Even though he arrived early, about 30 Galaxy fans were on hand when Edson Buddle returned to Southern California Friday night, stepping off a flight from Europe (Photo courtesy LA Galaxy). Past and future Galaxy striker Edson Buddle will hold a press conference Monday at Home Depot Center after his

You can bet the former Bruin playmaker would like a return to Southern California. But is another midfielder a priority for the Galaxy? Read more here.

Another Philadelphia Union player is on his way out of the club, as Kyle Nakazawa will be traded, the Brotherly Game has learned.

Sources tell the Brotherly Game that the Nakazawa will be moved to the LA Galaxy in a move that one of the sources said will be announced tomorrow. The trade has been in the works since sometime last week.

Yes, you read that right. Southern California's own Landon Donovan, a Redlands native, is ranked three places higher than global superstar and part-time underwear model David Beckham on the just released Bloomberg Businessweek Power 100 list of the most powerful professional athletes in American sports.

David Beckham is staying put in LA. (Getty Images)

He's staying put.

The Los Angeles Galaxy announced today that they have reached an agreement with David Beckham on a new two-year deal.

Beckham turned down offers from French club Paris-Saint Germain, now backed by wealthy Qatari owners who dangled a reported 18-month, $17.

(In its entirety)...FIFA.com caught up with Jurgen Klinsmann to discuss his first six months in charge of USA. A legendary former player who dazzled for Germany, Bayern Munich, Inter Milan and Tottenham Hotspur, the 47-year-old spoke candidly about his hopes to transform American soccer from floor to ceiling.

The MLS SuperDraft is Thursday, Jan. 12 and for a few players in camp, it's the day they could finally realize a childhood dream of turning professional. Two players in camp have had their name tossed around in the various mock drafts building up to tomorrow's big event in Kansas City. Defender Andrew Wenger out of Duke traveled to the Midwest to be a part of the proceedings and forward Kelyn Rowe out of UCLA will be watching events unfold from his hotel room here in Southern California.

The U-23s are back in action to start 2012, holding a training camp at The Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. Head coach Caleb Porter has named a squad of 23 players to train at the HDC, with eye towards Olympic Qualifying in March (just more than two months away!).
In addition to two-a-days in Southern California, the team will also head to Costa Rica for a first trip abroad under Porter.

Brad Evans was certainly a hit at Friday night's Q&A session at Official U.S. Soccer Bar Tim Finnegan's Irish Pub, answering questions and sharing stories for more than an hour about rising from a club player in Arizona to the U.S. National Team.
The local fans were particularly interested in his thoughts about player development in the state and how more kids can reach the elite levels in the sport.

Silly Mario: Manchester City's Mario Balotelli, seen here laying down on the job in a Boxing Day game, provided Southern California soccer fans with one of the year's funnier moments (Photo Ian Kington/AFP Photo/Getty Images). The year's final column riffs on those endless end of year lists sports writers with

Which I'm sure is a massive relief to the players from Southern California, not to mention the fans. The 8 p.m. March 7 quarterfinal will be played at the Rogers Centre, which has a retractable roof. The bad news: the game will be played on artificial turf, but at least

The U.S. WNT's second training session on Friday included some stunning scenery in the form of a blood red sunset in Southern California.
The moon was also out, and settles nicely on the top of The Home Depot Center during goalkeeper training...
Speaking of the moon, as Hope Solo comes for a cross in the pic below, can you figure out which is the ball, which is a light and which is the moon?

In the wake of the Galaxy's MLS Cup triumph Sunday, the first 2,011 season ticket holders to have their picture taken with the trophy at Home Depot Center also received a 1'x1' piece of the field the Galaxy won their third MLS championship on, including care instructions. (Thanks to loyal reader Studs for the picture).

By Clemente Lisi – Carson, CA (Nov 20, 2011) US Soccer Players – The joke in the press box at the Home Depot Center on Sunday night was that it had been the fault of the large contingent of English journalists credentialed for MLS Cup (there to see David Beckham) who brought the rain with them to Southern California.

BY ADAM SERRANO

Robbie Keane is looking is to cap off one of the best weeks of his career with a championship.

Keane led Ireland qualify for their first appearance at the European Championships on Tuesday with a convincing playoff victory over Estonia. Now, the Irish striker will look to cap off his impressive week with an MLS Cup title when his Los Angeles Galaxy take on the Houston Dynamo on Sunday.

MLS Cup dream shattered: Chad Barrett will miss MLS Cup through injury (Getty Images).

It's a sickening blow for the Galaxy and UCLA product Chad Barrett, the Galaxy's second leading goalscorer.

The seven-year MLS veteran, playing his first season in Southern California, dislocated his right ankle in training today.

*Today's 64-team NCAA Tournament draw has immediately thrown up a Southern California coastal clash: Long Beach State against Pepperdine at 1:30 p.m. Saturday in Malibu.

Long Beach qualified for the tournament for the third time in four years after beating 24th-ranked UC Irvine Sunday and winning the Big West.

MLS Man: Landon Donovan will remain with Coach Bruce Arena and the Galaxy in the wake of their Western Conference Final win Sunday as they pursue an MLS title rather than link up with the U.S. for the two European friendlies during the international break this week (Photo by Staff Photographer Sean Hiller).

Back to Southern California: David Beckham and the Galaxy and Thierry Henry and the New York Red Bulls play the second leg of their Western Conference Semifinal Thursday in Carson (AP Photo).

Landon Donovan has never been afraid to criticize anyone, even David Beckham (who incidentally is listed as questionable for Thursday's game in Carson with back spasms).

The Seattle Sounders travel down to the Home Depot Center to face Chivas USA. Each team could really just consider this a 'super reserves' game. For the Sounders it will be preparation for the MLS Cup Playoffs and the ultimate goal of the 2011 team, the MLS Cup. For Robin Fraser with Chivas it will be another chance to make decisions about next year's talents.

Youth soccer in Southern California continues to evolve, lead, pioneer, and at least in my opinion, host the largest density of talent in the country. It's like a mecca for the youth game.

Now we too hope to contribute to this landscape on a macro scale and push the envelope even further!

The U.S. Futsal National Team is holding a camp this week at Soccer City in Torrance, Calif. The training camp is building on the success of the player identification camp held earlier this month and the team is now in the process of preparing for FIFA Futsal World Cup qualifying next year.
One goal of the player identification camp was to rebuilt the squad with an injection of youth, and three players who are 17 and under have joined the team in southern california.

A bit of a chaser on yesterday's Charlie Davies' bit:

My topic in this week's Talking Tactics column at MLSSoccer.com was D.C. United's effective counter attacking strategy Saturday, key in the 3-0 win in Southern California. It seems that most people agreed with yesterday's rant, about one player getting disproportionate credit for United's big win.

Costa Rica spoiled Jurgen Klinsmann's second game in charge of the United States National Team and his first in his adopted home area of Southern California on Friday night, beating the US in front of 15,798 at The Home Depot Center. Portland Timbers defender Rodney Wallace scored the game's only goal in the 65th minute after subbing in four minutes earlier.

*The U.S.-Costa Rica game kicks off at 8 p.m. at Home Depot Center (live ESPN2). Plenty of tickets are available. The 24,500-seat stadium may be around half full for the game.

Staff writer Phil Collin has the game preview.

Here's more on the philosophy of Jurgen Klinsmann and what we learned from his first game in charge of the U.

Orzco Fiscal returns to the area where he grew up.
Michael Orozco Fiscal grew up in Orange, Calif. so the time in Southern California before tonight's game against Costa Rica has been a welcome return home for the defender currently playing for San Luis in the Mexico Primera Division.

On Friday, the US national team will play its first match in Southern California under Jurgen Klinsmann. It wasn't Klinsmann's idea to play this match here of course but it is a great chance for the locals to get familiar with their locally-based national team manager.
Klinsmann, who has long resided in nearby Orange County, will trot out a host of new players as the U.

On Friday, the US national team will play its first match in Southern California under Jurgen Klinsmann. It wasn't Klinsmann's idea to play this match here of course but it is a great chance for the locals to get familiar with their locally-based national team manager.
Klinsmann, who has long resided in nearby Orange County, will trot out a host of new players as the U.

US Soccer has released a video featuring interviews and footage with the US men's national team who are currently training in Carson, California.

The US men's team prepares to face Costa Rica at The Home Depot Center. Jozy Altidore talks about the team's first extended camp with Jurgen Klinsmann and Robbie Rogers returns home to Southern California.

With camp underway in Carson, Studio 90 is on the ground as the team prepares to face Costa Rica. Jozy Altidore talked about his excitement at coming into a first camp under Jurgen Klinsmann and both he and Robbie Rogers looked forward to the week ahead. Studio 90 also asked Rogers about coming home to Southern California.

Spector gets his first call up since joining Birmingham City this summer
As the MNT arrives in Southern California, the MNT Blog has a few roster moves to report. Birmingham City defender Jonathan Spector has been added to the squad, as has DC United midfielder Chris Pontius.

It might not be the big-name player everyone was hoping to get, but the Seattle Sounders have added at least one new player before the Sept. 15 MLS roster deadline. The Sounders traded a third-round pick in the 2012 draft to move into the Chicago Fire's No. 4 spot in the Allocation Order and picked Sammy Ochoa, who was here on trial earlier this year and played for Sigi Schmid on the U.

Akron players celebrate their National Championship

We have decided to do some detailed game analysis during the college season this fall. We will do our best to cover a couple of games on a weekly basis live out of Southern California as well as some games we see on TV (FSC game of the week) or online video feed.

Akron players celebrate their National Championship

We have decided to do some detailed game analysis during the college season this fall. We will do our best to cover a couple of games on a weekly basis live out of Southern California as well as some games we see on TV (FSC game of the week) or online video feed.

BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. - He's only 19 years old, but Chicago Fire striker Orr Barouch has already been around the world and back again.

Born in Israel, Barouch - who was last week called up to the Israeli U-21 national team for a September friendly at England - moved to Southern California at age five, nearly joined Belgian team Club Brugge after spending a few months there in the summer of 2009, and eventually signed with Mexican club Tigres UANL later that year.

Sammy Ochoa, the former U.S. Under-20 forward, is set to return from Mexico to the U.S. - and could join Chivas USA, 100 Percent Soccer has learned.

Chivas USA remain atop the MLS allocation order and the 24-year-old who is from the Los Angeles area and living in Corona would seem the type of young Latino player that should form the backbone of the club.

It's not often the US national team comes around these parts, around SoCal.
Sure, Home Depot Center gets a friendly once a year, but that's in January after a weeks-long camp that usually features a bunch of new faces. While those friendlies can be entertaining, it's tough to watch the US play international friendlies on FIFA dates (with full teams) as well as World Cup qualifying matches and other meaningful games in far-flung destinations around the country.

It's not often the US national team comes around these parts, around SoCal.
Sure, Home Depot Center gets a friendly once a year, but that's in January after a weeks-long camp that usually features a bunch of new faces. While those friendlies can be entertaining, it's tough to watch the US play international friendlies on FIFA dates (with full teams) as well as World Cup qualifying matches and other meaningful games in far-flung destinations around the country.

If you live in Southern California and want a chance to play a soccer at the professional level then this is your opportunity. The newest professional sports team in Southern California, the Anaheim Bolts, will be hosting their second open tryouts at the ArenaSoccer Park of Orange.
The Anaheim Bolts 2011 Open Tryouts provides an opportunity for players to showcase their talent to the coaching staff of the newest professional indoor soccer team, The Anaheim Bolts.

When we visited Shannon Boxx in her hometown(s), it was a beautiful day in Los Angeles. Boxx grew up in Torrance and Redondo Beach, and currently lives in the South Bay, which is one of the best spots in many, many great spots in Southern California.
We visited her at her apartment during a rare respite from the road where she talked about the travails of a professional soccer player.