Soccer Insider

*Trialists are, indeed, on their way this week. No identities available yet. Reports out of Honduras last week said DCU was in negotiations with Marathon about acquiring defender Erick Norales and forward Carlos Will Mejia. United doesn't comment on potential signings and a Central American contact tells the Insider that it's "not happening."

*The DCU-Real Madrid friendly Aug. 9 at FedEx Field will be shown live on Fox Soccer Channel and Telefutura.

*Ticket sales for the Real visit are around 40,000. Besides DCU's aggressive marketing campaign, the Redskins have been pitching the match to their season ticket holders -- but apparently to a lukewarm response.

*United is finalizing a formal proposal to host the U.S. Open Cup final Sept. 1-2. Seattle is also eager to host the game. My guess is that, if the Sounders defeat Houston in next Tuesday's semifinals, they'll win hosting rights from the USSF and play DCU or Rochester at Qwest Field. If DCU defeats the Rhinos and Houston beats Seattle, RFK Stadium seems to be the logical choice.

*Former United defender Gonzalo Peralta is apparently headed to Argentine third-division club Tristan Suarez, while ex-DCU forward Franco Niell scored on a pair of headers -- yes, headers -- in the final moments to help nine-man Gimnasia de la Plata avoid relegation with a 3-0 victory over Atletico Rafaela.

*United Coach Tom Soehn will appear on Comcast SportsNet's "Washington Post Live" today between 5 and 6 p.m. Midfielder Ben Olsen will make an appearance tomorrow.

After a week away, let me try to get caught up.....

*MLS will unveil the All-Star Game's First XI around 3 p.m. ET today. (Let's see which city had the best ballot-stuffing campaign.) The remaining seven slots will be announced next week. Thanks to the collective bargaining agreement, however, a total of 32 players receive all-star bonuses/considerations when the league does not use an East-vs.-West format. The MLS select squad will face Everton on July 29 in Salt Lake City.

*The reigning MLS Cup champion Columbus Crew will visit the White House today.

*Marketing, business and security representatives for Real Madrid joined promotional partners Multimedia Sports (based in Barcelona, of all places) and Smash Soccer in recent days in inspecting BMO Field and FedEx Field ahead of the club's friendlies next month. To get you in the mood for the D.C. United match with Real on Aug. 9, Comcast SportsNet will show encore presentations of DCU international matches at 7 p.m. all week: Leeds (1997) on Monday; Bayer Leverkusen (2001) on Tuesday; Chelsea (2005) on Wednesday; Celtic (2006) on Thursday; and Real Madrid (2006) on Friday.

*As expected, Firpo has been invited to replace Chalatenango as the Salvadoran representative that will face DCU in the preliminary stage of the CONCACAF Champions League, starting July 28 at RFK Stadium.

*Wednesday is the deadline to submit a bid to host the U.S. Open Cup championship game Sept. 2. The USSF is expected to announce the possible sites, based on game matchups, sometime before next Tuesday's semifinals (Rochester at DCU and Houston at Seattle).

*English club Crystal Palace, which arrived in Maryland on Saturday to begin offseason workouts, will play its USL2 affiliate, Crystal Palace Baltimore, at 8 p.m. tonight at Regency Furniture Stadium, a minor league baseball park in Waldorf, Md. Tickets are $14. Palace will visit the Harrisburg City Islanders on Thursday.

*Alex Yannis, who covered soccer from the NASL to MLS for the New York Times, is this year's media inductee into the National Soccer Hall of Fame. He will be honored Aug. 2 along with former players Jeff Agoos and Joy Fawcett.

*Seattle defender Patrick Ianni's second career league goal in 44 appearances was a gem, a bicycle kick to beat Houston, his former club:

Following Panama's 4-0 victory over Nicaragua and Mexico's 2-0 triumph against Guadeloupe, the Gold Cup knockout stages have taken shape:

SATURDAY
Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia
Canada (A1) vs. Honduras (B2), 5 p.m. ET (Univision)
USA (B1) vs. Panama (C3), 8 p.m. (Fox Soccer Channel, Telefutura)
Winners will meet July 23 in Chicago
SUNDAY
Cowboys Stadium, Arlington, Tex.
Guadeloupe (C2) vs. Costa Rica (A2), 4 p.m. ET (Telefutura)
Mexico (C1) vs. Haiti (B3), 7 p.m. (Univision)
Winners will meet July 23 in Chicago

The championship will be settled July 26 at Giants Stadium.

Based on what you've witnessed through the group stage.....

Mexico will play its Gold Cup group finale tonight against Guadeloupe (7 p.m., Univision) without Coach Javier Aguirre, who was suspended three games by CONCACAF for kicking Panamanian player Ricardo Phillips along the sideline Thursday in Houston. Aguirre would return for the tournament final, should El Tri make it that far. If it does not, he would miss World Cup qualifiers, starting with the Aug. 12 showdown with the USA at Azteca.

The Mexican federation was also fined $25,000 for the unruly response by bench personnel. In a comprehensive review of the incident, the governing body said: "After reviewing video and several reports from numerous officials on site, including the match commissioner, referee, assistant referees and others, the disciplinary committee determined that while Aguirre was not attempting to injure Phillips, he did leave his designated area to engage in activities that resulted in contact and instigated the incident."

This, of course, was not the first act of misbehavior by the Mexican squad. Remember goalkeeper Oswaldo Sanchez's childish attempt to kick Eddie Johnson after the USA scored a second goal in a 2007 friendly? Or assistant coach Paco Ramirez slapping Frankie Hejduk in the Crew Stadium tunnel after the USA's World Cup qualifying victory early this year? Or how about Rafael Marquez's red cards in 2002 and 2009?

Can't wait for Aug. 12.....

Here's your chance to comment on David Beckham's comments concerning Galaxy teammate Landon Donovan's comments that appear in "The Beckham Experiment."

"I have played with the biggest teams in the world and the biggest players and not once have I been criticized for my professionalism. It's important to get this cleared up and I will be speaking to Landon either this evening or over the next couple of days."

Good luck, Bruce.

With a quarterfinal berth already secure, the Americans (2-0-0) wrap up group play in the Gold Cup with a 7 p.m. kickoff against Haiti (1-1-0) at Foxborough (Fox Soccer Channel, Telefutura). The USA has never lost a first-round game in tournament history and is seeking to clinch first place in Group B with a victory or tie, thus sealing passage to Philadelphia next Saturday night for the start of the knockout stage.

We already know that Group A winner Canada (2-0-1) will play the early quarterfinal in Philly next weekend and that Group A runner-up Costa Rica (1-1-1) will be in Dallas. In tonight's late group match in Foxborough, Honduras looks to set up a quarterfinal with the Canadians by beating Grenada (9 p.m., Telefutura).

Sunday's matches in Phoenix:
Panama vs. Nicaragua, 5 p.m. (Galavision)
Mexico vs. Guadeloupe, 7 p.m. (Univision)

Take a look at the Gold Cup standings and schedule.

MLS Tonight
Houston at Seattle, 4 (Direct Kick)
Kansas City at New England, 4 (DK)
Dallas at Colorado, 9:30 (DK)
Toronto at San Jose, 10:30 (DK)
Columbus at Chicago, 8 (ESPN2)
Los Angeles at Chivas USA, 11 (FSC)

Sorry I'm getting this up a little later in the morning than you're used to, but I've delayed getting my brakes done long enough and a family friend has offered to help me out. Thus, I'm back in the hometown of Alexandria, VA, most specifically Mount Vernon, and finally back from picking up the brake pads. Now lets talk some soccer.

- We start with the news of President Barack Obama's declaration...ok, hint...that he might want to head to South Africa next summer for the 2010 World Cup.

After meeting with South African President Jacob Zuma, Obama was asked by a pool reporter yesterday if he would attend the World Cup. President Obama answered: "That's my goal."

The AP has more on it here.

- D.C. United will be hosting a chat on its website with club President Kevin Payne today at 1:30.

- Panama held Mexico to a 1-1 draw last night in Houston, but not without plenty of controversy. Four red cards, a coach's kick...it was all there.

You judge for yourself the "kick" from Mexico Coach Javier Aguirre...

D.C. United midfielder Brandon Barklage, who was injured in the first half of Tuesday's U.S. Open Cup win over Harrisburg, has a torn ACL, according to a team spokesman.

Barklage, who was replaced in the 29th minute by Rodney Wallace in United's 2-1 win after appearing to have landed awkwardly on his leg, will have surgery on the knee next week.

Barklage likely will be placed on the season-ending injured reserve list, opening up another spot on D.C.'s roster. United already has two roster slots open after the departure of goalkeeper Louis Crayton and defender Anthony Peters.

There are times when a story writes itself, and this was one of those games.

A scoreless draw is changed dramatically on a strike by a player that not only was the sentimental favorite entering this match but has fought back from adversity in a truly inspiring way.

You can guess what my lede to the story is...and you can read it right here.

For now, I leave you with some quotes from the press conference. For some, the first ones from Santino, for example, you'll have to read the game story. Is that motivation enough?

And, of course, before I depart Estadio RFK, player ratings...

Paul Tenorio will check back in with his thoughts from RFK, but for now, here's the link to the story on the United States 2-0 win over Honduras.

As you probably know, D.C. United's Santino Quaranta scored his first U.S. national team goal in the win with a strike in the 75th minute. In case you've been under a VW for the past two years, here's Quaranta's back story as told by the vacationing Steven Goff back in 2008.

What are your thoughts on the game? How did Perkins look back in goal at RFK? What should the U.S. do against Haiti?      

Santino Quaranta celebrates his first U.S. National Team goal in front of the hometown fans. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais -- Associated Press)

Greetings from Estadio RFK, where I've settled into an empty press box that soon will be packed, with not one spot without a name tag. They obviously are all here to see the star-studded US roster that downed the world's top-ranked team...wait, you mean very few of those players are here today?

Okay, so this might not be the same U.S. team that garnered so much attention last month in South Africa, but this team brings plenty of stories to be excited about and players that deserve attention. Not the least of which is that of D.C. United's Santino Quaranta, who has taken yet another inspiring step in his recovery from addiction. Several other players with local ties also are expected to see time.

I don't know if Quaranta will be in the starting lineup or how much he will be considered as a substitute if he is not. But I have heard that former D.C. United players Troy Perkins and Freddy Adu are going to be in the first XI. I'll confirm that and get you the official lineup as soon as I hear it.

I also heard whispers that AC Milan's newest signing, Oguchi Onyewu, will be in the house tonight. We'll see if the rumor is true. If he is, obviously I'll try to snag him for comment...as I'm sure every name tag in this joint will. UPDATE: I'm told in fact that Onyewu is NOT in attendance tonight...

U.S. Starting Lineup: Perkins; Cherundolo, Marshall, Parkhurst, Pearce; Quaranta, Pause, Beckerman, Rogers; Adu, Ching
SUBS: Robles, Heaps, Feilhaber, Holden, Evans, Davies, Cooper

Honduras Lineup: Escober; Chavez, Norales, Acevedo, Medina, Palacios; Espinoza, Valladares; Costly, Martinez, Chaves.
SUBS: Canales, Molina, Palacios, Ramos, Padilla, Lalin, Welcome

Haiti-Grenada will play first at 7 PM, with the Honduras-US match to follow. Match officials are expecting between 20-25,000 in attendance tonight.

Honduras-US
Kickoff: 9 PM
TV: Fox Soccer Channel, Telefutura

As usual, this is your place for pregame, in-game and postgame banter.