Media: February 2012 Archives

*The Galaxy play their second game of the Desert Diamond Cup Saturday in Arizona against Real Salt Lake, which will be streamed live here at 5 p.m. (but is apparently not available on iPads and other mobile devices).

Here's an update on the club's Arizona camp:

*Injured defender Omar Gonzalez is making four separate appearances over the weekend, starting in San Pedro Saturday morning before heading to the annual Cal South Soccer Expo in the afternoon.

*Chivas USA, meanwhile, announced their television schedule on Friday.

*Lastly, if you watch one game this weekend .... I recommend little Norwich City taking on mighty Manchester United (but then I'm a biased Canaries fan) at 5:23 a.m. Sunday on Fox Soccer Plus, which has a free trial that ends Sunday. Arsenal-Tottenham is on at the same time Sunday over on Fox Soccer.

How glad was I to skip a long-mulled holiday weekend trip to Palm Springs? Pretty glad.

Instead I simply stayed away from the keyboard for a few days and by way of catch-up should note that:

*The Galaxy lost yet another preseason game Wednesday at Home Depot Center, although much more important than the result was that Palos Verdes Estates' Kyle Nakazawa saw his first minutes in a scrimmage since joining the club from the Philadelphia Union and draft picks Tommy Meyer and Bryan Gaul continue to audition for a central defensive slot partnered by A.J. DeLaGarza.

*Speaking of center backs: the Galaxy is making injured stopper Omar Gonzalez available to the media Thursday for the first time since his knee surgery after the club's closed door scrimmage with Chivas USA.

*The Galaxy have pared their roster to 34, releasing 2011 draft picks Ryan Thomas and Dustin McCarty and 2012 draft pick Stephen Posa from camp. The only minutes Thomas, a defender, experienced was in the meaningless 2011 season finale, while midfielders McCarty and Posa simply had no chance to crack the star-studded Galaxy midfield.

*More important is the early return of Landon Donovan to the club in the wake of yet another sparkling performance for Everton against Chelsea that included an assist on the goal that sealed an unlikely win for the Liverpudlians. Would LD like to stay longer? Oh yeah, and it sounds like that is a more permanent stay is a distinct possibility eventually.

*Chivas USA, playing the Impact's second-string Wednesday following the Canadian club's game against the Galaxy, beat Montreal in Carson.

The club unveils its new 2012 jersey at around 30,000 feet somewhere between LA and Guadalajara today and have similarly high hopes for this young highly-rated Ecuadorian newcomer.

*Good to see former Galaxy veteran Chris Albright sign with his hometown team.

*Finally, is Diamond bar's Alex Morgan poised to become the latest American golden goal to win the nation's collective heart at this year's Olympics? Sure seems so.

I'm under a directive to burn some vacation hours so will take an extended break through next Tuesday.

That means no column next week, but one of this country's best soccer writers has stepped in with an apt Galaxy-centric column that breaks down the past and, hopefully, future sucess of the club.

In other local soccer news:

*No fewer than seven - yup, seven - MLS teams including the Portland Timbers, Houston Dynamo, Montreal Impact, Colorado Rapids and Chicago Fire (I'll let you guess the other two) are training at Home Depot Center this week.

Want to see some upcoming scrimmages?

Here's a (partial) schedule:

*10:30 a.m. Friday HDC Portland-Montreal
*Noon Saturday Oxnard College Chivas USA-Chicago Fire.
*10:30 a.m. Sunday HDC Portland-Houston
*11 a.m. Wednesday HDC Portland-Chicago.

Games involving the Galaxy are open to the media, but remain closed to the general public, BTW (the Galaxy and Dynamo meet at 10:30 a.m. Friday at the HDC).

*Rolling Hills Estates' Robbie Rogers reflects on signing for Leeds - and then seeing the coach that signed him promptly getting fired.

*No, Aston Villa you don't get to keep the Galaxy's Robbie Keane until a couple of days before the March 7 CONCACAF CL quarterfinal season opener (which isn't mentioned in this story). Villains, indeed.

*Guess which Galaxy player just got picked for their national team?

*If you only watch one game this weekend...make it Manchester United-Liverpool (4:30 a.m. Saturday ESPN2).

Also of note:

Landon Donovan and Everton against Chelsea (6:30 a.m. Saturday Fox Soccer)
Robbie Keane and Aston Villa against Manchester City ( 8 a.m. Sunday Fox Soccer)

*Finally, The U.S. exhibition game against Brazil will be played May 30 at Landover, Md., U.S. Soccer announced today.

Chelsea-Manchester United is live on Fox at 7:30 a.m.

A preview is here.

The "game before the game" marks the second live Barclays Premier League game in two weeks on Fox. On Jan. 22, Fox drew 1.3 million viewers nationwide for Arsenal's 1-2 loss to Manchester United, making it the most watched live EPL match ever on U.S. television.

Rob Stone, Eric Wynalda and the insufferable Piers Morgan host.

Also:
Arsenal-Blackburn Rovers is at 4:55 a.m. Saturday on ESPN2
Norwich City-Bolton Wanderers is at 11 a.m. Saturday (delayed) on Fox Soccer Plus.