ChivasUSA, the Los Angeles-based "franchise" of Mexico's oldest football club--CD Guadalajara--has become the fourth MLS team to qualify for the league playoffs which begin October 25. Chivas qualified on the strength of a 2:1 victory Saturday over Kansas City Wizards at the Home Depot Center in LA. The Red and White join DC United, New England Revolution, and holders Houston Dynamo as those clubs qualified for the playoffs. The clumination of the playoffs is the single-match MLS Cup to be contested on Nov. 18 in Washington, DC. With the addition of Chivas, just four playoff spots remain. Thus far, none of the clubs making midseason acquisitions of former World Cup superstars has qualified to vie for the 2007 MLS championship.

The finals are now set for the 2007 US Open Cup soccer tournament and the winner will once again be an MLS team. FC Dallas and the New England Revolution each advanced with semifinal victories Sept. 4 over USL Division I clubs. The two finalists will meet on FC Dallas' home field, Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, Texas, on October 3. The Cup--officially, the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup--is the oldest professional soccer championship in North America, having been contested since 1914. The Open Cup, as the name implies, is intended to be a single-elimination for all US soccer clubs recognized as competitive by the US Soccer Federation including the MLS, and the several professional divisions of the USL.

The conventional wisdom is that despite the general disjunction between US sports fans and all things "soccer-philic", we at least take nationalistic pride in the great successes of our world-dominating women's national program. Don't tell that to star US striker Abby Wambach. Despite a no. 1 FIFA ranking and having achieved the semi-finals in the last World Cup only to be ousted by eventual champs Germany--now ranked 2d--the golden-clad US women's team departed this week for the World Cup finals in China with barely a whisper. Why? "It's the 'Mia factor'," Wambach told reporters two days before she helped her side to a warm-up win over Finland, 4-0, at the Home Depot Center in Los Angeles.

At the final whistle in the Home Depot Center last night, the Beckham bandwagon in America first began to lose its sheen. Only a few days ago it had all looked so rosy . Having impressed in the few weeks since he moved to the West Coast of America with LA Galaxy, pulling crowds of up to 66,000, Beckham last night appeared less than fit and less than happy as his sub-par team stumbled to a miserable 0-3 defeat to local rivals Chivas USA. The Galaxy is far from stellar - LA have won only three of their 17 games so far and have a goal difference of minus 7. Eight of the 13 clubs in MLS qualify for the end of season playoffs but it looks like Beckham's will not now be one of them after this thumping by their mid-table local rivals. The Galaxy have still to win away and boast the second to worst home record in the league.

With the MLS playoffs looming just 60 days away the league's focus finally has begun to shift from the galactic starpower of David Beckham to the Cup final which is set for Washington, DC on Nov. 18. DC United midfielder Jaime Moreno scored a second half penalty against New York Red Bulls on Wednesday night (Aug. 22) to bring his MLS career total to 109. Moreno takes over first place on the list of the league's all-time leading scorers, just ahead of the recently retired Jason Kreis. "For me, in the back of my head the main thing is the team," said the Bolivian-born Moreno after his record-setting performance. "Anything you do is because you work hard at it," continued the 33 year old. "I'm proud, and now I'm just going to keep working, keep scoring, and we'll see what happens." Moreno is also the league's lifetime leader in spot-kick goals with 33.

Hotels in Bangkok - Bookings Hotels in Kuala Lumpur - Bookings Hotels in Jakarta - Bookings Hotels in Hanoi - Bookings Hotels in Ho Chi Minh - Bookings

The USA retained its crown as the top nation in North & Central America by defeating traditional rivals Mexico 2-1 in the final of the 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup in Chicago. Neither nation had impressed in squeezing past their semi-final opponents; the US beat Canada 2-1 and Mexico edged Guadeloupe 1-0, but the big two of this FIFA region served up a rip-roaring climax to the tournament. The 50,760 in attendance at Soldier Field in Chicago were largely Mexican expats, who saw El Tricolor snatch a precious lead a minute before the interval through Atlas' starlet Andres Guardado.

The longest day of the year sees CONCACAF's final four square up as the North/Central American tournament nears its conclusion. Hosts the United States play Canada while traditional giants Mexico tackle unfancied Guadeloupe for a place in the final at Soldier Field, Chicago, on Saturday. As another Gold Cup field whittles down almost inevitably to another USA v Mexico final, the weaknesses of this region are again exposed, despite the three and a half places in the World Cup finals FIFA generously awards them. Beyond the big two of CONCACAF, a revolving door of alternately Costa Rica, Jamaica or Trinidad & Tobago have represented the region at the FIFA World Cup in recent years, and have invariably come home 'before the postcards'.

The USA is getting ready to launch a bid to host the 2018 World Cup Finals, according to its soccer federation president. USSF boss Sunil Gulati told the Washington Post, "We showed in 1994 that the U.S. is capable of hosting a terrific event. Now, with the way the soccer landscape in this country has evolved, we would be in position to put on a spectacular event." No official bids have been launched for the 2018 tournament yet, but England's FA have already signalled their intention to run, confirmed by a UK government statement of support. China is widely expected to launch a bid for the tournament and Australia has also been mentioned several times in world football circles as a possible competitor.