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The 2008 MLS season is coming to a close. On Thursday, Columbus advanced to the MLS Cup Final for the first time in franchise history with a 2 - 1 victory over Chicago. Columbus' opponent for the MLS Cup Final to be played at the Home Depot Center on November 23rd will be determined tonight when Real Salt Lake and New York face off.
Despite missing out on an opportunity to play for the league title in front of their home crowd, Chivas USA and the Galaxy also made a number of headlines in these closing days.
To begin with, Chivas USA's midfielder Jorge Flores was called up to the U.S. U-20 National Team training camp by head coach Thomas Rongen. An Anaheim native, the 19 year old Flores joined Chivas USA in 2007 after winning the Sueño MLS competition. The energetic midfielder played for the red-and-whites on 11 occasions this season, starting 6 times and registering 3 goals.
Joining Flores is the Galaxy's Tristan Bowen. Bowen, a 17 year old Van Nuys native, was recently signed to the blue-and-gold's developmental roster after having worked his way through the Galaxy's junior ranks. Both will be with the U.S. U-20s through November 23rd while they visit Madrid, Spain. During their stay, they will face youth teams from the ranks of Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid and Rayo Vallecano.
At the senior level, U.S. National Team head coach Bob Bradley called up Chivas USA defender Jonathan Bornstein and midfielder Sacha Kljestan into training camp in Denver running through today. The team is preparing for their World Cup Qualifier against Guatemala to be played at Dick's Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colorado on November 19th.
The full squad called into camp is as follows:
GOALKEEPERS (3): Brian Edwards (Toronto FC), Troy Perkins (Valerenga IF), Matt Pickens (out of contract)
DEFENDERS (6): Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA), Sean Franklin (Los Angeles Galaxy), Cory Gibbs (Colorado Rapids), Clarence Goodson (IK Start), Drew Moor (FC Dallas), Michael Parkhurst (New England Revolution)
MIDFIELDERS (5): Colin Clark (Colorado Rapids), Ricardo Clark (Houston Dynamo), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Nick LaBrocca (Colorado Rapids), Pablo Mastroeni (Colorado Rapids)
FORWARDS (5): Davy Arnaud (Kansas City Wizards), Chad Barrett (Toronto FC), Conor Casey (Colorado Rapids), Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo), Kenny Cooper (FC Dallas)
Galaxy defender Sean Franklin was the recipient of a double dose of good news this week. As noted in the training roster above, Bradley included the rookie sensation in his list of players for this week's training camp. The call up marks the first time in Franklin's career that he participates with the senior U.S. National Team. Later in the week, he received another bit of good news as MLS announced that Franklin had won the Rookie of the Year honors. Franklin becomes the first Galaxy player to receive the award.
Noticeably absent from the training roster is Galaxy forward Landon Donovan. Donovan left for Germany mid-week on a 10-day training stint with Bundelisga powerhouse Bayern Munich. This might be Donovan's final and best chance to make a move to Europe. Should Bayern decide to sign Donovan, Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena will have some serious work to do in the offseason addressing the team's other pressing needs and finding Donovan's replacement.
In other Donovan news, he was named winner of the 2008 Honda Player of the Year award. The award is given to the year's best U.S. National Team player and Donovan beat out Tim Howard and Clint Dempsey for the honors this year. This marks a record fifth occasion on which he has won the award.
Other random notes...
- Chivas USA's Sasha Victorine underwent surgery on his left knee earlier in the week and will be sidelined for 6 - 8 months.
- Chivas USA head coach Preki joins former Galaxy teammates Mauricio Cienfuegos and Robin Fraser on this year's Hall of Fame ballot.
- Chivas USA's Sacha Kljestan was awarded the team's MVP and Golden Boot honors, while Paulo Nagamura took home the team's Defender of the Year award.
- Landon Donovan mirrored Kljestan's feat for the Galaxy, capturing the team's MVP and Golden Boot honors, and rookie Sean Franklin won Defender of the Year.
- Galaxy defender Scott Bolkan has decided to retire from professional soccer. Bolkan was signed earlier in the year and spent time on loan with the Portland Timbers before rejoining the Galaxy later in the year. He did not see any action with the first team but participated in some reserve games. The reasons for his retirement were not disclosed, but salary considerations are likely to have figured heavily.
- Lastly, SI.com is reporting on a previously undisclosed clause in David Beckham's contract that allows him to walk away from MLS after the 2009 season, no strings attached. The terms of the contract, as presented in the article, appear to be another example of Beckham having an exaggerated amount of influence over MLS and the Galaxy. As has been stated before, a player having that much influence is never a good thing, regardless of the player. Never a dull day when Beckham is around.
Photo by filmerp via LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr
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