Who will Chivas protect this year? (Getty Images)

Yesterday we started our look at the expansion draft and who teams will and won't protect for this month's upcoming draft. The Philadelphia Union get ten players to pick from and this year will be as tough as any to predict who will stay and who will be left exposed.

According to Glenn MacDonald at the Chronicle Herald (click here for the original), Canadian midfielder/defender Ante Jazic and two draft picks were traded to Chivas USA from the LA Galaxy for Chivas USA's 2nd round draft pick (where they picked up defender, AJ De La Garza). Ante Jazic's departure will clear some much needed cap space for the LA Galaxy.

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Over 30,000 tickets have been sold for USA v Honduras World Cup qualifier on Sat Jun 6 at Soldier Field in Chicago. (I will be there, will you?)
You make the call: How many are for USA? How many are for Honduras?
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Jeffrey Marcus of the New York Times addresses the real issue with MLS.

According to the CONCACAF website, we could be missing five players during the Gold Cup (assuming Ali Gerba signs). Stephen Hart has named his 30-man preliminary squad ahead of the tournament, and included are Dwayne De Rosario, Adrian Serioux, Nana Attakora, Kevin Harmse, and Ali Gerba. Here is the full 30-man squad.

"As long as no-one scored, it was always going to be close" Arsene Wenger

That pretty much summed up last weekends exciting, yet scoreless Superclásico. Chivas played as a far more dominant side, even when down to ten men and should be most satisfied with their ability to neutralize any kind of threat the Galaxy had to offer.

Seattle Sounders 0 Chivas USA 0

Seattle Coach Sigi Schmid threw out the first pitch Friday at the Mariners-Yankees game. (AP Photo)

Ghastly offense (as usual), generally excellent defense (as is customary) gave Chivas USA the road point today.

Marcelo Saragosa excepted, of course, after throwing the most blatant kung fu kick at a soccer game since Eric Cantona.

This is the game Southern California MLS fans have long awaited.

I'd like to say there's a buzz in the air, a sense of anticipation and tension and plenty of concrete expressions of the rivalry that have temporarily divided friends and families.

I'd like to say that, but it wouldn't be true.

The Galaxy, Chivas USA and Sol are all in action today, but the big news of the morning just landed in my e-mail: Toronto FC Coach John Carver has resigned, the club announced this morning.

Slightly curious timing.

Toronto became the first MLS team to beat Chivas USA in midweek and faces Kansas City Sunday.

This preview and statistical guide comes courtesy of MLSR partner Seattle's Prost Amerka Soccer.
The preview is an excerpt - Read the full preview at Prost Amerika Soccer.

Sounders return to the site of their worst result of the season. Their sole two goal defeat came at the Home Depot Centre on April 18th where an own goal contributed to a lacklustre Seattle defeat.

Americans Abroad / USMNT
Confederations Cup? Who Should The US Start vs. Italy? - Soccer By Ives
ESPN's 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup Schedule - Soccer365
Greetings From Jo'Burg - The MNT Blog
US Reverts To Baby Steps - Daily Breeze
U.S Sees Tournament As World Cup 'Dry Run' - Associated Press
MLS Enough For Qualifying Mettle?

A few items to pass along:

*The club announced today it will open the Home Depot Center's upper deck, which it customarily doesn't need to accommodate the smallish crowds that average 15,312 this season, for Saturday's SuperClasico against the Galaxy. Those seats have an excellent view, BTW, if you've never sat up there (think the luxury suite views on the opposite side of the stadium without the expensive prices).

Americans Abroad / USMNT
USA Names Roster For Mexico Qualifier - Soccer By Ives
Bradley Names 20-Man Roster To Prepare For Qualifier In Mexico - US Soccer
Bradley Announces Roster For Mexico - Yanks Abroad
Bradley Calls In 20 - Goal (NY Times)
US Sets Roster For World Cup Qualifier Against Mexico - Los Angeles Times
Mexico-USA, 8/12, Is This Your Starting Lineup?

I must admit, I was getting depressed when I would think about the goats. The downhill slide just didn't seem like it was going to end. We got a win last weekend, but was it a fluke? Could the Goats drive on and play like it was 3 months ago and they were on top of the world? Could Chivas USA find the Mojo it lost sometime in June?

It's thankfully cooling off here in Carson - the temperature right now is 76 degrees - as Chivas USA and the Galaxy play the season's third and final SuperClasico.

If Chivas USA wins tonight they would win the SuperClasico trophy because the teams would be even with four points apiece after a 0-0 tie and a 1-0 Galaxy home win earlier this season.

Desde el XBOX Pitch at Qwest Field, Seattle, WA. -12:00: Estas son las alineaciones: Los Sounders FC: Kasey KELLER(c)-James RILEY, Jhon Kennedy HURTADO, Tyrone MARSHALL, Leo GONZÁLEZ, Sebastien LE TOUX, Osvaldo ALONSO, Peter VAGENAS, Steve ZAKUANI- Fredy MONTERO, LJUNGBERG.CD Chivas USA: Zach THORNTON-Marcelo SARAGOSA, Jonathan BORNSTEIN, Yamith CUESTA, Ante JAZIC- Jesús PADILLA, Michael LAHOUD, Paulo NAGAMURA(c), [.

Part two of the expansion draft preview. The Eastern conference was covered yesterday, and can be found here.
CHIVAS USA
Protected Available Exempt Jonathan Bornstein Chukwudi Chijindu
Justin Braun Yamith Cuesta
Bobby Burling Jim Curtin
Maykel Galindo Jorge Flores
Sacha Kljestan Kevin Harmse
Michael Lahoud Ante Jazic
Jesse Marsch
Dan Kennedy
Paulo Nagamura
Eduardo Lillingston
Shavar Thomas
Gerson Mayen
Zach Thornton
Jesus Padilla
Mariano Trujillo Lance Parker
Ante Razov
Maicon Santos
Marcelo Saragosa
Bojan Stepanovic
Claudio Suarez
Carey Talley
Lawson Vaughn
Sasha Victorine
Cesar Zamora
If this list of players seems larger than normal to you, then you're right.

Chivas USA 2 Earthquakes 2

A Justin Braun header in the 66th minute from an Ante Jazic cross has restored parity. It looked suspiciously close to being offside, too.

Everybody know someone who cohabitates with someone who supports a different sports team than them. For instance my brother-in-law is a die-hard Giants fan while his son bleeds Jets green; even though they rarely play each other, the trash talking can get definitely get heated (in a good way).

Sunny and 80 degrees here at the under populated Home Depot Center.

Kick off has apparently been pushed back to 2:25 p.m. to accommodate TV if you're wondering.

It's the same starting lineup this afternoon that both teams fielded for the respective MLS season finales.

Here's Arena's team: Donovan Rickettts, Sean Franklin, Gregg Berhalter, Omar Gonzalez, Todd Dunivant, Chris Birchall, David Beckham, Dema Kovalenko, Mike Magee, Edson Buddle, Landon Donovan.

I've been rather busy this week with a couple of projects and haven't been able to blog much. That will be true again today, but it's another busy soccer weekend with both the Galaxy and Chivas USA playing on Saturday and Sunday in Carson respectively so here's a preview of what's on tap.

Stomach-churning MLS.

Chivas USA defender Ante Jazic has been removed from the club's Disabled List, making the 33-year-old eligible to participate in official MLS games. Jazic, who has travelled with Chivas USA for its away matches this week at Houston and Columbus, had been sidelined since suffering a concussion on March 11, ten days before Chivas USA's first match of the season.

Game story.

Playoff tickets are on sale starting at $15. Call 1-877-CHIVAS-1.

Chivas USA - Zach Thornton, Carey Talley, Yamith Cuesta, Claudio Suarez (Mariano Trujillo 46), Ante Jazic, Jesus Padilla (Jesse Marsch 46), Michael Lahoud (Eduardo Lillingston 55), Paulo Nagamura, Sacha Kljestan, Justin Braun, Maykel Galindo,

Substitutes Not Used: Chukwudi Chijindu, Jon Conway, Jorge Flores, Shavar Thomas

Chivas USA striker Maicon Santos attacks (Scott Varley photo).

Game story

Chivas USA handed out its team awards after the game: goalkeeper Zach Thornton was named the team MVP, while Jonathan Bornstein earned Defender of the Year honors.

Bonus quote: Here's defender Ante Jazic on why Chivas USA is having a hard time scoring more than two goals in a game:

"Or three.

Well, my laptop just died so I'm depending on the kindness of coworkers here to blog (sporadically).

Here's the scenario: if the Galaxy win they'll face the Houston Dynamo at home 8 o'clock Friday; if Chivas USA wins they'll travel to Houston for a Sunday game.

There's just one change for the Galaxy today: Chris Birchall has fallen ill (nothing serious I'm told), so Chris Klein replaces him in midfield.