Simply Marvell-ous

Marvell Wynne is a classy, level-headed guy. If anyone can make the most of an unexpected trade, it's Marvell.

That doesn't mean there wasn't some disappointment involved. After all, at one point, Chivas USA held the number one pick in the 2006 draft, and Wynne was hoping to stay in his home state of California. He adjusted to New York, though, and I'm sure he'll do the same with Toronto.

The move might be hardest on his mom, according to what he told me.

"When I was drafted, I thought, 'Yeah, I’ll be far from home, but I’m in New York. It’s going to be fun.' Now I’m thinking, 'Well, I’m not going too far from New York, but I am going farther from home.' But I’ve heard that Toronto is a nice place. I called my mom about the trade and she was 'You’ve got to be kidding me. You’re going even farther away? I didn’t even know that was possible. They just added this team and now you’re going?' She was sad to see me leave. She is excited for me, but she wishes it was a little bit closer, not a little bit farther."

Weekly picks

Everyone's doing it, so why not?

Our weekly MLS picks to see who the better prognosticator is, myself or Ms. Canales. I'm not a betting man but if you are a gambler, you might not want to use my picks as a guide because I hit about 50 percent during the NFL season.

L.B. Week 3
----
Columbus 1, New England 0
Houston 1, New York 1
Chicago 2, Kansas City 1
Chivas USA 2, Real Salt Lake 0
FC Dallas 1, Colorado 1

A.C. Week 3

New England 2, Columbus 1
Houston 1, New York 0
Kansas City 3, Chicago 1
Real Salt Lake 0, Chivas USA 0
Colorado 2, FC Dallas 2

I'm a pretty conservative gambler myself. I go to Vegas with ten bucks and amuse myself with the nickel slots until it runs out.

Merlin's magic

Maybe we haven't seen it yet on the field but to come from France to an open tryout and eventually land an MLS gig is not bad. I wonder how many more Laurent Merlins are out there.

Anyway, I wrote up a feature on him for MLSnet.com now that he's all official. I also figured I'd shoot some training shots of his so people could see him run around and kick the ball a few times. It's short but he does score a goal, right at the start.

Dispensable Donovan?

Landon Donovan is arguably the best American soccer player to ever kick the ball. He loves L.A., his wife Bianca works as a T.V actress here, and he has already led the Galaxy to one MLS championship since he arrived in 2005.

Yet Lalas emphased recently that no one is untouchable. With the likes of Zinedine Zidane perhaps waiting in the wings, Donovan may be considered by some as expendable.

However, though Lalas said the "untouchable" bit, he also added something else.

"I hope Landon’s here for years to come and I hope Landon finishes his career with the Galaxy."

I think that means that as long as Landon performs well, he's likely to stay.

Llega el Guille

So it's really official now. Guillermo Barros Schelotto is a member of the Columbus Crew.

Got this release in my inbox

---
GUILLERMO BARROS SCHELOTTO AVAILABLE VIA TELECONFERENCE TODAY, APRIL 19

COLUMBUS (Thursday, April 19, 2007) – The Columbus Crew will make its latest player acquisition, Guillermo Barros Schelotto, available to the media today, Thursday, April 19, 2007, via teleconference at 1:00 p.m. ET following the player’s press conference in Argentina.

WHEN: Today – Thursday, April 19, 2007 – Approx. 1:00 p.m. ET

WHO: Guillermo Barros Schelotto – Columbus Crew

Mark McCullers – General Manager, Columbus Crew

Sigi Schmid – Head Coach, Columbus Crew

TELECONFERENCE INFORMATION:

Toll-Free Dial-In Number (US & Canada): +1-877-GUILLE-1

International dialers to call: +1-706-MELLIZO

Conference Code: DE-BOCA-AL-CREW
---

I, uh, changed the numbers a little bit.

Spot story

I got the chance to talk to John Cunliffe on Tuesday. He's kind of a quiet guy. I don't know if he's just trying to get used to playing out here or if he's just sort of quiet by nature but he's always just been a little on the reserved side, as long as I've been dealing with him anyway. He seems like a nice enough fellow and answered all my questions recently.

Messidona

El Pais does a video comparison of the two goals, calling them, "nearly identical, even to the celebration".

Kudos to Houston

This is a great thing to do.

Wish more MLS teams, especially the one closest to the tragedy, would also think of some way to express solidarity and sympathy.

Toronto moves

One of the first times that I interviewed Dwayne DeRosario was when he'd just finished playing for Canada in a scoreless draw versus the U.S.

Since the announcement had just been made about Toronto, I asked him if he was going to play there.

He admitted that it would be nice and mentioned that he considered it his hometown.

When Kasey Keller mentioned recently that he was less inclined to take a pay cut to come to MLS because no team existed near his own hometown in the Pacific Northwest, it reminded me, of all things, of DeRosario, who is at a contract impasse with Houston.

It might be that DeRosario would take less money to play for Toronto. It might also be that Houston picked up Richard Mulrooney precisely on that basis - Mulrooney wanted to be near family in Texas. He could provide cover in the midfield if DeRosario does go to Toronto one day.

Open Cup qualifiers

As difficult it is to believe, MLS clubs will start playing U.S. Open Cup matches already. They're actually qualifying matches but still the results will progress or destroy title hopes.

It's part of a new wrinkle this year as some clubs will have to qualify to participate. In case you need a refresher or are unaware of the new format, here it is:

The top three clubs in each conference from last season qualified directly to the tournament proper: D.C. United, New England, Chicago, Houston, FC Dallas, Chivas USA.

The remaining six clubs will have to qualify. The non-playoff clubs - Galaxy vs. Columbus, Real Salt Lake vs. Kansas City - will have qualifying matches. The winners will play one more game (Galaxy-Crew vs. New York; RSL-KC vs. Colorado) and those winners will reach the tournament.

RSL hosts Kansas City today while the Galaxy is at the Crew next Tuesday.

I thought the Galaxy, as 2006 finalists, should have gotten a direct bid to the tournament. Still, the way it turned out, if the Galaxy beats Columbus, the Red Bulls will come out here to Carson to play the Galaxy. Suddenly, that's not a bad thing.

Show us your colors! 4-19

Last week, we asked people to send us pictures of them in their colors. I'll get the party started here. This is my daughter Yvie with then-Galaxy goalkeeper Kevin Hartman. Okay, so Yvie's not in her soccer colors (I'm still trying to decide what soccer clubs she's going to root for but luckily she's already been branded an L.A. Dodger fan) but she just so happened to wear her favorite color this day.

By the way, if you want to Show us Your Colors, feel free to e-mail me a picture at: LASoccerEdit [at] aol.com.

Getting warmer?

I wouldn't say that Frank Yallop is on any sort of hot seat as Galaxy coach, but the bottom line is that if the results don't improve - he could be.

I haven't done a major study of this, but I think the Galaxy has to be one of the top teams in MLS for going through coaches.

Of course, Chivas USA is in a class all its own there. The team is in its third year and has had five coaches - Thomas Rongen, interim Javier Ledesma, Hans Westerhoff, Bob Bradley, and the current coach, Preki.

Sound off on MLS names

Soccer365 doesn't usually post a lot of reader reaction, but this time, they did.

Cue him up

Chivas USA Co-Owner Antonio Cue did not say a whole lot when we talked on Monday.

But he did say a few things. The club had all but signed a deal with a sponsor, and said deal would be announced in early May. And he did give some thoughts as to their thoughts on landing players.

Lobo Likes L.A.

Amado Guevara hasn't scored yet for Chivas USA, but he'll have an impact on the club soon enough. Once he learns to play with his new teammates, he'll start to show his skill.

But he's already liking the weather and being away from New York.

"There will be a better soccer atmosphere here and not like there is in New York. That city is like the weather: cold."

Lots of interest

While at Chivas USA practice today, I was chatting with their PR guy, Rigo Cervantez, one of the best in the business. Rigo also has a radio show on Futbol de Primera and he told me that he had Hernan Cristante on his show yesterday. Cristante is a longtime Toluca goalkeeper and is Argentine. They got to talking about MLS, Rigo told me, and Cristante said he would play in MLS tomorrow if he could.

Now, I don't know if there is any interest from anywhere in him - probably not because he's an aging keeper, think Preston Burpo with some more wear and tear in him. Regardless, it looks like the more players like David Beckham and Cuauhtemoc Blanco join, the more interest there will be from foreign-based players, both good veterans like Guillermo Barros Schelotto and decent guys like Hernan Cristante.

This rash of incoming talent is beneficial not only to the clubs who get these guys but to players from overseas who are now apparently considering MLS a viable option.

Weird Science

I've donated blood a lot in my time (if you can't afford to give much to charity, give what you can), but even though I've heard of donating your own blood before a surgery (they freeze it so you can be sure the blood is safe - since it's your own) I hadn't heard of the procedure Jonny B. went through recently.

Freaky stuff - but whatever works, right?

Interviews

I'm not sure what she asked Claudio because I talked to Panchito while their interview went on. Her interview with Panchito wasn't very hard-hitting, though.

I'm guessing Panchito enjoyed his interview with her more than he enjoyed chatting with me about Houston and Real Salt Lake.

John Cunliffe was perplexed by it all. He asked me "Why are they dressed like that?" I didn't really have a good answer for him. All I told him was that that sort of reporting is popular among the Mexican media.

Looky-loos

While the players were going through their drills, they did well to ignore the distractions on the sidelines. But while they were setting up, well, it was hard for them.

Afterward, though, the steady stream of players and coaches walked by and most could not help but glance at the reporter who stuck around to interview a couple of players.

ChivaGirls, Girls, Girls

Sometimes during Chivas USA training sessions, you get some unexpected TV media. And today's drew a lot of attention from players, coaches and everyone in attendance. And no, I didn't wear my swimsuit to training today.

Two ChivaGirls and one, uh, reporter were out there doing TV stuff. The reporter was from L.A. channel 22, KWHY, but I don't know her name. I suppose I could do a search for it but I didn't. The two ChivaGirls, well, I'm not up to speed on this year's crop. I know Chivas USA got Alex Zotinca and Amado Guevara among others but I have yet to write an exploratory piece on the turnover within the ChivaGirl ranks.

On their little segment that they taped, the reporter asked the ChivaGirls who they liked. The one said she liked Jonathan Bornstein. The other said something about her boyfriend being a jealous type or something. I don't know. I was distracted.

Because I was taking pictures. Yeah. Pictures.