CORNER KICKS
1 The Galaxy plays Chelsea at the Home Depot Center on Saturday in what could be the first half of a home-and-home series between the Major League Soccer club and its English Premier League partner.
Paul Smith, Chelsea’s business affairs director, and Tim Leiweke, AEG’s chief executive, have both said a Galaxy game against Chelsea at its Stamford Bridge Stadium in London is likely next year.
“We’d like to do that,” Smith said. “It’s really a question of [fitting the game in] our calendar.”
Meanwhile, Alexi Lalas, the Galaxy’s president and general manager, said that a previously announced tour of Asia this fall instead will take place early in 2008, with the Galaxy planning two or three weeks of spring training and competitive games there in February or March.
Countries under consideration for the trip include China, Japan and South Korea.
2 Money-spinning tours are one way for the Galaxy to capitalize on the signing of David Beckham, and Miguel Angel Sanchez, the marketing director at Beckham’s former club, Real Madrid, said the England midfielder’s value is immense.
“I estimate that Beckham was worth around $600 million in revenue to Real,” he said. “If things go well in America, then there is no reason why they can’t get close to those figures.”
3 New England Revolution and U.S. national team midfielder Steve Ralston broke former Colombian standout Carlos Valderrama’s MLS record for assists by notching his 115th on Saturday night.
Said Ralston: “Of all the weekends for me to break the record, it has to be the weekend David Beckham comes to America.
“It’s going to be a story like this big,” he added, holding his finger and thumb an inch apart.
4 Scottish Premier League champion Celtic will play an MLS team stocked with U.S. internationals in the league’s All-Star game Thursday in Denver, and Colorado’s warm weather already has gotten to Celtic Coach Gordon Strachan.
“There’s no sun in Europe whatsoever,” he said Tuesday. “I’ve been everywhere in Europe this summer and there’s no sun at this time of year. But I wake up this morning and it’s 100 degrees.”
5 Roberto Ayala’s glittering career with Argentina came to an end Tuesday when the 34-year-old defender announced his retirement from the national team.
Ayala, who made his debut for Argentina in 1994, played in the 1998 and 2006 World Cups and won a gold medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics. In all, he played a record 115 times for his country, his final appearance coming Sunday in a 3-0 loss to Brazil in the final of the Copa America in Venezuela.
“I made the decision some time ago and it wasn’t just because of the result, but because I think a cycle has come to an end in the national team,” Ayala said.
