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Carson code enforcement officer Glenn Miller confiscates the food - but not the cart - of a bacon-wrapped hot dog vendor outside last weekend's Chivas USA SuperLiga game. Authorities plan to crack down again tonight.

Daily Breeze photos by Sean Hiller

The tentacles of Los Angeles-based Anshutz Entertainment Group extend throughout not only Southern California pop culture and civic life, but around the globe to include such figures as dead pop icon Michael Jackson and nominal Galaxy midfielder David Beckham.

But AEG, always it seems unnecessarily heavy-handed given their increasingly powerful and visible corporate profile, are now going after bacon-wrapped hot dog vendors at tonight's Gold Cup doubleheader at Home Depot Center.

It's always more about money than astute public relations for AEG who should think about improving the quality of the food and service inside the stadium.

Even better: AEG should try legitimizing some of these carts by providing the required access to running water and restrooms and slapping on an extra 75 cent charge rather than give their (over) paying customers another reason to gripe about bad sports teams, price gouging and plastic public realms like L.A. Live.

Soccer fan Oscar Rodriguez is a bacon-wrapped hot dog devotee.

And so is former Daily Breeze food critic Chris Cognac:

Sadly it will take more than cookies:

Get caught up on the weekend's soccer in 60 seconds or less:
*The Galaxy had three shots on goal, scored on one of them and beat the MLS-leading Dynamo Sunday at Home Depot Center.

*Highlights:

*Heartbreak for the Americans in South Africa.

*Reaction:

*Mexico and Guatemala drew Sunday in San Diego in Gold Cup warmup.

*SuperLiga is over for Chivas USA.

*The Sol shine on.

After months of rumors, the deal is done and Cristiano Ronaldo will now do his pouting, um, playing in Spain with Kaka.

Well, that was a bit of an anticlimax for Chivas USA.

It was also a game that featured, said Chivas USA Coach Preki, "the dumbest goal ever."

See for yourself:

Mexico made heavy work of Trinidad & Tobago Wednesday, but are back (sort of) on track in WCQ. Lovely second goal though.

Finally, while we're on the subject of international football, it looks like a kid on his way to Cal State Northridge this fall is taking an unexpected detour.

Perhaps it was out of empathy that my laptop apparently expired just as Honduras took an early lead against the U.S. Saturday in Chicago.

Still, the U.S. came from behind to win.

Nevertheless, I was unable to blog the Chivas USA win over Seattle later that evening.

And I will be forced to the sidelines for today's Sol-Washington Freedom game live at 3 p.m. on Fox Soccer Channel.

FC Gold Pride 0 Sol 2

Cohesive, crisp passing, a virtually impenetrable defense that has only allowed two goals en route to seven shutouts all season and Han Duan's first goal for the Sol in the road victory.

Game story.

WPS standings.

Highlights:

More women's soccer later today: at 4 p.m. it's U.S.-Canada on Fox Soccer Channel featuring Torrance's Shannon Boxx and others missing from WPS action this weekend.

AP Photo

Crash and burn: The Columbus Crew's Danny O'Rourke earns a second yellow Sunday for tripping the Galaxy's Landon Donovan shortly before the end of the 1-1 game.

This is getting old.

The Galaxy have now scored more than 60 percent of their goals this season - seven - in the final 15 minutes of a game and are 0-1-6 when conceding the first goal. Five of the six draws materialized with a goal in the last 15 minutes of a game. Oh, and their seven game unbeaten streak is the fourth longest in club history.

Here is the game story from today's newspaper.

Galaxy Coach Bruce Arena described his players as "tentative' going forward, the field as "slow" and slippery and Columbus as "awful good:

*"Given the circumstances we're certainly happy with the point. I thought we really wasted 45 minutes today. Our first half was poor.

*"I don't think we showed a whole lot of energy and we were out-competed in most positions on the field.

*"I thought in particular (Crew players Eddie) Gavin and (Brian) Carroll won the (midfield) battle against (Stefani) Miglioranzi and (Dema) Kovalenko (in the first half)."

Arena pretty much conceded at one point that this team has him stumped:

"Who can explain it sometimes? Sometimes you can't quite figure things out in terms of why players react to certain conditions. We just didn't react well to dealing with the heat in the early going. In the second half it was better. They needed to get screamed at a little bit at half time."

Here's Arena on Tony Sanneh's IQ:

"I think if Tony has an IQ of over 40, I think he probably exactly understands the mistake he made. I didn't want to dwell on it today. ... Tony thanked the team for bailing him out. He knew he made a mistake. Schelotto made an excellent play, too. He's a headsy player."

Here's Sanneh on his howler:

"I saw him coming that's why I trapped it across my body 'cos I didn't want to go into him and then I probably should have just cleared it, but Omar (Gonzalez) was calling for it and I just over thought it. I saw the other guy coming in and I just tried to squeeze it in there, but I had a shitty ball."

Arena on the team's best player:

"(Mike) Magee was good today. He was our best player from start to finish. He wanted the ball in tough spots. He was confident with the ball at his feet."

On Landon Donovan's performance:

"Landon has to be more assertive in these games and I think he was in the last 45 minutes of this game. The first half he didn't find himself. He was second on too many plays. And in the second half he turned it around, so give him some credit."

Here's the Crew's Robbie Rogers on the Galaxy:

"They really are a team that just sits back and tries to counter attack with Landon so I think we could have kept the ball a little better in the second half. We maybe lost our legs a little bit and gave up one of those late goals."

Arena's scariest line of the press conference:

"We've gotten better in each and every game. We've gotten closer to where we want to be."

Highlights:

Game story.

Notable:
*It's six wins in eight games for the metronomic Chivas USA who continue to win despite their now trademark slew of injuries (tonight's magic number of absentees was seven).

*Chivas USA midfielder Sasha Victorine entered the match as a 74th minute sub for Eduardo Lillingston, making his 2009 debut, returning from microfracture surgery on his left knee on Nov. 12, 2008 to play the final 16 minutes of the match.

*The Earthquakes were without the injured Darren Huckerby.

Quotable:
"We scrambled in the first 20 minutes then were able to settle down and control the game," said Chivas USA Coach Preki. "We played the ball well and created many chances to score again, but we are happy with the win tonight."

Lineup
Zach Thornton, Mariano Trujillo, Carey Talley, Shavar Thomas, Jonathan Bornstein, Sacha Kljestan, Jesse Marsch, Paulo Nagamura, Bojan Stepanovic (Gerson Mayen 79), Justin Braun (Maykel Galindo 60), Eduardo Lillingston (Sasha Victorine 74).

Highlights:

Regular readers will have noticed I've cut back on the blogging this week with the beginning of a two-week-long driving vacation looming Sunday that is little more than an excuse to tour West Coast microbreweries to visit some friends (ahem).

That will include blogging trips to Salt Lake City and Seattle for the Galaxy games in those cities this Wednesday and the following Sunday. Before and after are quick visits to the likes of Vegas, Eugene, Ore., and Yosemite National Park.

So with another busy day ahead at work as I get ready for the trip I'll keep this weekend preview short.

But frankly, I'm more concerned Sunday with events in England where my hometown Norwich City faces relegation to the third tier of English football for the first time in more than 50 years. For those two of you wondering what I'm blathering about: City must win at Charlton on Sunday and Barnsley must lose at Plymouth.

More on the unfolding disaster.

MLS-leading Chivas USA (5-1-1), who play in the Bay Area Saturday against the Earthquakes (1-3-2), will no doubt be hoping former Norwich (and current San Jose) striker Darren Huckerby is similarly distracted. The undefeated Sol are also on the road this weekend, facing the Breakers in Boston.

The winless Galaxy (0-1-4) take on the (1-4-2) Red Bulls Saturday at Home Depot Center. Against my better judgment (considering the records of these two teams so far) I will blog from the game. At least there will be fish and chips.

Also this weekend the fourth division of U.S. soccer - the Premier Development League - cranks up with the Hollywood United Hitmen replacing the now defunct San Fernando Valley Quakes locally.

BTW, fans in Ventura can see this Everton prospect in action.

And here's an update on former Chivas USA and Hollywood United player Matt Taylor.

Lastly, did you know Norwich City's anthem is the oldest football song in the world? You do now.

Recapping the weekend:

AP Photo

* David Beckham wasn't lying down on the job Sunday: AC Milan moved into second place in Serie A with a win over Palermo.

*Is it too early to begin the Juergen Klinsmann to the Galaxy rumors? The Orange County resident was fired Monday by Bayern Munich.

*Fontana's Maurice Edu is just beginning to gain some traction with Glasgow Rangers after an injury-marred season.

*Pasadena City College product Yura Movsisyan is finally off the mark for Real Salt Lake.

*The Sol's French midfielder Camille Abily and Les Bleues earned their second victory over Switzerland in three days Saturday, the lone goal in the 1-0 win coming from the penalty spot. Meanwhile, Marta and Brazil lost 3-1 Saturday to Sweden. Both players will return to the Sol in time for this weekend's road game against the Boston Breakers.

*The National Soccer Hall of Fame in Oneonta, N.Y., has received the game ball and official lineups from the first-ever WPS game played March 29th between the Los Angeles Sol and the Washington Freedom at Home Depot Center. The items go on display in early May.

*Hollywood United have replaced the San Fernando Valley Quakes in the PDL.

*And for those of you who might have missed them, here are the highlights of the Galaxy's 1-1 tie Saturday in Colorado:

Defending W-League champion Pali Blues, now a feeder team for the WPS L.A. Sol, will attempt to set a new world record for most people juggling a soccer ball at one time at its May 9 season opener.

The current record, according to the club, was set by 627 people in 2007 in Vienna, Austria.

The idea, naturally, is to raise the club's profile, said Pali Blues General Manager Jason Lemire.

"Most people don't realize it, but amateur teams like the Pali Blues are a lot like public radio - we only exist with the support of our community," he said. "This is a chance for the soccer world to show that they support grass root organizations like the Pali Blues."

The second-year term plays at Pacific Palisades High School. To register for the record attempt scheduled for half time, call Lemire at (310) 264-4649. More about the club is here.

Wonder if this guy will be there?

Today's rubber-stamping of the widely leaked announcement that the Portland Timbers would become the latest USL team to jump to MLS renewed memories of the NASL's legacy in Portland that bears more than a few similarities to that seen earlier in the week in Seattle and Portland and recounted here.

A well-supported team, the Timbers were NASL Soccer Bowl finalists way back in 1975 and gave us such soccer icons as the late Clive Charles and and Glenn "Mooch" Myernick.

The team enjoyed a spirited rivalry with the Seattle Sounders and lived on after the NASL's demise in one form or another before finally being reborn today.

To many the NASL is a fading memory (and a grainy reality if you check out the clip below), but one fan keeping its heritage alive is Austin, Texas resident Dave Brett Wasser on his Web site that celebrates the sights and sounds of the league via historic soccer videotapes.

Wasser, 42, who by day is the executive director of The Space Settlement Institute, claims the largest collection of NASL videotapes in the country (he provided ESPN with the '70s-era Sounders clips for last night's broadcast).

As someone who has a disparate collection of of sports video tapes (the 1985 Milk Cup final between Norwich and Sunderland, the final game of the 1989 Stanley Cup final with Lanny McDonald scoring the winner for the Calgary Flames and, yes, a collection of the NY Cosmos' greatest goals among them) I was interested to learn more about Wasser and his interest.

We conducted this Q&A via Facebook earlier today:

Question: You noted that with today's announcement naming the Portland franchise, about 20 percent of MLS teams have adopted NASL names. You approve of the trend?

Answer: I think it is terrific. Nostalgia is great. Fans want to feel they are contributing to the legacy of a team, and the best way to do that is to use the historic name associated with soccer in each city.

The MLS team in New York (MetroStars/Red Bulls) would have been far more successful if MLS had just bought the rights to the name "Cosmos." Yes, I am well aware that MLS has a strict salary cap. So a team in NY named Cosmos now would not be loaded with stars like the old Cosmos. But fans would still identify with the historic name and logo.

The current situation is just stupid. It's like if Major League Baseball put a team in the Bronx, and called it something other than "Yankees."

I am glad that the Red Bull corporation is building a great new stadium for their team in Harrison, NJ. But it is going to be 27,000 seats. If they want to fill the place, they are going to have to stop naming the team after themselves, and instead buy the rights to the name and logo of the Cosmos.

Q: Why did you start collecting NASL tapes in 1993, nine years after the league folded? A strange obsession even given that you said you supported the Cosmos as a kid.
A: You've got to remember where soccer was in this country in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Soccer was pretty much dead at the time. There was no American soccer on TV where I lived. (I am talking about outdoor soccer, not the indoor variety.) So for me, finding these old Cosmos tapes was just a way to keep in touch with the sport that I grew up with and loved as a kid.

Growing up in New York, I watched Cosmos games on WOR-TV, channel 9. Jim Karvallas and Seamus Malin were the announcers. I still say that Seamus Malin is the best soccer broadcaster this country has ever had.

In the early '90s I was just curious to see if anyone taped these old games. As you know, VCRs were very expensive in the late '70s. The price for the machines didn't really come down until around 1984 - the same year the NASL collapsed. So few people in those days had VCRs, and even fewer people recorded sporting events. But I have managed to find an amazing number of old tapes of my three favorite teams -- the Cosmos, the Mets, and the Jets.

Q: How difficult was it to accumulate these tapes? How did you do it (wish I'd kept some of my old Calgary Boomers games for you)?
A: It was very difficult at first. I tracked down everyone associated with the NASL - players, managers, athletic trainers, team executives, broadcasters. For every 15 people I called, one would have a stash of old tapes in a closet. Some of those games were recorded by a friend or a relative, but some were from the NASL office itself.

When the NASL office was about to close, someone in the office called a few players and coaches, and said "I've got some tapes of games you were in. Do you want them?" The problem is that the games were in a bulky, one-inch video format called "Umatic." Few people have equipment to play these tapes. So years later, when I found these people, I offered to convert their tapes to VHS. That's how I started my collection.

Q: What's No. 1 on your NASL tape want list?
A: August 10, 1976: Miami Toros at Cosmos at Yankee Stadium. Pele scored perhaps his greatest bicycle kick goal.

In the spirit of this back to the future-like NASL/MLS week here's a blast from the past and the shape of things to come - Sounders verses Timbers in 1979:

Galaxy
The Galaxy drew 1-1 with the Chicago Fire Saturday in Arizona in their final preseason game ahead of the home opener next weekend.

The Galaxy's Josh Tudela scored from a Landon Donovan corner kick in the fourth minute; A. J. DeLaGarza either slipped or was beaten on the equalizer that allowed the Fire's Marco Pappa to score from a volley.

Goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts exited with an apparent recurrence of the hamstring injury that kept him out of the Pan-Pacific Championship.

Galaxy starting XI: Donovan Ricketts, A.J. DeLaGarza, Tony Sanneh, Omar Gonzalez, Sean Franklin, Mike Magee, Josh Tudela, Dema Kovalenko, Chris Klein, Landon Donovan, Jovan Kirovski.

Neither Blanco or the Palos Verdes Perninsula's John Thorrington started for the Fire.

Highlights:

Sol
The L.A. Sol of the WPS beat the Bay Area's FC Gold Pride 2-0 Saturday in the first official pre-season game at Home Depot Center.

Rookie Katie Larkin opened the scoring for the Sol in the 35th minute with Japanese international Aya Miyama adding the second in the 90th minute. No Shannon Boxx or Marta for the Sol.

Sol XI: Val Henderson, Allison Falk, Stephanie Cox, Camile Abily, Manya Makoski, Aya Miyama, Lisa Sari, McCall Zerboni, Brittany Bock, Katie Larkin, Christie Welsh.

Chivas USA
Meanwhile on Tuesday Chivas USA will party for 24 straight hours at L.A. Live from 6 p.m. Tuesday (not so coincidentally immediately ahead of the Lakers-Phileadelphia game) until 6 p.m. Wednesday (before the Clippers-Washington game).

The "entertainment" includes a potentially bemusing game between "popular SoCal sports mascots" and a free breakfast for fans courtesy of ESPN Zone from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. The event concludes with the taking of the official 2009 team photo.

Think you can belt out a stirring rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner?"

The Los Angeles Sol, the new Women's Professional Soccer franchise based in
Carson, is holding a national anthem "sing-off" at its Sol Fest March 8 at Home Depot Center.

The winner of the contest, performed in front of a panel of judges, will be
invited to sing at a Sol home game.

The free Sol Fest, which includes an open practice by the team, music, games
and locker room tours, runs from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. And not so coincidentally you can buy season tickets and pick out your seat.

Would-be singers should click here.

Those who would rather read a profile of Sol star Marta should click here.

And let's hope this guy doesn't show up at the contest:

Need a break from the Beckham talk?

Me too.