Recently in W-League Category

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?

U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati will unveil all at a noon Monday conference call and will also introduce the executive director of the USA Bid Committee.

From today's (edited) U.S. Soccer press release:

FIFA set Monday as the deadline for federations to submit the official paperwork expressing their interest to bid for either or both of the competitions. FIFA emphasized that at this initial stage in the bidding process, the only requirement is for countries to be able to demonstrate their ability to host a sporting event as large as the FIFA World Cup.

In related news, on the same day that tickets to the Feb. 11 Mexico-U.S. World Cup qualifier in Columbus sold out in just 90 minutes, Mexico lost 1-0 in Oakland to essentially the same young Swedish team the U.S. beat at Home Depot Center.

Meanwhile, Sigi Schmid's Seattle Sounders will reportedly train in Ventura Monday and will play the Galaxy in a closed-door scrimmage Feb. 9 at the HDC. Former Galaxy midfielder Pete Vagenas won't participate though reportedly because of a bone bruise on his knee that requires surgery. He's expected to be on the sidelines for quite a while.

Lastly, Pepperdine associate women's soccer coach Twila Kaufman was recently announced as the new head coach for the Los Angeles Legends of the W-League. The Legends play at Citrus College Stadium in Glendora.

Contrary to previous reports, David Beckham started and went 45 minutes in AC Milan's friendly in Dubai today. Game details here.

Now we'll see whether he makes his Serie A debut Sunday against Roma in a game scheduled to air live at 11:30 a.m. on Fox Soccer Channel.

Also:
* Sky Blue FC - the New York-New Jersey Women's Professional Soccer entry - announced today the club's first player signings, who include Pali Blues' Australian international Collette McCallum. The 22-year-old set piece specialist scored five goals in eight games for the W-League champions last season.

*Following a 72-player mega-camp at Home Depot Center, U.S. Men's Under-18 National Team Coach Mike Matkovich has named an 18-player squad for the Australian Youth Olympic Festival that takes place later this month. Southern Californians on the squad include Miles Byass (Arsenal FC; San Bernardino).

Women's Professional Soccer 's L.A. Sol opens the league's inaugural season Sunday, March 29 in a nationally televised 3 p.m. game against the Washington Freedom at Home Depot Center, the team will announce Tuesday.

The league's other five teams will begin play the following weekend.

"We are certainly honored that WPS has chosen us to host the league's inaugural game; it will be a great reward for all of the women's soccer fans in the Southland who have been anxiously awaiting our arrival," said Los Angeles Sol General Manager Charlie Naimo.

The remainder of the season's schedule will be announced at a later date. Sol season tickets are now on sale beginning at $125. Call 1-877-4-SOL-TIX or click the link to the right.

Also, the 10-round WPS draft is set for Jan. 16. The draft order:
1. Boston Breakers
2. Chicago Red Stars
3. FC Gold Pride (Bay Area)
4. Sky Blue FC (New Jersey/New York)
5. Los Angeles Sol
6. Saint Louis Athletica
7. Washington Freedom

Which means Boston gets Amy Rodriguez of USC.

Rumor of the moment: Supposedly Chivas USA midfielder Sacha Kljestan has captured the interest of a dozen teams including Celtic.

Jorge Flores of Chivas USA, Brian Perk of UCLA, Marcus Watson of the Galaxy Academy and Pat Sigler of Cal Poly were among the 26-player squad named to the U.S. Under-20 Men's National Team roster by Coach Thomas Rongen for an eight-day camp in Florida that began today. The camp includes a pair of scrimmages against CONCACAF foes Haiti Dec. 20 and Canada Dec. 22.

And for all you L.A. Rampage, Pali Blues, San Fernando Quakes, etc fans out there:

United Soccer Leagues announced the 68 PDL teams will play a 16-game season beginning May 1 and concluding July 19. Playoffs will begin July 24-26 and the championship will be held Saturday, Aug. 8, on Fox Soccer Channel. The W-League will kick off the season with 37 teams beginning May 8. The season concludes July 19, with playoffs beginning July 24-26. The W-League champion will be determined Aug. 7-8 on Fox Soccer Channel.

U.S. Soccer has announced its first batch of yearly awards with Soccer By Ives winning blog of the year. The Washington Post's excellent Soccer Insider finished second (weren't those two reversed last year?). And as much as I enjoy the wit of press officer Aaron Heifetz (and I do, really) the WNT Blog is not the third best soccer blog out there.

Finally, the answer to the question how fit is Chivas USA's Jonathan Bornstein? Pretty damn fit.

Tickets to a Dec. 13 game between the U.S. Women's National Team and China at the Home Depot Center in Carson go on sale Friday priced between $18 and $150.

The game is part of a post-Olympics "Achieve Your Gold Tour," which continued Wednesday night in Cincinnati with a 0-0 tie against South Korea before 5,877.

U.S. lineup: 18-Nicole Barnhart (22-Briana Scurry, 46); 2-Heather Mitts, 3-Christie Rampone (capt.) (4-Rachel Buehler, 60), 15-Kate Markgraf, 17-Lori Chalupny (19-Marian Dalmy, 66); 9-Heather O'Reilly (21-Kacey White, 46), 7-Shannon Boxx (14-Stephanie Cox, 33), 10-Aly Wagner, 16-Angela Hucles; 5-Lindsay Tarpley, 6-Natasha Kai.

Incidentally, Torrance's Shannon Boxx, named a finalist for the FIFA Women's Player of the Year Award last week, e-mailed me her thoughts on that:

"It is an honor to be named as one of the top 10 for the FIFA Player of the Year Award. To be considered with this group is quite amazing. I believe that you need great people around you to perform your best and I've been very lucky to be surrounded by great teammates."

In other women's soccer news:
*Long Beach State plays a 2 p.m. Big West Conference Tournament semifinal game against Pacific at George Allen Field today.

*Ventura County Fusion General Manager Ranbir Shergill will take over as coach of the Fusion's W-league team for the 2009 season. Shergill was with the Cal South Olympic Development Program in 2008 and won a national championship as coach of the Cal South Under-16 girls team. Incidentally, the Fusion's men's and women's teams have open tryouts Dec. 13. More info here.

*Named to the California Collegiate Athletic Association first team were Cal State Dominguez Hills junior forward Melanie DeSalvo (Chula Vista) and former West (Torrance) High star Jessica Murphy.

In other college soccer news:
*Cal State Northridge men's team Coach Terry Davila notched his 100th collegiate victory Wednesday as the Matadors came from two goals down to beat Cal State Fullerton, 3-2. With the win, the Matadors keep pace with fourth-place UC Irvine in the Big West standings; the teams meet Saturday in Northridge in the final game of the season with the winner earning the fourth and final spot in the inaugural Big West Men's Soccer Postseason Tournament.

*Former Galaxy defender Paul Caligiuri has resigned as men's soccer coach at Cal Poly. The team's record this season: 4-11-3.

*Cal State Dominguez Hills junior defender Kevin Gallaugher (Walnut, Calif) and Kyle Holland (Anchorage, Alaska) were named CCAA first-team selections.

Lastly:
*Former Galaxy forward Clint Mathis is profiled here ahead of Saturday's Real Salt Lake-Chivas USA clash in Carson.

*In Utah, they're thinking skiing not soccer.

*David Beckham clears up just when he's leaving for Italy here.

*The MLS playoffs resume tonight with the Palos Verdes Peninsula's John Thorrington and his Chicago Fire taking on the New England Revolution. Kickoff is at 5:30 p.m. on ESPN2.

*And Columbus Crew's Chad Marshall was today named MLS Defender of the Year.

Charlie Naimo, who last year coached first-year W-League team Pali Blues to the league title, has been named general manager of the as yet unnamed L.A. WPS franchise.

"Combining my coaching experience, work ethic and desire to impact women's soccer with all the great players and resources we have assembled in Los Angeles will give us the ability to create a winning franchise from day one," he said.

The WPS team is owned 50:50 by Galaxy owner AEG and Pali Blues owner Ruidi Bianchi and will play at Home Depot Center when the seven-team league opens play in April.

Naimo also won a W-League title in 2005 with the New Jersey Wildcats.

He was first named coach in 1998 with W-League team the New Jersey Splash and promptly won Coach of the Year honors.

Abner Rogers, director of coaching at Laguna Hills club Eclipse, was previously named coach of the L.A. WPS team.

The WPS, which has already held two drafts for U.S. Women's National Team and top international players, holds another draft Monday.

Southern California now has two women's soccer national champions.

A day after Pali Blues won the W-League title, Rolling Hills Estates-based Ajax America Women took their first Women's Premier Soccer League crown Sunday night with a 3-1 come-from-behind victory over the Arizona Rush.

It was the team's first WPSL title since 2001.

"Its been a long time coming," said Coach Brian Boswell, who saw his team make three straight trips to the Final Four (2006-08). "We're real happy with this one. Over the last couple of [Final Fours], we've been the bridesmaid and it feels good to be the winner. We're just a great team... it doesn't matter who's out there. We just play very well as a team. We play well for each other - more than any superstars."

Game details and video.

The Arizona perspective.

Earlier: more on the Pali Blues' title.

The day after the Pacific Palisades-based Pali Blues won the W-League title Rolling Hills Estates-based Ajax America Women will attempt to repeat the feat tonight in the Women's Premier Soccer League championship game in Sacramento.

Ajax America crushed the Madison (Wisconsin) Lady Blues Saturday to advance to tonight's final against the Arizona Rush.

First-year W-League franchise Pali Blues capped a perfect 14-0 season with a come from behind 2-1 win in Virginia Beach, Va., that required two goals in the last seven minutes of the game to clinch the title.

It wasn't the Blues' best game, observed Coach Charlie Naimo, but it was enough:

"I have to give credit to FC Indiana for taking us out of our game. Their players were fantastic, and all the credit in the world goes to them for such a class match."

Game story.

Here's Naimo on the turning point of the game:

"When we scored that first goal, it was like an elephant just got knocked off my back. Amy LePeilbet has been a class defender all year, and it was great to see her get on the score sheet."

Zach Thornton has landed in Chicago and Jesse Marsch looks pretty happy to see his former Fire teammate (and an experienced goalkeeper). Do we assume Thornton plays today? I think we do.

Two who won't play a part in today's Chivas USA-Chicago Fire game (5:30 p.m. live on Fox Soccer Channel) are Preki (at least on the bench-he's suspended) and Blanco. (ditto). Also absent: Sacha Kljestan (Olympics).

But Maykel Galindo and long-lost Alecko Eskandarian are probable.

Chivas USA, playing their first MLS game in a month, is 6-6-4 and fourth in the Western Conference; Chicago is 7-5-5 and third in the Eastern Conference.

Chicago haven't lost in five games, but that includes four draws; Chivas USA beat the Fire 2-0 at Home Depot Center in June.

Phil Collin has a game preview.

Also:
*Cameroon beat the U.S. Men's Olympic Team 2-0 early this morning our time on a penalty kick. It was the last game for the U.S. before the Olympics.

*Brad Guzan wasn't the only Southern California goalkeeper on the move this week. Loyola Marymount goalkeeper Patrick Lane signed a pro contract with Belgian club Cercle Bruges.

*Southern California could have two women's teams crowned national champions this weekend. Rolling Hills Estates-based Ajax America Women is in Sacramento for the Women's Premier Soccer League's Final Four.

The Sacramento Bee used the occasion to provide an update on the Women's Professional Soccer league, but managed to get the wrong name (and city) for Ajax.

Over in the W-League, the unbeaten Pali Blues play the Indiana Lionesses (how many of those do they have in Indiana?) in Virginia Beach, Va., for the championship. The game is on at 8 tonight on Fox Soccer Channel.

Brad Guzan finally secured the work permit he needed today to join Aston Villa of the EPL.

Chivas USA this morning posted a tribute video to Guzan:

"Brad was the first goalkeeper to defend the colors of Chivas USA in Major League Soccer. This organization has seen him grow from a 20-year-old rookie to a U.S. Olympian, the reigning MLS Goalkeeper of the Year and now a member of one of England's great clubs," said Chivas USA President and CEO Shawn Hunter. "We trust that Villa supporters will soon see what Chivas USA fans have known for some time: that this is a very special young man with the potential of becoming one of the great goalkeepers in the international game."

With all the money flowing into the game in England these days, Guzan has hit the proverbial jackpot, although he won't make as much as the 25 richest young footballers in England.

Closer to home, with the Galaxy and Chivas USA on the road there's no live local top-class soccer (I'll have a best of what's on the box below), but this is always a fun event:

And yeah, Rod will really be there this year.

Nansen Field is a gorgeous little private facility where you can sip a beer on the sidelines while watching the games (bring a blanket or lawn chairs and a picnic lunch).

I wrote about this event three years ago and it's pretty much the same. Here's a reprint of the story from the Daily Breeze archives:

Pop star Rod Stewart performs in concert in Manchester, England, tonight, but his heart will be in Rolling Hills Estates.

A group of English expatriates take on their Scottish counterparts today in a fifth annual soccer game at Nansen Field with the Bob Stewart Caledonian Trophy at stake. Bob Stewart, Rod's father, died in 1990.

His singer son customarily plays in the game -- for Scotland against the nation known as the "auld enemy"-- and his picture usually adorns posters advertising the game. As many as 800 people have watched the game in past years.

"The majority of people do come out to see him and take pictures," said Keith Wales, the event's chief organizer for Brits at Nansen, one of several groups of various nationalities who share the venue. "It's a tradition now and he wouldn't want us to not have it."

Stewart has played at Nansen, a secluded, superbly maintained field with a clubhouse on aptly named Hidden Valley Road, for about four years, his touring schedule and 60-year-old legs permitting.

Stewart has contributed several signed items, including a soccer ball, hat and T-shirt, that will be sold at a silent auction.

Proceeds from the auction and event itself go to pay off legal bills incurred when in 1989 the Norwegian government, which contended it owned the 9.5-acre property, moved to sell it.

Locals balked and Norway sued. A judge eventually ruled that the true owner was a nonprofit group founded in 1952 so taxes didn't have to be paid on the property.

But the group was left with a $320,000 legal bill; that's now down to about $121,000.

To compensate for Stewart's absence, organizers have made the event a doubleheader.

A U.S. team will take on a team of German expatriates in the opening match.

Several well-known former soccer players have been invited to take part in both games, including former English international Gary Mabbutt.

Thomas Dooley, a German native who made 81 appearances for the U.S. National Team, will line up for the Germans against Hall of Famer Paul Caligiuri.

"What a little traitor, huh," laughed Dooley's former national team teammate who coaches at Cal Poly Pomona. "It's going to be a nice reunion with some of the guys."

But it's the world's oldest international rivalry between England and Scotland, which dates back to 1872, that is the main draw.

A piper leads the teams onto the field, British food is the order of the day and spectators are encouraged to wear their national colors.

"At the moment (the series) is tied at two apiece," Wales said. "People like to come to this game whether (Rod) is there or not. Families come with kids."

The trickiest thing about the event for newcomers is finding the field. You basically just head out of Torrance and up the hill to the Palos Verdes Peninsula.

Here's a Google map:
View Larger Map

Finally, here's the highlights of the weekend TV schedule:
Today - CD Guadalajara-Tecos (delayed) 9 p.m. KAZA

Saturday- Chivas USA-Chicago Fire 5:30 p.m. FSN
W-League Championship Pali Blues-FC Indiana 8 p.m. Fox Soccer Channel (delayed)

Sunday - Galaxy-San Jose Noon FSN
4 p.m. Chivas Guadalajara- Barcelona 4 p.m. Fox Soccer Channel

Have a great weekend and I'll let Rod serenade us toward quitting time today.

Apologies, busy with a big project and not much time to blog.

A few things to pass along:

*Pacific Palisades-based W-League team Pali Blues defeated reigning champion Washington Freedom 2-0 earlier tonight earning a berth in Saturday's final against FC Indiana. Game reports here. The final will air on Fox Soccer Channel at 8 p.m. Saturday (despite the wrong date being given at this writing in the link).

*Set your TiVo alert. David Beckham appears on the season opener of Sesame Street Aug. 22. Oh, and his latest pithy blog entry is here, too. But really check out the muppet (no, not Abel Xavier) with Elmo, um, Becks.

*Almost as surreal; Chivas USA's blog brings us up to date on the team news - from an LAX gate waiting area. There's Jim Curtin reading a magazine, Alecko Eskandarian slouching in a chair and stand-in Coach Mike Matkovich grabbing a Starbucks while reveling in the suspended Preki's absence from the bench Saturday:

"I don't think it would make much difference [not to have Preki in the bench] to be honest."

Well, OK I took that quote out of context. But that constant yelling can drive you nuts, huh Mike?

More on Chivas USA as they wait for their airplane to Chicago is here.

*Neither Jorge Flores of Chivas USA or goalkeeper Brian Perk of UCLA got on the field Wednesday as the U.S. Men's Under-20 Team beat their Wales counterparts 4-0 in the Milk Cup in Northern Ireland. FC Dallas midfielder Brek Shea scored a brace (and I just like using that word). Next: Belgium in the third place game early Friday our time.

Mark your calendar. Set your TiVo. Here's your soccer week in Southern California.

Sunday:
*Real So Cal Boys Under-16 Team lost 2-0 to Dallas Texans Red at the U.S. Youth Soccer National Championships.

*Also, the Galaxy Reserves drew 2-2 with Dallas through goals by Alan Gordon and Bryan Jordan.

Today:
*Chivas USA midfielder Jorge "Sueno" Flores played 90 minutes in the U.S. Under-20 National Team loss to hosts Northern Ireland in the Milk Cup. Next on Wednesday: Wales.

Tuesday:
*SuperLiga resumes tonight with the Houston Dynamo and Pachuca clashing at 7 on Telefutura in the first semifinal; Wednesday it's Atlante-New England.

No LA teams involved now that Chivas USA is out so why am I mentioning this? See Tuesday's column.

Wednesday;
*Brad Guzan, Sacha Kljestan and the rest of the U.S. Under-23 Men's National Team plays at 2:30 a.m. our time against the Ivory Coast in the ING Cup, a warm-up for the Olympics.

Thursday:
*The W-League Pali Blues play at the Washington Freedom in the semifinals; in the other game the FC Indiana Lionesses play the Seattle Sounders. The final is Saturday.

Saturday:
*Chivas USA (6-6-4) visits Chicago (7-5-5) and Cuauhtémoc Blanco. Chivas USA is two points behind Real Salt Lake for the Western Conference lead.

*Rolling Hills Estates-based Ajax America Women play in the Women's Premier League Final Four as the Pacific champion against Arizona (Big Sky), New England (East) and the winner today of the match between Midwest champion MYSC Lady Blues and Sunshine Conference champion Brevard County Cocoa Expos for the final berth.

Ajax beat West Coast FC 2-0 Sunday to qualify.

Sunday:
The Galaxy plays at San Jose at noon on Telefutura.

*The alleged MLS All-Star game is 4 p.m. Thursday on ESPN2. I'll have more on that in Tuesday's column.

*The Galaxy play at 4 p.m. Sunday in Dallas (live on Prime).

*Chivas USA plays next Aug. 2 in Chicago.

*From the Women's Premier Soccer League:

Saturday at Esperanza High (Anaheim):
5:30 p.m. - South champion West Coast F.C. (7-2-1) plays Sonoma County F.C. Sol (6-3-1).
7:30 p.m. - North Division winner California (10-0-0) plays second-place south side, 2007 U.S. Open Cup champion Ajax America (6-3-1).

The winners of the Pacific Semifinals face off the next day in the conference final at 6:30 p.m. for the final berth in the WPSL Championship.

*From the USL:

United Soccer Leagues announced Monday the Premier Development League and W-League playoff schedules set to begin midweek with the Divisional Rounds and continue with the Conference Championship tournaments on the weekend. The 19-team PDL playoff field begins play today with the W-League's 13-team postseason field starting Wednesday.

PDL:
Conference Semifinal Saturday - Vancouver vs San Fernando Valley Quakes - 4:30 p.m. Fresno.

The Pali Blues won the W-League regular season title and a berth in the league semifinals in Virginia Beach.

*Noted: The U.S. Under-23 Women's National Team beat Germany 3-0 today to win the Nordic Cup. Bruins Valerie Henderson and Tina DiMartino played the entire game.

*Also, from the Galaxy press release:

The Galaxy Rios U-20's clinched the USL Super-20 League Pacific Southern California League title Saturday with a 6-0 win over Riverside MGFM. The Rios finished the season with a league best 22 points from a 7-2-1 record, while outscoring opponents 41-7 en route to the title.

Another soccer-filled weekend is on tap, so let's get to it.

*The Galaxy are out of town in New York where Claudio Reyna retired this week and the Red Bulls signed two South American midfielders who could make their debuts Saturday.

The game airs live at 3:30 p.m. on Fox Soccer Channel and a crowd of more than 45,000 is expected to turn out largely to see David Beckham who continues to prove why he's nicknamed Golden Balls.

Need a reminder why so many people want to see the game? Check out the highlights from last year.

*Meanwhile, they're expecting a similarly large boost in attendance in Kansas City on Sept. 13 when Becks and the Galaxy visit so the Wizards announced Thursday they are moving the game from the 10,000-capacity CommunityAmerica Ballpark to vast Arrowhead Stadium.

*Chivas USA are at home at 5 p.m. Sunday playing at Cal State Fullerton's Titan Stadium in the third and final SuperLiga game (live on Telefutura) where three teams in Group B could finish tied with six points by the end of the weekend.

How complicated is the picture for qualification for the next round? Here it is broken down from a New England perspective courtesy of the Revolution, but it also tells you what Chivas USA need to do:

A win or a draw on Sunday would assure the Revolution first place in the group, while a Pachuca loss to Santos Laguna in the group's other game would also secure New England's passage to the next round. Even if the Revs lose to Chivas USA and Pachuca defeats Santos, the possibility still exists that the Revolution could advance to the competition's final four, because in that case, New England, Chivas USA and Pachuca would all be tied atop the group with six points. If that happens, the group would be decided on goal difference, and the Revs (+2) currently have a better goal difference than both Chivas USA (0) and Pachuca (0).

*Meanwhile, Chivas USA defender/midfielder/forward Jonathan Bornstein of Los Alamitos was named as a replacement for Olympics-bound players in the MLS All-Star Game even though he's missed plenty of games this season and has not quite found the form he did last year (yet).

Plenty of other players are more deserving of course, such as D.C. United's Luciano Emilio (third in the league in scoring) or the Crew's Guillermo Barros Schelotto (the MLS assist-leader who had another two plus a goal Thursday in Columbus' 3-3 draw with Kansas City). Yet another reason to question the game's credibility.

*Also, Chivas USA has had Amber Hernandez, a 15-year-old member of the South Valley Chivas Academy in Porterville called up to the Mexican Under-17 National Team for the CONCACAF U-17 Women's Championship that began Thursday in Trinidad & Tobago.

*In other youth soccer news, the Los Angeles FC Under-18 boys team (led by U-17/18 Coach of the Year Rafa Moran) plays for the U.S. Development Academy championship at Home Depot Center live at 8 on ESPN2 tonight. Full details here.

*Over in the PDL, the San Fernando Valley Earthquakes are still in with a chance of making the playoffs after defeating the Ventura County Fusion Thursday.

The Quakes need a win Sunday against the Fresno Fuego in a 7:05 p.m. game at Calabasas High to make the playoffs.

Here's why from the Quakes Web site:

The Fuego overwhelmed the Southern California Seahorses 5-2 Thursday to move into first place on 29 points; the San Francisco Seals, in second place, take on Bakersfield Brigade today, and will move to the top of the league on 30 points if they win. The Quakes now lie third, on 27 points, with Fusion in fourth, their playoff hopes virtually over.

*In the W-League tonight it's Pali Blues at Los Angeles Legends in a 6 p.m. game at Esperanza High.

*U.S. striker Abby Wambach had surgery Thursday on
her broken leg.

*Finally, at least one Mexican club apparently does not know what the new national team coach looks like (exactly).

And if you liked that, then return later today for some Friday Football Funnies, true and strange soccer stories from around the world in the last week or so.

Enjoy your weekend.