Recently in Trade Rumors Category

Italy's Livorno, back in Serie A this season, are reportedly eying Ricardo Clark and the Galaxy's Landon Donovan.

With those rumors picking up colleague Phil Collin spoke to Donovan after training today:

"My agent has been in discussions with a lot of different teams, but at this point I'm not worried about that. I'm not going anywhere in the immediate future. I'm enjoying being the captain of this team and doing well with this team."

And, naturally, Phil asked Landon whether he had spoken to David Beckham about the half time incident with the Riot Squad during Sunday's AC Milan game:

"You guys just won't let it go, will you? (almost a half-smile). I didn't say a word to David. I didn't know what had happened. He, I think, spoke to Bruce and it's over. We're moving on."

The Galaxy-Colorado Rapids game kicks off at 7:30 p.m. (delayed until 10 p.m. on Prime) and fans should get there early for a free T-shirt and $1 pregame beers and hot dogs. Cheapo tickets, too.

The basics from the Daily Breeze.

The statistical comparison of the two teams from The Denver Post.

Preview from the Rapids blog From the Couch.

The always detailed MLS breakdown.

The unsubstantiated trade rumor of the week has this guy allegedly joining the Galaxy on loan.

Lastly, the new coach of Mexico is an old coach of Mexico.

Since I'm not in Nashville, site of the U.S.-Trinidad & Tobago World Cup qualifier, it's one of those days where I'm far more interested in watching soccer than blogging about it, especially with a tricky 4:30 p.m. kickoff (live on ESPN2) that requires TiVo and staying away from all things soccer-related.

Check out the link(s) to the right for the full slate of televised games.

I'll keep this brief:
*Here's the view on the game from a Trinidad & Tobago perspective.

*U.S. Soccer has more than you ever wanted to know with their typically detailed game notes.

*The rumor mill has this guy heading to the Galaxy, which begs the question: are they planning to replace a 37-year-old defender (Tony Sanneh) with a 35-year-old one?

*CONCACAF will announce the three four-team groups and schedule of games at 9 a.m. Thursday for this summer's Gold Cup set for July 3-26 in 13 U.S. cities.

Enjoy your day whatever game you watch or nation you support.

And with salary cap and roster size compliance day Monday, a highly-motivated bunch of young players should be on display against the Ventura County Fusion of the PDL (who will likely have former Chivas USA forward Anthony Hamilton in the side).

More on the charity game is here.

And fans will be tailgating.

Meanwhile, a player often mentioned in connection with Chivas USA is on his way home from Europe. And as if on cue, too, since club officials reiterated their desire earlier this week to sign a designated player if available this summer. I have no inside info. I'm just sayin'.

Over in Galaxyland, first round draft pick Omar Gonzalez scored his first goal in a Galaxy uniform in a closed door scrimmage against UCLA. Highlights here:

It appears Seattle and ex-Galaxy coach Sigi Schmid will be giving L.A. a run for its money leading MLS in attendance this season.

The pick of the televised games this weekend includes:
*Arsenal-Fulham 7 a.m. Saturday on Fox Soccer Channel
*Real Madrid-Espanyol 1 p.m. Saturday on GOLTV
*CD Guadalajara-Pachuca 5 p.m.Saturday on KVEA

*Sampdoria-AC Milan 9 a.m. Sunday on FSC (delayed)
*Club America-San Luis 2 p.m. Sunday on KMEX

Finally, congrats to the sports staffers at the Daily News. The section was recently named one of the 10 best in the nation in its circulation category, despite a significant loss of staff in the last few years. My soccer column appears every Tuesday in its pages (as it does in several sister newspapers in Southern California including the Torrance-based Daily Breeze) so I'll claim a small role in that success.

More here.

A club source tell me the deal hasn't yet been finalized, but the Galaxy's Steve Cronin is indeed off to the USL Portland Timbers, which is apparently exactly what he told a member of the Big Soccer message board Sunday.

Anyone who saw goalkeeper Josh Saunders' performance in the final of the Pan-Pacific Championship Sunday - or Cronin's contribution to the Galaxy's season last year - will know why. Saunders looked far less shaky than Cronin did in the net and made one outstanding save Sunday that prevented what appeared a certain goal. (As an aside, Saunders' wife was at the game and players don't usually bring along relatives if they don't think they will hang around long with the team they're trying out with).

Also, I understand the Galaxy will announce some player cuts in the next couple of days (the team and most staff had today off). I'm betting goalkeeper Josh Wicks goes, too, leaving Saunders to back up Jamaican Donovan Ricketts.

In other local MLS news, Chivas USA had midfield Diego Scotti training with the team for the first time today in Carson. He and Mexican forward Eduardo Lillingston (who was given a couple of days off to attend to personal matters south of the border) are the only two players remaining on trial with the team in its 29-player strong camp.

On player still absent from camp is veteran Mexican defender Claudio Suarez who is negotiating a new contract with the team.

I will have much more on Chivas USA's preparations for the new season in Tuesday's column.

Lastly, UCLA goalkeeper Brian Perk and Chivas USA reality show winner Jorge Flores were named today to Thomas Rongen's U.S. Under-20 squad for the CONCACAF Under-20 Championship, set for March 6-15 in Trinidad & Tobago.

Four of the eight teams in the tournament will qualify for the U-20 World Cup scheduled for Sept. 24-Oct. 16 in Egypt.

The full U.S. roster:

goalkeepers - Sean Johnson (Central Florida; Lilburn, Ga.), Josh Lambo (FC Dallas; Middleton, Wis.), Brian Perk (UCLA; Rancho Santa Margarita)

defenders - Gale Agbossoumonde (Unattached; Syracuse, N.Y.), Kyle Davies (Southampton; Danville, Calif.), Jorge Flores (Chivas USA; Anaheim, Calif.), Aaron Maund (Notre Dame; Dorchester, Mass.), Amobi Okugo (San Juan Lightning; Sacramento, Calif.), Anthony Wallace (FC Dallas; St. Petersburg, Fla.), Sheanon Williams (Unattached; Boston)

midfielders - Bryan Arguez (Hertha Berlin; Miami), Danny Cruz (Houston Dynamo; Glendale, Ariz.), Dilly Duka (Rutgers; Montville, N.J.), Jared Jeffrey (Club Brugge; Richardson, Texas), Brian Ownby (Virginia; Glen Allen, Va.); Brek Shea (FC Dallas; College Station, Texas)

forwards - Sam Garza (Denver; Highland Village, Texas), Peri Marosevic (FC Dallas; Rockford, Ill.), Billy Schuler (North Carolina; Allentown, N.J.), Tony Taylor (Jacksonville; Jacksonville, Fla.) .

Well, sort of.

Here's the back story: By now, anyone who pays the slightest amount of attention to MLS knows David Beckham and Landon Donovan, the team's biggest stars, both want to flee for Europe, where they are on loan with two of the continent's biggest clubs.

Donovan has openly agitated for a move for months and appears to be closing in on a transfer to Bayern Munich, while Beckham said for the first time Wednesday he wants to play for AC Milan. That's something he reiterated today, telling the Associated Press he has "rediscovered" himself as a footballer in Italy.

Beckham's remarks are the culmination of weeks of speculation over AC Milan's intentions, with club officials from the president down virtually to the janitor (well, O.K. it was the AC Milan lawyer, but you get the idea) saying over and over again they want Beckham to stay.

The Galaxy's response? Almost total silence. The club has had nothing of any substance to say about either player.

In a sense, it's understandable. The Galaxy won't want to tip its hand publicly to anyone - rivals or the two clubs it must negotiate with - with so much at stake.

Moreover, the corporate culture of Galaxy owner Anschutz Entertainment Group has always been what one could charitably call "cagey" or realistically describe as fear-filled. And if your boss was the brash and outspoken Tim Leiweke, you'd be reticent to speak publicly, too.

But let's not mistake the Galaxy's silence as part of a calculated let's play hard to get bargaining strategy.

In truth the lack of comment from the Galaxy borders on the ludicrous. At best it's insulting to fans who deserve to know what's going on before they plonk down money for season tickets .

At worst it just makes the Galaxy and MLS look amateurish.

A week or so ago I was one of a trio of journalists who spent a good 15-20 minutes with Bruce Arena as he dodged and weaved his way through an interview without truly saying anything.

It was amusing in passing, but largely a waste of time. Since then things have only deteriorated further as columnist Martin Rogers pointed out in a Yahoo! column:

As a money-making venture, the Galaxy must be viewed as a success, with a value far greater than any other MLS team, for now at least. But as a sports organization it is rotten, having cannibalized itself with the wrong decisions made for the wrong reasons.

The decision to close ranks on Wednesday and fail to offer comment on the Beckham situation, even after the 33-year-old had announced his desire to leave, was typical Galaxy.

Training was closed to the media, and no players were allowed to speak publicly. The acquisition of Todd Dunivant from Toronto FC was deemed to be the most newsworthy item on the team website.

Ignore the issue and it will go away? Barring a miracle, Beckham has gone away.

(You can read the whole thing here, BTW.

The Los Angeles Times has similarly weighed in:

His departure will focus attention on the shortcomings of MLS and of the Galaxy in particular. If the league wants to be taken seriously on a global level, it has to learn how to play the game off the field as well as on it.

It is no good putting up the shutters, as the Galaxy did this week, and saying "no comment" when stories began pouring out of Europe on an almost daily basis about Beckham's desire to stay in Milan and Milan's desire to keep Beckham.

(You can read the whole thing here).

It's one of those occasions when the media is reduced to interviewing each other to provide context to the story.

Amusingly, the Galaxy moved into damage control Thursday, issuing this statement last night to the media:

"Just want to confirm with everyone that we do in fact have media availability after training tomorrow. Training begins at 10 a.m. and should finish right around 11:30, with players and coaches available after.

I know that we have not had much out there from the club over the last two days, but we have been open every day and will be once again on Friday."

And, as if to prove their intention of actually communicating, the Galaxy issued this statement from Arena Thursday regarding Beckham's remarks about staying in Milan:

"I really didn't have the opportunity to see the full context of his comments. However, we've been evaluating the situation. We're going to do in the end what's best for the Galaxy."

Gee, thanks for clearing that up, Bruce. Nice to know you're looking out for the team first (I bet you are opposed to crime and cruelty to puppies and kittens, too).

Llong-winded comments that are essentially the equivalent of "no comment" only confirm the lack of candor from the club. That's something that has not gone unnoticed in Europe as this excerpt of an interview on the Bayern Munich Web site with chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge shows, who was asked whether the Galaxy would allow both Donovan and Beckham to leave:

"I don't know. AC Milan rang up yesterday with the same question. They're obviously doubtful whether Galaxy would let both go. But if I know my Americans, it probably comes down to the price."

So we are left to scour the back alleys of MLS to find out what's going on with an anonymous source this morning telling The Washington Post's Steve Goff that the Galaxy are chasing Ghanian midfielder Stephen Appiah who has left his Turkish club.

Care to comment, Bruce?

Galaxy Coach Bruce Arena scoffed Monday at a report by England's Sunday Mirror - one of that nation's trashiest tabloids and not exactly regarded as a paragon of journalistic credibility - that the club was after Newcastle United's Michael Owen as a replacement for Landon Donovan, should he move to Bayern Munich for good.

"I can promise you we have had zero contact with him so there's probably zero percent accuracy in that report, which is kind of standard," Arena said, observing wryly that the likes of Owen and another alleged Galaxy target, Italian defender Alessandro Del Piero, would end up "fitting beautifully under our salary cap."

Arena would also not be drawn by recent comments attributed to Donovan in Germany that included the statement, "I want to make it here. It is my dream. I want to stay here a few years."

Arena observed Donovan has been making similar statements since last November:

"We're very generous and supportive of Landon - we agreed to allow him to go on loan for free and we're going to hold ourselves to that loan agreement ... I don't believe management should be commenting on a player who is ours and if either club has an interest in the player they should go through formal channels and do that properly."

That last statement was made partly in regard to the latest pronouncement by an AC Milan official - this time the club's lawyer, of all people - that the Italian team would like David Beckham to stay beyond March:

"I'm not sure its appropriate for club officials at the biggest clubs in the world to be making comments without having contact with us, but having said that we don't know if anything is accurate at the other end either, so I'll leave it at that."

So that's settled then.

In other training camp news, top draft pick Omar Gonzalez participated in his first practice today. I spoke with him - as well as Van Nuys youngster Tristan Bowen - and will post items on those two later in the day, once I've finished Tuesday's column.

Finally, Jamaican goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts has received his visa and is set to join the Galaxy camp for the first time Wednesday.

I must admit to being distracted today.

Along with my wife, I would like to announce the arrival of - a bouncing big screen HDTV from Amazon.com. It's our first, so we're justifiably proud.

The wife was driven to tears by a National Geographic DVD. I may never leave the house again. And I may become one of those annoying people who never stop talking about their offspring.

So, because I frankly have have better things to do, I'll keep this brief:
* Landon Donovan scored his first goal for Bayern Munich today.

*They've installed a revolving door at the U.S. Men's National Team training camp in Carson: the official U.S. blog reported Sunday that goalkeeper Troy Perkins took a five-day hiatus from camp to return to Norway for a three-day team bonding trip with his club Valerenga that apparently involves training sessions with the Norwegian Special Forces.

That means Chivas USA goalkeeper Dan Kennedy was drafted in as a replacement. The Galaxy's Sean Franklin missed training Monday with a groin strain. And Riverside's Chad Marshall withdrew from camp with an injured right knee.

Is it any wonder they canceled training on Tuesday?

*Meanwhile, U.S. Soccer sat down to chat with Chivas USA's Jonathan Bornstein. The Los Alamitos resident reflects on his national team career so far and fills us in on whether he finished his deck on his house (I kid you not). Read it here

*ESPN2 will air the U.S.-Mexico World Cup qualifier at 4 p.m. Feb. 11. In High Def, too!

*Former Galaxy defender Ezra Hendrickson, just retired from the Columbus Crew, has a new job - and an old boss.

*Fellow blogger Steven Goff provides the transfer gossip of the day. Chivas USA could also bring into preseason camp "Reinier Alcantara, the Cuban forward who sought asylum during his national team's stay in Washington in October for a World Cup qualifier," according to Goff.

*The latest player to want David Beckham to stay longer at AC Milan than two months- Kaka. And David Beckham's commitment to the Galaxy has supposedly been downgraded you'll notice.

*Ventura County PDL team the Fusion is the latest local pro club to hold open tryouts. Details here.

This sounds like the typical agent planted story to me, but hey, you decide.

More on Helguera here.

Agents are notorious for concocting these kinds of stories to drum up interest in a client. And in fact, I was recently contacted by an agent who said he represents a certain European player who is interested in joining a certain MLS team and did I know the coach's number or e-mail?

Now, should I report that so and so wants to come to MLS? (I never did hear back from the agent after sending him the info he sought).