David Beckham is expected to make his long-awaited return to the LA Galaxy at home to the Columbus Crew on September 11. Buy LA Galaxy v Columbus Crew Tickets

The 35-year-old, who tore his Achilles tendon while playing for Milan during the winter has not been expected to return to the Galaxy until next week.

In an interview on the Galaxy web site Beckham had this to say about returning to MLS:

“The doctors’ original date was Oct. 1, but I always kind of said I want to be ready before then. I’ll keep my fingers crossed and hopefully will play in part of the game here against Columbus. I’ll be on the bench, and hopefully I’ll get on the field for 15-20 minutes. That’s what I’m looking at.”

Beckham participated in his first full training session with the club on Aug. 11 and has gradually increased his work load, joining in with the rest of the squad in more and more of the training exercises. He said he is feeling better and better, although he admitted his fitness level “is like being in preseason.”

“At the moment, you have good days and you have bad days. You wake up with a lot more pain in your body when you’re in preseason. I have to do it because I need to get as close to match fitness as possible. It’s a bit difficult because when you don’t play in games; that’s where you get the real fitness from. But I’m doing what I can in the gym and what I can on the field, just trying to get strength back in my leg. It kind of kicks you up the backside when you realize you can’t do certain things. Working out was something I’ve done for the last 25 years, and to not being able to do it was tough for me.”

In front of a sold-out Red Bull Arena, the two best teams in Major League soccer met Saturday night with the LA Galaxy beating the New York Red Bulls 1-0 behind Edson Buddle’s 13th goal of the season.

With LA manager Bruce Arena watching from a suite after spending two days in a New Jersey hospital, Buddle’s 10th minute strike allowed the Galaxy to extend their lead in the Western Conference to an MLS-best 43 points.

After striking the crossbar in the seventh minute through a Chris Birchall drive, LA would not miss three minutes later.

Galaxy midfielder Juninho won the ball at midfield from Rafael Marquez and played a through pass that split New York central defenders Tim Ream and Carlos Mendes. Buddle raced onto the ball and beat hard charging goalkeeper Bouna Coundoul to put the visitors up 1-0.

After Los Angeles took the early lead, New York would hold the majority of possession but seemed inept at breaking down the Galaxy backline.

The Red Bulls did have a few chances in the first 45 minutes but they came exclusively off set pieces. The best of those came in first-half stoppage time, when a Rafa Márquez free kick from the right side found Juan Pablo Ángel in the box, but the New York striker’s header slammed against the post.

The second half proved equally frustrating for the Red Bulls as the Los Angeles defense held tight and compact. Just a few minutes after the break, Thierry Henry chased down an errant back pass to Galaxy goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts. Henry got to the ball first and tried to step around Ricketts but the Los Angeles netminder charged hard and cleared the ball before the Frenchman could make his move.

The Red Bulls had the run of chances in the second half, with the best look coming in the 72nd minute. On a corner kick swung in by Joel Lindpere, Ángel dove to perfectly head the effort, but Ricketts made the diving save. Ream challenged for the rebound but it was blocked off the line.

The Galaxy held tight throughout the second half, their back four conceding space but always clamping down within 30 yards of
goal.

LA are now a perfect 13-0-0 when scoring the first goal during the 2010 campaign and hold the best road record in MLS with a 7-2-2 mark away from The Home Depot Center.

When Real Madrid played the Los Angeles Galaxy in 2005, they brought a star-studded lineup that included stars like Ronaldo, David Beckham, Zinedine Zidane, Roberto Carlos and Luís Figo.

Five years later, the faces have changed, but Real Madrid will once again bring an all-star cast when they return to California next month on tour. Real Madrid will be bringing along their biggest names, Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, and World Cup winners Iker Casillas, Xabi Alonso, Sergio Ramos and Álvaro Arbeloa.

Other notable names on the list include Argentine internationals Gonzalo Higuaín, Fernando Gago and Ángel di María; Dutch midfielder Rafael van der Vaart; and France standouts Karim Benzema and Lassana Diarra.

Real Madrid will play two games in their U.S. tour. First they will play Mexico City powerhouse Club América at San Francisco’s Candlestick Park on August 4th (Buy Real Madrid v Club America Tickets), then they will travel back to LA to meet the Galaxy at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena on Aug. 7. Buy Galaxy v Real Madrid Tickets

It was  hot and humid Saturday night in New England as I headed to Foxboro to watch the New England Revolution take on the LA Galaxy in Major League Soccer action.

The Galaxy were without two key players, as Landon Donovan and Omar Gonzalez both missed the match. Donovan rested after his World Cup efforts while Gonzalez was suspended for the game. But they still had Edson Buddle up front and I was interested to see how how looked in person.

I have seen the Revolution play before, but this time I wanted to watch the game with with the diehard Revolution fans. So I stopped by the Revolution gift shop to pick up my Revs scarf and headed to the The Fort section of Gillette stadium. The Fort is where the Revolution fans stand and sing all game and they create a great atmosphere.

Its been a long time since I stood for 90 minutes but you have too in The Fort or else you cannot see anything. If you are going to go to an MLS game in Boston, head to The Fort. It is the best way to watch the game, with passionate New England Revolution fans.

And those passionate Revolution fans had something to cheer about as the Revs ended as a three-match losing streak beating the Galaxy 2-0 behind goals from Marko Perovic and Sainey Nyassi.

The Revolution fully deserved the victory. The Galaxy were really poor and disappointing. Buddle did nothing and the Galaxy looked short of ideas. They had nobody creative to break down the Revs. If LA sells Donovan next month to a Premier League team they had better sign a creative designated player if they have any hope of going back to the MLS Cup this season.

The Revs on the other hand looked the most dangerous and with some better finishing could have scored a couple more goals.

Overall a great night at Gillette. The atmosphere at MLS games is improving. I was at BMO Field in Toronto last year and enjoyed a similar fun atmosphere.

When your team has not won many games this season, when they do win, and beat LA at that, then it is time to celebrate and that is what Revs fans did after the game as you can see here:

ESPN has seen a 36% increase in its ratings compared to the World Cup four years ago as suddenly soccer became a sport that the mainstream media covered. But the question that Major League Soccer probably wanted answered was did that interest in the world cup translate to more fans going to MLS games? The answer to that question is yes.

CSNE.com had some MLS attendance data that nine out of 12 MLS teams to have hosted a match since the World Cup started saw attendance go up from its last pre-tournament figure.

From the article:

“The return of Landon Donovan and Edson Buddle to MLS action on Sunday also marked the LA Galaxy‘s first match since before the World Cup. Twenty-seven thousand flocked to the stadium to welcome the duo home from South Africa, a mind-boggling 37.5 percent increase over the Galaxy‘s 2010 average attendance coming into the match. On the field, the twice-teammates showed their camaraderie when Donovan assisted on a Buddle goal early in the 19th minute as the Galaxy improved to 11-1-3 on the season with a 3-1 win over Seattle Sounders FC. The hookup furthered Buddle’s and Donovan’s respective MLS leads in goals and assists, as each has now compiled 10 in his given category. MLS attendance at large is up nearly 10 percent in 2010 from 2009, averaging over 16,442 fans a game.”

The 10% increase in MLS attendance is really good considering the state of the U.S. economy. By comparison, Major League Baseball has seen its attendance drop by about 1% this season over 2009.

Soccer interest in the U.S. will not end with the World Cup Final tomorrow. The arrival of Manchester United in Chicago on Monday signals the beginning of a month where some of the biggest clubs in the world will be training and playing games in the U.S. Fan interest is extremely high for these games and hopefully the MLS can continue to turn that interest in seat buying fans.

The LA Galaxy has announced that their game against Champions League and Serie A winners Inter Milan, scheduled to be played August 7th has been postponed and instead the Galaxy will play Real Madrid that same day at the Rose Bowl. Buy Real Madrid v LA Galaxy Tickets

Not a bad replacement game! Last season the Galaxy played Barcelona in front of over 93,000 fans at the Rose Bowl and I would expect the crowd to see Real Madrid play to be similar in size.

“While we were looking forward to playing Inter Milan, we are very pleased to be able to bring our fans a game against one of the world’s biggest clubs, one that features a host of the world’s top players in Real Madrid,” said Tom Payne, LA Galaxy President of Business Operations. “Many fans will remember Madrid’s last visit to Los Angeles when the teams played in front of a capacity crowd at The Home Depot Center in 2005, and now we will be hosting them at the historic Rose Bowl in what will prove to be another memorable game for soccer fans throughout Southern California.”

The game will be almost four weeks after the end of the World Cup, so I would expect Madrid stars like Ronaldo and Kaka to be playing. One man who will be there is Jose Mourinho as the Special One took over at the Bernabeu this summer. Buy Real Madrid v LA Galaxy Tickets

The Major League Soccer Players Union recently released the salaries for the 2010 MLS season (PDF).

Some of the highlights:

• The average salary in MLS in 2010 is $138,169, down 6.6% from last season’s mark of $147,945.
• The highest paid player is David Beckham with $6.5 million
• The lowest paid player is Lamar Neagle of Seattle Sounders will make $15,300 this season
• There are at least 27 players in MLS making $20,100 this season

Ten Highest Paid MLS Players

• David Beckham LA Galaxy - $6.5 million
• Landon Donovan LA Galaxy – $2.13 million
• Juan Pablo Angel New York Red Bulls – $1.92 million
• Julian de Guzman Toronto FC – $1.72 million
• Freddie Ljungberg Seattle Sounders – $1.34 million
• Blaise Nkufo Seattle Sounders – $480,000
• Shalrie Joseph NE Revolution – $475,000
• Taylor Twellman NE Revolution – $459,500
• Dwayne DeRosario Toronto FC – $443,750
• Brian McBride Chicago – $403,333

The surprise to me here is Shalrie Joseph in New England. The 7th highest paid player in MLS. Yes he is good, but I don’t think anyone would call him the 7th best player in the league.

Just missing the Top 10 were Conner Casey Colorado ($350,000), Brian Ching Houston ($350,000) and Chad Marshall Columbus Crew – $320,000

Edson Buddle is here to stay after a wonderful performance against the Expansion Union of Philadelphia.  I can honestly say that I didn’t see this coming, but I am pleasantly surprised at how wonderfully this dude is playing for a Galaxy team that looked to be dead-in-the-water because of the loss of David Beckham.

I think the funniest part of all this is that Buddle assisted on the first goal of the game and that is first goal this season that he HASN’T scored for LA.  How hilarious is that?  Somehow, this dude came out of nowhere and became an offensive force for LA and now the team has basically ceded control of the offense to him.  Honestly, it was a smart move to give him the offense–now all they have to do is learn not to mess with it.

Here’s the danger for LA.  They see that Buddle can do anything and they start using him too much.  Or, he has one bad match and suddenly they go in a different direction.  If it ain’t broke then don’t fix it!  That’s my motto!

Now, how will this play out for the Galaxy this season?  Well, if they have Buddle running the entire offense he’s going to have to find a way to make other guys on the team responsible for some of that offense.  I’m not sure how he will do that, but I know that if he doesn’t get everyone else involved then the Galaxy are going to look like the pre ’91 Bulls or the ’05-’07 Lakers–NOT GOOD.

So, give this guy the “C” tell him he’s your new leader and just move on.  The Galaxy could play this whole season like this and–I’d dare say–might have more success than with the “Sensei of Soccer” who isn’t in town anymore.

Add Argentina’s Boca Juniors to the list of high-profile international friendlies coming to MLS stadiums this summer. Buy LA Galaxy v Boca Juniors Tickets

The Los Angeles Galaxy announced Today that they will play Boca Juniors at the Home Depot Center on May 23.

The Argentine giants have won 23 Primera División de Argentina domestic championships and 18 international trophies, a record which is equaled only by AC Milan and includes six Copa Libertadores titles.

“We are very excited to be hosting Argentina’s Boca Juniors, who are one of the most prestigious clubs in the world with an incredible tradition of winning championships,” said LA Galaxy president of business operations Tom Payne in a statement. “It is a thrilling game for our fans and one that will feature Argentina’s [Juan Román] Riquelme and [Martín] Palermo, and continues our commitment to provide our fans the chance to see the Galaxy face off against some of the best international competition.”

Known for being a club that plays an attractive style of soccer, Boca Juniors have helped to produce some of the greatest players in the history of Argentine soccer, including Diego Maradona, Carlos Tévez, Riquelme and more. Their game against the Galaxy – the first ever meeting between the two sides – is the first of their U.S. tour, details of which will be announced shortly. Buy LA Galaxy v Boca Juniors Tickets

As you get older your body does not recover as quickly from injuries as it did when you were younger. That is the case with David Beckham.

Beckham, who ruptured this Achilles tendon in March while playing for AC Milan, was initially expected to be back playing for the LA Galaxy in September. But the recovery is going slower than expected and Beckham does not expect to be ready to play until November.

“I won’t be running for another three months, so I will be playing again in, probably, November. My mentality is to kind of push it and get moving and running and soon as possible. But it’s an injury that has to take time to heal”. It’s obviously disappointing because I’ve been working for the last two years to get into the English squad (for the World Cup).”

“At the moment, it’s just getting the motion back into the ankle, the tendon, because it’s still repairing,” Beckham said on the MLS website. “I’m trying to get mobilization back into the ankle.”

The Galaxy have not appeared to miss Beckham this season as they are off to a 4-0-1 start ans sit atop the Western Conference. If Beckham misses all the 2010 MLS season and then heads back to Milan in January for another loan spell, will we ever see him in the MLS again?