Recently in Media Category

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.

A melted motherboard, hours spending updating software on another laptop and a busy week at work conspired to keep me from blogging extensively this week.

But the weekend is here and even though it doesn't exactly look like great beach weather it's perfect for playing soccer at the beach in Santa Monica.

Meanwhile, the Galaxy face Real Salt Lake at 7:30 p.m. at Home Depot Center Saturday (delayed until 8:30 p.m. on Prime), Chivas USA are in Columbus Sunday to face the Crew (noon on Prime) and the Confederations Cup opens at 6:55 a.m. live on ESPN2 when Iraq plays South Africa.

The U.S. doesn't play until Monday though so with the computer gods willing I'll return later today with a preview of the competition and a complete schedule.

Meanwhile, here's the always classy English Sun newspaper with Cristiano Ronaldo's quote unquote night in Paris.

One way to beat the June gloom, I guess.

World Cup qualifying gets out of the gate at 1 a.m. Saturday when North Korea plays Iran on Fox Soccer Channel and doesn't let up for the rest of the weekend. Complicating matters are the on-going MLS games, too.

Click to the links at top right for all the details, but to help you organize your weekend here are the times and channels of five pertinent games for most Southern Californians:

Saturday
*1 p.m. FSN Toronto FC-Galaxy
*5 p.m. ESPN U.S.-Honduras
*6 p.m. KVEA El Salvador-Mexico
*7:30 p.m. Prime Chivas USA-Seattle

Sunday
*3 p.m. FSC Sol-Washington Freedom

Why is this a big deal?

Because for the last few years the annual finale to the English football season has been aired here live exclusively on pay per view.

So that has meant crawling out of bed at 6:30 a.m. or so for the dubious honor of paying $24.95 to watch the game at home. Or heading to a British pub, paying a $10-$20 cover charge, and then having some inebriated Brit screaming in your ear by half time "Come on you (pick the team)." Or waiting until the next day to see it free and hope you manage to avoid seeing the result (an increasingly iffy idea these days).

I don't know about you, but those prospects in what I like to call my reclining years has proved less and less alluring. That's prompted me to skip the game entirely in recent years.

But this Saturday, as a result (I believe) of Fox's new deal with the English FA the game between Chelsea and Everton will be seen live at 6:30 a.m. on Fox Soccer Channel.

With U.S. goalkeeper Tim Howard between the posts for Everton and Chelsea scheduled to play in Pasadena this summer, there's plenty to keep Southern Californian soccer fans interested.

For a primer on the historic game click here.

For a preview of this year's game click here.

Enjoy.

The not so surprising news this afternoon was that Galaxy midfielder/defender Sean Franklin, hobbled much of this season by a problematic hamstring, is now done for the next four to six months after undergoing surgery Tuesday to repair a torn right upper hamstring tendon.

So he's pretty much gone for the season then.

Last year's MLS Rookie of the Year started eight games for the Galaxy this season and frankly looked much better going forward on the right side of midfield in several games than at right back.

In other news:

*ESPN released its Confederations Cup schedule.

ESPN will show four and ESPN2 eight of the 16 games live generally at 7 a.m. and 11:25 a.m. June 14-28 from South Africa.

The U.S. opens against Italy at 11:25 a.m. June 15.

* Cal State Northridge released its men's soccer schedule.

*There was also a UEFA Champions League thingie today. Manchester United played for 10 minutes then stopped when Barcelona scored. Barca won 2-0. Messi scored the second, which must be worth a buck or two. You can read more about it * here.

The big winners locally were the Galaxy, which put tickets on sale today to their * Aug. 1 game in Pasadena against the now reigning European Champions.

A quick quiz related to the Barcelona-Manchester United final on live at 11:25 a.m. Wednesday on ESPN.

You know this game is big when:

A. ESPN actually recognizes soccer exists and puts Barcelona's Lionel Messi on the cover of ESPN: The Magazine.

B. ESPN shows the final on well, ESPN, compared to ESPN2 or ESPN Classic, which is where it usually shows UEFA ECL contests.

C. Clerks in Trader Joe's are eager to talk about the relative merits of the two teams.

D. I take the day off for a game.

E. All of the above

The answer is, of course, E.

Frankly, there's more buzz surrounding this soccer game than I can ever remember between two club teams in this country.

And there's unprecedented coverage, too:

*Seven hours of Fox Soccer Channel coverage (except the actual game) beginning at 9 a.m. Expect lots of Bobby McMahon.

*ESPN will air the game to 115 nations using 14 commentators in three languages with pregame segments splattered throughout its programming on ESPN and ESPN2.

The Galaxy will sponsor four local viewing parties:

*ESPN Zone at L.A. Live, 1011 S Figueroa St., Los Angeles.
*The Underground, 1334 Hermosa Ave., Hermosa Beach.
*Lucky Baldwins, 17 S Raymond Ave., Pasadena.
*Ye Olde Kings Head pub, 116 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica.

Here's a preview of the game:

By ROBERT MILLWARD
AP Soccer Writer
ROME -- From Cristiano Ronaldo vs. Lionel Messi to Wayne Rooney vs. Thierry Henry, this Champions League final shapes up as a classic of European club soccer.

Already with the domestic league and cup titles to show for his first season as a coach,
Barcelona's Pep Guardiola chases the ultimate prize in European club soccer on Wednesday when he bids to topple Manchester United and Alex Ferguson in a final fans all over the world have been waiting for.

"I think we have been able to show maturity for quite a few months, but tomorrow's game is the most important," Guardiola told reporters at the Stadio Olimpico on Tuesday.

"I want the players to feel well, to feel beautiful, to feel like they are playing in front of the whole world, to be daring and to feel that they are here because they deserve it and to show how good we are. It's the best match to show it."

After scoring 151 league and cup goals this season, Barcelona has the ability to take the
title from defending champion United, which also captured the Premier League title for the
third season in a row and 11th time in 17 years.

While Barcelona is chasing its third trophy of the season, United is after a fourth.

Ferguson's team has also captured the FIFA Club World Cup and domestic League Cup.

United will make more history on Wednesday if South Korean star Park Ji-sung becomes the first Asian player to play in a Champions League final, after being surprisingly left out of the squad that beat Chelsea in a penalty shootout following a 1-1 draw in Moscow.

"I think there was a terrible disappointment last season when we didn't include him in the
squad," Ferguson said Tuesday. "I can assure you he will be involved in the squad tomorrow and, if he plays or comes on, he has an impact that other players like Messi and Ronaldo don't have.

"He's a different type of player. He has fantastic understanding of space and movement which is completely different from Messi and Cristiano. (They) work to have the ball all the time and make things happen, whereas Ji-sung doesn't need the ball."

United defender Rio Ferdinand says he will play after shaking off a calf muscle injury and
Guardiola said he was confident striker Thierry Henry and attacking midfielder Andres Iniesta would also be fit, setting up the final even neutral fans have been waiting for.

In Messi, Samuel Eto'o and Henry Barcelona has a strikeforce to match or even outplay
United's. Ferguson is unlikely to field Ronaldo, Rooney, Dimitar Berbatov and Carlos Tevez all at the same time, and there is speculation that two of them will be on the bench when the game kicks off.

Likewise, Ferguson is unlikely to field both of his 30-something midfielders Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs at the same time against the top quality duo of Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta.

But Ferguson should have the edge when it comes to defense.

With Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic in central defense, that lineup at the back can show why the team set a British record by going 1,311 minutes without conceding a goal in the league during mid-season.

Barcelona, by contrast, is counting the cost of having Brazilian right back Daniel Alves and
French left back Eric Abidal missing through suspension and Mexican center back Rafael Marquez out through injury.

The only thing missing from this final in Italy's capital are any Italians.

Serie A has missed out again in a competition it used to dominate when AC Milan and Juventus were at their best.

Now Italy's top teams can only watch, although there are security fears that local fans may
try to ambush the spectacle by targeting the visiting 50,000 spectators from England and
Spain, who have been advised to stay away from certain parts of the city on match day.

A look at Barcelona's attack:

By PAUL LOGOTHETIS
AP Sports Writer
ROME -- Barcelona's formidable attack should be at its best with Thierry Henry and Andres Iniesta likely to return for the Champions League final against Manchester United.

Henry and Iniesta were traveling with the team to Rome on Tuesday, a day after taking part in their first full training session since picking up separate leg injuries earlier this month.

The puzzle is coming together for the Spanish champions in time for Wednesday's match between two of the world's best clubs.

"They are two basic footballing pieces in our scheme," Barcelona midfielder Xavi Hernandez said. "We know they're going to play, that they'll be 100 percent, and to have them is a privilege because with them we're better."

Both players have been key to the offensive juggernaut that has scored 151 goals in collecting two trophies this season.

Iniesta's injury-time goal against a staunch Chelsea side earned Barca its sixth trip to the
final; it has won the cup twice. The Spain midfielder, recovering from a thigh injury, abandoned his usual reserved nature when it came to deciphering the final.

"United are the defending champions, one of the best, but they don't scare me. I have the same respect for them as they have for us," Iniesta said. "It's a chance to go down in history. I'd accept winning on penalties."

Based on their training methods, that's something Barcelona is not exactly ready for.

"We haven't practiced them," Xavi said. "I think to do that is ridiculous because you can't
emulate the tension of a game in a training session."

Henry has combined with Lionel Messi and Samuel Eto'o to net a league-record 71 goals by a trio. But Iniesta provides an integral midfield piece to rookie coach Josep Guardiola's
philosophy: attacking, possession soccer borne out by midfielders Xavi and Iniesta.

The two players are straight out of the mold of Guardiola, a former midfielder who orchestrated Barcelona to 10 major titles from that role, including in the Champions League in 1992.

"This is special for us because we played the best football," Xavi said after the club secured its 19th league title. "I have never seen (a team) play at this level, I have never played in a better team. We have individuals but, above all, we've won as a team. I'm proud."

But the absence of several defenders has left Barcelona's defense exposed against a team that knocked it out at the semifinal stage last year.

With fullbacks Daniel Alves and Eric Abidal suspended and center back Rafael Marquez injured, midfielder Yaya Toure will likely partner with former United player Gerard Pique in the middle as he did against Chelsea, then against Athletic Bilbao in the Spanish Cup final. Captain Carles Puyol and 35-year-old Silvinho are likely to fill in on the wings.

With forwards Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Carlos Tevez and Dimitarm Berbatov to contend with, goalkeeper Victor Valdes again may be called upon to make big saves in
pressure moments.

"What I must value is how Rooney, Tevez, (Paul) Scholes, etc., work," Iniesta said. "Rooney played left back against us. To win a final against United you can't make any
mistakes."

No column from me this morning due to Monday's holiday.

But those of you looking for a good soccer read might want to check out the work of former Daily Breeze food critic and converted Galaxy fan Chris Cognac who has guest-blogged here before and now has a new blog from a fans' point of view called Chivas USA from the Stands.

In his latest post Chris tallies up the cost of being a Galaxy fan compared to following Chivas USA (he's talking monetary cost not the emotional toll, BTW).

Look for the South Bay resident to continue to observe the simple, yet awe-inspiring virtues of the bacon wrapped hot dog and other pleasures from his seat beneath the Stadium Club with his family.

Welcome to the blogging party, Chris.

Briefly:

*MLS "eye candy" Robbie Rogers of Rolling Hills Estates (and others) here. Also featured: Chivas USA 's 'sexy" Sacha Kljestan and rookie Galaxy defender A.J. 'the hunk" DeLaGarza.

*The U.S. Under-17 Men's National Team plays Cuba at 4 p.m. Tuesday in its opening game of the regional championships in Tijuana. No TV.

*The U.S. Women's National Team will play Canada July 19 iin Rochester, N.Y., and July 22 Charleston, S.C., it was announced today. From U.S. Soccer:

"The matches will be the last for the U.S. Women's National Team at home in 2009, but the team is scheduled to gather for training camps and a European tour following the completion of the inaugural WPS campaign."

The 3-0 Chivas USA and 0-1-1 Galaxy meet at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in the latest edition of the SuperClasico at Home Depot Center (live on ESPN2).

Club officials told me they were going to pull the special offer of $75 sideline seats for just $14 earlier in the week, but there's an ad in today's Daily Breeze so I'm assuming it's still good. Call 1-877-3GALAXY.

There will be a complete preview of the derby between the Galaxy and Chivas USA from reporter Phil Collin on Saturday.

But Chivas USA, who sport a 3-8-4 record in these games (they've won a season series just once, in 2007), have reason to feel more optimistic than usual considering the Galaxy's shaky early season form.

Veteran defensive midfielder Jesse Marsch is one who believes Chivas USA may have the upper hand this time around:

"We have a lot of guys who've played in these games. The first year I came here it was the second year of the club and no-one had really played in those games. They were very experienced in those games, so it was a little bit of a shock to our system. For me personally I now understand the intensity of the game; so hopefully that can be used to our advantage this time."

I plan to blog from the game as usual.

Plenty of televised soccer this weekend. Among the best bets Saturday:
*7 a.m. Fox Soccer Channel Chelsea-Bolton Wanderers
*9:30 a.m. FSC Stoke City-Newcastle United
*1 p.m. TeleFutura San Jose Earthquakes-Chicago Fire
*5:30 p.m. FSC Houston Dynamo-New York Red Bulls
*7 p.m. KVEA CD Guadalajara-Atalante

And on Sunday:
*8 a.m. FSC Manchester City-Fulham
*1:30 p.m. FSC Chievo-AC Milan
*2 p.m. KMEX Club America-Indios

Playing a little catch-up this evening, so you should know:

*Mexico soccer coach Sven-Goran Eriksson was fired today, a day after El Tri crashed to a 3-1 loss against Honduras in World Cup qualifying.

Less than a year into the job, the former England coach had just one win in its last
seven games.

"We told Mr. Eriksson that his term with the national team has finished," Justino Compean, president of Mexico's soccer federation, said at a news conference.

*The L.A. Sol of Women's Professional Soccer today signed 25-year old Liz Bogus, who had 31 goals and 18 assists during a four-year career at Arizona State where she was the 2002 Pac-10 Freshman of the Year award.

*Fox has indeed outbid ESPN for the rights to the UEFA Champions League in a three-year deal. Games will be shown on Fox Soccer Channel, FSN, FX and Fox Sports en Español.

The final will air on FX in High Definition each year, a spokeswoman with the network told me. FSC is also "looking to accelerate the time frame in which they will begin broadcasting in HD."

Although no official on-air talent decisions have been taken, Fox is looking to use the international English-language feeds UEFA provides rather than using American talent stuck in an L.A. studio.

From the (edited) press release:

As the primary outlet for the UEFA Champions League, Fox Soccer Channel will deliver 110 live and delayed UEFA Champions League matches per season to its nearly 35 million subscribers. FSN - reaching up to 83 million homes nationwide through its owned and affiliated regional sports networks - will televise 16 live matches per season, while Fox Sports en Español will distribute 94 total contests (live and delayed) in Spanish to its 14 million subscribers.

The UEFA Champions League Final will air each season on FX, reaching over 95 million homes nationwide. Next season, the final will be staged on a Saturday for the first time in its history, with the match kicking off at 11:45 a.m. Pacific May 22, 2010 at Madrid's Santiago Bernabéu Stadium.

Fox Soccer Channel's UEFA Champions League coverage will include one live and two premiere match telecasts per match day - including prime-time rebroadcasts of FSN and Fox Sports en Español's live offerings - as well as live pregame and postgame shows from its Los Angeles studios. All live matches will kick off at 11:45 a.m. Pacific on Tuesdays and Wednesdays during the course of the season. Fox Soccer Channel will also produce a 30-minute UEFA Champions League highlight show at the conclusion of each match day.

I spoke with Warren Olney today about the inaugural Women's Professional Soccer game in Carson Sunday between the Sol and Washington Freedom.

Listen here.

The bit with me is the last 15 minutes or so of the program if you don't want to listen to a discussion of "Public Health, Childhood Vaccines and Autism."

And yeah, the headline is in order of importance.

Heartwarming tale of a Los Angeles-area girls youth soccer team who won a championship, but then couldn't afford to travel to the tournament they had qualified for.

(Any yeah, I know Ryan Seacrest is involved, it's still worth a listen).

Check it out here.

The Sol also trimmed its roster today ahead of Sunday's WPS opener against the Washington Freedom. Here's the roster.

Think of the possibilities of this development:

By CHRIS JENKINS AP Sports Writer

In-game Twitter posts might be a technical foul of sorts in the NBA, but at least one sports league is embracing the idea of having players use the social networking Web site during a game.

The new Women's Professional Soccer league will allow selected players to post short Twitter notes, called "tweets," during its inaugural game between the Los Angeles Sol and Washington Freedom March 29 at Home Depot Center, league spokesman Robert Penner said.

General managers from the new seven-team league approved the idea in a conference call Friday. Depending on fan response, league officials are considering allowing players to tweet during games all season.

They still must work out some of the details, including which players will tweet and when they'll be allowed to do so; starters, obviously, likely would be limited to pregame, post-game and halftime.

The league's decision stands in sharp contrast to the NBA, where Milwaukee Buck coach Scott Skiles reprimanded forward Charlie Villanueva for posting a tweet during halftime of Sunday's victory over Boston. Skiles said it could be interpreted as a sign that Villanueva wasn't focused on the game. Villanueva agreed to stop tweeting during games but still isn't sure he did anything wrong; he argued that posting to Twitter isn't much different from doing a short television interview at halftime.

My pledge to you, the reader: If they tweet, I tweet. I'll tell you who's tweeting, why they're tweeting and what they're tweeting about. Is it redundant to retweet? Only if you're not listening.

Frankly, you may not give a tweet, but it's far too late for that.

I already tweet at Twitter.com/LAsoccerblog. Feel free to follow along

Tweeting will ramp up when the season begins with frequent updates (although I'll never put a score in a tweet).

The tweeting has only begun.

And how soon until the first own goal caused by tweeting?

This picture and the following poem were sent to me separately by Daily Breeze Sports Editor Todd Bailey and a Facebook friend respectively.

Both seem to sum up the spirit of the game as we await the beginning Thursday night of a new MLS season.

The image was summed up in the press release:

Sarah Ahmad, a photographer from Rawalpindi in Pakistan, is the winner of the Campaign Award. Introduced this year, as part of the Sony World Photography Awards, the competition created a brief for amateur photographers to answer and it sought out one image which unites a global obsession with football and a passion for photography.

The winning image of a woman preparing a meal, with one foot placed on a football, is simply titled: 'The Love of the Game: a cook, cleaner, mother....and an attacking midfielder.'

Delly Carr, one of the world's leading sports photographers, and chair of the judging panel commented: "This photograph is so simple, yet it speaks volumes about the sport. The image exemplifies the fact that football is indeed the world game, a sport built on passion and fanaticism. It also attempts to express that passion makes no discrimination against gender, age, nationality, or social class."

More information on the Sony World Photography Awards is here.

In the same vein is the following poem I'd never seen before that was apparently translated from the Spanish.

If anyone knows more about it, please leave a comment. I'm unsure whether Wolff or Saavedra is the author, nevertheless it sums up the beautiful game:

How will you know what Love is
if you've never been in love with a club?

How will you know what pain is
if a central defender has never broken your fibia and tibula?
or if you've never been standing on a wall and the ball hit you exactly there...

How will you know what pleasure is
if you've never done a victory lap as a visitor?

How will you know what sweetness is
if you've never caressed her on the side, approaching her with the outside of the boot to leave her cradling under the net?

Listen... how will you know what solidarity is
if you've never stood up for a friend who was hit from behind?

How will you know what poetry is
if you've never dared to dribble?

How will you know what humiliation is
if you've never been nut-megged?

How will you know what friendship is
if you've never returned a 1-2?

How will you know what panic is
if you've never been surprised out of position in a counterattack?

How will you know what dying a little is
if you've never gone looking for the ball at the back of the net?

How will you know what solitude is
if you've never stood between the three posts
12 steps away from one that wanted to beat you
and end your dreams?

How will you know what mud is
if you've never launched yourself at nobody's feet
to send a ball over the touchline?

How will you know what greed is
if you've never taken a touch too many
when you should have given it to the '9' who was all alone?

How will you know what art is
if you've never invented a 'rabona'?

How will you know what music is
if you've never sang from the stands?

How will you know what injustice is
if you've never been sent off by a partial referee?

How will you know what insomnia is
if you've never been relegated?

How will you know what hate is
if you've never scored an own goal?

How will you know what crying is
if you've never lost a final as the clock died on a questionable penalty?

How will you know my dear friend
How will you know what life is
if you have never ever

played football.

Briefly:
*Chivas USA's Jorge Flores (briefly) played Friday in the got the start for the U.S. Under-20 Men's National Team's 3-0 victory over Jamaica in the opening game of the CONCACAF U-20 Championship. UCLA goalkeeper Brian Perk got the shutout. Next up: Honduras on Sunday.

*Earlier today, Natasha Kai scored the U.S. winner with a sweet volley in stoppage time in a 1-0 victory over Iceland to qualify for the Algarve Cup final in Portugal. The U.S. has one irrelevant group game left against Norway Monday. Torrance's Shannon Boxx of the Sol played the full 90 minutes for the U.S. The Sol's Kendall Fletcher didn't get off the bench again.

*CONCACAF will announce the Gold Cup venues Monday (gee, do ya think the Home Depot Center will be in there?)

*Mexico has announced its squad for Wednesday's game against Bolivia in Colorado:
goalkeepers: Guillermo Ochoa (América), José de Jesús Corona (Tecos UAG)

defenders: Juan Carlos Valenzuela (América), Julio César Domínguez (Cruz Azul), Leobardo López (Pachuca), Fausto Pinto (Cruz Azul), Oscar Rojas (América), Paúl Aguilar (Pachuca), Hugo Ayala (Atlas), Edgar Castillo (América)

midfielders: Pável Pardo (América), Leandro Augusto (UNAM), Luis Pérez (Monterrey), Israel Martínez (San Luis), Antonio Naelson (Toluca), Fernando Arce (Santos), Gerardo Torrado (Cruz Azul)

forwards: José María Cárdenas (Pachuca), Vicente Matias Vuoso (Santos Laguna), César Villaluz (Cruz Azul), Omar Bravo (Tigres), Sergio Santana (Toluca)

*Best of the TV games this weekend include:
4:30 a.m. Saturday Coventry City-Chelsea on Fox Soccer Channel
3 p.m. Saturday Chivas-Jaguares on KAZA
9 a.m. Sunday Everton-Middlesborough (FA Cup) on FSC
12:30 p.m. Sunday AC Milan-Atalanta (delayed) on FSC
3 p.m. Sunday Atlante-Club America on KVEA.