Category: Soccer America Daily

The news regarding David Beckham is that there is no news, so the world can wait a little longer to learn if he will play Saturday against Chelsea, and MLS officials can savor a fourth straight victory by its all-stars against a foreign team. Colombians Juan Pablo Angel, who was named MVP, and Juan Toja scored excellent goals and Dwayne DeRosario dominated midfield as the MLS All-Stars beat Glasgow Celtic, 2-0, at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park. DeRosario put through Angel to evade Celtic FC keeper Artur Boruc, whose herioics kept the game close, and stroke his shot into an empty net. Toja pounced on a partially blocked free kick to fire past Boruc from close range.

MLS has created the Latin American Advisory Board (LAAB), which will look to disseminate targeted information as well as acting as a sounding board for the Latin American community. Upon receiving feedback, the board will advise MLS and its teams on the best practices in order to engage the Latin American public. Organized by World Cup veteran and current MLS Fan Development manager, Wilmer Cabrera, the LAAB is made up of key members of the Latin American community who live in the United States and are involved in soccer at a high level. For the list of LAAB members and bios …

More than a week prior to his arrival in Los Angeles, a source with ties to SUM said David Beckham won’t play against Chelsea Saturday and instead will debut for the Galaxy in the SuperLiga. Galaxy coach Frank Yallop says Beckham’s status is “day-to-day,” league and team officials have been noncommittal. But as of Wednesday night, the over-under on how many minutes Beckham will play Saturday is 10. He arrived in Los Angeles last Friday with a very tender left ankle and has trained only lightly with the Galaxy this week. He traveled here to Denver to make an appearance on the ESPN broadcast of the All-Star Game against Glasgow Celtic Thursday.

[TV PREVIEW] The MLS All-Stars, who in last year’s All-Star Game downed defending English Premier League Champion Chelsea, take on Scottish champion Glasgow Celtic Thursday night in Commerce City, Colo., (9 pm ET, live, ESPN2 & Galavision). Two other MLS All-Star Games have been against visiting clubs. The All-Stars defeated Fulham in 2005 and Chivas Guadalajara in 2003. MLS All-Star coach Steve Nicol has announced a starting 3-5-2 lineup of Matt Reis; Jimmy Conrad, Michael Parkhurst, Jonathan Bornstein; Ronnie O’Brien, Shalrie Joseph, Ricardo Clark, Dwayne De Rosario, Juan Toja, Eddie Johnson, Juan Pablo Angel. For the complete MLS All-Star roster …

Less than four months after holding a press conference at the Oakland Coliseum stating the Earthquakes could return as early as 2008, Oakland A’s co-owner Lewis Wolff and San Jose Earthquakes, LLC are gearing up for an April kickoff. The MLS Board of Governors voted Tuesday to approve a San Jose franchise. By purchasing an expansion option from MLS, Wolff had also acquired the logos, colors, etc. used by the Quakes before AEG moved the team to Houston after the 2005 season.

Just about a year ago, negotiations with San Jose State University, where the previous Quakes played, regarding a new on-campus facility broke down.

MLS has announced the creation of the Coaching Diversity Initiative, which requires the league’s teams to interview candidates of diverse backgrounds for any open technical staff position. Technical staff positions include head coach, assistant coaches, youth coaches and technical director. Currently, among the 13 teams in MLS, there are two minority head coaches — Colorado’s Fernando Clavijo and Chicago’s Juan Carlos Osorio — and nine minority assistant coaches. Not a single black coach has been among the more than 60 head-coach hirings since the league’s inauguration in 1996.

MLS’s Coaching Diversity Initiative resembles similar measures taken in recent years by Major League Baseball and the National Football League.

Northern California, which lost its MLS club to Houston after the 2005 season when the San Jose Earthquakes moved to Texas and became the Dynamo, will welcome back a reincarnation of the Earthquakes for the 2008 season, according to the San Jose Mercury. The Mercury and the San Francisco Chronicle reported that MLS Commissioner Don Garber will make an announcement in Wednesday’s state-of-the-league address in Denver (site of Thursday’s All-Star Game) that Oakland A’s owner and developer Lew Wolff has been awarded an expansion franchise. The new San Jose Earthquakes may  play in Bay Area venues outside San Jose while Wolff and his partners negotiate with the city of San Jose to build a new stadium.