Recently in Media Category

Word of further major newsroom cuts at the L.A. Times against a backdrop of a worsening economy will undoubtedly have implications for soccer coverage locally.

It may seem a small detail in the overall dire scheme of things, but it points to another challenge for a sport still struggling for media coverage.

Two weeks ago the Orange County Register stopped covering the Galaxy, a move that comes after the newspaper made a similar decision in regard to Chivas USA last season.

Last week Frank Dell'Apa of The Boston Globe, one of the best soccer writers in the nation, was pulled from the New England Revolution beat to cover the Celtics.

And the newspaper group I work for has previously suffered employee losses among those of us who cover soccer, while such other outlets as the San Diego Union-Tribune have also reduced soccer coverage in the past few months.

The Times, too, mostly covers soccer on its Web site these days rather than the printed page and Chivas USA beat writer Jaime Cardenas was recently reassigned to cover preps.

That leaves the dean of soccer writers in Southern California, Grahame L. Jones, as one of the few writers dedicated to covering the sport in the nation.

But for how much longer?

Grahame, who sits next to me in the Home Depot Center press box, is nearing retirement and is undoubtedly one of the better paid writers at The Times (he's covered soccer since the mid-1970s), so is a likely candidate to take a severance package. Even if he doesn't, Grahame won't be around forever and it's unclear whether he would be replaced upon retirement.

That would be a loss for soccer locally and nationally.

Some fans don't like Grahame because of his criticism of MLS, but he has contributed much to the growth of the sport over the years, fighting for column inches and dealing with editors who don't understand soccer.

At a time when soccer's popularity has never been higher in this country, the presence of David Beckham is generating more attention (and capacity crowds in Carson) than ever before and the increasing Latino population in Southern California and the U.S. in general means an ever-larger audience for the sport, it's disquieting that coverage by mainstream media is on the decline.

Niche publications, like this blog, are filling some of the void, (MLS recently hired a staffer solely to provide support to blogs and Web sites), but soccer needs coverage by more generalized outlets if it is to continue to grow.

The newspaper group I work for is one of only a few in the nation to dedicate space on a weekly basis to a soccer columnist (yours truly every Tuesday). There's little reason to suggest that will change anytime soon.

I often hear from readers pleading for more soccer coverage, but with fewer bodies in newsrooms generally, that is an uphill battle.

Simply put, soccer fans who want to read more about the sport need to support those outlets that do cover it. Or soccer coverage will continue to get kicked to the sidelines.

The Galaxy announced today they are selling tickets for Friday's game against the New England Revolution on the grass berm at the north end of the stadium - for $36 a pop.

Considering the cheapest seats in the stadium are $15 for the game that seems more than a little pricey, especially considering you have to bring your own blanket. By way of explanation though the Galaxy press release observes that the berm "will give one of the best views of the postgame fireworks over the South end of the stadium."

It's not the best place to watch the actual game though (despite the Galaxy insisting that it is), but on Independence Day it's all about the fireworks off the field anyway.

A capacity crowd is expected, so get their early to avoid the Home Depot Center parking hassles.

Call 877-3GALAXY for tickets.

It seems Sigi Schmid has designs on trading for the Galaxy's Carlos Ruiz, which seems a little strange since Sigi used to complain about how much time Fish spent in local night clubs when he was the coach here in L.A. Guess there are few nightclubs in Columbus.

The U.S. Women's National Team beat Norway - their first opponents at the Olympics - 4-0 today.

Hermosa Beach resident Abby Wambach had an assist and a goal in the 87th minute to register her 99th international goal (USC's Amy Rodriguez had the assist).

Next for the U.S.: Sweden on Saturday.

Finally, W-League team the Ventura County Fusion hosts the Seattle Sounders at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Buena High.

Gotta run - just 30 minutes or so left to register my picks for the MLS All-Star Game.

Goals aplenty are expected Sunday when the Galaxy plays D.C. United on the road in a rare nationally televised MLS game on ABC that precedes the Euro 2008 final.

The official Galaxy blog has a video preview.

Speaking of Euro 2008, sports media columnist Tom Hoffarth had more today on the broadcast snafu that frankly ruined the first semifinal Wednesday between Germany and Turkey. The problem wasn't ESPN's fault and the network is due some props for hiring the likes of former Scottish pro Andy Gray to provide expertise, but it still has some serious credibility problems.

(Climbs on soap box)

For one thing, if ESPN weren't so cheap they would have somebody at the game - so they don't have to solely rely on commentators in a U.S. studio in the event of an outage - who could provide an audio feed as the BBC apparently did.

Second, with the network crowing about its Euro 2008 ratings then their coverage must go to the next level and actually have their broadcast teams at the stadium. The crowd noise is noticeably lower because ESPN is not there live and that doesn't help the atmosphere of a game that's being aired.

(Climbs down).

Chivas USA continue their lengthy home stand Saturday with a game against the Red Bulls that features a special Disneyland half time show. Good time to point out that with every adult ticket purchased a munchkin 12 or under gets in free. Tickets start at $14.

The club has a video preview here.

An interesting article about Chivas USA forward Maykel Galindo rekindling a childhood friendship with a fellow defector who now plays for the Seattle Mariners is here. (Thanks to Bruce over at DuNord for unearthing that story).

Apparently John Thorrington, who grew up on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, was such a late choice for last weekend's World Cup qualifier he had not brought along a certain important document needed to travel and had to return home to Chicago to get it.

Finally, other local games set for this weekend include:
PDL
7:30 p.m. Friday San Jose Frogs at Los Angeles Legends at A.P.U. - Cougar Stadium.
7:30 p.m. Saturday Fresno Fuego at Los Angeles Legends at A.P.U. - Cougar Stadium.
7:30 pm Saturday Lancaster Rattlers at Ventura County Fusion at Buena High School.

W-League
8 p.m. Friday Fort Collins Force at Ventura County Fusion at Newberry Park High School.
5:00 p.m. Saturday Fort Collins Force at Los Angeles Legends at Azusa Pacific.

Enjoy your weekend and rejoin me Saturday for the Chivas USA game at Home Depot Center.

More on the unusual classified ad at the bottom of the post.

But first, a couple of other odds and ends.

Columbus Crew Coach Sigi Schmid, one of the South Bay's favorite soccer sons, talks about the long-distance relationship he has with his wife while he labors in Ohio.

The influence of Cal State Long Beach women's soccer Coach Mauricio Ingrassia, a native of Argentina, on the program is recounted here.

Finally, here's an ad you don't see everyday, culled from Craigslist and reprinted here exactly as it appears there:

Reply to: pris1224@hotmail.com Date: 2008-06-26, 5:09PM PDT

Our company are currently looking for Mandarin orCantonese speaking candidate to broadcast live soccergame at the following location:

CARSON, CALIFORNIA

If you know any friend that are located in thefollowing location, please have them contact me ASAP.It is a part-time position and flexible time. If youare looking for some extra income in a flexibleschedule, this is a very good opportunity. Pleasecontact me ASAP. $150 per game for 2 hours.

Almost worth learning Mandarin at that price.

Thought that headline would get your attention.

But before we get to that revelation, a second female U.S. soccer player has gone down with a serious injury and will miss the Olympics. Find out who here.

OK, onwards with the trivial journalism of the day including this "report" from Forbes Magazine, (whose major contributions to journalism these days seems to consist of pumping out lists) which names David Beckham as the world's fifth most powerful celebrity.

The only other soccer player on the list is Ronaldinho at No. 38, for those who can't be bothered to sift through the entire list.

And here, as promised, is Beckham's take on English cuisine from The Jimmy Kimmel Show earlier this week. (Warning: complete time waster). And thanks Becks, for perpetuating the myths about weird English cuisine.

Finally, this is trivial too, but at least it's for a good cause: if you're in Carson or close by this afternoon a team of Galaxy players will take on a team of Avengers (that's an arena football team for the pigskin impaired) players in a race around a local supermarket grabbing food for a local food bank.

More here from the (edited) Galaxy press release:

"Dash for the Hungry" - a race where players from the LA Galaxy and the Los Angeles Avengers "dash" around Albertsons pushing grocery carts and collecting food to feed the hungry will be held at 3 p.m. today at a store at 200 E. Sepulveda Blvd. (at the intersection of Main Street) in Carson. With only five minutes on the clock, the goal is to collect as much product as possible and raise plenty of money to benefit families and residents who rely on the Los Angeles Regional Foodbank for assistance.

Galaxy players set to race: forward Edson Buddle, goalkeeper Steve Cronin, forward Alan Gordon and defender Julian Valentin.

The big question: Will Gordon display more speed next to the frozen peas than he does in the opponents' penalty area?

Televised soccer. Live soccer. European soccer. Domestic soccer. Club soccer. International soccer.

There's something for everyone this weekend and the biggest challenge will be finding time to take it all in. Let's take the plunge.

Euro 2008 begins Saturday with two games: co-hosts Switzerland play the Czech Republic with coverage beginning at 8:30 a.m. on ESPN Classic (and repeated at 1:30 a.m. Saturday on ESPN2); at 11:30 a.m. it's Portugal (with Manchester United's sublime Cristiano Ronaldo) and Turkey on the same channel (repeated at 11:30 p.m.).

No time to watch the games? There's a highlight show at 4 p.m. on ESPN Classic. Game times (if not channels) will remain consistent throughout the tournament, by the way.

I'll be back later today with Chivas USA's Swiss defender Raphael Wicky on his nation's chances in the game and the tournament.

The game with the biggest local interest? The 8:30 a.m. Sunday Austria-Croatia match.

The pick of the weekend's games? The 11:30 a.m. Sunday Germany-Poland encounter, a rematch from the 2006 World Cup you'll recall and what amounts to a derby game between the neighboring nations.

I asked German native Sigi Schmid about Germany's chances when the Crew were in town the other weekend and I'll post that conversation sometime Saturday.

In MLS action, the Galaxy are at home at 7:30 p.m. Saturday against Colorado at Home Depot Center. Your faithful blogger will be there.

The U.S. Men's National Team takes on No. 1-ranked Argentina at 4:30 p.m. Sunday on ESPN Classic in the final tune-up before World Cup qualifying begins.

Tonight in the PDL, the San Fernando Quakes host the Lancaster Rattlers at Calabasas High. Kick off is at 7:05 p.m.

The Quakes need a win; they lost Wednesday to Orange County Blue Star.

In other local PDL games, the Fresno Fuego visit the Lancaster Rattlers at 7 p.m. Saturday at Pete Knight High and the Los Angeles Legends go up against the Ventura County Fusion at 7:30 p.m. at Buena High.

That latter game in Ventura in actually a doubleheader, as the two teams' W-League outfits take to the field at 5 p.m.

Finally, Jorge Flores didn't score Thursday for Chivas USA, but he's still getting noticed.

And in case you missed it earlier this week, here's the Euro 2008 bracket:

Enjoy the weekend.

The U.S. plays fourth-ranked Spain in a couple of hours.

Note to armchair viewers: the game is delayed until 2:30 p.m. on ESPN2 and 4 p.m. on Galavision.

The U.S. will hope to capitalize on Spain's defensive "issues," while keeping a clean sheet at the other end.

In other European news, the BBC took a look inside the head of former MetroStars player (and now Italy coach) Roberto Donadoni ahead of Euro 2008.

Lastly, apologies to ESPN analyst Tommy Smyth, whose name I managed to mangle in Tuesday's column. I owe you a Guinness, Tommy.

Soccer fans will be inviting ESPN's soccer analyst Tommy Smyth into their homes beginning Saturday when Euro 2008 begins so it seemed appropriate to chat with him for today's column in the Daily News, Daily Breeze and Long Beach Press-Telegram..

The colorful Smyth will work with usual booth partner Derek Rae (ESPN have also signed former Scottish pro Andy Gray up as an analyst for the month-long competition, by the way).

I'll have more on Euro 2008 throughout the week including the views of some locals like longtime South Bay resident and now Columbus Crew coach Sigi Schmid.

*In other news, the Galaxy's Landon Donovan pulled out of the U.S. friendly against Spain (as did West Ham's Jonathan Spector, by the way) and is listed as questionable for this weekend's game against the Rapids.

*Chivas USA learned its third and final SuperLiga opponent Sunday when Santos Laguna captured Mexico's Clausura championship with a 3-2 aggregate win over Cruz Azul. Chivas USA also plays Pachuca and the New England Revolution.

*UCLA goalkeeper Val Henderson and midfielder Tina DiMartino have been called into the U.S. Under-23 camp that opens Thursday at Home Depot Center. The team will play scrimmages against the W-League's Ventura County Fusion on June 9 and the Pali Blues on June 11.

No column today after the long weekend, but the Galaxy are back in action tonight in Carson against the Colorado Rapids in a U.S. Open Cup qualifier at Home Depot Center.

Valentin played in and started two of the three U.S. matches in France, by the way, while Gavin and Jordan each started one. The U.S. lost all three games at the tournament. Long-term injury victim Pete Vagenas could also play tonight.

The Galaxy lost 4-0 to the Rapids in the season-opener and the two teams last met in the U.S. Open Cup two years ago with the Galaxy winning 3-1 to clinch a semifinal spot.

The Rapids took an early lead through Clint Mathis before Quavas Kirk equalized just before half time. Landon Donovan scored twice in extra time to give the Galaxy the victory.

There's no TV, but I'll blog from the game as usual.

Meanwhile, the hype is building for the U.S.-England game Wednesday with Fabio Capello naming Chelsea's John Terry captain in a bid to cheer him up after his penalty kick miss in last week's Champions League final.

David Beckham apparently has a good chance of playing, while Columbus Crew midfielder Frankie Hejduk has been called into the U.S. squad.

In other national team news, U.S. Women's midfielder Leslie Osborne tore the anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee during training at Home Depot Center last week and is out of the Olympics.

Osborne, 25, has played 60 times for the U.S., but faces up to 10 months out with the injury.

In local games this past weekend, David Estrada scored three times and Camillo Rojas added a goal and an assist as the Galaxy Rios U-20s defeated the Poway Vaqueros 6-0 at Home Depot Center Saturday. Palos Verdes Estates' Kyle Nakazawa (UCLA) also scored as the Rios improved to 2-0-0 on the season and are alone in first place in the USL Super-20 League Pacific Southern California League.

In PDL action it was:
Bakersfield Brigade 1 Southern California Seahorses 0
Ventura County Fusion 0 San Francisco Seals 1
San Fernando Valley Quakes 0 Los Angeles Legends 5
Orange County Blue Star 3 Fresno Fuego 4

In the W-League:
Los Angeles Legends 1 Vancouver Whitecaps 2
Los Angeles Legends 0 Seattle Sounders 0

Finally, those psyching themselves up for Euro 2008 can relive the last nine finals in a condensed one-hour version of each game showing on ESPN Classic at 4 p.m. through June 5.

Tonight it's the 1976 final between two nations that don't exist anymore: West Germany and the Crech Republic.

*The U.S. Under-23 National Team plays the Ivory Coast at 9 a.m. today on Fox Soccer Channel from France.

*Fontana's Maurice Edu of Toronto FC has been called into the senior national team for next week's game against England, presumably as a replacement for the injured Benny Feilhaber.

*The Galaxy's Ante Jazic has only just returned from injury, but the defender has been recalled by Canada's National Team for its May 31 game against Brazil in Seattle.

*In other MLS news, former Galaxy midfielders Jovan Kirovski and Kelly Gray have joined the San Jose Earthquakes from the Colorado Rapids, with former Chivas USA reserve goalkeeper Preston Burpo moving in the opposite direction.

*ESPN has announced that Wednesday's UEFA Champions League final between Manchester United and Chelsea - the first-ever between two English teams - was ESPN2's highest-rated and most-watched UEFA telecast in history.

From the ESPN press release:

The telecast was seen in an average of 798,000 homes (and by 1,097,000 viewers), and received an 0.8 rating. The network's previous UEFA record was the 2006 final, seen in 613,000 homes (and by 770,000 viewers), based on a 0.7 rating.

On ESPN Deportes, the Spanish-language telecast earned a 4.5 Hispanic coverage rating, representing 153,000 Hispanic homes, the highest rating the network has ever received.

ESPN Classic will re-air the telecast as an instant classic at 5 p.m. Saturday.

*Meanwhile, Electronic Arts' UEFA Euro 2008 video game has gone on sale, featuring 52 teams.

From their press release:

A new game mode called Captain Your Country will enable gamers to put themselves on the pitch, earn the captaincy of their team, and truly inspire their country to glory. Gamers will be able to celebrate their success on-field through user-controlled celebrations that will add to the pageantry and atmosphere of the event.

*Cal State Northridge women' soccer has announced the signing of eight high school seniors to letters of intent: sweeper Nicole Cruz and defender Emily Geckle (both Thousand Oaks High); goalkeeper Christina Herrera (Pasadena High); defender Marie Hirsch (Notre Dame High); midfielder Marissa Miller (Righetti High); defender Katie Russ (Canyon High); midfielder Brielle Slepicoff (Saugus High); and midfielder Sinead Vaughan (Royal High).

*Only two local PDL games scheduled this weekend.

At 7:30 tonight the San Fernando Valley Quakes play at Los Angeles Legends.

At 7 p.m. Saturday, it's the Bakersfield Brigade at Southern California Seahorses at La Mirada High.

*The Women's Premier Soccer League begins play locally this weekend.

Games scheduled locally:
Saturday- Ajax America Women- Los Angeles Rampage at noon at Nansen Field in Rolling Hills Estates.
San Diego WFC SeaLions- West Coast FC at 7 p.m. at Cathedral Catholic High in San Juan Capistrano.
Claremont Stars- SD United at 5:30 p.m. at Claremont High School.

*Finally, if you thought MLS officiating was bad, check this out.

Have a great weekend.

Wednesday's Telly

6:30 a.m. Fox Soccer Channel U.S. Under-23 National Team-Turkey in Toulon.

11:30 a.m. ESPN2 Manchester United-Chelsea in the UEFA Champions League Final.

4:30 p.m. Direct Kick Toronto FC-D.C. United.

Bradley's Boys

U.S. Coach Bob Bradley has named a 22-man roster that will travel to London to prepare for the friendly against England on May 28 at Wembley Stadium including Chivas USA goalkeeper Brad Guzan and the Galaxy's Landon Donovan:

goalkeepers Dominic Cervi (Out of Contract), Brad Guzan (Chivas USA), Tim Howard (Everton FC); defenders Carlos Bocanegra (Fulham FC), Dan Califf (FC Midtjylland), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96), Jay DeMerit (Watford FC), Oguchi Onyewu (Standard de Liege), Michael Orozco (San Luis), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock), Jonathan Spector (West Ham United); midfielders Freddy Adu (SL Benfica), DaMarcus Beasley (Glasgow Rangers), Michael Bradley (SC Heerenveen), Ricardo Clark (Houston Dynamo), Benny Feilhaber (Derby County), Eddie Lewis (Derby County); forwards Clint Dempsey (Fulham FC), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy), Nate Jaqua (Out of Contract), Eddie Johnson (Fulham FC), Josh Wolff (Out of Contract).

And here's the England squad:

David James (Portsmouth), Joe Hart (Manchester City), Chris Kirkland (Wigan); Wayne Bridge (Chelsea), Wes Brown (Manchester United), Ashley Cole (Chelsea), Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United), Phil Jagielka (Everton), Glen Johnson (Portsmouth), John Terry (Chelsea), Stephen Warnock (Blackburn), David Wheater (Middlesbrough), Jonathan Woodgate (Middlesbrough); Gareth Barry (Aston Villa), David Beckham (Los Angeles Galaxy), David Bentley (Blackburn), Joe Cole (Chelsea), Stewart Downing (Middlesbrough), Owen Hargreaves (Manchester United), Tom Huddlestone (Tottenham), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Jermaine Jenas (Tottenham), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), Theo Walcott (Arsenal), Ashley Young (Aston Villa); forwards Gabriel Agbonlahor (Aston Villa), Dean Ashton (West Ham), Peter Crouch (Liverpool), Jermain Defoe (Portsmouth), Michael Owen (Newcastle), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United).

Noteworthy: Galaxy forward Landon Donovan, 26, is one cap away from becoming the fourth-youngest male player to reach 100 international appearances. After becoming the all-time U.S. goalscorer Donovan Wednesday would surpass the nation's most capped player - Galaxy Assistant Coach Cobi Jones (164) - as the youngest U.S. player to hit the century mark.

Galaxy Gossip

Galaxy players already managed to get an MLS coach fired this season and it wasn't Ruud Gullit. Dallas Coach Steve Morrow got the hook after his team's plumbing the depths of ghastly performance last weekend.

Tidbits on a date with the knife for Gullit, Galaxy UEFA Champions League final picks (c'mon, name names) here.

Under-20 Galaxy Rios forward Tristan Bowen has been named the to the U.S. Under-18 Men's National Team for the upcoming Lisbon International Tournament, where the U.S. will take on Norway on May 21, Portugal on May 22 and Sweden on May 24. The team plays at the HDC Saturday in the season opener.

Also named: defender Jose Diaz (Chivas USA Academy) and midfielder Mike Roman (Real So Cal).

Foxy Programming

Fox Soccer Channel has announced a four-year renewal of its broadcasting rights to televise programming from England's governing body for soccer.

That includes the F.A. Cup as well as the final, finally back on free TV in the U.S.

Other games include the Community Shield and England internationals.

FSC also snared rights to the CONCACAF Champions League, for four seasons beginning in 2008/2009. FSC airs 56 games this year.

David Beckham, apparently too chicken to chat with Stephen Colbert, shows up at 4 p.m. on KNBC on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. Expect plenty of fawning from the host. Promo clip here.

In completely unrelated news, the Galaxy have relaunched their Kids Club. The $15 membership fee includes, well, not very much: a free poster, a password for the club Web site, a club card, a "special" Galaxy gift and a discounted ticket to a game. Sign up at the Galaxy Web site.

Meanwhile, the, um, hype begins for Saturday's Galaxy-Chivas USA derby with a Thursday press conference with the Galaxy's Chris Klein and Ruud Gullit and Chivas USA's Maykel Galindo and Preki.

Whether anyone will say anything remotely interesting is quite another thing. Bet they won't top Chivas USA midfielder Sacha Kljestan at any rate who recently said:

"I always think about the Galaxy because I always feel that I have my good games when I play against the Galaxy. I don't enjoy beating anybody else better than I enjoy beating the Galaxy."

Read the whole thing here.

Didja remember to TiVo the 11:30 a.m. Manchester United-Barcelona UEFA Champions League semifinal game live on ESPN2?

Good.

(Very) briefly: Rolling Hills Estates' trigger happy midfielder Robbie Rogers of the Columbus Crew will answer questions from fans at 11 a.m. at TheCrew.com

And GolTV, fresh off securing the rights to German National Team games, will now also air Italy's 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign as well as some friendlies, starting May 30 with the game against Belgium.

There's a full slate of soccer this weekend in Southern California, with both the Galaxy and Chivas USA playing home games at Home Depot Center in Carson.

The Galaxy are up first, kicking off at 7:30 p.m. Saturday against defending MLS champions, the Houston Dynamo. With the Beckham buzz apparently wearing off, tickets are discounted 35 percent, a free Galaxy hat is on offer and pop-punk band The Burning Tree Project play a pre-game concert.

Check out the band below.

Want to see the Galaxy free? The reserve team plays at 1 p.m. Sunday against their Houston counterparts at the HDC.

Injury-riddled Chivas USA, meanwhile plays FC Dallas at 5 p.m. Sunday.

Want to see Chivas USA for free? The club's Under-16 and Under-18 teams play a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m. Saturday against Real So Cal at Agoura High School in Agoura Hills.

Incidentally, the Galaxy, which has been slow to get its youth programs going as required by MLS, launches two teams in the U.S. Soccer Development Academy program this fall.

Also progressing at a glacial pace has been the Galaxy's entry into the new Women's Professional Soccer league that aims to start play next year. Rumors a month ago that Galaxy parent company Anschutz Entertainment Group was looking to sell the unnamed team before it even starts play are apparently false. The team is accepting $25 deposits for season tickets.

In other women's soccer news, Loyola Marymount University Thursday announced the signing of two more players: Midfielder Jaide Timm-Garcia (Desert Christian High, Lancaster) and goalkeeper Katie Graul (Santiago Canyon College).

Finally, MLS Commissioner Don Garber belatedly joins the blogging party, penning "The Commissioner Speaks" every other Friday beginning at noon today. But will he actually say anything?

And, if you only watch one game this weekend, check out Manchester United against Brad Friedel's Blackburn Rovers at 9 a.m. Saturday on Fox Soccer Channel.

I'll be blogging from the HDC at both MLS games this weekend, as usual, by the way.

Mexico beat China 1-0 in Seattle Wednesday night in a largely meaningless game rendered even more inconsequential by this irrelevant story in today's Seattle Times apparently written by the only Latino guy in the nation to never see a soccer game involving Mexico.

From José Miguel Romero we learn that Mexico has really loud fans just like the Seahawks (can we get through a soccer story without an unnecessary American sports reference, please) and that they even (gasp) throw plastic bottles (in Mexico those bottles are usually filled with a recycled liquid).

Sadly, patronizing stories like this written for non-soccer fans are not a thing of the past and just reinforce how out of touch many newspapers are with their readers, most of whom do not regard soccer as some alien novelty act. You need to get out of Renton more Romero.

While I'm on a rant, things don't get much better over at USA Today, which manages to suck the life out of today's D.C. United-Columbus Crew game (live at 5 p.m. on ESPN2) with the following soulless slab of stats-laden sterility that passes for a game preview:

Playing their third match in eight days and seventh since March 12 - including a CONCACAF Champions Cup game - United (1-2-0) lost 4-0 at Real Salt Lake on Saturday to drop to 0-2 on the road.

United went 6-5-4 on the road in 2007 en route to finishing with an MLS-best 55 points, but they've been outscored 6-0 away from home this year.

D.C.'s lone win came 4-1 over Toronto FC on April 5 at RFK Stadium.

(snip)

Though United went 10-2-3 at home in 2007, they'll be facing a Columbus team that was 2-1-0 against them in 2007. The Crew won 3-2 at RFK Stadium on Oct. 20 in the most recent meeting.

United had just three shots on goal and six total shots against Salt Lake. D.C. will be looking to avoid being shut out in a third straight road match for the first time since going scoreless in five straight away from home from April 15-June 12, 2005.

They couldn't cram another number in?

For perspective and context (and a reporter who uses numbers for actual journalistic effect), let's turn to the excellent Steven Goff over at The Washington Post.

Meanwhile, perhaps the most candid interview I've seen so far with former Galaxy midfielder Santino Quaranta (now back at D.C.) includes this excerpt:

I never really did the right things just in life, I couldn’t really deal with life in life’s terms you know what I mean? I was trying to juggle being a father, being a husband, being the guy that everybody looks at to go out and party. It was a lot of fear. I knew that things were going bad and I knew that everything was slipping away from me and that I couldn’t control that. It was out of my control, that was the best I could do at that point.

Read the whole thing here.

Finally, perhaps the best reason to check in on tonight's MLS game for Los Angeles-area fans is to monitor the continuing progress of Rolling Hillls Estates' Crew midfielder Robbie Rogers
who has 15 shots in just three games, more than any other player in the league. Rogers scored two goals, including the game-winner, in the Crew’s 4-3 victory over Chivas USA last weekend and is rapidly maturing into a dangerous, creative player. In sum, he has five MLS goals in 13 games.