Recently in U.S. Open Cup Category

With the Galaxy down to one healthy goalkeeper in Josh Weeks after Charles Alamo and now Steve Cronin suffered what Coach Bruce Arena effectively regards as season-ending injuries, he is calling in reinforcements in the shape of former Colorado Rapids draft pick Mike Graczyk, a former University of New Mexico standout now in the MLS pool of goalkeepers retained for just this purpose (so no Kasey Keller on loan then, I guess).

Arena knew nothing about Graczyk, who was on the Dallas roster earlier this season and has also played for the PDL Des Moines Menace.

But at training today Arena said he believes Wicks is ready to start his first-ever MLS game Saturday at home against Real Salt Lake:

"He's trained hard and my understanding is he's done well in preseason and throughout the year. I think he's prepared to play. I thought he did a good job on Saturday for his first taste, so it's good he had 45 minutes against New England.

I chatted with Wicks at training today and will be blog later today with a Q&A of that conversation.

The Galaxy have also recalled three players on loan from the USL Portland Timbers - defender Scott Bolkan, defender Varden Adzemian and Bryan Jordan, who has played in one Galaxy and nine Timbers games this season.

A reminder to the dozen or so of you out there still paying attention to the sadly ignored U.S. Open Cup (this is our F.A. Cup, after all) - the 95th annual final between D.C. United and the USL's Charleston Battery is live at 4:30 P.M. on Fox Soccer Channel.

The Battery are seeking to become the first USL team to lift the trophy since the Rochester Rhinos in 1999. Also at stake: a place in the 2009 CONCACAF Champions League.

Battery basics:
Head Coach: Michael Anhaeuser
2008 U.S. Open Cup Record: (3-0-2, 2-0 in PK shootouts)
2008 Open Cup Leading Scorer: Darren Spicer (4 goals, 1 assist)
All-Time Open Cup Final Record: First Appearance
2008 USL-1 Record: 10-9-7 (37 pts., Third Place, single table)
2008 League Leading Scorer: Randi Patterson (8 goals)
Last Outing: 0-0 draw on 8/29 vs. first-place Puerto Rico Islanders

Finally, several Southern Californians were among the 40 selected today to attend the fall U.S. Under-17 Residency Program in Bradenton, Fla. There are 17 new players and 23 who are returning.

Southern Californians to attend include: midfielder Luis Gil of Garden Grove; defender Emilio Orozco of Oxnard, who plays for Rampage FC; and defender Alberto Rosas of North Hollywood, who plays for Real So Cal.

Chivas USA:
*Lost yet again Tuesday in the U.S. Open Cup (and for the second successive year) against the USL Seattle Sounders, falling 2-0 in the Pacific Northwest.

*Had the experienced likes of Claudio Suárez, Jesse Marsch, Carey Talley and Francisco Mendoza on the bench. Striker Ante Razov and defender Bobby Burling (Loyola Marymount) remained in Southern California after picking up minor knocks over the weekend.

*Has won only one U.S. Open Cup game in five attempts - against USL-2 team Charlotte Eagles.

Game story here.

Chivas USA lineup: (4-3-3): Brad Guzan; Jonathan Bornstein, Jim Curtin, Shavar Thomas, Daniel Paladini; Sacha Kljestan (Keith Savage 83), Paulo Nagamura[C], Kraig Chiles (Jesse Marsch 65); Jorge Flores (Anthony Hamilton 73), Justin Braun (Francisco Mendoza 60), Atiba Harris.

Needed a deep breath after the weekend (and spent the day writing Tuesday's column), so late blogging.

Chivas USA is one of 16 teams participating in the third round of the U.S. Open Cup at 7 p.m. Tuesday playing a game in Seattle against the Sounders you can see here. Chivas USA lost at this stage of the competition last year to Seattle.

Long Beach State sophomore-to-be Janet Mendez of Palmdale helped Mexico qualify for the Under-20 World Cup in Chile in November, starting and playing 72 minutes as Mexico beat Costa Rica 3-2 on penalty kicks over the weekend.

In the PDL Saturday it was:
Fresno Fuego 1 Los Angeles Legends O
Southern California Seahorses 1 Bakersfield Brigade
Lancaster Rattlers 1 Ventura County Fusion 1

Standings

W-League:
Fort Collins Force 1 Los Angeles Legends 1 (Saturday)
Fort Collins Force 0 Pali Blues 2 (Tonight)

Standings

Also this weekend (from the edited Galaxy press release):

In a top of the table clash with the Ventura County Fusion, the Galaxy Rios Under-20's lost 2-0 on Sunday afternoon at Home Depot Center. The Fusion scored twice inside the final 20 minutes to move into a tie for first place in the league with Bakersfield.

Standings

WPSL
San Diego WFC SeaLions 0 Ajax America Women 3
West Coast FC 2 Los Angeles Rampage 0

Standings

If you're already waiting on the long weekend, note the Galaxy play Independence Day in Carson against the aptly-named New England Revolution.

Chivas USA play Saturday night against the San Jose Earthquakes.

Germany narrowly beat Turkey 3-2 at Euro 2008 and will take on the winner of today's Spain-Russia semifinal (11:30 a.m. ESPN2) in Sunday's final. Let's hope today's game isn't marred by the technical problems viewers both here and around the world endured during Wednesday's game. I don't know about you, but the telecast missing two of the game's goals (and returning just in time to catch Germany's last minute winner) spoiled the excitement of the game for me.

Over in Galaxyland, The Washington Post's Steven Goff is reporting more than 30,000 tickets have been sold for Sunday's game against D.C. United in the nation's capital, where he is fretting about L.A.'s status as the highest-scoring team in MLS and United's league-worst defense. He doesn't mention the Galaxy's penchant for blowing leads and defensive holes Luciano Emilio is capable of exploiting though.

Meanwhile, rookie Galaxy defender Julian Valentin has joined the world of blogging and fills us in on his trip to Costco (really) and his goldfish purchase.

The Red Bulls, heading west to play Chivas USA Saturday in Carson, beat the mothership 1-0 in Arizona Wednesday night where newly-signed former Galaxy draft pick Gordon Kljesten saw action for New York. Will he play against brother Sasha and Chivas USA this weekend?

Claudio Reyna won't play though and Red Bull fans are displeased to put it mildly.

Chivas USA learned Wednesday night that if they beat the USL's Seattle Sounders in the U.S. Open Cup they'll face either the Kansas City Wizards in Carson or USL team the Carolina Railhawks in Cary, N.C. on July 8 in the quarterfinals.

Lastly, in PDL action Wednesday the Southern California Seahorses finally got a win against the Orange County Blue Star in La Mirada.

The league table is here (scroll down).

Turkey, already a long shot to beat Germany in today's first Euro 2008 semifinal, (live 11:30 a.m. on ESPN) has several starters missing through injury or suspension and the Germans are in a confident mood. Derek Rae and Andy Gray will call the game, while the second semifinal between Spain and an entertaining Russian side follows at the same time Thursday.

The winners play Sunday on ABC in a game preceded by the Galaxy-D.C. United game at 9 a.m.

In another televised game today at 8 p.m. on Telefutura, CD Guadalajara plays the New York Red Bulls in a Phoenix friendly. The Red Bulls are heading west to take on Chivas USA Saturday night at Home Depot Center.

Meanwhile, Chivas USA learned Tuesday they will play the USL's Seattle Sounders in the third round of the U.S. Open Cup July 1 in the Pacific Northwest. The Sounders Tuesday thumped the amateurs of Hollywood United 6-0.

By the way, tickets to the 5 p.m. July 20 Chivas USA-New England Revolution game in Fullerton that is the third SuperLiga group game for both teams are now on sale. Call 1-877-CHIVAS-1.

A look at the challenges faced by Chivas USA Under-18 player Omar Becerra is here.

In a PDL game tonight, Orange County Blue Star visits the Southern California Seahorses at 7 p.m. at La Mirada High.

Finally, if you're Jewish and can play soccer, the U.S. Jewish National Soccer Team wants to hear from you.

(Very) late blogging this evening, but wanted to pass along that:
* Maykel Galindo, who has played in discomfort all season long finally underwent a second hernia surgery Wednesday and is likely lost until early August, the club said Thursday.

From the Chivas USA press release:

Galindo's surgery was performed by Dr. Richard Cattey at St. Mary's Ozaukee Hospital in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Galindo played in Chivas USA's 2-1 loss to the New England Revolution on May 11, and has been sidelined since with pain in his right groin. Prior to this season, Galindo underwent surgery with Dr. Cattey in January for a sports hernia on his left side.

Yeah, and that wrecked the end of the season for Galindo and Chivas USA; don't want that happening again to their leading goalscorer (12 goals) last year.

*Chivas USA also learned Thursday that they will face either the Seattle Sounders or - wait for it - Hollywood United in the next round of the U.S. Open Cup.

The (edited) press release:

U.S. Soccer has announced the possible third round pairings for the 2008 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, with Chivas USA facing off against either the Seattle Sounders (USL1) or Hollywood United (USASA). Results from the second round of play on June 24 will determine the potential matchups and venues for the third round to take place on July 1.

The Sounders and Hollywood United will play in Seattle on Tuesday, June 24, with the winner determining Chivas USA's opponent for the July 1 match. If Seattle wins, Chivas USA will travel to face the team in the U.S. Open Cup for the second consecutive season, while if Hollywood wins, the Red-and-White will host the team in the third-round match.

The second round of play includes a total of 16 teams from the United Soccer Leagues (USL) First Division, USL Second Division, Premier Development League (PDL), and United States Adult Soccer Association (USASA) set to compete in the U.S. Soccer Federation's National Championship, the 2008 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.

The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, the U.S. Soccer Federation's National Championship, is an annual competition open to all amateur and professional soccer teams affiliated with U.S. Soccer. It is the oldest annual team tournament in U.S. sports history and among the oldest soccer tournaments of its type in the world. In 1999, the competition was renamed to honor long-time soccer pioneer Lamar Hunt.

A few quick items to pass along this morning:
*Chivas USA learns its first CONCACAF Champions League opponent today, so check back here for more on that later. The complete schedule will be released Monday.

*A pair of Chivas USA Under-18 players have signed letters of intent with Division 1 college programs. Defender Rod Fahmian (Riverside) will attend UC Santa Barbara, while defender Omar Elmasri, (Arcadia) has opted to play for the University of San Francisco

Meanwhile, Chivas USA has announced the schedule for its youth summer camps, with most costing $75. More info here.

Over at the Home Depot Center's other team, Carlos Ruiz may have only just returned to the field for the Galaxy after injury, but he's on the roster for Ruiz Guatemala's World Cup qualifier against St. Lucia Saturday in Guatemala City.

A bit more about Ruiz' national team and World Cup qualifying exploits from the (edited) Galaxy press release:

Ruiz has appeared 73 times for Guatemala, scoring 35 goals to make him the co-all-time leading scorer, along with former Guatemalan international Juan Carlos Plata. He played his first game with the national team in nearly a year last week when he started and played the full 90 minutes in Guatemala's 2-0 loss to Chile in South America. Ruiz was the third leading scorer in CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying ahead of the 2006 World Cup, scoring nine goals as Guatemala narrowly missed out on reaching the World Cup for the first time in their history.

A couple of local minor league teams were playing in the U.S. Open Cup Tuesday with Hollywood United (no, not the version ex-Sex Pistol Steve Jones is on) led by two goals from former Chivas USA striker Matt Taylor downing professional opposition and the PDL's Los Angeles Legends losing to Crystal Palace Baltimore.

And don't forget, the second round of Euro 2008 group games begins today at 9 a.m. on ESPN2.

It looks like the U.S. misses Landon Donovan as much as the Galaxy.

Without Donovan (tight groin) the U.S. fell 2-0 to England today in London. Chivas USA goalkeeper Brad Guzan made a second half appearance for the U.S. to earn his sixth cap, but a disappointing U.S. team failed to show much. David Beckham had an influential 45 minutes, however, creating England's first goal from a free kick, naturally.

"First, I would give credit to England," said U.S. head coach Bob Bradley. "Overall, I thought that the first 30 minutes we dealt pretty well with the speed of the game. As we moved on in the half, certainly we hurt ourselves with giving away some fouls around the box to a dangerous team on set pieces, and they took advantage of that. In the second half there was an attempt to push a level up on our end, but we couldn't sustain enough pressure, and in that regard England on the night was quite good. The second goal for them was excellent passing movement and I give them credit."

The lineups:
USA: 1-Tim Howard (18-Brad Guzan, 46); 6-Steve Cherundolo (27-Frankie Hejduk, 46), 22-Oguchi Onyewu, 3-Carlos Bocanegra (Capt.), 12-Heath Pearce; 8-Clint Dempsey, 13-Ricardo Clark (26-Maurice Edu, 78), 4-Michael Bradley, 7-DaMarcus Beasley (11-Eddie Lewis, 68); 9-Eddie Johnson (14-Nate Jaqua, 89), 16-Josh Wolff (19-Freddy Adu, 68).

ENG: 1-David James; 2-Wes Brown (13-Glen Johnson, 58), 6-John Terry (capt.), 3-Ashley Cole (14-Wayne Bridge, 83), 5-Rio Ferdinand; 7-David Beckham (17-David Bentley, 46), 4-Owen Hargreaves, 8-Frank Lampard (21-Gareth Barry, 57), 10-Steven Gerrard; 9-Jermain Defoe (25-Peter Crouch, 68), 11-Wayne Rooney (22-Joe Cole, 79).

Game story here.

Closer to home, U.S. soccer announced today the first round pairings in the U.S. Open Cup.

With the Galaxy out after last night's loss to the Colorado Rapids, the local representatives are PDL team the Los Angeles Legends.

The Legends host Crystal Palace Baltimore at 7:30 p.m. June 10.

It's a two for one post tonight since I just returned from the Galaxy-Colorado Rapids U.S. Open Cup qualifier at the HDC and don't intend to rise early in the morning to blog.

The Galaxy squandered a flurry of first half chances and then fell to the Rapids on an 82nd minute Conor Casey goal.

And, yes, we've heard that before.

Limited blogging tonight since I wrote a (Rapids-centric) game story for the Denver-based Rocky Mountain News and was otherwise engaged. Read it here.

The Daily News version is here.

Video highlights here.

Meanwhile, Landon Donovan and David Beckham the U.S. and England face off in London Wednesday (that's today for most of you reading this).

A (brief) sampling of stories includes:
*Bob Bradley on Beckham and a head to head comparison of England and the U.S.

Oh yeah, and England is fretting about a possible U.S. bid for the 2018 World Cup.

Finally, as a green card-carrying, English-born, U.S. college-educated resident married to a (naturalized) American citizen I feel this man's pain.

Me? I'm wussing out and hoping for a tie.

'Night All.