Because my e-mail in-box is clogged, I give you:

*Word that San Pedro's Carlos Martinez (Wilmington Jr.) and Fontana's Victor Chavez were selected to the U.S. Under-17 team that will play in the World Cup for the age group later this month in Nigeria. Full squad and schedule here.

*A Q&A with Robbie Rogers of Rolling Hills Estates in the wake of his World Cup qualifying performance here.

After watching the Palos Verdes Peninsula's Kevin Hartman, the former Galaxy goalkeeper, and Lawndale's Kei Kamara, who was playing against former club Houston, help Kansas City to a 1-1 draw today against the Dynamo, I'd be remiss in not acknowledging the exploits of another South Bay boy this weekend.

OK, so I'm more than a bit late with this, but it's interesting that Kei Kamara, a product of Leuzinger High and Cal State Dominguez Hills, is on his third MLS club in three years.

Is his attitude a problem? Or maybe it's his production - just 14 goals in 80 games for the Dynamo.

Read the story behind his latest move here.

The trivia question was prompted by an item in the Chivas USA game notes for the July SuperClasico I scoured Monday as I researched today's column.

Chivas USA claims nine players on its roster who were either born or grew up in Southern California:
Jonathan Bornstein (who was born in Torrance and grew up in Los Alamitos)
Chukwudi Chijindu (Fontana)
Jorge Flores (Anaheim)
Dan Kennedy (Yorba Linda)
Sacha Kljestan (Huntington Beach)
Gerson Mayen (Los Angeles)
Ante Razov (Los Angeles)
Sasha Victorine (Corona)
Cesar Zamora (Sylmar)

Three of these players - Bornstein, Razov, Victorine - played college soccer at UCLA, while Dan Kennedy played at UC Santa Barbara.

Playing a little catch-up with some non-David Beckham related news:

*Three Chivas USA players and two from UCLA were selected for a 10-day camp in Argentina that begins today that is the final tune-up for the United States Men's Under-20 National Team that plays in the FIFA World Cup for that age category in late September in Egypt.

AP Photos

I'm a mite late with this I know (blame Beckham), but I did want to acknowledge the visit to the White House Monday by the MLS champion Columbus Crew.

Among those attending were Sigi Schmid, last year's MLS Coach of the Year when he was with the Crew, and a long-time Torrance resident (he still owns a place in Manhattan Beach while coaching the Sounders), as well as midfielder Robbie Rogers, who grew up in Rolling Hills Estates.

Briefly:

*U.S international Jozy Altidore will sign autographs and take pictures with fans from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday at the adidas Sports Performance store on the Third Street Promenade. The address is 1231 Third Street Promenade. There's adidas product giveaways, too.

*Pasadena City College product Yura Movsisyan spoke publicly for the first time Wednesday about his pending move from Real Salt Lake to a club in Denmark.

Recapping the weekend:

* David Beckham's AC Milan moved into second place in Serie A Sunday.

* Fontana's Maurice Edu is just beginning to gain some traction with Glasgow Rangers after an injury-marred season.

Pasadena City College product Yura Movsisyan is finally off the mark for Real Salt Lake.

Briefly:

*Former Galaxy goalkeeper Kevin Hartman, a product of UCLA, has donated his game-worn jersey and gloves from the Kansas City Wizards' March 28 game against the Colorado Rapids that saw him set an MLS record mark of 1,137 saves to the National Soccer Hall of Fame.

"Every player dreams of being in the Hall of Fame," said Hartman, who attended high school on the Palos Verdes Peninsula.

Sol midfielder, Olympian, gold medal winner and South (Torrance) High grad Shannon Boxx was awarded the key to the city she grew up in at Tuesday's City Council meeting by starstruck Mayor Frank Scotto (a huge soccer fan and long-time coach) with her mom, Julie, looking on from the audience.

Briefly:
* Good Q&A on the career of Cal State Dominguez Hills product Kei Kamara of Lawndale here.

* The UCLA men are reloading.

* And U.S. Soccer wants to see this nation awash in red Wednesday.

Noted:
*The Galaxy play their final preseason game (otherwise known as the "Will David Beckham return from AC Milan lottery?) March 14 in Tempe, Ariz., against the Chicago Fire, the club announced today. The Galaxy opens their season in Carson March 22 against D. C. United.

The game is part of an effort to locate an MLS team in the area, according to the press release:

The PHX Soccer Clasico is the first major event for Phoenix Soccer Development.

The last time I recall writing about a South Bay-raised player who made their U.S. debut at Home Depot Center, the player went on to a magnificent career.

That player was Shannon Boxx.

Now it could be Robbie Rogers' turn Saturday against Sweden in Carson.

Read about it here.

Some quick kicks:
*The drafts aren't done; next up is Women's Professional Soccer at 7:30 a.m. today. Trojan Amy Rodriguez is the consensus No. 1.

*Correcting a bad oversight, Palos Verdes Peninsula native Joy Fawcett was elected to the National Soccer Hall of Fame Thursday night (with Jeff Agoos).

'Tis the season.

Not only for journalists to use that over-used phrase, but for largely meaningless end of year awards. Still, they're also fun.

So this blog is joining the party with a highly prestigious (ahem) award of our own: the 100 Percent Soccer Southern California Soccer Personality of the Year.

MLS Defender of the Year Chad Marshall has signed a new multi-year contract with the MLS champion Columbus Crew, the club announced today, after reportedly testing the market overseas.

"We have made a significant commitment to ensure that Chad remains a member of the Crew and we are very pleased to have gotten that priority accomplished," said Crew technical director Brian Bliss.

While searching for a suitable holiday video (freestyle soccer moves set to Christmas music? Yuck. A burning yule log? Been there done that.) I ran across this offering on the Galaxy blog from Van Nuys' Tristan Bowen.

Bowen, of course made history late this year when he became the first youth player to come up through the ranks of an MLS club and sign a professional contract.

The most amazing thing about this snapshot is it's only two years off in foreshadowing the champion in the picture.

This is the South Bay Gunners 11 years ago in a Nike ad (?!).

When I asked the person who supplied the photo which 10-year-old kid was Robbie Rogers, who grew up in Rolling Hills Estates, he said "Far right, blonde with pot belly.

Playoff-bearded Robbie Rogers leaves Columbus Wednesday;

Robbie Rogers is not happy with the team's mandatory playoff beard - it feels weird, he said Friday at Home Depot Center.

And the demand for tickets for an MLS Cup played in the South Bay where he grew up is intense: "I'm not answering phone numbers I don't have in my phone," he said, observing players get four tickets apiece and that he can't shake down teammates for any spares.

MLS today named Cal State Northridge product and Galaxy defender Sean Franklin as its Rookie of the Year. Franklin is scheduled to talk to reporters later today from the U.S. Men's National Team training camp in Colorado.

How big of an accomplishment is this?

Franklin played all year in the center of a bad Galaxy defense, yet according to Coach Bruce Arena he's not a central defender.

Both the Galaxy and Chivas USA may be done for the season, but there are still Southern Californians out to make a difference in MLS this year.

Foremost among them are the pair with the Columbus Crew: coach Sigi Schmid, who grew up in Torrance, and gifted young midfielder Robbie Rogers, who was raised in Rolling Hills Estates.

Great story in The Salt Lake City Tribune today about the life and death struggles Real Salt Lake striker Yura Movsisyan endured as a child growing up in war-torn Azerbaijan before his family emigrated to Pasadena. His proud parents will be watching their son from the Home Depot Center stands at Saturday's playoff decider against Chivas USA.

San Pedro native Peter Hazdovac, 22, who I first blogged about here is continuing to make his mark on the Croatian Regional Third Division.

Here's the latest message I received from him today on Facebook:

We had a game today verses Zagora, a third division team who are actually in the final eight of the Croatian Cup (their next game is verses Dinamo Zagreb and in the last two rounds they knocked out division one team NK Osijek and division two first-place team Karlovac).

While Kevin Hartman's fictitious cat wasn't called upon it was striking how many players with Southern California roots played influential roles Saturday in the MLS playoff openers.

Exhibit 1: Pasadena's amazing Yura "Boots" Movsisyan who scored a 90th minute winner for the second consecutive week for Real Salt Lake against Chivas USA.

L.A. Sol holding midfielder Shannon Boxx, a former South (Torrance) High star, was today named one of the 10 finalists for the annual FIFA honor. The U.S. Women's National Team player finished third in balloting for the award in 2005.

Also named to the list: her (hopefully) soon to be Sol teammate Marta.

Something for everyone here.

Galaxy fans can console themselves with some great strikes (Brandon McDonald's screamer is not the No. 1 goal in this video); Chivas USA fans can savor these and look forward to the playoffs; U.S. fans can relive Landon Donovan's finest season; and the Columbus Crew's Robbie Rogers today had his effort against New York last month named the team's goal of the season.

First, the nuns.

San Pedro's Peter Hazdovac, who I first blogged about
here, scored two goals Saturday as Croatian Regional Third Division team NK Gosk beat bottom of the table Gosk KG, 3-1.

The Cal Poly product has five goals in eight games. And his team leads the league.

With the U.S. wrapping up a place in the final round of World Cup qualifying in Saturday's 6-1 win over Cuba, Coach Bob Bradley released nine players from that squad - including the Galaxy's Landon Donovan - ahead of Wednesday's meaningless clash against Trinidad & Tobago.

Among those added to the roster were Chivas USA left back Jonathan Bornstein, who has struggled this year to recapture the form he showed last season, and Rolling Hills Estates' Robbie Rogers of the Columbus Crew, who looks likely to make his U.

It's not often you get interviewed by National Public Radio. But Chivas USA midfielder Jorge Flores did (and so did I).

Anaheim's Flores is one of the first of a new generation of U.S. Mexican-American soccer stars. He's not yet a regular starter, but NPR noticed.

Listen to the podcast of "It's Only A Game" here.

Assuming the role admirably usually performed by hamstring-challenged Argentine playmaker Guillermo Barros Schelotto, this year's likely MLS MVP, South Bay Boy Robbie Rogers curled home the audacious winning goal for the Columbus Crew in a 3-1 win Thursday over New York.

In a man of the match performance, Rogers could have had a second and drew a red card from frustrated Red Bulls defender Kevin Goldthwaite at game's end.

Headed out to Galaxy training today largely to see how new signing and former UCLA Bruin Eddie Lewis was doing after that ghastly looking head injury in Guatemala last week.

Turns out the 34-year-old Cerritos native was just fine - albeit with a chunk still noticeably missing from his head - and went through the entire 80-minute practice with no restrictions and no problems.

Check out the effort by the Palos Verdes Peninsula's John Thorrington (Chadwick School) and the other contenders over the weekend:

Bob Bradley named his squad today for the irrelevant return World Cup qualifying leg in Barbados Sunday (caps and goals are in parentheses): goalkeepers Dominic Cervi (out of contract: 0/0), Brad Guzan (Chivas USA: 1/1 SO), Chris Seitz (Real Salt Lake: 0/0); defenders Carlos Bocanegra (out of contract: 12/1), Dan Califf (FC Midtjylland: 1/0), Jay DeMerit (Watford FC: 0/0), Drew Moor (FC Dallas: 0/0) Oguchi Onyewu (Standard de Liege: 8/0), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock: 1/0); mikdfielders DaMarcus Beasley (Glasgow Rangers: 15/4), Michael Bradley (SC Heerenveen: 1/1), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA: 0/0), Eddie Lewis (Derby County: 18/2), Danny Szetela (Brescia: 0/0), John Thorrington (Chicago Fire: 0/0; forwards Freddy Adu (SL Benfica: 1/0), Chad Barrett (Chicago Fire: 0/0), Chris Rolfe (Chicago Fire: 0/0).

Televised soccer. Live soccer. European soccer. Domestic soccer. Club soccer. International soccer.

There's something for everyone this weekend and the biggest challenge will be finding time to take it all in. Let's take the plunge.

Euro 2008 begins Saturday with two games: co-hosts Switzerland play the Czech Republic with coverage beginning at 8:30 a.

Coach Peter Nowak named three Galaxy players to an experimental U.S. Under-23 National Team squad for the upcoming Toulon Tournament.

"This tournament will give us an opportunity to have a look at some players we have had in previous camps, and also a look at the new faces," said Nowak.