Game story.

Highlights:

Also:
* The latest Galaxy trialist

*The Revolution announced Thursday that more than 25,000 tickets have been sold for the Aug. 30 game against the Galaxy.

*Former Galaxy defender Nate Sturgis pulled a hamstring and is out of the Olympic squad. Dax McCarty of FC Dallas replaces him,.

Here's one response to my column today on David Beckham.

''Funny thing about American sports heroes, they have to perform to earn/retain their status. What has this over-hyped boy done except bundle away a lot of foolishly spent cash?''

The MLS All-Star Game airs live at 4 p.m. on ESPN from Toronto where the inaugural visit of David Beckham is naturally the big story (the natives have missed out on seeing Golden Balls twice before).

Our own Scott Wolf though is singularly unimpressed with Becks' effect on the sport so far.

EPL team West Ham United provides the opposition with a roster that includes England striker Dean Ashton and former Arsenal midfielder Freddie Ljungberg.

How good is Ashton? Check out his goal against Manchester United last season.

Meanwhile, blog Soccer By Ives provides the rumor of the day with the word that Norwegian club Rosenberg have bid $1 million for Galaxy striker Edson Buddle (although Buddle knew nothing about it). Landon Donovan also reacted to those rumors that have him more interested than ever in a return to Europe by saying, well, exactly what he's always said: that he's open to the idea and no move is imminent.

And while we're talking trades it looks like soon-to-be former Chivas USA goalkeeper Brad Guzan will have a more experienced American in front of him in the pecking order as expected.

Lastly, blogger Dan Loney picks up on my criticism of the game Tuesday and provides his own view.

While speculation continues over the Galaxy's reported interest in former EPL star Nolberto Solano (see previous post), another rumor has resurfaced: the future of Landon Donovan.

The source of this one was two-fold.

Donovan was quoted by England's Sky Sports as saying:

"The older I get and the more I play, the more I'm yearning for that highest level I can play at. I think the Premiership would be the best place to play.''

The Web site Yanks Abroad further stirred the pot when it quoted Donovan's agent Richard Motzkin as saying "sure," Donovan would consider a move overseas by Aug. 31, providing an actual date that lends a sense of urgency to the story.

A couple of observations.

First that quote by Donovan is not new. I've heard him say pretty much the same thing annually since he returned from his aborted stint in Germany.

Donovan loves Southern California. Still, if any club outside Germany dangled a big enough contract at him (his MLS paycheck is relatively modest by EPL standards) you can bet he would consider it.

The second report is more notable for what it doesn't say than what it says. The Yanks Abroad report is technically correct, but they didn't need to run to Motzkin to get the Aug. 31 date.

Why?

That's when the European transfer window closes so Donovan would have to get traded by then or wait until the New Year.

So where does that leave us (and Donovan)?

Probably in exactly the same place as last week. Or last month. Or last year.

And remember, if MLS sold Jozy Altidore for $10 million as rumored, how much would they demand for Donovan?

That said Donovan will certainly be in the shop window at Thursday's MLS All-Star Game (live at 4 p.m. on ESPN).

ESPN observed today that:

"ESPN International will provide live coverage of the match in 87 countries and territories reaching more than 17 million television homes. Tape-delayed presentation of the 2008 Pepsi MLS All-Star Game will also be distributed in 19 countries and territories reaching over 22 million homes.

While we're talking numbers, the one-year anniversary of David Beckham's arrival in the U.S. has prompted a small tsunami of stories summing up his effect on the game here.

Perhaps the best though is one the fewest number of people have seen because it appeared in the subscription-only trade magazine the SportsBusiness Journal.

So for those of you who haven't (and can't) see the story here are the salient stats from it:
*"Television viewership on ESPN2 rose 17 percent to an average of 289,000 viewers over 15 matches in 2008, compared with 246,000 viewers over 13 matches in 2007. Ratings remained flat at a 0.2 cable rating."

*To put that in context the magazine observed "ESPN2 drew stronger ratings for its (midday) Euro 2008 coverage. ... Those games averaged a 0.6 cable rating and 673,000 viewers."

*"Average attendance for MLS over the first half of the season -- which will be Beckham's first complete season with the league -- increased 8.8 percent to reach a 12-year high of 16,378."

(To put that in perspective, those figures are skewed because of the massive 40,000-plus crowds Beckham draws in places like New York.

*"Beckham's Galaxy led the league in average attendance with 22,586 fans through 10 home games at midseason this year. Only three other teams -- Real Salt Lake, Toronto FC and D.C. United -- averaged more than 15,000 fans a game."

Returning to the subject of the MLS All-Star Game, after an altercation between West Ham United and Columbus Crew fans at a recent friendly between the two teams authorities will closely monitor the contingent of English fans arriving in Canada for Thursday's game.

If you read my rant Tuesday on the All-Star game (be sure and check out the comments at the end of the piece) you know how feel about it. I'm not the only one who questions its value.

Rolling Hills Estates' Robbie Rogers didn't sound too broken up about missing the game. But then, he's going to the Olympics.

Finally, former Los Angeles Times Chivas USA beat writer Jaime Cárdenas has bid an eloquent farewell to the newspaper (and possibly sports journalism).

Soccer writer Scott Wolf expanded on his earlier post on this blog about the possibility of the Galaxy signing Nolberto Solano (but frankly, I like saying Nobby) with a story today in the newspaper.

I've always admired Peuervian Solano, a player with panache and verve, but let's hope if the Galaxy do sign him they have more success than they did with Portuguese Abel Xavier (so inept he was dumped even with a guaranteed contract) and Nigerian Celestine Babayaro (last seen trying out with EPL team Portsmouth) who was cut before the season even began.

Ex-EPL foreign stars just haven't turned out so well, have they?

While we're at it, what's with the Galaxy's lack of disclosure about Solano?

If they're thinking about signing him, why don't they just say "we hope to reach an agreement on personal terms." If not, say so. A "no comment," (which is what the Galaxy have said so far) essentially means "we're talking to him, we just don't want to tell you."

Silly, considering (and correct me if I'm wrong) Solano is a free agent anyway.

Are the Galaxy worried other MLS teams will figure out who they're talking to? Too late.

The lack of disclosure until every "i" is dotted and every "t" crossed is counter productive. Let's face it Galaxy, most sports fans don't care about you anyway. Throw a bone to those who do.

Updated: this video shows what Ruud Gullit (a former Newcastle United coach) likely sees in Solano -

NBC has unveiled what looks the most comprehensive Web site I've seen yet that covers the men's and women's soccer tournaments at next months Olympics.

Hey, you'd come with something like that as well if you'd invested jillions of dollars for the rights to the Olympics

Check it out here.

NBC has announced similarly comprehensive television coverage for soccer (although given the number of channels they're using the Web site is probably a must-have resource to figure out what's on where when):

NBC Universal will launch a channel exclusively dedicated to full coverage of Men's and Women's Soccer at the 2008 Olympic Games. A total of 32 Men's and 26 Women's Soccer Games will be shown in their entirety on the NBC Olympic Soccer Channel, in addition to coverage on USA Network, MSNBC and live streaming on NBCOlympics.com. The seven NBC Networks -- NBC, MSNBC, CNBC, USA, Oxygen, Telemundo and Universal HD -- will provide an unprecedented 3,600 hours of coverage, all in high definition. NBCOlympics.com will also provide over 3,000 hours of on-demand access to full event replays and extensive highlights. The NBC Olympic Soccer Channel is available on most major cable, satellite and telephone companies and distributors.

And, no, I'm not a fan.

*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.

Hermosa Beach resident Abby Wambach spoke to reporters today for the first time since breaking her leg in the final U.S. game before the Olympics July 16 against Brazil.

Here's what she said she thought about when the injury occurred:

"I realized in that moment and accepted in that moment that my Olympic dreams were not going to be what I had planned. I accepted the reality of this situation. This was a deep down acceptance of my reality. A lot of the times when you freak out about stuff is when you are more unsure of reality. It was an all encompassing moment. I wasn't freaked out."

Quotes from the whole interview are here.

Neither Galaxy GM Alexi Lalas nor Coach Ruud Gullit would comment today on reports the Galaxy are close to signing former Newcastle and Aston Villa midfielder Nolberto Solano.

Chivas USA plunged out of SuperLiga Sunday when Pachuca and Santos Laguna tied 1-1 in San Jose in the night's second game. Chivas USA needed Santos Laguna to beat Pachuca to stay alive in the competition.

It was difficult to conduct interviews with Chivas USA players after the 1-1 tie with the Revs simply because they couldn't really say much considering their future in the tournament was being decided hundreds of miles away as they spoke.

But here's Assistant Coach Mike Matkovich (subbing for Preki who is tending to a family emergency back home in Europe) on giving up the equalizer:

"Obviously we are disappointed. We're 12 minutes away (from winning), we lose a mark on a dead ball, we give up a soft goal. We've got a guy on the post and the goalkeeper gets his hands on it and then it squeaks in. ... I thought we were the better side, I thought we created better chances, no disrespect for them, but things didn't go our way today."

Jesse Marsch wasn't too happy about it either: "

That was a terrible goal to give up," he said "One of the worst goals we've given up in a really big game."

On the other hand:

"I think this was one of our best games of the year," (Gawd, I hope he's kidding because it wasn't pretty to watch). "If we played like that more often I feel like we can win a lot of games."

But not this one. Or SuperLiga.

A common complaint was the atrocious field, which was dry, had huge bare spots and generally looked like those Budweiser horses had been filming a few commercials on it lately. A Soccer United Marketing official observed the pitch was fine two months ago, but looked even worse two weeks ago than it did Sunday. He had no idea what happened in between.

"The field was terrible," said Revs goalkeeper Matt Reis. "We put a bid in to get (the game) and I don't know why we didn't. We may as well have played it in the parking lot."

New England Coach Steve Nicol agreed:

"To play a game like this on this field I think was a disgrace. ... There is no way you can play football on that field. It's meant to be a big tournament, an important tournament and there's no way it should have been played on this field."

Complete game story.

Highlights here.

A picture gallery of the action is here.

So the semifinals are set:
MLS champion Houston Dynamo hosts defending SuperLiga champion Pachuca at Robertson Stadium July 29.

The Revolution hosts Atlante at Gillette Stadium July 30.

If you're a Chivas USA fan, you're not pulling for Pachuca in the night's second SuperLiga game up in San Jose.

The 1-1 draw between the Revs and Chivas USA at Cal State Fullerton this evening means a Pachuca tie or win against Santos Laguna puts the Red and White out of the tournament.

Not the most scintillating game it must be said and for a while it looked like Ante Razov's sixth goal in six straight games in the 52nd minute would be the difference. Daniel Paladini had split the defense with a prescient through ball, Razov got on the end of it, shot straight at goalkeeper Matt Reis with his first shot, but scored with a second effort.

The Revs equalized in the 79th minute from a Steve Ralston corner kick, Shalrie Joseph getting the header in that beat goalkeeper Dan Kennedy and Daniel Paladini, who was standing on the line.

New England, by the way, are through to the next round.

Back later with post-game comments.

Horrible field (and you thought Home Depot Center was bad), horrible half.

It would be an understatement to say scoring chances were few and far between - they were virtually non-existent.

The best scoring chance came just before half time, Jesse Marsch blasting a shot from about 20 yards that required the hands of a diving Matt Reis to push around the post.

Apart from that Ante Razov had a shot that went wide, while Chris Albright sent a header wide at the other end.

Five changes to the Chivas USA starting lineup from the team that faced Santos Laguna Wednesday (or as one press box observer said, the A team is back).

Dan Kennedy is in goal, while Claudio Suarez and Bobby Burling return in central defense, Cary Talley is at right back and Pancho Mendoza at left back (although he and left half Jonathan Bornstein have been switching off in recent games and presumably could again).

Also in midfield: Sacha Kljestan, in what is his last start until he returns from the Olympics; while Dan Paladini gets a rare start (Paulo Nagamura is suspended) and Jesse Marsch returns.

Up front is Atiba Harris and Ante Razov.

Among the options on the bench: new Mexican striker Roberto Nurse (frankly awful against Santos Laguna) and Jorge Flores.

The Revs are without the injured Taylor Twellman, while Pat Phelan (concussion) and Mauricio Castro (groin strain) didn't make the trip either.

Former Galaxy goalkeeper Matt Reis is in goal, behind a back four of Chris Albright, Amaechi Igwe, Michael Parkhurst and Jay Heaps.

Midfield: Sainey Nyassi, Steve Ralston, Shalrie Joseph and Jeff Larentowicz.

Attackers: Kheli Dube and Kenny Mansally.

Looks to be a tiny crowd here at Titan Stadium in Fullerton for this one.

The game is on Telefutura.

Chivas USA is calling today's third and final SuperLiga group game against the New England Revolution the biggest in club history, which isn't saying much when the team is three years old, but sounds good, I guess. Tickets start at $15 for the 5 p.m. game (live on Telefutura) at Titan Stadium on the campus of Cal State Fullerton.

It's a Preki-less Chivas USA today.

How many permutations are there to think about when wondering who will advance from the group?

Too many.

Here's the short version from reporter Phil Collin:

None of the four teams in Group B has clinched a spot, and none have been eliminated. And how about this? Chivas can lose tomorrow and still advance. Don't ask.

Um, I won't.

Here's the long version from the SuperLiga Web site:
Group B Scenarios
Next Group Matches:
Chivas USA vs. NE Revolution
Santos vs. Pachuca CF (7 p.m. Pizza Hut Park - Frisco)

NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION (6 points, +2 goal differential)

• Revolution clinches 1st place with a win or tie.
• Revolution clinches 2nd place with a loss AND a Pachuca loss or tie.
• Revolution clinches 2nd place with a loss AND a Pachuca win IF Chivas USA wins the group in a three-way tiebreaker.
• Revolution is eliminated with a loss AND a Pachuca win IF Pachuca wins the group in a three-way tiebreaker.

Note: If New England wins or draws its last group game, it would host every match it plays moving forward as neither Houston nor D.C. United could obtain 7 or 9 points. See note below on Semifinals.

PACHUCA (3 points, even goal differential)

• Pachuca clinches 1st place with a win AND a Chivas USA win IF Pachuca wins the group in a three-way tiebreaker.
• Pachuca clinches 2nd place with a win or tie AND a Chivas USA loss or tie.
• Pachuca clinches 2nd place with a loss AND a Chivas USA loss IF both teams lose by one-goal margin and identical score lines.
• Pachuca clinches 2nd place with a loss AND a Chivas USA loss IF both teams lose by a one-goal margin with Pachuca scoring more goals than Chivas USA.
• Pachuca is eliminated with a loss AND a Chivas USA win or tie.
• Pachuca is eliminated with a loss AND a Chivas USA loss IF Pachuca loses by two goals or more.
• Pachuca is eliminated with a loss AND a Chivas USA loss IF Chivas USA loses by more goals than Pachuca.
• Pachuca is eliminated with a tie AND a Chivas USA win.
• Pachuca is eliminated with a win AND a Chivas USA win IF Chivas USA wins the group in a three-way tiebreaker.

CHIVAS USA (3 points, even goal differential)

• Chivas USA clinches 1st place with a win AND a Pachuca loss or tie.
• Chivas USA clinches 1st place with a win AND a Pachuca win IF Chivas USA wins the group in a three-way tiebreaker.
• Chivas USA clinches 2nd place with a win AND a Pachuca win IF Pachuca wins the group in a three-way tiebreaker.
• Chivas USA clinches 2nd place with a tie AND a Pachuca loss.
• Chivas USA is eliminated with a loss AND a Pachuca win or tie.
• Chivas USA is eliminated with a tie AND a Pachuca win or tie.
• Chivas USA is eliminated with a loss AND a Santos win IF Santos wins by two or more goals.
• Chivas USA is eliminated with a loss AND a Pachuca loss IF both results are identical and by a one-goal margin.
• Chivas USA is eliminated with a loss AND a Pachuca loss IF both teams lose are by a one-goal margin with Pachuca scoring more goals than Chivas USA.
• Chivas USA is eliminated with a loss AND a Pachuca loss IF Chivas USA loses by more goals than Pachuca.

SANTOS (0 points, -2 goal differential)

• Santos clinches 2nd place with a win AND a Chivas USA loss IF Santos wins by two or more goals.
• Santos clinch 2nd place with a win AND a Chivas USA loss IF Chivas USA finishes with the worst goal differential in three-way tie.
• Santos is eliminated with a loss or tie.
• Santos is eliminated with a win AND a Chivas USA tie or win.
• Santos is eliminated with a win AND a Chivas USA loss IF both results are by one-goal margins.

Jonathan Bornstein will play today, as Phil observes:

Jonathan Bornstein showed up as suspended for yellow card accumulation on some press release, but that was a mistake from the Chivas PR machine. Or, as Bornstein put it: "How can I be suspended when I didn't even get a yellow in the second game?" He's right, although the scoring summary on mlsnet.com lists Bornstein as being booked in the 88th minute vs. Santos. That card actually went to Bobby Burling. Bornstein did pick up a card against Pachuca.