Soccer TV Schedule for the week of 7/30

Saturday (31st):
 - EPL: Goals of the Season - 6pm - FSC

Sunday (1st):
 - WPS: Atlanta Beat vs. FC Gold Pride - 5pm - FSC
 - MLS: LA Galaxy vs. Chicago Fire - 7pm - FSC

Tuesday (3rd):
 - CONCACAF CL: Motagua (HON) vs. Toronto (CAN) - 8pm - FSC
 - CONCACAF CL: Metapan (SLV) vs. Seattle Sounders (USA) 10pm - FSC

Wednesday (4th): 
 - CONCACAF CL: Puerto Rico Islanders (PUR) vs. LA Galaxy (USA) - 8pm - FSC

Thursday (5th): 

 - MLS: Columbus Crew vs. Philadelphia Union - 8pm - ESPN2

 - International Friendly: Dallas (USA) vs. Inter Milan (ITA) - 9pm - FSC

Friday (6th): 

 - International Friendly: AC Milan (ITA) vs. Panathinaikos (GRE) - 8pm - FSC

Barca admits that pursuit of Fabregas is off

The Barcelona front office has stated that they will 'respect' Arsenal's wishes and end their pursuit of Spanish midfielder Cesc Fabregas. Barca has previously offered 35 million lira, but the London club had insisted they did not want to sell their captain. While Cesc has stated that he is happy to stay with Arsenal, I doubt this story will go away until the summer transfer window closes. However, it will be a lingering rumor for years to come if he doesn't make the switch.

For the full report click here.

England keeper James signs with Bristol City

England goal keeper David James has signed a 1-year deal with Championship side Bristol City. James helped Portsmouth reach the FA Cup Final last season, but left the money troubled club on a free transfer. The move allows James to stay close to home and will be a solid keeper for the team to try seek promotion to the EPL. For the full report click here.

LA Galaxy Notes: Beckham's return and Signing Ronaldinho

Grant Wahl's latest report is up at SI.com and has a few interesting factors around the LA Galaxy camp:

• David Beckham could start training with the team again in the next week and could be back on the field for LA by the end of August. It will be interesting to see how Beckham lines back up with new rookie Michael Stephens. 
• He also reports that David had a big influence in convincing Henry to join the New York Red Bulls over the past year and is continuing his talks to bring Ronaldinho to the LA Galaxy next year. 

For the full article click here.

Fulham Announce Mark Hughes as new manager

Source: SI.com

LONDON (AP) -- British media reports say that Mark Hughes has agreed to manage Premier League club Fulham.

The Guardian and Daily Mail newspapers reported Wednesday night on their websites that the 46-year-old former Manchester City manager had agreed terms with the London club.

Fulham lost last season's Europa League final to Atletico Madrid.

After Roy Hodgson left to manage Liverpool, Martin Jol was pursued but Fulham's approaches were rebuffed by Ajax.

Hughes, a former striker for Manchester United and Chelsea, has been out of work since being fired by Man City in December.

Hughes' managerial career began in 1999 with Wales. He moved into club management in 2004 with Blackburn before leaving four years later to join City.

Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. 

Tonight is the MLS All-Star Game against Manchester United who are finishing up their US tour. Here is the full preview and breakdown of the match at MLS Soccer.com. 

This is the first match between the teams. The MLS All-Stars have won three times in four matches against teams from the English Premier League since 2005, losing only to Everton in penalty kicks in 2009.

The MLS lineup includes US World Cup hero Landon Donovan, 2008 league MVP Guillermo Barros Schelotto, past World Cup selections in Brian Ching,Edson Buddle and Bobby Convey and seven-time MLS All-Star Shalrie Joseph.LA Galaxy coach and former US national team boss Bruce Arena leads the group.

Manchester United are in the middle of their preseason preparations, and several players that participated in the World Cup will not be playing on Wednesday night. The Red Devils still boast a star-studded lineup with the likes of superstars Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Dimitar Berbatov and Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez, who is the first Mexican player to sign with the Red Devils.

CONCACAF Champions League Tuesday Night Results

Here is a look at the status of the CONCACAF Champions League Preliminary Round (Table provided by concacafchampions.com). For the most part the favorites won - three out of the four. However, the big result of the night was the 4-1 demolishing that the Puerto Rico Islanders handed to the LA Galaxy. LA was at home and its only goal of the night came as the result of a PR own goal. Their future in the competition looks bleak giving up 4 away goals.

PRELIMINARY ROUND

Aggr.	Motagua	0 - 1	Toronto
July 27	Toronto	1 - 0	Motagua	View events	More info
August 3	Motagua	8:00 PM	Toronto		More info
Aggr.	Santos	1 - 0	Jabloteh
July 27	Jabloteh	0 - 1	Santos	View events	More info
August 4	Santos	10:00 PM	Jabloteh		More info
Aggr.	Cruz Azul	3 - 2	San Francisco
July 27	San Francisco	2 - 3	Cruz Azul	View events	More info
August 3	Cruz Azul	8:00 PM	San Francisco		More info
Aggr.	Puerto Rico Islanders	4 - 1	Los Angeles Galaxy
July 27	Los Angeles Galaxy	1 - 4	Puerto Rico Isla…	View events	More info
August 4	Puerto Rico Isla…	8:00 PM	Los Angeles Galaxy		More info
Aggr.	Marathón		Tauro
July 28	Tauro	8:00 PM	Marathón		More info
August 4	Marathón	10:00 PM	Tauro		More info
Aggr.	Metapán		Seattle Sounders
July 28	Seattle Sounders	10:00 PM	Metapán		More info
August 3	Metapán	10:00 PM	Seattle Sounders		More info
Aggr.	Joe Public		Brujas
July 28	Brujas	10:00 PM	Joe Public		More info
August 5	Joe Public	8:00 PM	Brujas		More info
Aggr.	FAS		Xelajú
July 29	FAS	10:00 PM	Xelajú		More info
August 5	Xelajú	10:00 PM	FAS		More info

CONCACAF Champions League Kicks Off Tonight

The 3rd edition of the current CONCACAF Champions League kicks off tonight with four matches featuring clubs from seven countries. Two matches will air live tonight on Fox Soccer Channel at 8pm and 10pm ET. Here is a look at the first round of qualifying matches:

• LA Galaxy (USA) vs. Puerto Rico Islanders (PUR) - Preview from LA's website
• Toronto (CAN) vs. Motagua (HON) - Preview from Toronto's website
• Cruz Azul (MEX) vs. San Francisco (PAN) 
• Santos Laguna (MEX) vs. San Juan Jabloteh (TRI)

You can also can live action at the official CONCACAF Champions League Website. Predictions?

Menezes names Brazil squad to face U.S. in friendly

SAO PAULO (AP) -- New coach Mano Menezes will try to restore the "Beautiful Game" to Brazil's national team, choosing a young roster Monday for the Selecao's first match after the World Cup.

Menezes picked AC Milan forward Alexandre Pato, Santos scoring sensation Neymar and Santos midfielder Paulo Henrique Ganso for the Aug. 10 exhibition against the United States, the first match as Brazil prepares to host the 2014 World Cup.

Manchester United defender Rafael da Silva, Liverpool midfielder Lucas Leiva and Real Madrid defender Marcelo also are on the 24-man roster for the match at the New Meadowlands Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.

Click here for the full report - Menezes names Brazil squad to face U.S. in friendly

Chicago trades midfielder Mapp to Union

SI.com Staff - "The Chicago Fire announced Monday that the team has traded midfielder Justin Mapp to the Philadelphia Union in exchange for allocation money.

"We would like to thank Justin for his contributions to the Chicago Fire and wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors," said Chicago technical director Frank Klopas on its website.

Mapp was originally drafted by D.C. United as the fourth overall selection in the 2002 MLS SuperDraft. During his nine-year career, Mapp has registered 14 goals and 36 assists in 174 appearances."

This is a great move for the Union who were already on the upswing after a good run recently. Mapp will be another great attacking, creative player to link up with Le Toux, Mwanga, and Moreno

Chicago trades midfielder Mapp to Union

Wizards sell 700 season tickets after beating Manchester United

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- The Kansas City Wizards say they sold 700 season tickets after their exhibition win over Manchester United.

The Wizards beat the English power 2-1 Sunday on goals by Davy Arnaud and Kei Kamara before 52,342 at Arrowhead Stadium, the largest crowd to watch a soccer match in Kansas City.

Team spokesman Rob Thomson said Monday the new tickets were sold as the team opened the first 2,011 season tickets for next year to sales following the victory over the Red Devils.

Kansas City is scheduled to move next June to a $200 million, 18,500-seat stadium under construction at Village West.

Wizards sell 700 season tickets after beating Manchester United

MLS Table Update

Here are the result for the past week (MLS matches only, no friendly results):

• LA Galaxy 2-2 San Jose: At home, at night and on ESPN2 should all be extending factors toward a Galaxy win. After failing behind early Donovan saved a point with a late equalizer. LA has looked much weaker in their past 3 games despite earning 4 points. San Jose appear to be gaining strength and could pass Dallas for 3rd if they win out their games in hand. 
• Toronto 1-1 Dallas: The two number 3s battled to a 1-1 draw. I see Dallas as the stronger playoff team being in the tougher conference at the moment. Toronto have failed to score more than 1 goal since May. 
• Columbus 3-0 Houston: Earlier in the week they could have lost their Eastern lead, but reaffirmed their dominance with victories of New York and now Houston. Once dominate Western contenders have fallen well off the playoff race and are winless in their last seven.
• Real Salt Lake 1-1 Chivas USA: After topping LA and beating down New England RSL seemed ready to take over the West. They ran their unbeaten home streak to 19 matches, but lacked their usual attacking power and missed a chance to gain on LA. Chivas while at the bottom of the West are only 9 points out of the playoffs so the Goats can turn things around once fully healthy and get Kljestan back. 
• Seattle 2-1 Colorado: First home win for Seattle in nearly two months, but the second in a row to bring them within a point of the playoffs at the All-Star break. The Rapids are now winless in their last six and need to straighten the ship with their next two matches coming up against Western conference mid-table foes Dallas and San Jose. 

Here are the updated MLS table standings:

Eastern Conference
Pos	Club	Pts	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD
1	Columbus Crew	34	17	10	3	4	25	13	+12
2	New York Red Bulls	26	16	8	6	2	18	19	−1
3	Toronto FC	23	16	6	5	5	19	18	+1
4	Chicago Fire	17	14	4	5	5	18	19	−1
5	Kansas City Wizards	16	16	4	8	4	13	20	−7
6	Philadelphia Union	14	14	4	8	2	18	26	−8
7	New England Revolution	14	15	4	9	2	15	26	−11
8	D.C. United	12	17	3	11	3	12	28	−16

Western Conference
Pos	Club	Pts	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD
1	Los Angeles Galaxy	40	18	12	2	4	29	10	+19
2	Real Salt Lake	31	17	9	4	4	29	14	+15
3	FC Dallas	26	16	6	2	8	20	14	+6
4	San Jose Earthquakes	23	15	6	4	5	20	18	+2
5	Colorado Rapids	23	16	6	5	5	18	16	+2
6	Seattle Sounders FC	22	18	6	8	4	20	25	−5
7	Houston Dynamo	19	17	5	8	4	21	25	−4
8	Chivas USA	15	16	4	9	3	18	22	−4

Source: Wikipedia