The Mag's Jeff Bradley has been waiting awhile for Super Bowl weekend -- but not because of anything going on in the NFL.

In case any of you are tired of discussing what the Ravens will do on third down, medium yardage situations when the Giants are in the nickel, I thought you might want to check out a real big game that's going to be played tonight at the Los Angeles Coliseum.

Yeah, I'm out here for the CONCACAF Champions Cup (that's a soccer tournament to decide who's the best team in North America, Central America and the Caribbean) and tonight the L.A. Galaxy plays D.C. United in the semi-finals at midnight Eastern. The winner goes to Spain this summer to play in the FIFA World Club Championship. Same thing for the other half of the semifinal bracket, which has Pachuca of Mexico playing Olimpia of Honduras. The winner of that one goes to Spain for the Worlds also.

Now, I know the Giants and Ravens think they're playing for the "world" championship next week. I know the game's going to be broadcast all over the globe ... yawn. But tonight's game between L.A. and D.C. is sort of like telling the two finalists in NFL Europe's World Bowl (is that what it's called?) they get a crack at the Super Bowl winner. Actually, you'd probably have to throw the Grey Cup winners into that tournament also. But you get the idea. The World Club championship will feature the best professional teams from each football, errr, soccer confederation in the world.

The other thing that makes tonight's game extra fun is the money at stake. Oh, it's dogtrack dough for Kerry Collins and Ray Lewis, but for the lesser-paid guys on the Galaxy and D.C., winning this tournament and going to Spain means a chance to double their salaries. We're talking somewhere between 25 and 40 grand a man. For these guys, that could mean a down payment on a condo. Think they're going to be going after it?

Sadly, there won't be much of a crowd tonight. These tournaments always seem to be thrown together hastily. In fact, the reason Los Angeles and D.C. are representing Major League Soccer in this tournament is because CONCACAF couldn't get a tourney together during the last calendar year. You see, D.C. won the '99 MLS title and L.A. finished second. They were basically grand-fathered into this tournament.

I'm sure I've already confused you, so you're probably in the same boat as a lot of soccer fans who had no idea this tournament was going to happen until a couple of days ago.

But I don't think we should hold the small crowd against the guys playing tonight. It's not their fault. They're playing the most important match of their professional lives and I'm fired up to be out here to see the game.

So like I said, if you need to get away from the X's and O's, go out and buy some chips and beer and ... oh, by the way, does anyone get Galavision?

Jeff Bradley is a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine. E-mail him at jeff.bradley@espnmag.com.