Soccer speakers

The annual Soccer Symposium will be held on Oct. 4 in Los Angeles, the day before the Soccer Player of the Year is handed out. Every year, the symposium attracts some well-known and influential speakers, and this year is no different.

The lineup will consist of US soccer coach Bob Bradley, Mexico federation general secretary Decio De Maria and Galaxy GM Alexi Lalas. This sort of mirrors the 2005 lineup when then-US coach Bruce Arena, US soccer president Robert Contiguglia, Mexico U-17 coach Jesus Ramirez and Chivas USA owner Antonio Cue spoke.

This year's release said there would be some announcements made during the speeches, and we could again see something reflecting 2005. In '05, Arena announced how the build-up to the World Cup would look like, where the team would train, some of the friendlies they'd play, etc. If only I'd have told him "Don't use the 4-5-1 against the Czechs" then I might have saved everyone some heartache.

Perhaps this will give us a look at the calendar for both the US and Mexico with regards to next year will look like or maybe (fingers crossed) they'll announce a friendly for next year to make up for the botched Azteca one from this year.

Not sure what Lalas would announce, though I'm sure Galaxy fans right now would like for him to announce his resignation.

This event and the Honda Player of the Year are put on by Futbol de Primera, which really does a great job to bring this to us every year. On an aside, this event is usually very formal. The first year I went, I was severely underdressed and felt like a dork but the next year, which I guess was last year, I wore a suit and fit right in. I need to get a new suit for this year's event, though.