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David Beckham took a fairly sizable cut in pay to stay with Galaxy rather than chase Paris Saint-Germain's millions, it turns out, and he's no longer Major League Soccer's top earner.

That's the big news from the MLS Players Union's release Friday of salary figures across the league, an annual event that provides the only substantial look at at least a portion of player contracts in the league.

Beckham, whose initial five-year deal with the Galaxy paid him $32.5 million -- $5.5 million in annual salary and $6.5 million in average guaranteed compensation -- settled for $2.5 million less this go-round: His salary is $3 million and guaranteed compensation is $4 million.

That drops him below New York Red Bulls stars Thierry Henry ($5 million and $5.6 million) and Rafa Marquez ($4.6 million for both figures). Galaxy striker Robbie Keane (making $2.917 million in salary, $3.417 million guaranteed) is No. 4 on the league's list, and captain Landon Donovan ($2.4 million) is No. 5.

Beckham was offered a reported 18-month, $18.7 million contract by French giant PSG before re-signing a two-year deal with the Galaxy in January.

Additional compensation, beyond base salary and guaranteed compensation, is not accounted for in the Players Union survey.

Chivas USA striker Juan Pablo Angel also took a substantial pay cut, dropping out of Designated Player territory. He's making only $350,000 in base salary (after receiving $1 million under his previous contract) but $600,000 in guaranteed compensation (down from $1.25 million).

The Galaxy has the second-highest payroll at about $10.76 million, behind only the Red Bulls' $12.2 million. Chivas is 14th at nearly $2.62 million.

Chivas has been economical in picking up talent in South America. Star central midfielder Oswaldo Minda is making only $50,000 ($68,750 guaranteed), fellow Ecuadoran Miller Bolaños and Colombian forward Jose Erik Correa just $48,000 apiece, and Colombian center back John Alexander Valencia $50,000.

Decent raises were given to Chivas goalkeeper Dan Kennedy ($175,000 from $62,496) and Galaxy defenders Omar Gonzalez ($180,000 from $120,000) and Sean Franklin ($205,000 from $97,389).

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It's a rematch of last November's MLS Cup final, the only one scheduled this season, but that's in no way the point when the Galaxy and Houston battle Saturday afternoon at the Dynamo's brand new BBVA Compass Stadium.

Neither is the stadium, although the Galaxy -- well, some of them -- are excited to see another new Major League Soccer facility and compare it to the New York Red Bulls' and Sporting Kansas City's stadiums, the league's unquestioned gems.

More important, for both sides, is finding some semblance of the form that took them to the title game last year, which L.A. won, 1-0, in front of the home fans to win its third championship.

Landon Donovan, who made the deepest imprint that evening and scored the lone goal, isn't around for this meeting -- he's off with the U.S. national team -- and neither is star striker Robbie Keane, also on international duty. Their absence had little impact in Wednesday night's 3-2 defeat to San Jose: The Galaxy played with confidence and swagger missing through the first 13 games this year, building a two-goal lead after 73 minutes.

It all fell apart after that, but it wasn't the collapse that was on the Galaxy's mind afterward. Rather how well they had played until then.

“It's a tough pill to swallow, but we had a great performance for the most part ...,” defender Todd Dunivant said. “We'll see how we respond. We have to take it the right way and realize that we played very well. We have to learn to close the game out. ... It doesn't matter if you deserve to win or are the best team on the day. That's not how this game is won or lost. You have to do the little things the entire game.”

The Galaxy haven't and are 3-7-2 after losing only six, seven and five regular-season games the past three seasons. They haven't won in more than a month, six games in all, and have no shutouts in 14 competitive games after posting 22 in 46 matches last year.

“It's a character test,” head coach Bruce Arena said. “It's a challenge in leadership. I think you're a good leader [if you can lead] when things aren't going well -- it's real easy to lead when things are going great. We'll see the character of our players and coaching staff.”

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CARSON -- Let's make one thing clear: It wasn't referee Jair Marrufo who cost the Galaxy a victory Wednesday night, when the San Jose Earthquakes rallied from a two-goal deficit for a 3-2 Major League Soccer victory at Home Depot Center.

He just didn't help.

That's what the Galaxy thinks anyway, after a red card to Hector Jimenez and a penalty kick after a hand ball in the box by David Beckham helped fuel the Quakes' comeback.

Everyone agrees that Jimenez's red card was fair. And so, perhaps, was the penalty kick Khari Stephenson converted to tie the score in the 82nd minute. But head coach Bruce Arena noted in his postgame news conference that Marrufo “didn't call anything on their strikers all night” and that the referee's failure to award the Galaxy a penalty kick after San Jose defender Ike Opara handled the ball in his box after falling to the ground, was egregious.

“I'm told,” Arena said, “their hand ball in the first half is not a hand ball, even though he basically got both hands on the ball. What can you say?”

Beckham was more direct in his criticism.

“Unfortunately, we had someone in control of the game tonight that, every time we've had him, he wants to be the star, and that's what happens when you have a referee who wants to be on 'SportsCenter,' ” he said. "That was disappointing.

“Maybe the decision for the sending off, maybe it was. The penalty? Maybe it was. ... I just turned my back, and my arms were as close to me as they could be. They weren't outstretched -- yeah, it hit my hand, but it could have gone either way. [Opara] falls on the ball in the penalty area, rolls over it a couple of times, touches it with his hand a couple of times. Everyone else sees it apart from the 'star.' ”

Strong words, and they'll probably cost Beckham a few dollars once the league gets wind of them. Oh, well. He can afford it.

CARSON -- The Galaxy couldn't have felt much better about things as the clock hit 75 minutes Wednesday night: Their best performance of the season had been rewarded with a two-goal lead, and although they were down to 10 men, they were in control. Hold on another 15 minutes, plus a few more in stoppage, and they'd have their first victory in a month.

But in a season in which nearly everything that can go wrong has, L.A. found a new, most devastating way to fall, surrendering three goals over the final 20 minutes -- the last deep in stoppage -- to drop its fourth game in the last five, a 3-2 defeat to the San Jose Earthquakes that left a lot of heads shaking.

Alan Gordon's header in the 94th minute delivered the knockout blow, handing the Galaxy their seventh league defeat, extending their winless streak to six games and leaving them in the Western Conference basement, 16 points off the lead.

“We played awful well tonight not to get something out of this game. It's a shame,” noted Galaxy coach Bruce Arena. “You make your own breaks, and tonight we were in position to get three points and really turned that game over.”

Bell Gardens' Hector Jimenez, making just his second MLS start, third league appearance and 2012 debut, scored a fine goal in the third minute to give L.A. an advantage but was sent off for a studs-up challenge on Steven Beitashour in the 59th minute, and the Galaxy (3-7-2, 11 points) -- dominant to that point -- watched everything change in a matter of minutes.

First, they doubled their lead, with Mike Magee taking a pass on the break from David Beckham, then beating Quakes defender Jason Hernandez and stepping past goalkeeper Jon Busch to fire into the goal's ceiling in the 73rd minute.

Three minutes later, Yorba Linda's Steven Lenhart got one back for San Jose, a near-post header from Marvin Chavez's corner kick, and the Quakes were on the front foot the rest of the way.

“We're ahead 2-0, I don't know how many minutes left,” Arena said. “Really a poor tactical approach on our behalf. We shouldn't get beat on a restart for a goal. That let them back in the game. And we can't lose the ball in our defensive half. We have to play the ball up the field, we have to pull in collectively as a group and defend with our 10 players and play the game out, get the three points and go home.”

Khari Stephenson tied the score in the 82nd minute, converting a penalty kick after Beckham handled the ball while leaping to block a drive by Hernandez. A turnover led to the winner, with Hernandez again pumping the ball into the box and Gordon, who scored equalizers in the 88th and 90th minutes of San Jose's last two games, escaped Sean Franklin's mark and soared above A.J. DeLaGarza to nod it into the net.

“I just was following up the play,” said Gordon, who played for the Galaxy from 2004 through 2010. “I think there may have been a little bit of hesitation on their part, and I was just seeing the play through. They hesitated, I didn't, I finished it. Forwards get lucky sometimes. I got lucky. Who cares? I put it in, end of story, period.”

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Chivas USA had to do without its new arrival from New York -- Juan Agudelo is off with the U.S. national team in Florida -- but there's another Red Bulls veteran on the Goats' roster, and he made himself quite at home Wednesday night.

Juan Pablo Angel, New York's all-time goals leader, returned to Red Bull Arena for the first time since he departed the Red Bulls after the 2010 season, received a warm reception from the fans, then did his best to make their lives miserable.

His best performance of the season was rewarded with a spectacular goal at the start of the first half, and although Chivas couldn't turn it into three points, a 1-1 draw was a rather satisfying result.

The Goats' attack had spark, their defending was mostly exceptional, and had they done a better job holding onto the ball, especially under New York's second-half pressure, they might have boosted their road mark to 4-1-1.

“I think any time you don't get three points, there's some level of disappointment,” head coach Robin Fraser acknowledged to ESPN Los Angeles. “But, realistically, on the road against the first-place team in the East -- with a five-game winning streak -- you have to look at the big picture. A point in Red Bull Arena is not a bad result.”

It could have been worse. Nick LaBrocca, a Jersey boy who tested rookie Red Bulls goalkeeper Ryan Meara just two minutes in, was done by the fifth minute, tweaking his hamstring chasing Dane Richards into the Goats' box. He figures to miss Saturday's game at HDC against Seattle and next week's U.S. Open Cup match against the Ventura County Fusion, and tests will determine if he'll be out longer.

Richards was a handful for Chivas defenders -- he was the pivotal figure on Kenny Cooper's 56th-minute equalizer -- but the Goats did well limiting the effectiveness of Thierry Henry, returning to the Red Bulls' lineup after missing four games with a hamstring injury, and Cooper, who nonetheless tallied for the fourth straight game.

The Danny Califf-Rauwshan McKenzie partnership in central defense, just two games in, looks very good, and Oswaldo Minda was a force in front of them, keying Chivas' transition game while frustrating Henry and Cooper, both of whom confronted the Ecuadoran midfielder.

Dan Kennedy was sharp, making a fine reaction stop on Henry's 51st-minute header, and Ante Jazic secured the point by clearing Dax McCarty's header off the goal line following a corner kick in the 83rd.

Angel, who is still finding his form after missing five games because of a concussion, was the sharpest he has been since his scoring tear last year. He hit the left post in the 25th minute, following a nice sequence involving Paolo Cardozo and Miller Bolaños, and brilliantly provided a 47th-minute lead.

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Major League Soccer has a heavy slate this week before heading into a two-week break to accommodate FIFA's international schedule and the start of summer qualifying for the 2014 World Cup.

MLS clubs won't be off. The 16 U.S. teams in the league enter the U.S. Open Cup with next week's third-round games, and those that win will play again on June 5.

The importance of America's oldest soccer tournament depends on the club. It's a priority for the Seattle Sounders, who have won the last three titles. Chicago Fire, a finalist last year, needs one more triumph to match the record, five. The New York Red Bulls couldn't care less: Hans Backe sent a reserve team, with an assistant coach, to play the Chicago Fire in last year's quarterfinals.

The Galaxy have won the tournament twice, in 2001 and 2005, lost in two finals and fallen at Seattle in the quarterfinals the past two years. Chivas USA, which could meet the Galaxy in a fourth-round game June 5, has lost its Open Cup opener every year except 2010, when it dropped a semifinal game at Seattle.

The Open Cup dates to 1913, but the modern era began with MLS's arrival in 1996. Since then, only one non-MLS club has won the title -- the Rochester Raging Rhinos in 1999 -- and all but three finals have pitted MLS clubs.

Eight MLS clubs have won the trophy:

• D.C. United: 1996, 2008
• FC Dallas: 1997 (as the Dallas Burn)
• Chicago Fire: 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006
• Galaxy: 2001, 2005
• Columbus Crew: 2002
• Sporting Kansas City: 2004 (as the Kansas City Wizards)
• New England Revolution: 2007
• Seattle Sounders: 2009, 2010, 2011

Here are this week's power rankings:

1. REAL SALT LAKE (8-3-2, 26 points), Last Week: 1
Week 11: Idle.
Latest: RSL uses respite to get healthy, gets more time off after taking on Jason Kreis' original club.
U.S. Open Cup assignment: Tuesday vs. Minnesota Stars (NASL), 6 p.m.
Next: Saturday vs. FC Dallas, 6 p.m. (MLS Direct Kick).

2. SEATTLE SOUNDERS (7-2-2, 23 points), LW: 2
Week 11: Fredy Montero's last-minute strike leaves absorbing Cascadia Cup clash at Vancouver tied at 2-2.
Latest: Vancouver playmaker Davide Chiumiento's take on the Sounders? “They are a good team, but, really, players on [Seattle], they think they are better than everybody and, personally, I think they have a couple of good guys, but nothing special. They play like they already won the league, or like they've played I don't know where. They are good, but not better than we are.”
U.S. Open Cup assignment: Tuesday vs. Atlanta Silverbacks (NASL) at Tukwila, Wash., 7 p.m.
Next: Wednesday vs. Columbus, 7 p.m. (MLS Direct Kick); Saturday vs. Chivas USA at Home Depot Center, 7:30 p.m. (Fox Sports West and KWHY/Channel 22).

3. NEW YORK RED BULLS (8-3-1, 25 points), LW: 3
Week 11: Dane Richards provides the winner as Red Bulls win fifth in a row and become first MLS club to beat Impact in Montreal.
Latest: Wilman Conde ready to return from groin injury, looking to get past arrest for allegedly assaulting a police officer.
U.S. Open Cup assignment: Tuesday at Charleston Battery (USL Pro), 4:30 p.m.
Next: Wednesday vs. Chivas USA, 4 p.m. (Univision Deportes).

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Juan Agudelo, after his first training session as a Chivas USA forward and again after his first game with the club, spoke of his excitement to return to Red Bull Arena and face his former club.

That game has arrived, but Agudelo is missing, off with the U.S. national team in Florida preparing for next month's World Cup qualifiers. He is, however, a big part of the conversation heading into Wednesday's Major League Soccer showdown against the New York Red Bulls.

So, too, defender Heath Pearce, who a week ago was on Field 6 at Home Depot Center preparing for a tough stretch of games on Chivas' schedule. Now he's anchor to the Red Bulls' backline, ready to take on his former club.

If ever a trade were win-win, Thursday's was it. Chivas (4-6-1) picked up a young, rising star that New York, for whatever reason, had no interest in. The Red Bulls' thin defense got a versatile veteran with national team experience. And then Chivas, in another trade, picked up Pearce's replacement, veteran Danny Califf. Everybody is happy.

Agudelo, just 19, already has impressed with the national team and is a regular on U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann's rosters. But he didn't fit in stylistically at New York and struggled for playing time last year behind Thierry Henry and Luke Rodgers and this year behind Henry and Kenny Cooper, although he also was dealing with a knee injury.

Henry is happy to see him at Chivas.

“[Red Bulls GM] Erik Soler said it at halftime [last weekend]: He wanted to go. So you’ve got to respect that,” Henry told the New York Post. “He wasn’t playing here, so I thought and he thought actually that it was a waste of time for him. ... I know some people were upset about it, had [something] to say about it, but at the end of the day, if you think about Agu, he had to play. It’s good for him.”

Klinsmann weighed in when he announced that Agudelo, who debuted for the Goats in Saturday's 1-0 SuperClasico victory over the Galaxy, was coming into camp with the U.S.

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CARSON -- David Beckham knows what the Galaxy needs to do to turn around this disaster of a season and start a steady climb toward their rightful place among Major League Soccer's trophy contenders.

“We're champions,” he said on the eve of Wednesday night's Home Depot Center showdown with the San Jose Earthquakes. “And we need to start playing and walking on the field like champions, instead of walking on the field thinking because we're champions, we just have to turn up.”

It's different phrasing, but the sentiment hasn't changed over 11 weeks. L.A. started poorly and, but for moments here and halves there, have continued to play far below its standard. The Galaxy (3-6-2) already have lost more MLS games than all of last season and sit at the bottom of the Western Conference standings, 15 points -- five victories -- off the lead.

The Galaxy have two more matches before the league takes two weekends off for international fixture dates, and if they're going to start righting things before then, they'll have to do so without captain Landon Donovan and star striker Robbie Keane, who are away until mid-June -- perhaps later for Keane -- with their national teams.

What that means, exactly, is hard to say. Keane has not played well and is dealing with a hamstring injury that would have kept him out of Wednesday's game regardless. Donovan has been up and down, not to his usual level.

Head coach Bruce Arena took a sly swipe their way when discussing San Jose forward Chris Wondolowski, MLS's goals leader, who is with Donovan in the U.S. national team camp in Orlando, Fla. Asked how much his absence might affect the Earthquakes, Arena said: “He's a good player, and he's been playing well. If you have good players that aren't playing well and you're losing, perhaps it's not as much.”

He then was asked whether his team will miss Donovan and Keane.

“It hasn't the last five games or so,” Arena said. “I mean, when you haven't done well and you lose a player, you can't be crying about it. ... No one questions the quality of Robbie and Landon, but we don't have any results to show it's going to be a loss we can't overcome.”

Defender Todd Dunivant says he thinks it's not necessarily a negative, that the Galaxy will have to be more proactive without their stars.

“Guys are going to have to step up to the plate,” he said. “We need that kind of responsibility to be put on other players, and everyone on this team needs to step it up a little bit. It's not one or two guys need to pick up their game, it's everybody needs to raise their game.

“Sometimes having absences like this help you because guys have to step up and the responsibility is put on them.”

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CARSON -- Chivas USA has had its share of legends and big stars, most of them -- Claudio Suarez, Ramon Ramirez, even Francisco Palencia and John O'Brien -- near or at the ends of their careers.

Juan Agudelo is something else: a superstar in the making, and his Goats debut in Saturday night's SuperClasico victory over the Galaxy could go down as one of the signpost events in club annals.

The tall, talented teen with bearing beyond his years did nothing spectacular and a whole lot of things really well in his first start with his new club, playing a key role setting up Jose Erik Correa's penalty kick and showing flashes of what he, Correa and Miller Bolaños -- and Juan Pablo Angel, too, perhaps -- can achieve once they're all on the same page.

“I think Juan had a good debut,” coach Robin Fraser said after Chivas (4-6-1) ended a 12-game winless streak against their cross-stadium rival. “He’s a player that wants to be on the ball, he’s a very attack-minded player, he’s got very solid feet. You can see there are times when he wanted the ball, he wants to run at people, he wants to make things happen, and I thought his impact was immediate.

“We’re extremely excited to have him, and we’re extremely excited to watch him develop. He’s very special.”

Agudelo, whose excitement was such that he experienced “probably one of the most anxious feelings that I’ve had before a game ever,” was happy with how things went:

• “I felt great, and at times I wasn't able to find the spacing [with teammates] that I wanted, but I think that it's something that over time I'll improve, knowing the positions and holes with this team.”
• “[My chemistry with Correa] is going great. We're both Colombian, so we speak Spanish to each other, and I think that connection of South America is working.”
• “[Fraser's system] suits me really well. Just with my height [6-foot-1], I felt like crosses to the far post, I was dangerous then, and I think that moving forward that could be something that could help us get some goals. I feel like sometimes with my heading that I’ve got more power on it, and in this type of system, I love it that the coach encourages freedom.”

The 19-year-old, Colombian born striker, who departed Sunday to join the U.S. national team's Florida preparations for next month's start to its World Cup qualifying campaign, has impressed in international play but didn't fit into the New York Red Bulls' Eurocentric approach, and his trade Thursday to Chivas has rejuventated his young career. The Goats are a far better fit stylistically, culturally and in terms of opportunities to grow.

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CARSON -- David Beckham noted a couple of weeks ago that there was no need for the Galaxy to panic yet, but if things didn't turn soon, that time would quickly arrive.

After Saturday night's SuperClasico loss to Chivas USA, perhaps it is time for panic.

The Galaxy (3-6-2) haven't won in their last five games, and all three of their losses in that span have been by shutout. They still don't have a clean sheet in 13 games, including the CONCACAF Champions League, after posting 22 in 46 competitive matches last year. They've surrendered the first goal 10 times and in seven of their last eight games. By the end of the day, they could be in the Western Conference cellar.

We've seen too little from Robbie Keane, Edson Buddle, Landon Donovan and Juninho -- and Keane and Donovan are leaving for awhile -- and although team defense has improved following a horrid start to the season, there remain problems -- and likely will until Omar Gonzalez returns hopefully sometime this summer.

And now the defending MLS Cup and Supporters' Shield champion has fallen behind its hated rivals in the battle for SoCal supremacy. Chivas is hotter (especially with Juan Agudelo's arrival), better defensively and steadily moving forward toward something potentially very grand.

Saturday's loss -- with Chivas dominating play in the first half but not creating much out of it, the Galaxy responding nicely in the second half, and a penalty kick with 20 minutes to go making the difference -- was another backward step for L.A.

“On the season, our record is probably not real precise in therms of how we've played,” head coach Bruce Arena said. “I think we've played better than our record indicates, but tonight the difference in the game is taking a chance. We didn't do it, and give [Chivas] credit.”

The Galaxy has played well in spurts this season, early on against Real Salt Lake, the rout of D.C. United, the second half in last week's draw at Montreal. They were swell to start the second half Saturday, creating far more dangerous chances than Chivas could -- Miller Bolaños' shot off the post and the play leading to the PK aside. If not for Dan Kennedy's 50th-minute stops on Pat Noonan's blistering shot across the face of the net and Kyle Nakazawa's rebound, L.A. wins.

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CARSON -- Chivas USA ended the most painful drought in club history Saturday night, beating its hated rival for the first time since 2007, but more than that, the Goats offered a tantalizing glimpse at what their future could look like.

Juan Agudelo, acquired in a trade Thursday from the New York Red Bulls, made a fine impression in his debut, teaming up front with Jose Erik Correa and Miller Bolaños to create an attack that, once everyone is on the same page, could lead to something very special.

The Goats dictated play most of the first half and, with new defender Danny Califf anchoring a fine backline performance, held off a resurgent Galaxy after halftime to claim a 1-0 triumph before a sellout crowd of 18,800 at Home Depot Center.

The goal came on a 72nd-minute penalty kick by Correa, who had to take it twice -- the first was waved off when Jorge Villafaña encroached before the shot -- firing both to virtually the same spot.

That's two goals Chivas (4-6-1, 13 points) has scored at home this year, both on penalties, but this one meant a lot more, giving the club its first home victory in six tries.

That it came against the Galaxy (3-6-2, 11 points) made it all the more spectacular. L.A.'s unbeaten streak against its cross-stadium rival had reached 12 games, with victories in the last five meetings and in the last six regular-season encounters.

“It's big,” said Chivas coach Robin Fraser, a former Galaxy star. “I think I underestimated the level of rivalry between the two teams when I first got here. I was surprised by the nature of the comments after our first game last year, and it was very evident that there is very little respect for this club [from the other side]. We talked a lot during the week that the only way to get respect is to go out and earn it and I thought they did a good job of that tonight.”

Chivas came closest to scoring in the first half -- Bolaños hit the base of the right post from 24 yards after stripping the ball from Juninho near midfield in the 34th minute -- and got big back-to-back saves from goalkeeper Dan Kennedy, on Pat Noonan and Kyle Nakazawa, five minutes into the second half -- and got the only goal following a rather odd play.

Oswaldo Minda, returning from a yellow-card suspension, lofted the ball into the Galaxy goalmouth, and goalkeeper Brian Perk leapt over Agudelo to knock the ball away. As both crumpled to the ground, it fell to Correa, who volleyed sharply past A.J. DeLaGarza and at former Chivas defender David Junior Lopes, who was standing on the goal line.

The ball caromed off Lopes' left arm. Referee Mark Geiger showed him the red carded and gave Chivas the spot kick.

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CARSON -- It took Juan Agudelo all of an hour, not even that, to feel more at home with Chivas USA than he had in two-plus seasons with his hometown club.

This, he believes, is going to be great.

The 19-year-old striker, the most exciting young player in America, was the big prize in Chivas USA's pick-ups Thursday, a big (6 feet 1, 183 pounds), strong, skilled striker who has impressed with the U.S. national team while wilting under the New York Red Bulls' disinclination to use him.

Heading west, he figures, is the best thing that could have happened for him.

“I was happy in New York,” the Colombian-born forward, who moved with his family to New Jersey when he was 7, said Friday morning following his first training session with the Goats. “I wish things would have worked out better, but I feel like the best place, honestly, for my development was not a team like New York.

“I'm just happy to be here. I truly believe already from the first day here that my development is going to shoot up and the sky's the limit here. I feel valued here.”

He hopes to start repaying Chivas for setting him free Saturday night in the SuperClasico against the Galaxy at HDC. No word from head coach Robin Fraser that he'll be in the starting XI, but don't bet against it.

Fraser and his staff's initial instruction to Agudelo was simple: enjoy yourself.

“They told me go out there, play with a smile and have fun,” Agudelo said. “That's really all I need to hear to excel myself. I just want to have that free feeling. I feel like I understand how the game is and the things I have to do to help out the team, and it was awesome for them to give me that freedom.”

Just looking around, he felt at home.

“A lot of Hispanics here,” he noted. “It's awesome. To feel welcomed. A lot of Colombians, [the team will] speak Spanish, English. It's great. It's got a little bit of flavor from my hometown [Manizales] in Colombia. ... It's a South American-kind-of-style team, and I think it's great because it's somewhere I feel like I fit in.”

He didn't fit in with the Red Bulls, who have a European owner, European GM, European coach and a bunch of European players -- and little use for a South American player with different qualities that need to be refined.

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Heath Pearce had no clue his time with Chivas USA might be nearing its end, not until he was called into Fraser's office Thursday morning and given the news.

The veteran defender, a U.S. national team pool player who served the Goats so well the past season plus two months and a third, was sent to the New York Red Bulls in exchange for forward Juan Agudelo, just 19 and already a rising U.S. national team star.

It was a brilliant trade for Chivas, even if they had to surrender allocation money -- more than the minimum $75,000, Red Bulls GM Erik Soler has intimated -- and pay part of Pearce's salary this season.

Agudelo has superstar potential but needs playing time, and he wasn't getting it with New York. The Goats need goals, and that's one of Agudelo's specialties. Chivas also picked up veteran defender Danny Califf from Philadelphia, for winger Michael Lahoud, to fill the hole Pearce leaves.

Pearce, who came to Chivas in a preseason trade last year from FC Dallas, is a boon for the Red Bulls, whose ailing backline has been troublesome even as they've put together a four-game winning streak that included three shutouts. That didn't make the news any less stunning.

“If it was sudden from your perspective, it was more sudden from mine,” Pearce told media in New Jersey following the Red Bulls' training session Friday. “I had no idea. It was kind of out of left field, but I’m excited for the opportunity, obviously, to be traded to a team like New York Red Bulls that have so much tradition here and demand and pressure to get results. I like that environment.”

He had kind words for Chivas.

“Obviously, on a success level, we didn’t achieve the playoffs last year, but the principles that they’re instilling into the club there are good principles,” he said. “It was an honor to represent Chivas while I was there, but now my focus is here. There’s no time to sit and think about what my time was like there.”

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CARSON -- Danny Califf wants to be clear: He did not ask the Philadelphia Union for a trade, did not want one. He and his family were happy in Philly, and he had no desire to come home.

That runs counter to Union manager Peter Nowak's comments as the deal that sent the veteran defender to Chivas USA proceeded this week, but there's more: Califf is ecstatic to be wearing the red and white stripes and happy to be back home.

He's not bipolar, by any means, and he saw no need to explain his sentiments to his new teammates when he joined them for his first training session Friday morning at Home Depot Center.

“I was unhappy with the way it was handled and the way it was said I had asked for a trade. That's what I was unhappy with,” said Califf, 32, who still has a home in Orange, his hometown, although he'll have to pay off his renter to move back in. “I understand trades happen. We were happy in Philly, but by no means does that mean I'm not happy to be here. That's ridiculous.

“It's a new chapter for me and it's going to be a transition, but I'm not worried about what these guys are going to think. After they know me and have been around me for a little bit, they'll know what I'm all about, so I don't have any worries about that.”

Neither does Chivas coach Robin Fraser, whose final year as a player with the Galaxy was Califf's rookie season.

“He's the kind of guy,” Fraser said, “that once he puts the shirt on, he's completely dedicated to where he is.”

Assistant coach Greg Vanney, technical director/head scout Simon Elliott and midfielder Peter Vagenas also played with Califf during his 2000-04 stint with L.A.. Director of Soccer Operations Kevin Esparza was his coach at Orange High School.

“I feel like I'm coming home,” Califf said.

He's done so to provide experience, leadership and bite to a pretty good defensive unit, and his presence, at least on paper, improves Chivas' backline, even with Heath Pearce leaving for New York. Califf's acquisition was to replace Pearce, who was traded Thursday for forward Juan Agudelo.

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CARSON -- Things always are a little more intense around Home Depot Center when the SuperClasico nears, but given all that's occurred this week -- on both sides -- Saturday night's showdown might provide a respite from all the madness. Imagine that.

Ninety minutes on a patch of green, no matter how heated the atmosphere, has to be simpler than everything the Galaxy and Chivas USA are going through, what with middling form, poor results, blockbuster trades, White House visits, international call-ups and the biggest star in town's jaunts across Europe carrying a flame.

It has made for hectic preparations for a match that, rivalry aside, is vital for both teams. The Galaxy are 3-5-2, have already matched last year's loss total and are looking to end a four-game winless streak while buoyed by their performance of the second half of last week's 1-1 tie at Montreal.


Chivas is 3-6-1, has scored just six goals in 10 games, given away five points by conceding end-of-game goals, and is 0-5-0 in home matches with just one goal, on a penalty kick. The Goats are the home team for the first of three meetings this season.

“It's a little different than in some years past, because we're both struggling a little bit,” Galaxy captain Landon Donovan noted. “So there's probably added meaning in that way, because we both need the points.”

L.A., a preseason favorite to repeat as champion, has only 11 points, 15 behind Western Conference (and Supporters' Shield) leader Real Salt Lake and 11 out of third place. Chivas is only a point behind, but it's also only a point out of the Western cellar.

“It's an important game in a number of ways,” Chivas coach Robin Fraser said. “Both teams are definitely looking for points. It's the rivalry, it's where we are in the table. There's a lot riding on this game.”

Fraser and the Chivas technical staff has been working overtime this week, engineering a pair of trades that, together, offer a major statement of purpose. They brought in 19-year-old striker Juan Agudelo, the most prized young player in America, and then to replace defender Heath Pearce -- who went to New York for Agudelo -- they acquired veteran center back Danny Califf from Philadelphia (for winger Michael Lahoud). It appears to be a move forward up front and in the back.

It will be the first Clasico for Califf, who spent his first five seasons with the Galaxy but was gone before Chivas debuted. First Clasico on the Goats side for his former L.A. teammate, former Galaxy captain Peter Vagenas, too.

“I peaked my head in [the Galaxy locker room] today and told them I'm excited,” said Vagenas, who signed with Chivas during preseason. “This is obviously a special game for me. I've never hidden my emotion for the [Galaxy] and everything that goes on there, but nobody wants to beat the Galaxy more than I do Saturday night.”

If Chivas pulls it out, there will be blame to go around.

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