Recently in Serie A Category

Away from the laptop much of the weekend (happy birthday, mum) so if (like me) the last soccer action you noticed was Manchester City's Wayne Bridge artfully missing shaking the hand of Chelsea's John Terry before the two teams met Saturday, here's what else happened this weekend:

*UCLA's Lauren Cheney scored two goals today as the U.S. beat Sweden 2-0 to reach its eighth consecutive Algarve Cup final. The U.S. plays the winner of the Germany-China encounter in the final.

*David Beckham played 90 minutes Sunday for the first time since AC Milan's UEFA Champions League loss to Manchester United as Milan beat Atalanta 3-1 to stay second in Serie A.

*Flu-stricken Landon Donovan came on as a 63rd minute sub Sunday but couldn't prevent Everton losing 2-1 to Tottenham Hotpsur. He missed a sitter with 13 minutes to go, failing to convert Jack Rodwell's cross from close range that would have been his second goal in 11 appearances for the club.

"This is just a really disappointing moment for me personally," Donovan told the Liverpool Echo. "I've put a lot into my time here and another goal would have been a nice reward.

"I got myself in a good position at the back post and was hoping Jack was going to put the ball across goal," he added. "He did that and it came perfectly for me.

"It's hard to understand what went wrong. I felt like everything was right but then I looked up to see the ball had hit the side netting.

"It's so frustrating because if we had scored then it's possible we might have gone on to win the game.

"It's tough but we've got to put this behind us now and move on. There are still a lot of points to play for."

*Fontana's Maurice Edu became an instant Ibrox hero Sunday when his lone stoppage time goal decided the Old Firm clash as Rangers beat 10-man Celtic, 1-0.

*The Galaxy beat the Kansas City Wizards 1-0 Friday evening on a Gregg Berhalter penalty kick in Arizona, but heavy rain canceled a Sunday rematch and the Galaxy headed home today.

Lineup: Josh Saunders (Kevin Guppy 45'); Alex Cazumba, Gregg Berhalter, Yohance Marshall, Sean Franklin; Chris Birchall, Bryan Jordan, Michael Stephens, Chris Klein; Jovan Kirovski, Edson Buddle (Mike Magee 31')

*Lastly, Chivas USA introduces El Salvadoran midfielder Osael Romero today. More on that in Tuesday's column.

The fortunes of the Galaxy's two on-loan stars have diverged during their respective European stints since the beginning of the year.

Read today's column here.

In 60 seconds or less.

The Galaxy shot blanks Sunday in Arizona, the USMNT decamped from Carson Sunday, David Beckham played all of nine minutes Sunday for AC Milan, while local high schools are increasingly losing players to the Chivas USA and Galaxy academies and negotiations between MLS and the players union over a new collective bargaining agreement took a turn for the worse over the weekend.

Also:
Chivas USA have headed to Arizona today as well, but beat San Diego Boca FC of the National Premier Soccer League twice at Home Depot Center Saturday, winning two 60-minute scrimmages by the score of 5-1 and 3-1 respectively.

Chivas USA lineup (first game) - Dan Kennedy, Ante Jazic, Carlos Borja, Emilio Viades, Carey Talley, Jorge Flores, Marcelo Saragosa, Blair Gavin, Mariano Trujillo, Justin Braun, Maykel Galindo

Goals:
SDB - 12'
CHV - Carlos Borja (Mariano Trujillo) 22'
CHV - Marcelo Saragosa (Trujillo) 27
CHV - Jorge Flores (Ante Jazic, Blair Gavin) 36'
CHV - Carey Talley (Trujillo) 38'CHV - Maykel Galindo (Trujillo) 58'

Chivas USA lineup (second game) - Jon Conway (Jose Manuel Miranda, 31), Kevin Tangney, Claudio Suárez, Yamith Cuesta, Miguel Sanchez, Amaury Nuñez (Jesus Ochoa 31), Ben Zemanski, Chris Ross, Cesar Zamora, Chukwudi Chijindu (Armando Ochoa 45), Artur Aghasyan

Goals:
CHV - Chukwudi Chijindu (unassisted) 12'
CHV - Artur Aghasyan (Chris Ross, Chijindu) 25'
CHV - Armando Ochoa (Kevin Tangney) 49'

Finally, a Chicago-based sports marketing company, Cardenas Marketing Network, has signed a four-year agreement with the Argentine Football Association to produce national team games in the U.S. and some European nations. The first game will take place in the U.S. after the World Cup.

"It is encouraging to know that Argentina will have a bigger presence in the U.S., where soccer continues to grow and where South Americans have played an important role," said Julio Grondona, President of AFA and Vice President of FIFA. "We hope that this influence will continue to develop and complement the great efforts, both on the field and off, that are already in place in today's fastest growing soccer market."

Mexico, of course, already plays a series of money-spinning games in the U.S. annually.

Any self-respecting Galaxy fan should crawl out of bed at 4:30 a.m. Saturday (or set up the DVR) to see what may be one of the most absorbing EPL games of the year so far from an American perspective - Landon Donovan (and Tim Howard) and Everton against the mighty Manchester United, Wayne Rooney and all. Best of all, it's on in HD on ESPN2.

Need more reasons to get psyched? Here's a selection of stories previewing the game (or focusing on Donovan) including:

*Sports Ilustrated's Grant Wahl on the potential implications for the Galaxy on Donovan's form (which I not coincidentally agree with completely) you can read here.

*The Daily Express on American soccer's (and Donovan's) search for respect.

*The game basics, including likely starting lineups, from the Guardian here.

*The Daily Telegraph's take on the game.

Other games I'll be keeping an eye on this weekend include:

*7 a.m. Saturday Fox Soccer Channel Wolves-Chelsea

*7 a.m. Sunday FSC Manchester City-Liverpool

*11:30 a.m. Sunday FSC Bari-AC Milan

Very, very quietly in a rare failure for Golden Balls.

Regular readers first heard about the shuttering of the academy at Home Depot Center mentioned here a couple of days ago.

Curious that AEG made no public announcement of it in conjunction with the closure of the London academy back in December. But not surprising given the damage control/spinning AEG and 19 Entertainment representatives spent much of Friday engaged in as they tried to convince me this was not a story. When a Beckham rep calls you from home at about 12:30 a.m. Saturday London time, you know how sensitive his management team is to ANY suggestion of bad news.

(Updated: The Galaxy youth teams - the club's academy teams, if you will - are now using the Beckham academy's former FieldTurf pitch, as well as one of its trailers.)

BTW, unlike last January (when Becks scored and AC Milan beat Bologna 4-1), the two teams tied 0-0 today. Beckham came on as a 79th minute sub for AC Milan, who are now 10 points behind table-topping rivals Inter.

AC Milan haven't won in their last four games.

Doh! It was that sort of day for AC Milan and David Beckham today against struggling Livorno. The two teams drew 1-1 (AP Photo).

More here.

Roma took advantage of Milan's dropped points , by pulling into a tie for second in Serie A.

Also this weekend:

*The Galaxy's second on-loan star, Landon Donovan, helped Everton narrowly beat Wigan Athletic 0-1 on Saturday. BTW, check out the nice little chalkboard device you can use to break down Donovan's or anyone other players' performance at The Guardian. Donovan was subbed yet again, but again showed some good touches, especially in the first half.

Next: the Merseyside derby against Liverpool live at 4:45 a.m. Saturday on ESPN2.

*Spoiler alert! Fox Soccer Channel will air the CONCACAF U-20 final at 2 p.m. today on a delayed basis. If you want to know what happened click here.

*Finally, while (former?) Sol GM Charlie Naimo didn't return a call seeking comment about the team's demise Friday, he did send some e-mailed comments via the WPS office:

"Yesterday was a sad day for the franchise, staff, players and fans. Until I see our players on other rosters I will continue to work for the organization. This is a very special group of players that we assembled and it's very tough for me to see this team dispersed next week.

"In just one year, we built a great brand in women's soccer and in the Los Angeles area. It takes time to build up a following in any sport and over the season, we developed a terrific and loyal fan base.

"It was a special first season, winning the regular season title like we did and playing the kind of soccer that no one thought would be possible in just the first few weeks of a new league and a new team. I'm hopeful that the team can return for LA fans in the not-so-distant future.

"It was hugely disappointing that our efforts to find a new ownership group came up short. We felt like things were really looking good until the latest stages of the transaction. Those conversations in and of themselves, leave me optimistic for the future of WPS in Los Angeles.

"We proved in 2009 that it's a viable market, we just need to locate the right ownership group that is interested in being with the team for the long-term.

"WPS has so many incredible things going for it in 2010, including the quality of the players assembled from around the world and the U.S., stadium upgrades, two new franchises and some changes to its regular season. I'm only sorry that the Sol won't be part of that in 2010."

At least, that was the verdict of the BBC as nine-man Inter Milan went nine points clear atop Serie A today over rivals AC Milan.

Inter Milan Brazilian goalkeeper Julio Cesar, left, saves from on-loan Galaxy midfielder David Beckham in today's Milan derby as Inter Milan defender Davide Santon looks on (AP Photo).

It was the first time David Beckham had tasted defeat with AC Milan while on loan there this season.

Full disclosure: I did not see the game because I'm stuck here at work on a Sunday and we don't get Fox Soccer Channel at the office.

Read the game story here.

Sorry, couldn't resist the story below. And if Beckham insists on doing this sort of thing as he did in a game earlier this month against Juventus, who can blame excitable Italian women for, um, indiscriminately grabbing things. (AP Photo).

MILAN (AP) -- An Italian television channel has apologized for a prank in which a female presenter attempted to grab David Beckham between the legs.

The AC Milan midfielder was visibly angered when Elena Di Cioccio, who fronts the popular show "Le Iene (The Hyenas)" on Italia Uno, made her move while the soccer player was being interviewed by another person Wednesday.

Security immediately hustled the 34-year-old Beckham into a nearby hotel.

Beckham has started all three league matches for AC Milan in 2010 while on loan from the Galaxy and is expected to play in Sunday's derby against Inter Milan.

Despite an equipment issue, David Beckham and AC Milan beat Juventus Sunday. (AP Photo)

Game story.

And in an unusual position, too, by the sound of it.

Beckham: A picture of concentration in today's game for AC Milan against Genoa. (AP Photo)

Here's the game report:

MILAN (AP) -- David Beckham began his second stint with AC Milan on Wednesday night, playing 76 minutes and positioned at forward rather than his usual midfield during his team's 5-2 victory over Genoa in the Italian league.

The English star lined up on the right side of an attacking trio with Marco Borriello and
Ronaldinho. He came close to scoring in the first half, his long shot hitting the side
netting.

Beckham, on loan from the Galaxy, is looking to sharpen his game leading to the World Cup in South Africa.

In the third minute, Beckham crossed to Borriello, but Genoa's Marco Amelia pushed away the shot from close range shot.

Milan won behind penalty kicks from Ronaldinho and Klaas Jan Huntelaar, two goals by Borriello and another by Thiago Silva. Giuseppe Sculli and David Suazo scored for Genoa.

AC Milan (10-3-4) moved into second place in Serie A with 34 points, eight behind Inter
(13-2-3), which won 1-0 at Chievo Verona on Mario Balotelli's 12th-minute goal.