NPR is in the building this evening preparing a story on Jorge Flores and tabbed your truly for a quick interview, so I'm a little late with the lineups.

The night's important numbers: the Wizards have won just once on the road this season and and Colorado's 5-4 win over the Red Bulls earlier today means Chivas USA is third in the table and seven points behind Western Conference leaders Houston, which drew 1-1 with Toronto.

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Okay, I'm here at Home Depot Center for the Chivas USA-Tauro FC match and I feel like I'm in an empty stadium. Well, actually, it pretty much is an empty stadium. With classes back in session at Cal State Dominguez Hills, the attendance has been capped at 2,000.

As a colleague told me, some prestigious tournament. Click to continue reading...

This is more dinner party than soccer game. There's so few people here, you get the feeling people should introduce themselves to each other.

Attendance tonight has been capped at all of 2,000 - not that there are dozens, yet alone hundreds clamoring to get in, you understand. (The reason: something about lots of parking complaints at the sold-out Galaxy-Pachuca SuperLiga final).

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I wrote a story on Jorge Flores for both espn.com and Futbol Mundial. As one can see, Flores make the cover of F.M. I used different quotes for each article, and there's one by Claudio Suarez in the F.M. article that is very prophetic. He talks about how young players can burst on the scene and make an impact because they're somewhat overlooked. Click to continue reading...

With our Chivas USA beat writer out with pneumonia (it seems sort of fitting given the team's list of casualties) this was the preview in today's print edition (in its entirety):

San Jose (5-9-6) at Chivas USA (6-9-5)

*WHEN - 7:30 p.m.
*WHERE - Home Depot Center
*RADIO - 690 AM
*OUTLOOK - The teams are separated by just two points at the bottom of the Western Conference.

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ChivaGirls ready to suit up against Houston Dynamo if needed!

Chivas USA take on the Dynamo Wednesday night. Well, half of the Chivas USA will take on the Dynamo while the other half remain on the injury list. Lets do the math.

28 Full squad
-11 Injured
-1 International Duty
_____
16

Sixteen players are healthy and available for the matchup.

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First off, the U.S. Women defeated Japan 1-0 overnight at the Olympics.

USC's Amy Rodriguez got her surprise first start of the Olympics over Natasha Kai. Here's Coach Pia Sundhage on why she made the move:

"The reason for A-Rod instead of Kai was her speed. That was crucial when we looked at the way Japan plays.

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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.

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All sorts of changes tonight for Chivas USA including Dan Kennedy in goal, Claudio Suarez on the bench, Mexican Roberto Nurse making his debut up front and young Kraig Chiles getting a rare start (likely as a withdrawn forward).

The Chivas USA lineup: Kennedy, Jim Curtin, Carey Talley, Shavar Thomas, Jonathan Bornstein, Francisco Mendoza, Sacha Kljestan, Paulo Nagamura, Chiles, Nurse and Atiba Harris.

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Chivas USA plays its first ever competitive international game tonight against SuperLiga and CONCACAF Champions Cup title holders Pachuca.

So it's a hell of a time for goalkeeper Lance Parker (Missouri State) to make his professional debut. Parker is favored over presumed starter Dan Kennedy with Brad Guzan headed to England's Aston Villa.

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Briefly:

*As expected, Chivas USA goalkeeper Brad Guzan seems finally on his way to Aston Villa.

*The mighty Galaxy reserves got their first victory today of the season, beating Chivas USA 5-3 on a brace apiece from Carlos Ruiz and Alan Gordon, while young Izzy Sesay got the final goal.

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Jack Bell at The New York Times has written a short story on Josh Wolff's return to MLS.

Here is the key quote: "There was nothing for me in Germany. At the end of the run, they [1860 Munich] weren't going to re-sign me. My wife is pregnant, and we weighed the options. Coming back made a little more sense . Click to continue reading...

Thursday's game against the LA Galaxy is just one of a string of big games Chivas USA will have in the coming days. On Sunday, Chivas USA will play Pachuca in the SuperLiga opener for both teams. Then, Santos will visit on Wednesday followed by a match against New England on July 20.

That's four games in 11 days. Click to continue reading...

Chivas USA midfielder Jorge Flores is not expected to play against the Galaxy on Thursday after he suffered a sprained right ankle during training on Monday.

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The U-20 U.S. team takes on Mexico in Texas on the 11th. Jorge Flores is going to be part of that clasico, and apparently not the LA derby one. Fifteen other players were also named to coach Thomas Rongen's roster.


GOALKEEPERS (2): Josh Lambo (FC Dallas), Brian Perk (UCLA)
DEFENDERS (4): Richard Balchan (Indiana), Ike Opara (Wake Forest), Zarek Valentin (Lancaster, Pa. Click to continue reading...

Let's deal with the "more" in the headline first for a change.

The U.S. Women's National Team game in Sweden kicked off at 9 a.m. Details and MatchTracker here.

More more later, if you catch my drift.

Back to regular programming.

Chivas USA (5-6-3) and (3-8-3) San Jose face off at 7:30 tonight at Home Depot Center in the second soccer game (and second fireworks display) of the weekend.

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*The U.S. Women's National Team is playing Norway right now. The truly fanatical can follow along on MatchTracker here.

*The Revolution plays the Galaxy Friday marking the first time former Los Angeles defender Chris Albright has played his old team since his trade to New England.

"I was kind of hurt by it.

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Chivas USA:
*Lost yet again Tuesday in the U.S. Open Cup (and for the second successive year) against the USL Seattle Sounders, falling 2-0 in the Pacific Northwest.

*Had the experienced likes of Claudio Suárez, Jesse Marsch, Carey Talley and Francisco Mendoza on the bench. Striker Ante Razov and defender Bobby Burling (Loyola Marymount) remained in Southern California after picking up minor knocks over the weekend.

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It's the ( 5-4-4) Red Bulls against (5-6-2) Chivas USA on a lovely night for soccer at Victoria Street.

Chivas USA Coach Preki has named a 3-4-3 formation, although indications are we'll see a 4-4-2 with Jonathan Bornstein (who is listed as a forward) actually playing at left back.

Brad Guzan is in goal as usual, while Jim Curtin is presumably drafted into the middle of defense alongside Claudio Suarez, leaving Bobby Burling at right back.

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Nothing like a healthy hatred for Cuauhtemoc Blanco to bring out the Chivas USA fans.

A crowd in the low 20,000 range is expected tonight, which would be the biggest crowd for Chivas USA so far this year.

Brad Guzan has returned in goal for Chivas USA (4-6-2) from international duty, relegating backup Dan Kennedy to the bench.

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Our long-running series on player development in the USA continues with the unlikely story of Jorge Flores. He is the 18-year-old Mexican-American who won Univision's "American Idol"-like tryout "Sueño MLS."

As The New York Times writes, Flores "was the most valuable player for his team at Anaheim High and played for a club team in nearby Santa Ana. Click to continue reading...

An inexperienced goalkeeper, missing bodies that finally caught up with the team and players who weren't on form collectively contributed to the first-ever Chivas USA loss to Real Salt Lake in Carson.

"I don't think we were sharp, we had quite a few guys that weren't sharp and I didn't think the commitment was good from the get-go," said Preki, adding that's why he hauled off Jonathan Bornstein and Atiba Harris at half time.

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A curious line-up this evening for Chivas USA Coach Preki.

Dan Kennedy makes his MLS debut in goal, while Sacha Kljestan also starts.

Does that mean Brad Guzan starts in goal Sunday for the U.S. against Barbados instead of Tim Howard? Does it also mean Kljestan won't even dress tomorrow for the World Cup qualifier?

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Happy Friday to one and all, I figured I would get a few news tidbits out of the way before I hammered out those weekend previews/predictions. I'm glad its the end of the week and that there is plenty of soccer to be viewed starting tonight in Boston with New England and Dallas (followed by [...] Click to continue reading...

I will be honest, after reviewing some tapes and games from this weekend I had some trouble deciding who exactly had the best week or the one that stood out the most to me. Guys like Christian Gomez, Dwayne De Rosario, Brian Ching, Dominic Oduro, and Robbie Findley all had nice weeks but none really stood [. Click to continue reading...

With the Rapids loss to Chivas USA at Dicks Sporting Goods Park, they have yet to win 2 games in a row in 2008. At least in 2007 they pulled off a couple of winning streaks. One was 3 games and the other was 2 games. Not much to brag about? Yep. But so far 2008 hasn't been much better.

This loss really gets my goat.

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