SB Nation Los Angeles: All Posts by Josie Becker

Omar Gonzalez in starting lineup for United States

2013-06-19T00:39:52Z

Omar Gonzalez starts again for the United States, as they look to continue their home unbeaten streak in World Cup Qualifying currently at 24 matches. The pairing of Omar Gonzalez and Matt Besler is also unbeaten at 3-0-2.

Kickoff is at 6:06 Pacific Daylight Time.

Honduras Starting XI: Valladares; Velasquez, Pablo Montes, Izaguirre, Peralta; Espinoza, Claros, Najar, Palacios; Martinez, Costly

FIFA Confederations Cup telecast ratings roundup and more

2013-06-18T00:11:14Z

It was a big weekend of soccer with ESPN and Univision both broadcasting three FIFA Confederations Cup match to go along with an MLS game of the week. Ratings aren't in for the MLS tilt, but we're already getting preliminary ratings for the Confederations Cup action.

ESPN managed an 0.6 rating for both the broadcast of Mexico vs. Italy on Sunday and the night cap of Spain toying with Uruguay. No word yet what the opener between Brazil and Japan drew on Saturday.

Mexico vs. Italy was also a big winner for Univision, drawing 3.1 million total viewers 2+. It was the most watched program in that time slot in Los Angeles, Dallas, Miami, Houston, and Phoenix. It was the highest rated Confederations Cup match on Univision since Mexico vs. Argentina in 2005. The United States being the CONCACAF participant in 2009 has a large deal to do with that factoid.

Looking at the social network data, the two matches Sunday on Univision networks were the second and third most talked about events on broadcast television, beating out Miss America and the US Open. The Mexico vs. Italy match on ESPN was the most talked about cable event. I'm not entirely sure how they break down the events by network, but it appears about 2.8 million social media posts on Sunday were about the Confederations Cup.

Other notes:

ESPN announced today that they'll be building two sets in Brazil for the 2014 FIFA World Cup at Rio's Clube dos Marinbas. It's a private sailing club, and more than 208 hours of original programming will be created from the two sets to be broadcast across ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPN3. The English language set will have a broadcast desk, a discussion set, and an interview area. There will be a daily World Cup Live show, SportsCenter segments, pre and post match coverage, and more.
Fox Soccer is currently leading cable networks in growth, with distribution rising 20.7% since the start of the year. It's sad in a way, since in a few months Fox Soccer will become FXX. Speed, which is set to be rebranded Fox Sports 1 and absorb the Fox Soccer people, is another fast growing net. Fox Soccer is currently in 51,064,000 homes. NBC Sports has about 26k more, and ESPN almost twice as many.

LA Galaxy trade for Pablo Mastroeni, the rights to Baggio Husidic

2013-06-17T16:29:35Z

The LA Galaxy have announced a trade this morning with the Colorado Rapids, giving up an international spot through the 2014 season and their natural second round draft pick in the 2014 MLS SuperDraft for the Rapids' Pablo Mastroeni and the rights to midfielder Baggio Husidic. This leaves the Galaxy with one open international spot.

Mastroeni has made 222 appearances with the Colorado Rapids, and has gone 305 minutes this year after missing almost all of 2012 with concussion symptoms. The Argentina born midfielder has been in the league since 1998 when he was drafted by the now defunct Miami Fusion.

He became a US citizen in 2001, and began making appearances with the national team shortly after that. He has 65 caps with the US national team, most recently playing in 2009 World Cup Qualifiers.

While in the immediate future the LA Galaxy get a midfield player who could alleviate a few Hector Jimenez starts down the line, of more impact might be the acquisition of Baggio Husidic's rights. The 26 year old Yugoslavian born midfielder left the Chicago Fire in 2011 for Swedish side Hammarby IF. Husidic came out of college as a Generation adidas player, but graduated out of the program after crossing the 2,000 minute mark.

As for Mastroeni, he suffered a hamstring injury earlier in the year. Hamstring injuries are always hard to shake, combine that with missing a year due to concussion and it's not probably that LA will get much out of Mastroeni in the long term. If he can shore up the midfield for a few weeks, and if Arena knows Husidic is planning a move back to MLS when the transfer window opens, this could work out quite well.

Four Star Daily: LA Galaxy reserves draw 1-1 with LA Blues

2013-06-16T19:06:22Z

Last night wasn't just third kits and autographs, it also saw the LA Galaxy reserves taking on the LA Blues. The reserve side played the Blues to a 1-1 draw, but the biggest story was Robbie Rogers making his first start since coming back to competitive soccer. He went 72 minutes, but Adam Serrano tweeted that he looked tired late.

Robbie Rogers goes a solid 72 minutes and exits for Hector Jimenez. First stretch for Rogers, who did well early, but tired late. #lagalaxy
— Adam Serrano (@LAGalaxyInsider) June 16, 2013
Goalkeeper speculation is fair after Brian Perk started for the reserves, and then after an early injury Brian Rowe replaced him. That's now two playing situations where Carlo Cudicini was not an option for the LA Galaxy. Come Wednesday, does Arena go with the keeper who's had more than two weeks off?
Todd Dunivant did 58 minutes of work and wore the captain's armband. The short appearance suggests Arena wants to use him again on Wednesday, which is a good thing. Marcelo Sarvas relieved him, not starting despite not being available Wednesday.
Also recovering from injury Jack McBean came in with fifteen minutes left in the match. He'll likely need more time before he's full match fit again. I'd like to see Arena stick with the 4-3-3 and with Rowe on Wednesday, which would look like:
Rowe; Franklin, DeLaGarza, Meyer, Dunivant; Stephens, Juninho, Rogers; Zardes, Keane, Donovan.

LA Galaxy unveil busy fan chosen third kit

2013-06-16T17:47:16Z

The new LA Galaxy third kit has a long story, and now that it's finally here it almost feels anti-climactic. The above photo is the result of a Facebook design contest and a fan vote. It throws back to the first LA Galaxy kit of 1996. Jeremiah Oshan wrote that it's confused, and that's certainly one way to look at it.

The original LA Galaxy home kit, designed by Nike, was a mess of 90's design philosophy. Trying to be forward looking, it just ends up looking dated and tacky. Half teal and half black on the torso, with yellow pyramids, and a red collar, it pays tribute to the flag of Los Angeles.

The colors are supposed to represent olive trees, orange groves, and vineyards. Three major crops of California. The original LA Galaxy kit took those colors, made the green closer to teal and added in black (the two biggest design colors at the time) and even incorporated the zig zags on the flag to suggest edginess.

Having seen the design interface fans were allowed to use, I know there were limitations. There was no possibility for a two colored torso, or for spikes on the sleeves. So the design took the black, teal, gold, yellow, white, and red of the original Galaxy color set and made the best of it.

So it's not a throwback kit, it's a modern kit using throwback colors. Which, and I'm sorry to the designer that worked hard and adidas who mocked it up and to all the factory workers for produced them, has no reason to exist. It's a faux-back which throws away design sense out of an obligation to use all the colors of the past.

Look how little red there is in the original kit. It's the collar and it's the number. So why red three stripes and not gold? Why red piping on the torso instead of gold? It makes the gold look like an afterthought when gold compliments both the teal and the black. The red on green just looks like a colorblind test.

And why is the Galaxy Facebook page claiming it represents the California state flag? That would explain why the designer pushed forward red over gold but wouldn't explain why a small patch of grass underneath a bear became the most used color.

Kudos to the Galaxy for allowing fans to design the third kit, and to allowing fans to chose the winner. With the Facebook contest taking place a year ago, with the original release date pushed back from last fall to this summer, it feels anti-climactic that this is the end result.

What the LA Galaxy should have taken away from this vote is that there is a desire amongst fans for a throwback kit, or for at least a faux-back using those colors. Done right, this could have been so much more, but as is it's a busy color palate stuffed onto an adidas template unveiled before a reserve match.

No, I don't like it.

US Soccer releases poster for World Cup Qualifier in Sandy, Utah

2013-06-15T18:28:52Z

The United States takes on Honduras in Sandy, Utah on Tuesday and US Soccer has released another match specific poster. Once again they've partnered with a local artist. I admit, I was curious as to what Salt Lake City had to offer in the arts department. Whereas Seattle had a pretty cool grunge poster, Utah's poster references a popular civic campaign.

There's nothing wrong with a civic campaign becoming pop art. The I Love New York series began as a 1977 tourism campaign, referring to the entire state not just the city. There's even a song. Don't Mess with Texas has also sold a lot of t-shirts, and it began as an anti-litering campaign.

Still, Nashville got country music posters, Seattle got grunge rock posters, and Salt Lake City got a "look both ways before crossing the street poster". Which even then would be forgivable if it weren't entirely a play on one of the most trite criticisms of soccer rolled out every time an NFL beat writer wants to put down the sports very existence.

Great colors though.

Four Star Daily: Jose Villarreal and US U-20s, Victoria Street Grounds renaming

2013-06-14T19:47:04Z

MLS on NBC Sports is up week to week, drawing 149,000 in a primetime slot on the west coast for Seattle Sounders vs. Vancouver Whitecaps. New England Revolution hosting LA Galaxy drew 96,000 the week prior. It might not look like a lot but that's good news for NBC, hockey is the tentpole on that network with MLS filling out the schedule.
Jose Villarreal showed well in this morning's US U-20 warm-up friendly against Portugal. He started, then scored the opening goal on a direct free kick just outside the right corner penalty area with his left foot going far corner. He also assisted the US' second half go ahead goal, taking a quick free kick that Shane O'Neil put in far post. Their next match will be part of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, June 21st against Spain. RSL's Luis Gil was an early sub in the match, complaining of a headache.
Shakeup in the Galaxy front office, as they've snagged Brendan Hannan to be their Senior Director of Communications and Digital. Previously with the Chicago Fire, it'll be interesting to see if there are any noticeable changes to the way the Galaxy get information out.
Signs have been going up since the last LA Galaxy home match, but the Victoria Street Grounds will officially take on the name StubHub Center this upcoming Wednesday with the official unveiling of the marquee sign already installed. The party line wants to say it's The Home Depot Center up until the moment they officially unveil StubHub Center, but don't kid yourselves: It's a soccer pitch at the corner of Victoria Street and Avalon Blvd, that's all. If you have a pressing need to refer to the entire complex, Dominguez Hills Sport Center. Done and done.

ESPN announces Confederations Cup telecast plans

2013-06-13T20:59:06Z

On the heels of strong ratings for FIFA World Cup Qualifiers on Tuesday, ESPN has announced their commentary plans for the upcoming Confederations Cup in Brazil. The tournament begins in two days, and it's the reason why Mexico and Jamaica have played one more qualifier than the rest of the CONCACAF field.

Ian Darke and Scott Robson will be the A-team for the event, with former New England Revolution star Taylor Twellman staying stateside. It's likely that Darke won't fly down until the final, instead covering this weekends events from a studio in Connecticut. That's because Darke has to cover the USMNT qualifier in Sandy, Utah live on Tuesday. He'll then fly back to do more Confederations Cup coverage on Thursday.

The second broadcast team will focus on Mexico's matches in the tournament. Fernando Palomo and former Chivas USA forward Alejandro Moreno are on the job there. Adrian Healey and former Seattle Sounders goalkeeper Kasey Keller make up the C-team.

Bob Ley will lead studio coverage, as happened in last year's Euro tournament, alongside Alexi Lalas, Kasey Keller, and EPL reporter Steve McManaman.

ESPN also has an MLS match of the week this Saturday, Portland Timbers vs. FC Dallas. Should be a solid competitive match for the cable sports network. Confederations Cup coverage will lead directly into MLS which should be a good boon for MLS TV ratings.

With all the praise Seattle got for the atmosphere created in this week's World Cup Qualifier, it's a safe bet the fans in Portland will want to show just how good a show they can put on with national TV cameras on them.