I caught up with former Galaxy Coach Sigi Schmid in today's column.

Is a Crew-Galaxy MLS final in Carson possible, perhaps?

Posted by Nick Green at 5:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

For today's column I looked at the imploding Chivas USA defense and the potential consequences for their season.

Meanwhile, David Beckham and the Galaxy arrived in Edmonton Monday for tonight's extraneous game against the Whitecaps where more than 30,000 tickets have been sold.

Longtime injury victim Ante Jazic may return to action tonight for the Galaxy.

Landon Donovan will apparently be absent though, while Canadians are lamenting Beckham's likely non-appearance at the game against FC Toronto at month's end.

Incidentally, the game is televised beginning at 6 p.m. locally on Channel 22.

Posted by Nick Green at 8:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Blogging 101 says post lists.

It stimulates debate, gets hits and prompts angry e-mails.

Let's see how I do with this.

The news last weekend of the predicament of D.C. United midfielder Ben Olsen prompted the topic.

As one reader already observed this morning via e-mail, it was good that I didn't have to consider Chicago Fire midfielder John Thorrington of Palos Verdes for inclusion given his recent unexpected career resurgence. For the same reason former Galaxy midfielder Santino Quaranta, once the youngest player ever signed by MLS you'll recall, didn't get a mention either.

Sadly though Playa del Rey's John O'Brien did.

Incidentally, a colleague who recently interviewed the usually media-shy O'Brien over a couple of beers at a Santa Monica bar, said that he's taking things easy trying to decide what to do with his life.

O'Brien did briefly resurface into the public eye this past weekend though, scoring the winning goal at a beach soccer tournament.

Posted by Nick Green at 8:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I get paid to worry.

As in today's column, which takes a look at the dominance of David Beckham and Landon Donovan and the implications for the Galaxy's season.

For those who haven't seen it yet, here are the highlights of Becks and Donovan dismantling Chivas USA.

Not surprisingly after that performance, Galaxy forward Landon Donovan was named the MLS Player of the Week by the North American Soccer Reporters, for the second consecutive week.

Elsewhere, Long Beach State has announced its 2008 recruiting class including defender Nicole Hubbard (Lakewood/Mayfair High) and U.S. Under-17 international midfielder Shawna Gordon (Rancho Cucamonga/Los Osos High) as freshmen, while Marissa "Bo" Rael (Rancho Cucamonga/Los Osos High), who played last semester at the University of Oregon, is at LBSU.

Posted by Nick Green at 7:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Here's Tuesday column on why American soccer fans should be backing EPL team Fulham.

Also:
*The Galaxy signed two developmental players Monday - defenders Vardan Adzemian (Ventura County Fusion) and Scott Bolkan (Stanford) - and promptly shipped both to the USL Portland Timbers to gain experience.
*Former Cuban Under-23 National Team players Yordany Alvarez, Yenier Bermudez and Jose Manuel Miranda, will continue to train with the Galaxy through the end of this week at least after impressing the coaching staff.
*The San Jose Earthquakes signed Loyola Marymount University senior defender Adam Sloustcher to a developmental deal after watching him play in a reserve game against the Galaxy earlier this month.

Posted by Nick Green at 7:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

For today's column in the Daily News and Daily Breeze I riffed on the return of a changed Carlos Ruiz to the Galaxy.

Omitted from the column for space reasons was Ruiz' penchant for on-field dramatics:

Fans loathe it to such an extent that on Saturday when Lalas addressed season ticket holders and mentioned Ruiz, one fan bluntly asked: “Did you tell him to quit diving?”

The short answer is no (although Lalas acknowledged he cringes on occasion too when Ruiz dives and jokingly suggested acting lessons may be in order).

And the reason why isn’t hard to understand. As Lalas pointed out, the Galaxy come equipped with the world’s best dead ball specialist in Beckham, who can be expected to swerve in a free kick or two stemming from a Fish flop.

The questions remains, though, can Ruiz replicate the form he showed with the Galaxy the first time around?

At least he hooked up well with David Beckham on the Galaxy's recent Asian tour as the video of his hat trick in China showed.

Posted by Nick Green at 7:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

For Tuesday's column I looked at the on-going struggle of Chivas USA to achieve some sort of critical mass in drawing a fan base.

One point left out of the column for space reasons was whether Chivas USA should own and operate its own stadium. Team President Shawn Hunter indicated that leaving Home Depot Center was a long way down the road for Chivas USA.

"Every team wants to own its own venue," he said. "My first task is to fill this one."

On the player signing front, MLS Deputy Commissioner Ivan Gazidis told reporters on a teleconference call Monday that teams in general are still looking to sign players and he expects more acquisitions.

"We're still early in the cycle for imports," he said, observing MLS has signed 21 foreign recruits since MLS Cup, including 18 from Latin America, where players are technically adept yet relatively inexpensive.

The largest foreign contingent in MLS: Argentines (17) whose physical style of play suits MLS (there are also 10 Brazilians).

Posted by Nick Green at 7:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

CONCACAF Olympic qualifying begins tonight with two games including the U.S. against Cuba and I offered a primer in today's column.

CONCACAF has released the rosters for the teams in Group A.

Chivas USA midfielder Sacha Kljestan and his role on the U-23 team is profiled here, although Fontana's Maurice Edu was on Monday named team captain for the tournament.

Lastly, Andrew Sakura, 17, the starting goalkeeper for Palos Verdes High died last weekend after crashing his father's Corvette while speeding. He would have turned 18 later this month.

Posted by Nick Green at 7:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today's column looks at Monday's roster and salary budget compliance day in MLS, but it wasn't until this morning that we learned the Galaxy has waived Celestene Babayaro, Kyle Martino and Kelly Gray.

The latter two aren't much of a surprise as the column points out, but Babayaro getting cut is. At age 29, the former Newcastle United defender can't make an MLS team? Salary was undoubtedly an issue, but he hasn't shown an awful lot anyway and the Galaxy don't seem to have room for him on the back line (he played in midfield last weekend).

Here's the (edited) Galaxy release:

The LA Galaxy waived three players on Monday, the day that all teams must be roster and salary budget compliant in accordance with MLS rules. The club has waived midfielders Kelly Gray and Kyle Martino, as well as defender Celestine Babayaro. All three, as well as players waived by each of the other 13 MLS clubs, will be available in an MLS Waiver Draft, which will be held at noon today.

A native of Kaduna, Nigeria, Babayaro had spent the last month training with the Galaxy, playing once in last weekend’s match against FC Seoul. The 29-year old Nigerian had spent time with Belgian club Anderlecht, as well as English sides Chelsea and Newcastle United prior to training with the Galaxy. A Gold Medal winner at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, Babayaro also represented his country at the 1998 and 2002 FIFA World Cups.

Gray originally joined the Galaxy on July 3, 2007 in a trade that sent Nate Jaqua to the Houston Dynamo. A six-year MLS veteran, he appeared in six regular season games, as well as three SuperLiga matches and one Open Cup game for the Galaxy last year, but missed most of the final two months of the year with a pair of calf injuries.

Martino played in 35 games in a year and a half with the Galaxy, scoring three goals and adding two assists. The 2002 MLS Rookie of the Year with the Columbus Crew, Martino led all Galaxy field players with 26 appearances for the club in the 2007 regular season, as well as playing three times in SuperLiga and three times in the Open Cup, where he scored once.

Meanwhile, over in China it really is Beckhamania.

Posted by Nick Green at 6:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

The last week has seen a heated global debate over a proposal to play regular season English Premier League games overseas, including the U.S.

Read this week's column for my take and the opinion of local players, then take the poll.

Comments welcome.

Updated: And the debate rolls on.

Good set of links with reaction, etc., on that page, too.

Posted by Nick Green at 12:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)