and it is for other teams. Obviously there needs to be a reexamination of the schedule. You look at (Tuesday) night - you have two MLS teams eliminated from the (CONCACAF) Champions League by clubs from Panama and Trinidad (& Tobago) and that tells me the schedule is catching up with everybody. ... Of course I believe you honor (FIFA) fixture dates."

Boston-based soccer writer Frank Dell'Apa agrees with Bruce about the CONCACAF Champions League.

And it's humiliating for the U.S.

Meanwhile, Galaxy striker Edson Buddle has the last word (and best quote) on the issue in regard to Saturday's game against second-place Western Conference team Real Salt Lake:

"Hopefully we'll put them to sleep not having four good players here. So hopefully they'll go to sleep and they won't think it will be a tough game and we'll steal some points."

Not a bad hope.

I'll be back in the morning with previews of the Galaxy, Chivas USA and U.S. games.

Kidding themselves it was somehow bright to continue with a full domestic league program when most others around the world are suspended this weekend, MLS officials are trying to ignore what the rest of the planet is focusing on: the dozens of World Cup qualifiers scheduled this weekend (and next week).

The action begins at 11:30 a.m. today with England playing Portugal in a Under-21 qualifier on Fox Soccer Channel.

Here's a sampling of what other games are on when and where this weekend (and, as always, consult your local listings for the complete run-down):
*7 a.m. Saturday - Azerbaijan at Wales on GolTV.
*10:30 a.m. Saturday - Denmark at Hungary on Fox Soccer Channel.
*Noon Saturday - Germany at Liechtenstein on GolTV.
*1 p.m. Saturday - Iran at Saudi Arabia (delayed) on Fox Soccer Channel.
*2 p.m. Saturday - Bosnia-Herzegovina at Spain on GOLTV.
*3 p.m. Saturday - Jamaica at Mexico on KVEA.
*5 p.m. Saturday - U.S. at Cuba on ESPN Classic, Galavision.
*8 p.m. Sunday - Japan at Bahrain on Fox Soccer Channel.

The U.S. arrived in Havana Thursday night.

BTW, FIFA released the latest version of its always suspect rankings Thursday. Spain remains atop the table, England and Scotland are 15th and 16th respectively, Mexico is 24th (up eight places) and the U.S. 28th (up three spots).

Complete rankings.

I think there's a couple of MLS games involving the Galaxy and Chivas USA Saturday, too. More on that later.

Which reminds me: former Galaxy forward Herculez Gomez is on the move again and now he really is a wizard on the field.

In other MLS news, Rolling Hills Estates' John Thorrington still intends to play for the Chicago Fire Saturday against the New York Red Bulls despite suffering a nasty broken nose last weekend.

In Chicago Thursday, Chivas beat bitter rivals Club America 2-0 in an exhibition game.

And finally, given the dominant topic in this post it's perhaps an apt time to note the documentary on the Homeless World Cup ESPN was plugging during Thursday's MLS game that will air next week was dismissed with this cursory review in Variety.

In any event, here's the trailer for "Kicking It":

Husky-voiced Josh Wicks, the self-described Barry White of goalkeepers, who played just two halves in Hawaii, and another half in Shanghai in preseason before coming on after 45 minutes last weekend for injured starting goalkeeper Steve Cronin, talked to the assembled media today (well, OK, all two of us) about his expected start Saturday:

Q: How did coming in at half time in the New England team help before your first MLS start Saturday against Real Salt Lake?
A: It got my feet wet a little bit, it took a little bit of the nerves off, coming in at the middle of the game rather than the start - the game was already rolling - so all I had to do was get on the bus and continue to ride. It kind of helped as far as shaking loose some nerves and getting rid of some of the cobwebs.

Q: What's the difference between the USL (Wicks was the 2007 USL Goalkeeper of the Year) and MLS?
A: It's sharper. Talent's better - I wouldn't say it's extremely better - but it's better. The players are a lot smarter and a lot quicker on the ball and it's not as direct. ... And the finishing - as a goalkeeper - is a lot more clinical in MLS than it has been in the USL.

Q: I'm sure when you came in at half time last weekend you didn't have a chance to be nervous. Are you nervous (ahead of this weekend)?
A: I actually got a chance to be nervous coming in at half time against New England. The whole time I was warming up I was OK, but the 10 seconds from the rest of the meeting to running on the field ... I had to get rid of my nerves. I'm looking forward to Salt Lake. I think if you don't get nervous, there's something wrong, it's part of the game. Everyone wants to do well, everyone wants to play well and not make a mistake - so a little butterflies here and there there's nothing wrong with it, but it's what you do with it and how you perform on that day that's going to determine how you play.

Q: As far as the goalscoring threats for Real Salt Lake, who are you going to be most keeping your eye on?
A: My goal - make sure it doesn't go in the goal. I don't want to fixate on one person, I'd rather fixate on my back line, make sure they don't allow them any chances.

Q: Talk about your goalkeeping style with the defense. Are you louder than Steve or quieter?
A: I'm loud anyway, on and off the field. As far as me talking you'd probably have a harder chance getting me to shut up.