There's a full slate of soccer this weekend in Southern California, with both the Galaxy and Chivas USA playing home games at Home Depot Center in Carson.

The Galaxy are up first, kicking off at 7:30 p.m. Saturday against defending MLS champions, the Houston Dynamo. With the Beckham buzz apparently wearing off, tickets are discounted 35 percent, a free Galaxy hat is on offer and pop-punk band The Burning Tree Project play a pre-game concert.

Check out the band below.

Want to see the Galaxy free? The reserve team plays at 1 p.m. Sunday against their Houston counterparts at the HDC.

Injury-riddled Chivas USA, meanwhile plays FC Dallas at 5 p.m. Sunday.

Want to see Chivas USA for free? The club's Under-16 and Under-18 teams play a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m. Saturday against Real So Cal at Agoura High School in Agoura Hills.

Incidentally, the Galaxy, which has been slow to get its youth programs going as required by MLS, launches two teams in the U.S. Soccer Development Academy program this fall.

Also progressing at a glacial pace has been the Galaxy's entry into the new Women's Professional Soccer league that aims to start play next year. Rumors a month ago that Galaxy parent company Anschutz Entertainment Group was looking to sell the unnamed team before it even starts play are apparently false. The team is accepting $25 deposits for season tickets.

In other women's soccer news, Loyola Marymount University Thursday announced the signing of two more players: Midfielder Jaide Timm-Garcia (Desert Christian High, Lancaster) and goalkeeper Katie Graul (Santiago Canyon College).

Finally, MLS Commissioner Don Garber belatedly joins the blogging party, penning "The Commissioner Speaks" every other Friday beginning at noon today. But will he actually say anything?

And, if you only watch one game this weekend, check out Manchester United against Brad Friedel's Blackburn Rovers at 9 a.m. Saturday on Fox Soccer Channel.

I'll be blogging from the HDC at both MLS games this weekend, as usual, by the way.

Posted by Nick Green at 8:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Chivas USA officials said today that Japanese World Cup veteran Takayuki Suzuki has left camp, while Frenchman Marko Muslin has arrived.

In other camps, it sounds like there was a nasty collision at U.S. Women's National Team training today in Carson.

In Bradenton, Fla. today, Rolling Hills Estates Robbie Rogers scored a 26th minute equalizing goal from the middle of the box in what ended as a 3-2 Fire win over the Columbus Crew in a preseason scrimmage.

Closer to home, there's less than a week left to buy tickets for the Crew-Chivas USA charity game in the Santa Clarita Valley at $5 off the regular prices of $20 for adults and $15 for youths. The Feb. 23 game is at College of the Canyons' Cougar Stadium, 26455 Rockwell Canyon Road.

Proceeds benefit the nonprofit Michael Hoefflin Foundation that provides financial and emotional support to children and their families facing childhood cancer in the Santa Clarita and surrounding valleys.

Details here.

UCLA signed seven players to letters of intent today: Camarillo High midfielder Hannah MacKechnie, the younger sister of Bruin midfielder Caitlyn MacKechnie; defender Amelia Mathis from Ventura; Canadian Under-19 international striker Sydney Leroux; Canadian Under-17 international defender Robyn Dutton from Calgary, Alta.; midfielder Summer Williams from Orinda, Calif.; U.S. Under-17 international defender Whitney Sharpe from Iowa; and goalkeeper Yiana Dimmitt from Redwood City, Calif.

Incidentally, former Chicago Fire Coach Dave Sarachan, last seen at the recent U.S. Men's National Team camp in Carson was appointed scouting manager for U.S. Soccer’s Development Academy. One of two scouts just hired: former MLS striker Raul Diaz Arce.

The always suspect FIFA Rankings were released today. Here are the rankings for CONCACAF. Looking forward to those CONCACAF Champions League games involving clubs from Belize?

Finally, because sheer stupidity is always worth blogging about, there's this. Ditch the names maybe?

Posted by Nick Green at 11:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Supplemental Draft

The Galaxy's moves today from the team's (edited) press release:

The LA Galaxy made four selections in this afternoon’s 2008 MLS Supplemental Draft, selecting a pair of defenders, as well as a goalkeeper and a midfielder in the four round draft. These four selections, as well as the six players drafted by the Galaxy in last week’s MLS SuperDraft are scheduled to arrive at The Home Depot Center early next month when the club begins preseason training for the 2008 campaign

In the first round of the Supplemental Draft, the Galaxy selected defender Michael Gavin from Portland with the fourth overall pick. A four-year starter for the Pilots, Gavin appeared in 76 games during his four years in Portland, tallying four goals with two of them being game winners while helping his team reach the NCAA Tournament twice.

The Galaxy used their second round pick (16th overall) to select 2007 Big West Goalkeeper of the Year, Charles Alamo, from University of California–Riverside. A four-year starter for the Highlanders, Alamo had six shutouts as a senior and finished his college career with more than 300 saves.

One round later, the Galaxy took UCLA defender Greg Folk with the 32nd overall selection. An honorable mention All-Pac-10 defender as a senior in 2007, the former captain of the U.S. Under-18 National Team started 64 of his 72 career games with the Bruins, including the 2006 College Cup Final.

With their final pick of the Supplemental Draft, the Galaxy selected midfielder Daniel De Geer from the University of San Francisco. De Geer scored a career-high two goals as a senior and played 44 career games for USF where he was a teammate of Brandon McDonald, who LA drafted in the fourth round of the MLS SuperDraft.

Chivas USA picked: San Diego State University forward Kraig Chiles, UC-Berkeley midfielder Javier Ayala-Hill, North Carolina State midfielder El Hadj-Cisse and UNC defender Andre Sherard .

UCLA defender Brandon Owens was selected by D.C. United. The (edited) UCLA press release:

Owens, who was chosen as the 10th pick in the first round, was a starter on three Pac-10 Championship squads. Owens was team captain for the U.S. Under-17 National Team at the 2003 World Youth Championships and has 36 career caps with the U-17s and U-20s.

Bob's (and Pete's) Boys

Local participants in camp include Galaxy goalkeeper Steve Cronin (0 caps/0 goals), Landon Donovan (97/35) and soon-to-be-ex-Chivas USA goalkeeper Brad Guzan (5/0).

Coach Peter Nowak's picks included UCLA products Kamani Hill (Vfl Wolfsburg), Patrick Ianni (Houston Dynamo), Chance Myers (Kansas City Wizards) and Chad Barrett (Chicago Fire).
Also in camp: Mike Randolph (Galaxy) and Rolling Hills Estates' Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew).

Chivas USA-Columbus Crew in Santa Clarita

London-Bound

Best Vets

It's disgraceful that former LA Aztec (and Hermosa Beach bar owner) George Best is still not a member.

Your vote doesn't count, but presumbably you can send a message here.

Posted by Nick Green at 11:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Goes the old British soccer saying. And in blogging.

Here's a quick recap of the last week while 100 Percent Soccer was 100 Percent Frozen in the white wilds of Canada.

With the Galaxy set to reintroduce Carlos Ruiz to the local media today, reports out of Newcastle, England suggest the Magpies' former Nigerian left back Celestene Babayaro is apparently heading to the Galaxy to link up with his former Chelsea manager Ruud Gullit, according to reports out of Newcastle and confirmed by Galaxy beat reporter Billy Witz.

Chris Albright sounded none too pleased with the Galaxy's devious move that ended with him heading to New England on draft day telling goal.com:

They could have dealt my rights [before they re-signed me]. They negotiated an offer with me to help them on their cap. It’s a bit of a slap in the face. I felt that I’d done enough to deserve that consideration.”

Read the entire interview here.

So with left back Ante Jazic out injured (again) and right back Albright traded it looks like two new outside defenders for the Galaxy next season then?

A recap of the UCLA contribution to the MLS draft is here.

Meanwhile, Chivas USA continued its policy of picking up journeymen MLS pros by picking up Chicago's Jim Curtin.

Kudos to Torrance's Shannon Boxx for her role in leading the U.S. to a win in the Four Nations Tournament.

Dumb ass quote of the (last) week goes to Carson Mayor Jim Dear who told the LA Weekly as he talked about the 2003 Women's World Cup held in part at Home Depot Center: "You remember the woman who took her blouse off (during the games)? She did that in Carson."

Um, that would be Brandi Chastain. In 1999. In Pasadena.

Doh!

Hawthorne-based AYSO has folowed the Galaxy's lead and signed a sponsorship deal with Herbalife, which has a significant presence in the South Bay. The clue as to why the deal was done is at the bottom of the (edited) press release:

The American Youth Soccer Organization and Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF), a global nutrition and direct selling company, announced a first-ever four-year agreement that makes Herbalife the Official Nutrition Advisor and Official Health and Wellness Provider of the country’s leading youth soccer organization.

Similar to Herbalife’s agreement with the Los Angeles Galaxy Major League Soccer club, the AYSO sponsorship gives Herbalife the rights to display its name and logo on the front of AYSO jerseys, a first for the non-profit national organization. The agreement also includes Herbalife’s presence on the AYSO Web site, signage at games, an on-site presence at national and sectional events, and a nutrition column in Play Soccer, AYSO’s online publication.

“With child obesity on the rise, it is imperative to educate children and their parents about proper nutrition and how to have a healthy, active lifestyle,” said Herbalife Chairman and CEO Michael O. Johnson. “Herbalife is on a mission for nutrition, while AYSO provides children, adolescents and teens an outlet to be active.”

“It’s a natural fit as our two organizations are engaged in improving the health of today’s youth,” said AYSO National President Mike Wade. The AYSO National Board of Directors unanimously approved the agreement. “We’re excited about our partnership with Herbalife and the role we’ll play together to reach out to kids and help educate them and their parents about the importance of healthy choices.”

The AYSO was started in Los Angeles in 1964 with nine teams. Today, the organization has more than 80,000 teams, in 1100 regions serving approximately one million kids located across the U.S. Its activities are based upon its five philosophies: Everyone Plays, Balanced Teams, Open Registration, Positive Coaching, and Good Sportsmanship.

According to the United States Department of Health & Human Services, “Childhood obesity has nearly tripled for adolescents in the past two decades The U.S. government agency points to lack of physical activity, unhealthy eating patterns or a combination of the two as the leading factors in the rise of these frightening statistics.

In July 2006, Herbalife announced the launch of the Herbalife Kids™ line of nutrition products that includes shakes and multivitamins with protein, fiber, and 100 percent of key nutrients kids need daily.

Lastly, UNICEF ambassador David Beckham made a three-day trip to Sierra Leone that ended Sunday:

Posted by Nick Green at 9:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

MLS hopefuls have begun gathering in Florida for the MLS Combine, which features more than 60 players, including a trio from South America. The combine, which runs through Tuesday, precedes the Superdraft scheduled for a week from today.

Nine of the most promising attendees have already signed MLS contracts as part of the Generation adidas program, which usually identifies the top draft prospects.

They include Bruins defender Chance Meyers of Thousand Oaks and UCLA midfielder Tony Beltran of Claremont.

More details from the (edited) MLS press release:

Highlighting this year’s class are seven players that have experience with the U.S. Youth National Teams and a finalist for this year’s MAC Hermann Trophy, college soccer’s version of the Heisman Trophy. Six of the nine players are leaving college early to enter the MLS SuperDraft - Eric Avila (UC Santa Barbara), Tony Beltran (UCLA), Chance Myers (UCLA), Patrick Nyarko (Virginia Tech), Ciaran O’Brien (UC Santa Barbara) and Rob Valentino (Univ. of South Florida). Three players – Josh Lambo (Chicago Magic FC), Alex Nimo (FC Portland) and Brek Shea (Texans FC) – are high school students who are foregoing their college eligibility to sign professional contracts.

Avila and Myers are currently training with the U.S. Men’s U-23 National Team while they prepare for Olympic Qualifying to begin in March. Beltran was a member of the U-20 Men’s National Team that advanced to the quarterfinals of last year’s FIFA U-20 World Cup in Canada.

Lambo, Nimo and Shea were members of the U-17 World Cup Team that competed in last year’s Youth World Championship in Korea.

Nyarko, a forward from Virginia Tech, led the Hokies to their first ever NCAA Final Four appearance in 2007 where they fell to eventual NCAA Champion Wake Forest. He recorded seven goals and 10 assists during the season, was named to the 2007 NSCAA/adidas NCAA Men’s Division I All-America Team and is a finalist for the Mac Hermann Trophy, honoring the country’s top Division I collegiate soccer player. The award will be announced today.

OC resident Jurgen Klinsmann has taken the coaching job with German powerhouse
Bayern Munich.

A capacity crowd is expected in Carson Saturday for the InterLiga finals:

The first match begins at 6:00 p.m. and features InterLiga newcomer San Luis versus Guadalajara-based club Atlas, followed by the match-up between Mexico City rivals América and Cruz Azul beginning at 8:30 p.m.

Call 1-877-CHIVAS-1 for tickets.

The Galaxy have announced they will hold open tryouts Feb. 9-12 at Home Depot Center. Registration forms will soon be available at lagalaxy.com.

Kids should stick with a Galaxy-sponsored indoor tournament set for Feb. 16-17 at the Home Depot Center velodrome. There are six age groups for boys ranging from Under-8 to Under-13 (girls can play on the teams, too). Register here.

Posted by Nick Green at 8:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Mia Hamm appears today at Cal South's Soccer Nation Expo in part to promote her upcoming Jan. 26 charity game at Home Depot Center.

More on Mia and motherhood is here.

Prep action from the Daily Breeze is here.

Posted by Nick Green at 9:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

An estimated 30,000 fans are expected to shrug off the predicted rain and attend Cal South's Soccer Nation Expo Saturday and Sunday at the LA Convention Center.

More than 125 exhibitors, appearances by the likes of retired U.S. star Mia Hamm and coaching demonstrations by Chivas USA Coach Preki, members of the coaching staff of Club America and others are among the highlights.

Hours are 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday and 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Sunday. Admission is free; parking is $12.

For more details, visit the Soccer Nation Expo Web site.

The Galaxy's David Beckham, meanwhile, has begun training in England with Arsenal.

Two games, one goal, just 9,354 fans and a chilly temperature of around 40 degrees summed up the second night of InterLiga in Houston. The tournament heads to Home Depot Center next week.

Lastly, prep coverage from the Daily Breeze is here and from the Daily News here.

Posted by Nick Green at 8:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I Want To Go To Rehab, Yes, Yes, Yes

The mini-camp, essentially a get acquainted session, ends Wednesday for the 16 players on the World Cup squad and handful of collegians taking part.

The camp was hastily convened so nothing should be read into the absences of the likes of Kristine Lilly, although the veteran striker is still deciding whether to keep playing until the Olympics or retire.

Hopefully, we'll have some pictures from camp later today, but you can read all about it here.

A couple of things left out of the column for space reasons: Markgraf especially sounded pleased to be reunited with her former WUSA coach who has more creative and attacking expectations than former Coach Greg Ryan did.

"I shoot more with Pia than I ever did with Greg," Markgraf said after Monday's practice. "She emphasizes making the right decision. That's what soccer is all about."

There was no major team meeting to discuss goalkeeper Hope Solo's outburst, although Sundhage referred obliquely to the melt down.

"I have addressed the fact that the U.S. Women's National Team is a team with different individuals, but no one player is bigger than the team," she said.

Sundhage said this team has the capability to do for the attacking game in women's soccer what the Germans did for defense: take the offense to a dominating, withering next level.

Striker Abby Wambach is certainly looking to receive more support up front.

"You're going to see players play differently than they've ever played," she said. "It will be a lot more entertaining to watch and a lot more fun to play."

Meanwhile, Markgraf acknowledges this is a team whose PR image also needs a bit of rehab.

"I'm just happy people are still watching us and hopefully we can win them back," she said.

Mia Hamm to Play at the HDC

The celebrity challenge game includes Landon Donovan, Cobi Jones, Julie Foudy, Brad Guzan, Brandi Chastain and others.

More details are here and on MySpace.

Also, Hamm will appear from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Jan. 5 at the upcoming Cal South Soccer Nation Expo at the LA Convention Center.

From the (edited) press release:

Hamm will have two appearances on the Expo’s central pitch. One will be a 15-minute question-and-answer session, answering questions submitted by Soccer Nation Expo attendees. In the second, Hamm will participate in a 4-on-4 kids game as “Kingman,” in which she will switch sides with each possession. When not on the pitch, Hamm will be available to sign autographs and meet and greet Soccer Nation Expo attendees at the Nike exhibition booth.

During both pitch times, Hamm will promote the Mia Hamm & Nomar Garciaparra Celebrity Soccer Challenge, January 26, 2008 at the Home Depot Center, an event that benefits Childrens Hospital Los Angeles bone marrow patients and their families. A bone marrow typing demonstration will be part of this segment. Bone marrow typing is used to find possible matches for patients needing marrow transplants. Representatives from the National Bone Marrow Donor Program at the City of Hope will be at the Expo to type attendees interested in becoming part of the program.

More details are here.

Prep Previews

High school soccer is gearing up and here are previews from the Pioneer League and Marine League.

A Bay League preview is here.

Prep scores from the South Bay are here and from the Long Beach Press-Telegram here.

Finally, the Daily News checks in with news from a tournament in La Canada Flintridge.

Posted by Nick Green at 8:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Semifinal Shootout in Texas

I linked to the Daily Bruin and Daily Trojan previews of today's semifinal between the two schools Thursday; here's the Daily News' version.

There's more info here.

Sophomore USC starting goalkeeper Kristin Olsen of Orange has recorded 11 solo shutouts and three shared this season, equaling last year's program record program of 14 for the Trojans.

Here's a Q & A with Olsen.

For those of you playing hooky from work on a gray and rainy Friday in LA, the USC-UCLA semi begins at 4 p.m. on ESPNU (and will be replayed at 9 a.m. Saturday on ESPN2); the Notre Dame-Florida State semi precedes it at 2 p.m., also on ESPNU.

The weather is better in Texas.

Youth is Served II

Midfielder Carlos Martinez of Las Vegas and Stefan Jerome scored for the U.S.

The U.S. next faces Brazil at 11:30 a.m. Saturday live on Fox Soccer Channel.

Back in the South Bay, Red Bull starlet Jozy Altidore blogs for the New York Times about the U-23 USMNT Training Camp in Carson.

South Bay prep scores are here.

Solo Speaks

I plan to head out to training camp Monday, so look for more on the team's first training camp under new Coach Pia Sundhage then.

Posted by Nick Green at 9:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

MLS Melodrama: Playoff Formats

No, I don't mean that the first MLS playoff series of the opening round between D.C. United and the Chicago Fire concludes at 4:30 p.m. today on ESPN2, although there's that, too. (The Fire leads 1-0 in the total goals two-game series, by the way).

I meant that as predicted here with lower seeds holding 1-0 leads in three of the four series over opponents who finished higher in the regular season standings (as United did over the Fire), cue the annual angst over the MLS playoff format.

The New York Times weighs in here, while Yahoo's Martin Rogers has his say here.

Sorry, NYT but one table is never going to work in MLS because 13 teams is too many already (and MLS, of course, wants to add more franchises) to create meaningful games for those occupying the bottom rungs of the table. (At least until we have more than one division with tense relegation battles).

Meanwhile, Rogers' solution is novel, but will never happen (try explaining that one even to soccer fans).

As I have opined before, there are simpler solutions.

Break the long season into two with an Apertura and Clausura, as occurs in many Latin American countries, which also has the added benefit of giving a sense of familiarity to the season to those Mexican-Americans the league covets.

The two winners of the pair of shortened 15 to 16 game seasons meet at the MLS Cup to decide the grand champion. No playoff games, which are often more poorly attended than regular season games anyway because of the lack of time needed to promote them, should be held at all.

If not having playoffs is unAmerican then have the top two teams (or top four if you must) in each season playoff for the "title." That format reduces the likelihood of upsets and gives more consistent teams more opportunities to advance to MLS Cup (you would of course eliminate the Apertura winner from the second season playoffs).

It's a topic MLS has long wrestled with. Alternate ideas welcomed.

The Next U.S. Women's National Team Coach?

With his wife, former national team star Carin Gabarra (Jennings) coming from the area, there was an element of truth to that one (as there is to any good rumor).

The only problem: U.S. Soccer hasn't even conducted any job interviews yet.

Which leaves us free to continue to speculate over potential candidates.

The Daily Bruin talks up Jill Ellis, coach of top-ranked UCLA.

UCLA (12-1-2; 5-0 Pac-10), which has yet to concede a goal in five Pac-10 games so far, can all but wrap up the conference title this weekend with a pair of home games at Drake Stadium.

UCLA plays at 7 p.m. Friday against Arizona State (9-7-1; 3-2-1 Pac-10) and 1 p.m. Sunday against Arizona (1-4-1; 6-10-1 Pac-10).

Matador Update

Youth Soccer

From the press release:

The new position will head the US Youth Soccer Technical and Coaching Education Department and will be responsible for designing and systematically implementing player development and coaching education programs to improve the overall standard of play within the United States.

Ellinger will be responsible for all aspects of the association's coaching initiatives, including a renewed focus on player development with consistent themes and coaching education.

Before joining MLS, Ellinger was coach of the U.S. Under-17 Men's National Team for seven years.

Finally, the two Chivas USA players Coach Thomas Rongen took to the Limoges Tournament in France where the U.S. Men's Under-18 National Team is playing saw limited action Tuesday in the opening game against host France.

Forward Mario Ledezma of Sylmar played the final seven minutes in the 3-1 loss; defender Omar Elmasri of Arcadia never made it off the bench.

Posted by Nick Green at 9:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As many expected it would after the conclusion of the three-match post-World Cup series between the U.S. and Mexico, the ax fell Monday on Women's National Team Coach Greg Ryan.

On a personal and professional level, I enjoyed dealing with the soft-spoken Ryan.

He was always accommodating and happy to give reporters the time they needed.

That was the case again Monday when Ryan returned my phone calls so I could include comments from him in today's column, while Torrance's Shannon Boxx also took the time to give her reaction. Read it here.

And Daily Breeze columnist John Bogert received a flood of e-mails from readers happy to see him call out a boorish AYSO parent in his column last week.

Here's the reader reaction.

Finally this morning, after the Galaxy season ended Sunday, the team wasted no time in rescheduling exhibition games in Vancouver, B.C. Nov. 7 and Minneapolis Nov. 11.

That's two games in five days for Beck's. Hope the ankle holds up.

Posted by Nick Green at 8:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Daily Breeze columnist John Bogert would concede he's no soccer expert, but he knows a jerk when he sees one.

Bogie outs one of those annoying overly-involved parents living vicariously through their soccer-playing kids in his column that ran today. Specimens like that are one of the reasons AYSO sometimes has difficulty finding refs, coaches and other volunteers.

If you prefer, you can download the column as a podcast here.

Posted by Nick Green at 1:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)