assuming he can beat out the competition. Sean Franklin, on the mend from hernia surgery, played 87 minutes there in Wednesday's Pan-Pacific Championship. So perhaps Arena has something else in mind for that position.
The Galaxy faces South Korea's Suwon Samsung Bluewings in Saturday's tournament title match.
3. A smoother transition into the season: D.C. United left the wintry nation's capital for (hopefully) better weather in Puerto Rico earlier this week. Instead, manager Tom Soehn and his men got a mixed bag of rain and sun on the island.
But they'll take it. And besides, prep for the 2009 MLS campaign is infinitely less complicated than preseasons past.
That's because the club has not been forced to immediately begin prepping for non-league tournament play. By this point of preseason training last year, United needed to be moving at full speed, about to step head-long into CONCACAF Champions' Cup play. Things were even more harried a year before that, when United traveled to Honduras for a Feb. 22 Champions' Cup match.
While most teams get to ease into preseason training with early fitness work, followed by a slow incorporation of offensive and defensive tenets, United had to immediately begin sorting out its two-deep roster positioning and fine tuning work on set pieces and such.
How different is this year? "Night and day," said Soehn, whose team still has a month of rehearsals ahead before a March 22 season opener against the Galaxy.
"What ends up happening is that have to focus on the first 14 guys [on the roster]," Soehn said in a telephone interview Thursday from Puerto Rico. "I still feel sorry for Houston, having to do that this year. I've yet to see a team have to do that and then start well in MLS. I haven't figured out how to do it, and I don't think anyone else has either. But that's the way it is, and I don't see it changing any time soon."
4. Getting off the trainer's table: A quick update on some of the higher profile recovery projects of Major League Soccer's preseason, a.k.a., the dudes who can only hope to be ready by opening day:
In the woodsy Northwest, the Seattle Times has reported that Freddie Ljungberg, who remains in Sweden recovering from off-season hip surgery, now seems likely to be out until mid-April. Sounders officials had been cautiously hopeful that the newly signed DP attacker could get some minutes in its club's debut contest, March 21 at Qwest Field. Now that seems doubtful.
Soehn says goalkeeper Louis Crayton, the incumbent in the net at RFK Stadium, is nearly fully recovered from shoulder issues, although he may still be holding back just a little to be cautious.
Stuart Holden got his first preseason minutes for the Dynamo late last week. But his recovery from a quadriceps injury, collected in January while training with Bob Bradley's national team, suffered a setback this week with the sad news of his father's passing. Brian Holden, 55, died on Monday after a six-year battle with pancreatic cancer.
In Columbus, Adam Moffat has yet to play for new manager Robert Warzycha. Moffat was a big part of last year's fast start at Crew Stadium, but knee surgery in May sidelined the young midfielder for the remainder of Columbus' championship season. Crew officials hope Moffat can get some minutes in England, where the team is training next week.
5. CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinals approach: We really have no idea where Houston stands in terms of readiness for Tuesday's Champions League contest at Robertson Stadium. Dominic Kinnear's side has looked fine in preseason contests so far. But as we know, preseason friendlies are great for gaining fitness, but horribly poor indicators of how individuals and teams will perform once competition gets serious.
The Dynamo face Atlante on Tuesday, and while Houston can't match the Mexican side in terms of prep time, at least things aren't spiraling south for the Orange.
Atlante can't say the same. In some terribly unfortunate timing, the club from Cancun is going through trying times.
Atlante, now based in one of Mexico's resort destinations after moving from its longtime Mexico City base in 2007, has just one win in six matches in the 2009 Clausura.
Manager Jose Guadalupe's team has slumped badly since claiming the top spot in Group C of Champions League round-robin play last fall; it also dropped meekly from the 2008 Apertura playoffs. The team is 1-2-3 in the spring season, with just seven goals scored. A 1-1 draw at home to Tigres on Wednesday was the latest disappointment. Up this weekend is a trip to San Luis, then an immediate departure for Houston.
Ironically, none of the Mexican teams that will join Houston, two USL sides and a Honduran club in the Champions League quarterfinals is doing much to shout about currently. Mexican sides Santos, Pumas and Cruz Azul are struggling similarly.
The excitement of the tournament may come out of Canada. Montreal, which not so long ago was an oft-mentioned candidate for the next round of MLS expansion, has sold more than 45,000 tickets for its contest Wednesday against Santos at historic Olympic Stadium.
Steve Davis is a freelance writer who has covered Major League Soccer since its inception. Steve can be reached at BigTexSoccer@yahoo.com. The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author's, and not necessarily those of Major League Soccer or MLSnet.com.
