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Two days until the Galaxy-Chivas USA Western Conference semifinal from Carson's Home Depot Center (4:30 p.m. ESPN2) and the Galaxy blog reports tickets are going fast and the club is considering opening up the grass berm.

Don't have yours yet? Click here.

Suggested reading/listening/viewing:
*Reporter Phil Collin has more on the game here.

*The Galaxy's Chris Birchall, a mid-season signing, is fast becoming a regular on the starting XI. Did he expect that?

*Former Chicago Fire player Jared Montz talks to Chivas USA's Jesse Marsch in a podcast on his blog.

*Can the Galaxy get a goal or two past the reigning MLS Goalkeeper of the Year?

I'll have more on the game Saturday.

Plenty of other soccer to watch this weekend on TV (click to the right for a full listing).

Saturday's games
6:54 a.m. ESPN2 Tottenham Hotspur-Sunderland
7 a.m. Fox Soccer Channel Aston Villa-Bolton Wanderers
9:30 a.m. FSC Wolverhampton Wanderers-Arsenal
12:45 p.m. ESPND Athletico Madrid-Real Madrid
5:30 p.m. FSC Chicago Fire-New England Revolution
7 p.m. KVEA Atlas-CD Guadalajara

Sunday's games
6 a.m. FSC Lazio-AC Milan
8 a.m. FSC Chelsea-Manchester United
11:30 a.m. FSC Inter Milan-Roma
Noon TeleFutura Houston Dynamo-Seattle Sounders
2 p.m. KMEX Club America-Monterrey

In local college action:
*Cal State Dominguez Hills (stars and all) is in action today.

*But the season is over for the Cal State Northridge women's team after dropping a 2-1 decision to UC Santa Barbara Thursday. Still, the Matadors finish the year with a 10-10 overall mark and a 6-2 league record that's tied for the best conference result in school history.

*The Matador men end the regular season at 7 p.m. Saturday at UC Irvine. Cal State Northridge (9-7-2, 4-4-1, BWC) won 1-0 Wednesday at home against Cal State Fullerton in OT, keeping their playoff aspirations alive going into Saturday's game. From the Matadors press release:

A Northridge victory will give the team enough points to clinch the fourth spot while an Anteater victory will bump Cal Poly from their current position as the second seed and drop them to third place in the standings, giving Irvine an opportunity to host a first-round game.

*The UCLA men UCLA (9-3-2, 4-1-2 Pac-10) return home for a three-game homestand to close the regular season. First up is a 7 o'clock game tonight against Oregon State at Drake Stadium. At 1 p.m. Sunday the Bruins face Washington at Drake Stadium in a game that is free for all veterans and active military personnel (who receive four free admissions with proper ID). In addition, Sunday is AYSO/Youth Soccer Day. Youth soccer team members and their coaches will be admitted free if they're wearing their team jerseys. Moreover, UCLA Alumni Association card holders will receive four free admissions with alumni association card. Team posters will be given away Friday, team photo cards Sunday.

*The Loyola Marymount men (7-8-1, 2-5-1 WCC) close out their season this weekend with games at 2:30 p.m. today against Gonzaga and 2 p.m. Sunday against Portland at Sullivan Field.

Enjoy the weekend.

Sorry for the short notice.

Here's the brief press release I got from the Galaxy just minutes ago:

Galaxy head coach and general manager Bruce Arena and midfielder David Beckham will go "Inside the Locker Room" with the Petros and Money Show on Fox Sports Radio on Wednesday evening. Beckham will be live with Petros and Money from 5-5:30 p.m., with Arena joining the hosts from 5:30-6 p.m. for a full hour of Galaxy coverage on the network.

Fox Sports Radio is available locally on AM 570 KLAC.

Soccer on TV this weekend kicks off with a broadcast of the USC-UCLA women's game at 7 o'clock tonight on Fox Soccer Channel (and delayed at 8:30 p.m. on Prime) in a meeting of two top 20-ranked teams.

Here are some other highlights of the weekend's televised games (for a complete list click the link at top right) followed by the local college action you can see live.

Saturday's games

5:30 a.m. Fox Soccer Channel Arsenal-Tottenham Hotspur
8 a.m. FSC Bolton Wanderers-Chelsea
10:30 a.m. FSC Manchester United-Blackburn Rovers
Noon GolTV Barcelona-Osasuna
12:30 p.m. FSC AC Milan-Parma

Sunday's games

6 a.m. FSC Livorno-Inter Milan
6:48 a.m. ESPNU U.S.-United Arab Emirates (U-17 WC)
8 a.m. FSC Birmingham City-Manchester City
11 a.m. FSC New England Revolution-Chicago Fire
2 p.m. ESPN2 Chivas USA-Galaxy
3 p.m. KMEX Club America-Jaguares

Women's college games

3 p.m. today Sullivan Field LMU (9-6-2, 1-3-1 WCC) vs. San Francisco (6-4-5, 1-3-0 WCC)
1 p.m. Sunday Matador Field Cal State Northridge (9-9, 5-2 BWC) vs. Long Beach State (5-10-3, 1-5-1 BWC)

It's the final weekend of the MLS regular season in what we are (constantly) reminded is the tightest playoff race in league history, while local colleges are also getting closer to making tournament plans. And, of course, the especially avid fan can see the Galaxy play San Jose at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Home Depot Center (9 p.m. FSN, delayed) and then turn around a few hours later to check in at noon Sunday at the same venue to see Chivas USA play the Houston Dynamo (live on Prime).

So there's plenty to watch on TV, plenty to see locally, plenty to check out below:

TV highlights
*4:30 a.m. Saturday ESPN2 Wolverhampton Wanderers-Aston Villa
*7:55 a.m. Saturday Galavision Mexico-Switzerland (U-17 World Cup)
*9:30 a.m. Saturday FSC Chelsea-Blackburn Rovers
*6 p.m. Saturday FSC Real Salt Lake-Colorado Rapids

*7 a.m. Sunday FSC Liverpool-Manchester United
*9 a.m. Sunday FSC West Ham United-Arsenal
*12:30 p.m. Sunday FSC Chievo-AC Milan
*1 p.m. Sunday ESPN2 Barcelona-Real Zaragoza
*3 p.m. Sunday ESPN2 Columbus Crew-New England Revolution
*3 p.m. Sunday KMEX Club America-CD Guadalajara
*3 p.m. Sunday FSC River Plate-Boca Juniors

In college action Thursday, Torrance's Tyler Krumpe (son of Coach Paul Krumpe) scored the winner in overtime Thursday as the Loyola Marymount men (7-6-1, 2-3-1 WCC) defeated San Diego, 2-1. Also Thursday, the Long Beach State women (5-9-2, 1-4-0 BWC) lost 2-0 to Cal State Fullerton.

Local women's college games this weekend include:
*2:30 p.m. today Cal State Northridge-Cal State Bakersfield
*3 p.m. today USC-Oregon State
*7 p.m. Saturday CSUDH-Seattle Pacific
*1 p.m. Sunday USC-Oregon
*2 p.m. Sunday Long Beach State-UC Riverside
*2:30 p.m. Sunday Cal State Northridge-UC Irvine

Local men's games:
*3 p.m. Sunday LMU-San Diego

A full slate of MLS games returns for the penultimate weekend of play after the WCQ break with the Galaxy on the road against the Dynamo (noon Sunday TeleFutura) and Chivas USA at home Saturday against the San Jose Earthquakes (7:30 p.m. KAZA, delayed 11:15 p.m. Prime), a team that returns to L.A. Oct. 24 to play the Galaxy.

How important are these games this weekend in determining playoff positions?

Check out the playoff standings.

Incidentally, Galaxy Coach Bruce Arena told reporters this week that midfielder Dema Kovalenko, who has had a right Achilles tendonitis issue, could figure in Sunday's game, while midfielder Stefani Miglioranzi is out for the last two games of the regular season with a left groin strain.

While we're at it, here's the latest Chivas USA injury report (not including the half dozen long-term absentees):

QUESTIONABLE: GK Lance Parker (R quad strain); FW Maicon Santos (R knee injury); GK Zach Thornton (lower back strain); PROBABLE: FW Justin Braun (lower back strain); MF Paulo Nagamura (L foot contusion); FW Jesús Padilla (R ankle sprain)

Meanwhile, Chivas USA defender Jonathan Bornstein continues to be the talk of the town - um, make that parts of Central America - in the wake of his equalizing goal for the U.S. Wednesday against Costa Rica.

Plenty to watch on TV, too.

The full slate of games is at the link to the right as always, but here are the ones I'll be checking out in addition to the two already mentioned.

Saturday
4:30 a.m. ESPN2 Aston Villa-Chelsea
6:30 a.m. GolTV Freiburg-Bayern Munich
7 a.m. FSC Sunderland-Liverpool
11:30 a.m. FSC Montreal Impact-Vancouver Whitecaps (USL final, second leg)
1 p.m. GolTV Valencia-Barcelona
3 p.m. FSC New England-Chicago Fire

Sunday
8 a.m. FSC Wigan Athletic-Manchester City
11:30 a.m. FSC AC Milan-Roma

Monday
11:55 a.m. ESPN2 Fulham-Hull City

Prefer live college action?
The Long Beach State women (5-7-2) lost 3-2 in overtime up in Santa Barbara Thursday, but here are your options for games in the L.A. area this weekend:

Men's Games
3 p.m. today Loyola Marymount-Santa Clara
4:30 p.m. today CSUDH-UC San Diego
7 p.m. today UCLA-California

11:30 a.m. Sunday CSUDH-Cal State East Bay
2:30 p.m. Sunday UCLA-Stanford
3 p.m. Sunday Loyola Marymount-Saint Mary's
3 p.m. Sunday Cal State Northridge-UCSB (rescheduled from Saturday)

Women's Games
12:30 p.m. today Loyola Marymount-Gonzaga
3 p.m. today Pepperdine-Portland
7 p.m. today CSUDH-UC San Diego

Noon Sunday Loyola Marymount-Portland
1 p.m. Sunday Pepperdine-Gonzaga
2 p.m. Sunday CSUDH-Cal State East Bay

Enjoy the weekend.

As I sit here watching the first game of the "weekend' - U.S.-Korea at the U-20 World Cup on ESPN2, BTW and reshown on Galavision at 4 p.m. - I was struck by the paucity of quality games on the tube this weekend (Liverpool-Chelsea at 8 a.m. Sunday on Fox Soccer Channel excepted).

Fox Soccer Channel is showing San Jose-New York on Saturday, for instance, on a weekend fraught with playoff implications. (What masochist is going to watch that?) And I think I'll skip Hull City facing Wigan Athletic, Jozy Altidore and all.

That said, here are the other games I'll be playing attention to this weekend (click over on the right for the full slate of games).

9:30 a.m. Saturday Fox Soccer Channel Manchester United-Sunderland
4:30 p.m. Saturday Prime D.C. United-Chivas USA
5 p.m. Saturday KFTR Pachuca-Club America

Noon Sunday Telefutura Houston-Kansas City
4 p.m. Sunday FSC Portland-Vancouver (USL semifinal)

Chivas USA has a viewing party beginning at 3:30 p.m. Saturday, BTW, at the Shamrock Seafood Restaurant in Wilmington, 120 W. G St. Info: 310-630-4586

Click over to the appropriate link to find out what your local college team is doing this weekend. Long Beach State lost their home opener last night 1-0 to Pacific. Game story here.

In men's soccer Thursday, Loyola Marymount beat Riverside 1-0 in a non-conference game at Sullivan Field, freshman Chris Bernardi scoring the winner with just 3:41 left in the second half. The No. 20-ranked LIons move to 5-2 on the season ahead of Sunday's 7 p.m. home game and final non-conference match of the year against Cal State Bakersfield (3-3-1).

In other local college games this weekend:

*The Cal State Northridge women (4-5) meet No. 3-ranked UCLA (6-1-1) at 4 p.m. today at Matador Field. UCLA are without suspended Coach Jill Ellis and striker Sydney Leroux; the Bruins are also likely without senior Lauren Cheney, who is training with the U.S. Women's National Team at Home Depot Center. The big draw: $1 dogs.

*The 5-1 Matadors men are at Cal State Fullerton for a tournament this weekend. They play Denver (2-2-1) at 5 p.m. today and Coastal Carolina at 11 a.m. Sunday at Titan Stadium.

*The UCLA men (3-1) travel to meet San Diego (4-2) at 7 o'clock tonight and host UNLV (4-1-2) at 5 p.m. Sunday

*The Loyola Marymount Women (5-3-1) meet Long Beach State (4-4-0) at 4 p.m. today at Sullivan Field and Cal State Bakersfield (4-6-0) at 1 p.m. Sunday at the same venue.

*After losing 1-0 to Cal State L.A. Wednesday, the Cal State Dominguez Hills men hosts Cal State Stanislaus at 7 o'clock tonight and Chico State 2 p.m. Sunday in a pair of games at Toro Stadium; the CSUDH women meet their counterparts from the two schools at 4:30 p.m. and 11:30 a.m. at the same venue respectively after beating Cal State L.A. 1-0 Wednesday.

As usual far too much soccer on the box to take it all in, so click to the link on the right for all the details.

Here are my picks for what to watch:

*4:30 a.m. Saturday ESPN2 Portsmouth-Everton
*6:55 a.m. Saturday ESPN Classic U.S.-Germany (delayed) at the U-20 World Cup.
*7 a.m. Saturday Fox Soccer Channel Liverpool-Hull City
*9:30 a.m. Saturday FSC Fulham-Arsenal
*11 a.m. Saturday GolTV Barcelona-Malaga
*2 p.m. Saturday FSC Inter Milan-Sampdoria (delayed)
*4:30 p.m. Saturday FSN Crew-Galaxy
*7:30 p.m. Saturday FSC Chivas USA-Red Bulls

*9:55 a.m. Sunday Galavision Brazil-Costa Rica at the U-20 World Cup
*10 a.m. Sunday KVEA Pumas-CD Guadalajara
*11:30 a.m. Sunday FSC AC Milan-Bari
*Noon Sunday Telefutura D.C. United-San Jose

How busy will this weekend be for soccer on TV?

Colorado and San Jose get things under way at 8 p.m. on ESPN2 in a rare Friday evening game.

Oh, and last night the UCLA men beat their Cal State Fullerton counterparts, 2-1. Game story.

For an exhaustive listing of every available game click the live soccer TV link to the right.

But here are my picks for the games to watch, followed by the local college action you can see live this weekend:

Saturday
7 a.m. Fox Soccer Channel Aston Villa-Portsmouth
9:30 a.m. FSC West Ham United-Liverpool
Noon FSC Seattle Sounders-Chivas USA
1 p.m. GolTV Barcelona-Athletico Madrid
7:30 p.m. Prime Galaxy-Toronto

Sunday
5:25 a.m. Setanta Manchester United-Manchester City (I don't usually list games on this pay TV service, but Setanta is having a free preview - at least on DirecTV - that ends Sunday).
-8 a.m. FSC Chelsea-Tottenham Hotspur
10 a.m. ESPN2 Xerez-Real Madrid
Noon Telefutura Chicago Fire-Columbus Crew

College games
4 p.m. today Matador Field Cal State Northridge women-Hawaii
4 p.m. today George Allen Field Cal State Long Beach-Pepperdine
4:30 p.m. today Loyola Marymount-Missouri followed at 7 p.m. by UCLA-Utah at Drake Stadium (UCLA Women's Cup)
11 a.m. Sunday UCLA-Missouri followed at 1 p.m. by Loyola Marymount-Utah at Drake Stadium
1 p.m. Sunday Tari Frahm Rokus Field Pepperdine-Cal State Sacramento (AYSO teams can get free admission to the game. Call 310-506-6018)

The Galaxy are at home Saturday night against FC Dallas, Chivas USA have a noon Sunday game against the New England Revolution in Carson and yet there's plenty of soccer on TV for those unwilling to leave their home.

ESPN issued a press release Thursday trumpeting their 14 games this weekend across their platforms (Freddy Adu fans can check out ESPN360.com Sunday, for instance, to see it he takes the field for Belenenses against the team that holds his contract, Benfica), while El Segundo-based DirecTV finally got around to formally announcing their broadcasts of more than 300 matches in the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and La Liga this season that I previously wrote about in my weekly column.

Overwhelmed? Here are my picks for the weekend's best games on the box, followed by the local college action:

Saturday

*6:54 a.m. ESPN2 Liverpool-Burnley
*7 a.m. Stoke City-Chelsea
*9:30 a.m. Tottenham Hotspur-Manchester United
*9:30 a.m. GolTV Borussia Dortmund-Bayern Munich
*6 p.m. FSC Real Salt Lake-Chicago Fire
*6:30 p.m. KFTR San Luis-CD Guadalajara
*10 p.m. Prime Galaxy-Dallas (delayed)

Sunday

6 a.m. FSC Inter Milan-Parma
8 a.m. FSC Fulham-Everton
Noon FSN Chivas USA-New England Revolution

College result Thursday:

UCLA men 4 UC Davis 0 (Palos Verdes Estates' Kyle Nakazawa got a goal for the Bruins, BTW.)

Local college games

The Matadors host a four-team tournament this weekend.

Also:

*4:30 p.m. today CSUDH men-Cal State San Bernadino, followed by the women's game from the two schools at Toro Stadium.
*3 p.m. today USC-Gonzaga at McAlister Field.
*4 p.m. LMU men-San Jose State at Sullivan Field.
*Noon Sunday USC-Michigan at McAlister Field.
*1 p.m. Sunday UCLA women-Gonzaga at Drake Stadium
*1 p.m. Sunday Pepperdine-Hawaii (Tip: fans planning to attend Sunday's game should first head to Lily's Café, Subway or Kentucky Fried Chicken along the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu and pick up a "Buy One, Get One Free" flyer).

With World Cup qualifying in full flow there are only three MLS games this weekend, (MLS always has trouble attracting fans on Labor day weekend anyway).

Click to the right for a full game schedule, but here's what I'll be checking out (and local college games are listed below, too):

Saturday

7 a.m. GolTV Scotland-Macedonia
9:30 a.m. Fox Soccer Channel England-Slovenia
1 p.m. GolTV Spain-Belgium
2 p.m. FSC (delayed) Georgia-Italy
5 p.m. ESPN Classic U.S.-El Salvador
7 p.m. KVEA Costa Rica-Mexico

Sunday
1:55 p.m. Puebla-CD Guadalajara

Local college action
3 p.m. today Pepperdine-Houston
4:30 p.m. Sunday Cal State Northridge men-Loyola Marymount

Did you know that for the first time ever on American television the English Premier League, the most popular soccer league (in terms of ratings) in this country, can now be seen almost weekly in hi def?

Did you know that coverage of the UEFA Champions League has taken a quantum step forward from announcers calling games in some distant studio rather than being there live, that there is no longer an extremely limited selection of games on TV and that you'll never have to hear the over-used "bulge in the ol' onion bag" phrase ever again?

You do now. (Can you tell I'm just a tad excited about these developments?).

Click the link to the right for the complete, exhaustive listing of soccer on TV this weekend.

But here are my picks for the best of the games followed by a listing of the local games in and around L.A.

TV best bets Saturday:
4:30 a.m. ESPN2 Chelsea-Burnley
9 a.m. Fox Soccer Channel Manchester United-Arsenal
11:30 a.m. FSC AC Milan-Inter Milan
5 p.m. KVEA CD Guadalajara-Pachuca
8 p.m. ESPN2 Galaxy-Chivas USA

Sunday
7 a.m. Everton-Wigan Athletic
2:30 p.m. FSN WPA All-Stars-Umea IK

Local games
Women's soccer
3 p.m. today McAlister Field UCLA-Mexico
1 p.m. Sunday Matador Field Cal State Northridge-Oregon State
3 p.m. Sunday McAlister Field USC-St. John's
5 p.m. Sunday George Allen Field Long Beach State-UCLA

Men's soccer
4:30 p.m. today Matador Field Cal State Northridge-UNLV (first 50 CSUN students through the gates get a free T-shirt)
8 p.m. Saturday HDC Galaxy-Chivas USA

Thursday Scoreboard
Women's soccer -
Cal State Northridge 3 Loyola Marymount 0
Cal State Dominguez Hills 0 Vanguard 1

Meanwhile, the men's program at Harbor College is gearing up for the season.

Finally, this has little to do with soccer, but 18 breweries will be serving up 10 4 oz tastings of their products for $20 Sunday at the inaugural Torrance Block Party, which includes a craft brew festival in Old Torrance. That's where I intend to beat the heat Sunday.

More details are here.

The U.S. Women's National Team plays Germany Oct. 29 in Augsburg, one of the venues for the 2011 Women's World Cup. A top-class match-up between nations that haven't met in nine years - and naturally there's no TV coverage in the U.S.

Ah well, that's not the case for many games this weekend. As always, click the link to the right for full details, but here's the games I'll be paying attention to this weekend:

Saturday
*6:55 a.m. ESPN2HD Wigan Athletic-Manchester United (this is pretty much a derby for those who don't know their English geography. Can Wigan pull a Burnley?)

*7 a.m. Fox Soccer Channel Manchester City-Wolverhampton Wanderers (a match-up between the EPL's newest moneybags and the newly promoted)

*11:30 a.m. FSC AC Milan-Siena (Serie A opener)

*1 p.m. Prime WPS final between the Sol and FC Sky Blue (Tickets start at $20 for this game at the HDC for those who prefer to be there live)

*2 p.m. FSC Hull City-Bolton Wanderers (Will Jozy Altidore play in his first game for Hull?)

*4:30 p.m. FSC D.C. United-Galaxy (David Beckham and Eddie Lewis return from one-game suspensions)

*7:30 p.m. Prime Chivas USA-Toronto (The flailing Goats' first game in a month at home and with every adult ticket purchased starting at $15 a kid - um, child that is - gets in free)

Sunday
*8 a.m. FSC Fulham-Chelsea (with Clint Dempsey, who signed a new deal with Fulham this week, presumably leading the charge)

BTW, the college season is getting under way and locally the No. 17 boy Bruins get things started against Bakersfield at 3 p.m. Saturday at North Athletic Field. Admission is free. (The No. 3-ranked women visit top-ranked North Carolina Saturday, BTW).

In Long Beach, it's the 49ers against Fresno State at 3 p.m. Sunday at George Allen Field.

(At this point I plan to blog from both games at the HDC Saturday, so check in for the latest as the weekend progresses).

This morning is a reminder of how quickly we've gone from famine to feast when it comes to watching televised soccer in this country.

Here it is around noon on Wednesday and as a DirecTV subscriber I have a choice of a UEFA Champions League mix on Channel 461 although at the moment it's only showing two of up to eight games (why I'm not seeing the game between Moldova's FC and Greece's Olympiakos since I subscribe to Fox Soccer Channel is a mystery to me though).

DirecTV channels are showing games (for the first time ever) so I could check out Timisoara-Stuttgart on Channel 462 or Copenhagen-Apoel Nicosia on Channel 463 if I was so inclined. (DirecTV channels 461-466 will show games live).

Up on Fox Sports Southwest on Channel 676, (yup, Fox channels other than FSC are now showing games, too) it's Celtic-Arsenal in hi def.

And ESPN channels will continue showing games as they have in year's past.

Indeed, it's become so difficult to keep track of what's on where and when that Fox has unveiled a television schedule and dedicated UEFA Champions League news Web site here.

BTW, the UEFA Champions League has a slightly different format this year. Here's a primer.

This latest television soccer development comes just five days after ESPN announced hours before the curtain rose on a new EPL season that the league would return to the network after an absence of more than 10 years (games will also continue on FSC and other outlets).

There will be almost 50 games in hi def on ESPN2, something that will hopefully spur FSC on to do the same sooner rather than later.

For instance, next up at 7 a.m. Saturday is Wigan-Manchester United, followed at noon Monday, Aug. 24 by Liverpool-Aston Villa.

Don't let the batteries in that remote control run out.

It's only on the front of the new EA Sports FIFA 2010 video game, but it's more than Chivas USA have seen of him this season.

Besides, it makes sense: Frank Lampard, Cuauhtémoc Blanco - and Kljestan.

The game goes on sale Oct. 20.

Shameless ad copy:

Responding to consumer feedback from more than 400 million online games played* last year, FIFA Soccer 10 will deliver gameplay refinements and innovations that will make it the most complete and intelligent simulation of soccer. The first-ever true 360° dribbling system gives players finer control of the ball, enabling them to find spaces between defenders that previously were not possible. A new Freedom in Physical Play concept enables players to perform wider dribble touches and new collision sharing creates a varied, less predictable, and extended fight for possession between the dribbler and a defender. Master the game before stepping on the pitch in a new practice arena that enables users to design free kicks for different dead ball situations. Record and test plays before taking them onto the pitch with Customizable Set Pieces.

But can it stop Kljestan disappearing from games (and the U.S. National Team squad)?