Five things to look for around the world:
1_Kristine Lilly, the U.S. women’s national team midfielder who holds the world record for international appearances with 324, will fly to China on Wednesday to play for the FIFA Women’s World Stars against China on Saturday.
The game is one of the weekend events surrounding Sunday’s draw for the 2007 FIFA Women’s World Cup, to be played in September in China.
World champion Germany has been seeded at the top of Group A, based in Shanghai. Host China will head Group D in Wuhan, where Saturday’s game and Sunday’s draw will take place. The U.S., ranked No. 1 in the world, will head either Group B or Group C and will be based in either Chengdu or Hangzhou. Greg Ryan, the U.S. coach, will attend the draw ceremony with Lilly. Other teams in the tournament are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, England, Ghana, Japan, New Zealand, Nigeria, North Korea, Norway and Sweden.
2_David Beckham has not yet arrived in town but already the Galaxy has booked his first international friendly. The Galaxy confirmed Tuesday that the team will travel to British Columbia for an Oct. 3 game against the Vancouver Whitecaps at BC Place Stadium, with Beckham the featured attraction.
The match will be played on a Wednesday night, midway between road games at Columbus and Houston. The Whitecaps are the defending United Soccer Leagues first division champions.
3_Olympique Lyon, which has won the last five French league titles in a row, can clinch a sixth today if it defeats Stade Rennes.
Lyon is coached by Gerard Houllier, whose name has been mentioned as a possible U.S. national team coaching candidate, but Lyon’s chairman, Jean-Michael Aulas, said Houllier would not be leaving.
“He is staying. I don’t want you to let the smallest doubt hang over that question,” Aulas told L’Equipe.
4_The Red Bulls, in search of a striker since the end of the 2006 MLS season, Tuesday acquired Colombia’s Juan Pablo Angel from Aston Villa in the English Premier League.
Angel, 31, joined Villa from River Plate in Argentina for $18.9-million in 2001 and has since scored 62 goals in 205 games for the club. He recently lost his starting place, however, and said he was looking forward to the “new exciting challenge” of playing in MLS.
5_Despite persistent rumors linking former French star Zinedine Zidane with a move to the Galaxy, the MLS club Tuesday insisted that while it would be delighted to land the 1998 World Cup winner, such a move appears very unlikely.
Zidane retired after France’s loss to Italy in the final of last summer’s World Cup -- a match made famous by his head-butting Italian defender Marco Materazzi -- and he has rejected repeated overtures by AEG, which is said to have a standing offer for Zidane to play in either Chicago or Los Angeles.
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GRAHAME L. JONES
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STAT OF THE WEEK
* In 30 regular-season and playoff games against FC Dallas, formerly the Dallas Burn, Clint Mathis has scored 19 goals and assisted on seven. The Red Bulls, who reacquired Mathis from the Colorado Rapids this year, are unbeaten at 21-0-4 in games in which Mathis scores.
