So, the transfer deadline (August 31) has passed and the football market is now closed. Closed? Not quite. Indeed, while transfers from one club to another will have to wait until January to resume, teams may still sign players as free agents (and that until March 31, 2009). So, inspired from this Top 11 Serie A [.

My first attempt at capturing the spirit of this game was a sketch of me covering my eyes, an appropriate choice because that's how I watched the the final fifteen minutes of the Los Angeles Galaxy's season opener. But the image at left, which captures my reaction to the Colorado Rapids' third goal and [.

Photo by ISIphotos.com

Maybe it was fitting that Ryan Cochrane, a player Alexi Lalas helped draft with the original San Jose Earthquakes four years ago, scored San Jose's game-winning goal on Sunday. Better yet, maybe it was more fitting to see Frank Yallop celebrate a victory over the manager he was dumped for, a manager whose job is in jeopardy.

If Joao Pinto gets his way, he will be playing in MLS this season. After training with Toronto FC last week, he terminating his contract with his current club SC Braga and appears to be in continual negotiations with the league. His statement on a move:

"I went to the USA for three days and the subject is practically closed.

Its about that time. The time when the silly season is fully underway in Europe and when MLS clubs are looking to make mid-season changes. The sale of Jozy Altidore to Villarreal, for a nice chunk of change, $10 million also makes us consider the other side of the equation as MLS fans wonder, who they might loose as well.

Galaxy fans, you hear that? Its the sound of goals not being scored on you because a certain defender got beat yet again. Yup, the LA Galaxy has waived Portuguese defender and veteran traffic cone Abel Xavier, the Washington Post's Steve Goff reported today. I won't go too much into details on this because its honestly the [.

In an extensive interview, Abel Xavier shared his views on his time with the Los Angeles Galaxy with Goal.com's Kyle McCarthy.

Condolences to those of you, who, like me, just gave up two hours of a lovely summer afternoon to watch FC Dallas massacre the Galaxy 4-0.

Two goals inside 90 seconds just after 15 minutes sealed the result, but it could have been 6-0 (or more). The Galaxy ended the game with just two shots on goal (Dallas had 14).

Galaxy beat writer Scott Wolf gave a few tidbits of today's story in blog posts Friday and here we learn just how happy Coach Ruud Gullit is to punt Abel Xavier. So are we, Ruud, so are we.

A massive crowd is expected in New York for David Beckham, sorry, today's game (3:30 p.m. live on Fox Soccer Channel).

Galaxy central defender Abel Xavier did not mince words on the club that waived him today:

``There's a shift-the-wind philosophy (here). Many players feel the same way but because they are not secure in their contract, they are afraid to say what they think.''

This week's show is now up as a podcast. You can listen to the show from here, via the On Demand player, or you can subscribe to the show via iTunes.

Plenty to talk about on this week's show.
* I give my thoughts on this week's five questions of the week.

* I breakdown a weekend of draws in MLS.

What can we say other than we called it.
While it didn't go down as part of an epic 3-way trade involving Brian McBride, our sources were right in that El Pescado still ended up with a new northern pond.
Read more about that here.
We hope he likes the water temperature there.

Aufweidersen, Adieu. Adios. Since I've been out golfing today, I hadn't read about Abel Xavier's farewell tour of spite on Galaxy coach Ruud Gullit in particular and the Galaxy in general.
Here's a sampling of it.
Though it amuses me that Xavier is clearly venting, and to more than one press outlet, I'm not really surprised.

Five changes for the Galaxy this evening after last week's loss to New England and no wins in the last three games.

Most fans will undoubtedly be pleased to know that even with an ankle injury to central defender Sean Franklin that was announced Wednesday the hapless Abel Xavier is nowhere to be seen.

File this under: "Whatever."

Here come the Houston Dynamo and D.C. United.

The two teams favored to reach MLS Cup when the season began continued their turnarounds after bad starts to the 2008 season. The Dynamo improved to 4-1-1 in their past six with a comprehensive 3-1 win against Toronto FC while D.C. United halted the red-hot Chicago Fire, 2-1 at Toyota Park.

Starting Galaxy lineup: Steve Cronin, Chris Klein, Sean Franklin, Abel Xavier, Mike Randolph, David Beckham, Alvaro Pires, Josh Tudela, Ante Jazic, Ely Allen, Edson Buddle,
Starting Earthquakes lineup: Joe Cannon, Adam Smarte, Ryan Cochrane, Jason Hernandez, Eric Denton, Ronnie O'Brien, Ned Grabavoy, Kelly Gray Ramiro Corales, John Cunliffe, Ryan Johnson.

Soccer writer Scott Wolf expanded on his earlier post on this blog about the possibility of the Galaxy signing Nolberto Solano (but frankly, I like saying Nobby) with a story today in the newspaper.

I've always admired Peuervian Solano, a player with panache and verve, but let's hope if the Galaxy do sign him they have more success than they did with Portuguese Abel Xavier (so inept he was dumped even with a guaranteed contract) and Nigerian Celestine Babayaro (last seen trying out with EPL team Portsmouth) who was cut before the season even began.

This is one of these games that could represent turning points in the season - for both teams.

Will Galaxy GM Alexi Lalas have a job come Tuesday?

The final score was 3-2 Earthquakes, with the winner coming from Ryan Cochrane in the 89th minute.

While the timing of the goal must have felt like a knife in the gut to the now 6-8-5 Galaxy, the winner was no more than San Jose deserved.

TRADER MO HAS STRUCK AGAIN !!!!!!!!!!

Every year, you can always expect certain things to happen in the MLS

1. There is an Older European player who, underestimated the level of play in the MLS.

This year, we have had a number of examples to add to the growing list of euro washouts.

The Galaxy (6-4-2), the highest-scoring team in MLS and sitting first in the Western Conference plays the Columbus Crew (7-4-1), which is lying second in the Eastern Conference.

The Galaxy have won four of their last five games propelled by the scoring exploits of Edson Buddle, who has eight goals during that stretch.

The Galaxy add Eddie and say farewell to Abel. From the press release:
LA Galaxy defender Eduardo Dominguez has officially been added to the club's roster ahead of this weekend's game against the New York Red Bulls at Giants Stadium. The 29-year old Argentine center back agreed to terms with the club last week and has been training with the rest of his teammates all week in preparation for Saturday's game.

The one day most of the MLSR writers and editors decide to take an early weekend all hell breaks lose in the MLS transfer news and rumors area. So forgive us for being late with the lateness. We seriously deserve the Gasface. Ok you know what time it is! Enough with the 90s rap clichés.
This will serve as a master round up of todays transfer/trade news and rumors.

Galaxy defender Abel Xavier was fined $500 by the MLS following comments criticizing the officials after last week's 3-3 draw with Columbus.

Xavier was given a yellow card by referee Mark Geiger and called for a foul that set up the game-tying goal in the 88th minute. Xavier was upset afterward and said his foot cleanly touched the ball first.

Time for another edition of the stock watch in Major League Soccer. People seemed to enjoy the first edition last month, so I decided to bring it back again like I had hoped. Anyways, to refresh your memories on how this all works. Everything including players, coaches, GMs, officials, and whatever else I think of are [.

How about them Wizards?
Anyway, the injury of Sean Franklin means the Galaxy have had to scramble to replace him. He's been their most consistent defender, rookie or no.
So who replaces him? Greg Vanney or Troy Roberts? The short answer is that both players are in the starting lineup.
Galaxy: Cronie, Kleiny, Troy, Vanney, Ante, Ely, Becks, Pete, Willie, Eddie, LD
Chivas USA: Guzano, Talley, Shavar, Jonny, 'Tiba, Sach, Jesse, Nags, Panchito, 'Te.

Sigh.

We all knew this was coming, right?

I've been expecting this days with about the same emotions I felt when I was getting ready to get my wisdom teeth out. It had to be done, it was going to hurt, and I'd probably feel better once I recovered.

According to SoccerInsider, who know all, Abel Xavier has been cut.

This is a sign of how bad DC United's defense has been at times this season (and especially in SuperLiga). When I saw the news on Goff's Soccer Insider that Abel Xavier had been let go by the Los Angeles Galaxy, my first thought was, "Oh, DC should go get him." Then I came to my senses, [...]

Good morning everybody. It is the day after the first leg of the UEFA Champions League and if you're like me, you're going through a little UCL withdrawal.

If you are an MLS fan you are probably asking yourself how it is that two of the best teams in MLS can't score a single goal in the first legs of their CONCACAF Champions Cup series.

Galaxy defender Abel Xavier was upset over the foul and yellow card from referee Mark Geiger that set up the game-tying goal by Columbus.

``C'mon, the referee is so bad,'' Xavier said. ``The question of one of the things they must improve in this league is the referees. It is very clear my foot was on the ball.

A list of all penalties can be found on the league stats page (scroll to the bottom). However, on that page they don't list who earned and conceded the penalties like they used to a few years back. I've always missed that, so by looking through match reports I keep track of it myself.
With only 23 penalties given so far this season, there's not too much to notice on these lists.

A few keys to the Galaxy-United game, plus a few quotes on sundry tangents:
- Health: Give the Galaxy the edge here. They have a short injury list, while Domenic Mediate is expected to join Ben Olsen in missing this one for United. Also, to the surprise of absolutely no one, United waived forward Franco Niell, who never answered the question of how someone so short can fall down so often.

Thank you to everyone who helped me fill out my ballot. Here's how our ballot ended up looking like:
Matt Reis
Bakary Soumare, Michael Parkhurst, Frankie Hejduk
David Beckham, Cuauhtemoc Blanco, Javier Morales, Shalrie Joseph, Robbie Rogers
Landon Donovan, Kenny Cooper
And here's the finally tally overall.

The Eastern Conference (and MLS) leading Revolution (9-4-3) visit the Western Conference leading Galaxy (6-5-3) tonight seeking to extend their undefeated streak over L.A. to eight regular season games, a record that dates back to April 2004.

The Galaxy haven't lost an Independence Day game since 2001, however, so it appears something has to give.

New England Coach Steve Nichol believed his team deserved to win, Galaxy Coach Ruud Gullit said L.A. deserved at least a draw tonight.

Coaches always say stuff like that of course, but who do you believe?

Gullit said midfield was the biggest problem for the Galaxy tonight:

"People panic under a little bit of pressure and give the ball away to the opposition," he said.

Scott Wolf looks at the adjustments overseas players have to make in MLS from the perspective of the Galaxy's foreign contingent.

Dunno about you, but Abel Xavier's criticism of the tactical awareness of U.S. players might hold more water if he could still, y'know, play defense.

In a related story the L.

Today:
Palos Verdes' John Thorrington was named MLS Player of the Week by the North American Soccer Reporters after his stoppage time winner against Toronto FC for the Chicago Fire.

Tuesday
As the MLS transfer window opens the Galaxy could announce who gets cut today to make room for new signing Eduardo Dominguez, the Argentine defender.

I'm going to mix things up with this one. Simplicity and quick thoughts from this weekend.

San Jose Earthquakes 1 New York Red Bulls 1: Francisco Lima and Darren Huckerby are continuing to prove they are making easy work in transiting to MLS. However Huckerby's thirteenth minute goal has to bail out San Jose after Eric Denton's unique own goal four minute in.

Apologies, busy with a big project and not much time to blog.

A few things to pass along:

*Pacific Palisades-based W-League team Pali Blues defeated reigning champion Washington Freedom 2-0 earlier tonight earning a berth in Saturday's final against FC Indiana. Game reports here.

Good afternoon folks. With the MLS season fast approaching, and the You Write the Caption Queue now filled with three contests that need to be judged, SBI will be looking to power through them today.

The first of the YWTC contests is the one involving this beautiful picture of David Beckham and Abel Xavier at a press conference.