Recently in Pointless Awards Category

A busy weekend of soccer with all three pro teams playing at home and the U.S. in the final of a FIFA competition for the first time:

10 a.m. Saturday - The runaway WPS-leading Sol plays its last weekend game of the season at the early hour at Home Depot Center against the Chicago Red Stars. There's a ticket special: two for $30 plus a Marta bobblehead and a $50 ESPN Zone game card. Call 1-877-4-SOL-TIX.

7 p.m. Saturday - Chicago must defeat Tigres Saturday and then Chivas USA must beat San Luis by at least two clear goals to advance in SuperLiga. Tickets start at $15. Call 1-877-CHIVAS-1 for tickets.

11 a.m. Sunday - Coverage begins on ESPN and Univision for the U.S. showdown with Brazil in the Confederations Cup final. BTW, the National Soccer Hall of Fame tweeted that the organization "is requesting a game ball from Sunday's championship match for display What else should we ask for?" What about a U.S. win?

7 p.m. Sunday - $1 beer, $1 dogs as the 2-3-9 Galaxy play the Western Conference leading Houston Dynamo in Carson. Call 1-877-3GALAXY for tickets.

In related news, the Galaxy's Landon Donovan has again been nominated for an ESPY.

So has the Sol's Marta. The current and three-time FIFA World Player of the Year is up against Russian pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva, Mexican golfer Lorena Ochoa, Australian swimmer Stephanie Rice and Russian tennis player Dinara Safina in the category of Best Female International Athlete. I'm told only ESPN's international viewers can vote in this one.

ESPN hands out the awards in July at the Nokia Theater at LA Live.

Busy (and slow-starting) day working on Tuesday's column, a preview of this weekend's game of the MLS season so far: Saturday's match-up between MLS leader Chivas USA and second-place team the Seattle Sounders at Home Depot Center. I'll post that in the morning. (The Galaxy play in San Jose Saturday, BTW).

Names in the news include:

*Galaxy goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts, who today became only the club's third to be named MLS Player of the Week after making five saves in the 0-0 draw with Chivas USA on his MLS debut. Ricketts joins Kevin Hartman and Joe Cannon as the only goalkeepers in Galaxy history to keep a clean sheet in their first-ever start for the club.

The only other Galaxy goalkeepers named MLS Player of the Week: Jorge Campos (1996) and Kevin Hartman (1999 and 2002).

*Question: Will David Beckham improve his chances of playing for England at the 2010 World Cup sitting on the bench in Milan or playing in L.A.? Daily Mail.

*Midfielder Alberto Lopez, 17, from Aurora, IL, won the nationally-televised player search Sueño MLS 2009 and will receive an invitation to join the Chicago Fire Juniors.

*South (Torrance) High's Lauren Hein was named Daily Breeze Player of the Year, while South's Brad Gomez was named Coach of the Year.

It wasn't even close (thanks to an e-mail campaign resourceful CSUDH soccer fans employed to drum up votes).

But it is no less deserved after bringing a national title back to the South Bay.

Here's hoping for an equally successful 2009 for Flanagan and the Toros.

And thanks to all who took the time to vote.

Happy New Year!

'Tis the season.

Not only for journalists to use that over-used phrase, but for largely meaningless end of year awards. Still, they're also fun.

So this blog is joining the party with a highly prestigious (ahem) award of our own: the 100 Percent Soccer Southern California Soccer Personality of the Year.

Read the column then cast your vote. We'll announce the winner New Year's Day.

Thanks for reading.

Capping a breakout year, Chivas USA midfielder Sacha Kljestan was named U.S. Young Soccer Athlete of the Year Thursday, He scored a team-leading two goals in three games at the Olympics and played an increasingly influential role for Chivas USA directing traffic and sparking offensive assaults from midfield. He also scored the U.S. Soccer Goal of the Year.

More on the other award winners here.

In Detroit tonight, it was U.S. 1 China 0. Attendance: 11,933 (in economically depressed Michigan on a freezing night, a far better attendance than at the HDC).

Game story.

Gratuitous list of the week.

Sacha Kljestan's Olympic goal against Holland was the U.S. Soccer Goal of the Year. (Click on day 3).

And thanks to everyone who participated in the annual Daily Breeze ball drive. The final score was 3,500 - a record.

It's that time of the year.

Real Salt Lake forward Will Johnson's game-winner in a crucial Oct. 18 game against Dallas was voted the MLs Goal of the Year in balloting revealed today. Nicely-controlled and well-executed, but Goal of the Year material? I think not.

MLS detractors will seize upon this as more evidence of the stolidly unspectacular level of play in the league. I will simply note there were better candidates. See it here.

Which begs the question: how many of these previous Goals of the Year do you recall?
2007: Cuauhtémoc Blanco - Chicago Fire
2006: Brian Ching - Houston Dynamo
2005: Dwayne De Rosario - San Jose Earthquakes
2004: Dwayne De Rosario - San Jose Earthquakes
2003: Damani Ralph - Chicago Fire
2002: Carlos Ruiz - Los Angeles Galaxy
2001: Clint Mathis - MetroStars
2000: Marcelo Balboa - Colorado Rapids
1999: Marco Etcheverry - D.C. United
1998: Brian McBride - Columbus Crew
1997: Marco Etcheverry - D.C. United
1996: Eric Wynalda - San Jose Clash

Meanwhile, those still seething that Landon Donovan prevailed over Tim Howard for the Honda Player of the Year Award have a chance to put things right in the annual U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year competition. Those two are among the finalists for the Male Athlete of the Year Award. Voting began today.

Shannon Boxx of Torrance is a contender for the women's version.

Robbie Rogers of Rolling Hills Estates and Maurice Edu of Fontana are among those up for Young Male Athlete of the Year, along with Sacha Kljestan of Chivas USA.

The complete list:
U.S. Soccer Female Athlete of the Year Candidates
Shannon Boxx, Midfielder
Lori Chalupny, Defender
Angela, Hucles, Midfielder/Forward
Carli Lloyd, Midfielder
Christie Rampone Defender
Hope Solo, Goalkeeper

U.S. Soccer Male Athlete of the Year Candidates
Carlos Bocanegra, Defender
Michael Bradley, Midfielder
Clint Dempsey, Midfielder
Landon Donovan, Midfielder/Forward
Tim Howard, Goalkeeeper
Oguchi Onyewu, Defender

U.S. Soccer Young Female Athlete of the Year Candidates
Kristie Mewis, Midfielder
Vicki DiMartino, Forward
Michelle Enyeart, Forward
Alyssa Naeher, Goalkeeper
Keelin Winters, Midfielder
Courtney Verloo, Forward

U.S. Soccer Young Male Athlete of the Year Candidates
Maurice Edu, Midfielder/Defender
Stuart Holden, Midfielder
Sacha Kljestan, Midfielder
Michael Orozco, Defender
Robbie Rogers, Midfielder
Marvell Wynne, Defender

Vote here.

Finally, UCLA Coach Jorge Salcido was named Pac-10 Coach of the Year after leading a young Bruin team (12 newcomers) to a fifth conference title in seven years and a dominant 7-1-2 record.

And junior midfielder Michael Stephens was named the Pac-10 Men's Soccer Player of the Year, the third Bruin - Matt Taylor (2003) and Patrick Ianni (2004) were the others - to receive the honor. He has seven goals and nine assists on the season.

I had never written a fairytale before.

But the literary device seemed apt for today's column.

Of course, Red Bull New York is a bit of a Cinderella story, too, so come Sunday we'll see who lives happily ever after.

Columbus management gave Sigi the time and perhaps most importantly, didn't interfere in the playing side of things, and are now reaping the reward. Are you listening, Galaxy front office?

"I've always felt if you hire somebody to do the job let them do the job and if you're not going to let them do the job don't hire them," Schmid said. "It's impossible for anyone to have too many fingers in (too many) pies."

Updated:
UCLA beat San Diego 1-0 Monday on an own goal in a game delayed by the unhealthy air quality caused by the wildfires this weekend to advance to the last 16 of the NCAA Tournament. The Bruins play USC at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday at Drake Stadium.

Quotable:

"This is the NCAA Tournament and nothing is going to be easy and nothing is going to be handed to you," said UCLA head coach Jillian Ellis. "To be able to win and not play as well as we can play - we have to take that as a positive. Good teams find a way to win. San Diego certainly didn't make it easy for us."

Notable:
*UCLA outshot San Diego 20-9 on the night.
*The Bruins have allowed goals in just four of their 22 games this season.
*It is the fourth season in a row that UCLA has reached the 20-win mark, and the Bruins' 10th straight appearance in the round of 16.
*The Bruins defeated the Trojans 2-1 earlier this season.

U.S. Soccer has named its annual award finalists. Voting begins today here.

MLS today named Cal State Northridge product and Galaxy defender Sean Franklin as its Rookie of the Year. Franklin is scheduled to talk to reporters later today from the U.S. Men's National Team training camp in Colorado.

How big of an accomplishment is this?

Franklin played all year in the center of a bad Galaxy defense, yet according to Coach Bruce Arena he's not a central defender.

In other MLS awards-related news, Rolling Hills Estates Robbie Rogers is one of the five finalists for Goal of the Year. Vote here. Roger already beat out Beckham to become one of the finalists; can he do the same to Blanco?

And in other Galaxy-related news, Bayern Munich's Web site has more on Landon Donovan's German adventure. Hmmm, is he going to be there 10 days or 10 weeks?

Oh, and even though this was reported a while back the Galaxy has officially announced that Tristan Bowen, 17, of Van Nuys has become the first player to come through its youth academy to sign a multiyear contract with the club.

"Tristan is an exciting and talented young player who has impressed me and all of our coaches during his time training with the club," Galaxy General Manager and Head Coach Bruce Arena said. "He has many of the attributes which are required in order to become a good player in MLS and has shown the drive and desire to improve all areas of his game. We are excited to have him join the club and look forward to seeing him grow in a Galaxy uniform."

In Wednesday night games, Mexico beat Ecuador 2-1 in Arizona and CD Guadalajara lost 2-0 in the first leg of their Copa Sudamericana semifinal.

At 4:30 p.m. on ESPN2 the Crew and Fire face off in the Eastern Conference final with the winner heading to MLS Cup on Nov. 23 at Home Depot Center.

Even though former Galaxy Coach Sigi Schmid is being circumspect about what it would mean to him to walk out on the home field of the club that fired him in the league's title game, Crew forward Alejandro Moreno - who played for him in L.A. - isn't as reticent:

"We know it's special and we know he's a California guy. I think what's special is that I was in L.A. when Sigi got fired and probably at the time I thought it was wrong and even now I thought it was wrong and even with the Galaxy having won the MLS Cup after that I still think it was wrong.

"There was a lot of people who wrote him off and there was a lot of people who didn't think he was the coach he was when he was back with the Galaxy and I'm here to tell you he's still the coach (he was)."

Sigi talks here:

The Galaxy's Landon Donovan was named the Honda Player of the Year for the second consecutive year and the fifth time in the last seven years at a ceremony today in downtown L.A.

Donovan accumulated 297 points in the balloting by 213 journalists, ahead of goalkeeper Tim Howard, (249 points) and Clint Dempsey (176 points). A player receives three points for each first-place vote, two points for second-place vote and so on.

Full disclosure: I voted for Donovan.

His accomplishments this year included becoming the all-time U.S. leading scorer with 37 goals.

His reward: a Honda Civic Hybrid and a (likely) transfer to Europe.

Also today, U.S. Men's National Team Coach Bob Bradley named a 19-man training squad for a four-day camp that begins Wednesday. Invitees include the Galaxy's Sean Franklin and Chivas USA's Jonathan Bornstein and Sacha Kljestan.

The full squad: goalkeepers Brian Edwards (Toronto FC), Troy Perkins (Valerenga IF), Matt Pickens (out of contract); defenders Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA), Sean Franklin (Los Angeles Galaxy), Cory Gibbs (Colorado Rapids), Clarence Goodson (IK Start), Drew Moor (FC Dallas), Michael Parkhurst (New England Revolution); midfielders Colin Clark (Colorado Rapids), Ricardo Clark (Houston Dynamo), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Nick LaBrocca (Colorado Rapids), Pablo Mastroeni (Colorado Rapids); forwards Davy Arnaud (Kansas City Wizards), Chad Barrett (Toronto FC), Conor Casey (Colorado Rapids), Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo), Kenny Cooper (FC Dallas).

Bradley names the U.S. squad to face Guatemala in Colorado Nov. 19 in the meaningless final World Cup qualifier at the conclusion of the camp.

Mexico's Burden
With the head of the Mexican Football Federation in L.A. Monday, it seemed like a good time to look at the continuing struggles of that nation ahead of its final first round World Cup qualifying game for today's column.

As always, it's hard to fit everything into a column.

Here's a few bonus quotes from Lalas (and while he declined to speak in detail about his Galaxy experience until January - presumably he's still under some form of contractual obligation - you can read between the lines with some of his quotes).

On the new environment Eriksson finds himself in, despite his track record:

*"I have some experience with making a big splash in terms of who you sign, but ultimately it's in the results. Just because somebody has experience doesn't mean that translates into success. Just because somebody has made a name for themselves some place else doesn't mean it translates into coming into some place else.

He's a great coach and he thinks about things in a certain way, but he has his work cut out for him here in CONCACAF and I think he's recognizing some of the challenges."

*On where Mexico lags the U.S. and other nations:

"I don't think they have enough players who are playing around the world and I don't think they encourage enough players to come into the Mexican league to augment what they have because it is a great league and it is at times wonderfully entertaining.

"Certainly if you look at the Mexican futbol league compared to MLS they have a much greater history and much more to build on, but it's not translating into results."

*On what the U.S.has done right in comparison to Mexico:

"We've been open-minded in terms of the different types of coaches and different types of philosophies. We've encouraged players to play overseas and use that experience in terms of bringing them back.

"We've also recognized that maybe the physical advantage that Americans enjoyed for a while and used to their advantage wasn't enough - the tactical part of it had to be sound also. We also got more wily and less naive in our approach on and off the field in that we understand how to manage games, we understand the difference in playing a home and away game.

"We've thrown a lot of money and a lot of resources into developing our younger players and our national team. It's paid off."

Donovan in Germany
In the least surprising news of the day, the Galaxy's Landon Donovan will train with Juergen Klinsmann's Bayern Munich for 10 days to "stay fit." Yeah, sure.

Of course, Donovan is looking to play overseas, Klinsmann has had close ties with the Galaxy in the past and has said he's in search of a new striker when the January transfer window opens. Goodbye and good luck, Landon.

MLS Awards
Former Galaxy Coach and long-time Sigi Schmid was not surprisingly named MLS Coach of the Year today after leading his Columbus Crew to first in MLS during the regular season.

Here's a look at Schmid's career by the numbers, courtesy of the Crew:

*17 - His number of playoff wins is the best in MLS.

*57 - The Crew's point total this season was the best in club history.

*17 - The Crew's win total this season was the best in club history.

Lalas, who will continue as MLS analyst for Thursday's Crew-Fire playoff game and for MLS Cup, said Columbus is his pick to win the title:

"I am nothing if not a believer in karma and that you are rewarded for your efforts over a period of time. It doesn't always work like that in MLS and in fact we almost discourage that, but a team like Columbus that has played consistently well, that has given their fans an entertaining and ultimately successful product from the beginning of the season - that that will bear out."

Huck's Trucks
Finally, San Jose's Darren Huckerby was named MLS Newcomer of the Year today after scoring six goals and assisting on four others in just 14 games after joining the Earthquakes in mid-season.

I'll be back later in the day with the Honda Player of the Year winner and more.

Great story in The Salt Lake City Tribune today about the life and death struggles Real Salt Lake striker Yura Movsisyan endured as a child growing up in war-torn Azerbaijan before his family emigrated to Pasadena. His proud parents will be watching their son from the Home Depot Center stands at Saturday's playoff decider against Chivas USA.

Read the story here.

U.S. Soccer began accepting nominations today for its seventh annual end of year awards for best blog, soccer bar, store and video. Details here.

Finally, one of the best executives in MLS got his just reward today: the Galaxy's Tom Payne was named president of business operations by Anschutz Entertainment Group.

From the (edited) press release:

Payne will oversee all of the Galaxy's business operations, including corporate partnerships, ticket sales, marketing, programming, communications, broadcasting, operations and community development. Payne, who has been with the organization for six seasons, will report directly to AEG President Tim Leiweke.

"From the start, there was no doubt that Tom was the ideal person to take on this new position within the Galaxy," said Leiweke. "With his vast knowledge of soccer and MLS, Tom has the respect of the staff, the players and the fans and will now play an even bigger role in helping this club to grow and become more successful. Despite our struggles on the field, Tom has done an outstanding job on the business side and together with (Coach) Bruce (Arena), we are confident that with their leadership, next year will be a positive one for us."

Payne, 44, carries with him an extensive background in the sports and entertainment industry. He has worked for the Galaxy since 2003 and previously served as the club's Assistant General Manager (2006-08) and Vice President of Programming and Business Development (2003-05). He was instrumental in opening a number of additional revenue streams for the club, including negotiating international exhibitions against teams such as Yokohama F. Marinos, the Korean National Team, Real Madrid and Chelsea F.C. Payne has also been instrumental in helping the Galaxy lead MLS in attendance in all six of his years with the club, including an MLS-best average of 26,009 fans per game in 2008, which is the second highest single season average attendance in MLS history.

Arena, you'll recall, is GM on the soccer side of things for the Galaxy. And in case you were wondering, yes, Payne is the brother of D.C. United GM Kevin Payne.

I cast my vote against the current MLS playoff system.

And I'm not the only one to address this issue at the ballot box.

Pasadena City College product Yura Movsisyan was voted MLS Player of the Week after scoring the game-winning goal in the final minute of regulation in Real Salt Lake's Western Conference semifinal against Chivas USA.

Chicago's Jon Busch was voted MLS Goalkeeper of the Year.

Updated:
And how will David Beckham vote on staying with the Galaxy and MLS in 2009?.

Chivas USA Coach Preki and players look ahead to Saturday's conference semi-final match against Real Salt Lake in this video preview:

Here's a profile of Chivas USA's apparently ageless defender Claudio Suarez who now sounds like he will not retire at season's end after all.

Not a single Chivas USA player was named as one of the three finalists in the various categories for the MLS 2008 season awards announced today.

Galaxy defender Sean Franklin is up for Rookie of the Year (no surprise there) and Landon Donovan for MVP (or there).

Full disclosure: I didn't vote. I'm not a huge fan of awards or some of these categories (MLS Referee of the year!? Are you kidding me?) And let's dump Rookie of the Year completely (as MLS gets better, rookies just don't make that much of an impact any more). Whatever.

Here's the complete list:

Goalkeeper of the Year
Jon Busch - Chicago Fire
William Hesmer - Columbus Crew
Matt Reis - New England Revolution

Fair Play Finalists
Juan Pablo Angel - New York Red Bulls
Michael Parkhurst - New England Revolution
Chris Rolfe - Chicago Fire

MLS Comeback Player of the Year
Jon Busch - Chicago Fire
Kenny Cooper - FC Dallas
Santino Quaranta - D.C. United

Defender of the Year
Jimmy Conrad - Kansas City Wizards
Chad Marshall - Columbus Crew
Bakary Soumare - Chicago Fire

Referee of the Year
Michael Kennedy
Jair Marrufo
Terry Vaughn

Rookie of the Year
Geoff Cameron - Houston Dynamo
Kheli Dube - New England Revolution
Sean Franklin - Los Angeles Galaxy

MLS Coach of the Year
Dominic Kinnear - Houston Dynamo
Sigi Schmid - Columbus Crew
Frank Yallop - San Jose Earthquakes

MLS Most Valuable Player
Cuauhtémoc Blanco - Chicago Fire
Landon Donovan - Los Angeles Galaxy
Guillermo Barros Schelotto - Columbus Crew

Newcomer of the Year
Darren Huckerby - San Jose Earthquakes
Claudio Lopez - Kansas City Wizards
Andre Rocha - FC Dallas

MLS will gradually release the winners in the days leading up to MLS Cup, beginning with the goalkeeper of the year honor on Tuesday.

Fans are being asked to choose the 10 best goals of the year from 35 semifinalists. Vote here.

Finally, the Cal State Northridge women (7-9-2, 2-4-1 Big West) lost 1-0 today to UC Riverside (7-10-2, 2-5-1 Big West) at Matador Soccer Field.

The loss severely dented the Matadors' playoff hopes.

Here's what has to happen, according to CSUN:

"To make the playoffs, the Matadors must defeat Cal State Fullerton on Sunday and hope UC Irvine either loses both their matches or draws in one and loses the other combined with Pacific dropping their match against UC Davis on Sunday."

Got that?

His legs and a once blistering shot clearly gone as Galaxy fans have seen this season, defender Greg Vanney called time on a 13-year professional career today, announcing his retirement before the game.

Vanney spent 10 years in MLS, including seven in two stints for the Galaxy, and played another three seasons in France.

"While it is a bittersweet feeling to be ending my career today, I'm happy that I am able to do so with the Galaxy where I started my career," he said.

He also played 37 times with the U.S. National Team.

But the post-Vanney era clearly can't come soon enough for Galaxy Coach Bruce Arena - Vanney doesn't get the start in the last game of his career; Julian Valentin, making his MLS debut, is preferred in central defense.

Josh Wicks in back in goal, with Steve Cronin on the bench, behind a defense that also sees Mike Randolph make his first second start under Arena, with defender Sean Franklin (Galaxy defender of the year, it was announced before the game) the third of three defenders listed on the team sheet.

The midfield: Chris Klein, Alvaro Pires, David Beckham, Landon Donovan and Eddie Lewis.

Up front: Edson Buddle and Alan Gordon.

Vanney is, at least, on the bench.

The Galaxy award winners announced this morning includes Donovan, who needs one goal and one assist to become the first MLS player ever with 20 goals and 10 assists, not surprisingly named MVP.

The L.A. Riot Squad named Chris Klein as their player of the year award and will present him with it at game's end.

Dallas has Jeff Cunningham and Kenny Cooper up front, who is one behind Donovan in the MLS scoring race.