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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Hawaii's Ching added to MLS All-Star roster

Associated Press

Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

Houston Dynamo forward Brian Ching, left, and D.C. United defender Bobby Boswell converge on the ball in a recent MLS match.

KEVIN FUJII | AP Photo/The Chronicle

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Brian Ching, a Kamehameha Schools alum from Hale'iwa, was one of seven players added to the MLS All-Star roster today.

New England Revolution coach Steve Nicol picked Ching, a forward who plays for Houston Dynamo. He also chose goalkeeper Kevin Hartman (Kansas City Wizards), midfielders Ronnie O'Brien (Toronto FC) and Pablo Mastroeni (Colorado Rapids), and forward Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy).

Eddie Pope of Real Salt Lake and Cobi Jones of the Los Angeles Galaxy were chosen by MLS commissioner Don Garber to compete in the All-Star game against Scottish Premier League champion Celtic FC on July 19 in Commerce City, Colo.

The Revolution had a league-high three players chosen by online fan balloting, MLS coaches and GMs and media — defender Michael Parkhurst, midfielder Shalrie Joseph and goalkeeper Matt Reis.

Also voted to the first team were midfielders Dwayne De Rosario and Ricardo Clark of the Dynamo, Christian Gomez (D.C. United) and Juan Toja (FC Dallas), defenders Jimmy Conrad (Wizards) and Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA), and forward Eddie Johnson (Wizards).

BECKHAM COULD CHANGE WORLD'S VIEW OF MLS

Chelsea is one of the world's glamour soccer teams, and it will play a strictly supporting role to David Beckham when the English star makes his U.S. debut for the Los Angeles Galaxy on July 21.

"It's a big moment for L.A. and also U.S. soccer," Chelsea coach Jose Mourinho said after the FA Cup champions practiced in Los Angeles for the first time yesterday.

"They couldn't choose a better player to achieve what they want to achieve. In Europe, we want U.S. soccer to go up (in popularity). We are Chelsea and we have a responsibility. We want to give the Los Angeles Galaxy a big game to promote their new team."

Chelsea will play Mexico's Club America on Saturday at Stanford before returning to Los Angeles for next week's World Series of Football, a doubleheader that culminates with Beckham's first game.

Beckham led Real Madrid of the Spanish League to a championship last month. He previously starred for Manchester United, one of Chelsea's rivals in the Premier League.

Some Chelsea players are curious to see Beckham's effect on Major League Soccer, whose quality is considered suspect compared to Europe's vaunted leagues.

"Is it MLS?" Chelsea left-back Ashley Cole asked hesitantly. "I didn't know too much about that league until, of course, Beckham's gone there. This is one person who's changed and I will start watching it now. Hopefully him going there will change people's minds to start watching it and enjoy American football."

INDICTMENTS SOUGHT IN ITALIAN SCANDAL

Prosecutors in Naples, Italy asked a court yesterday to indict 37 former and present soccer officials and referees in last year's match-fixing scandal that shook Italian soccer.

Former Juventus managers Luciano Moggi and Antonio Giraudo, AC Milan's Leonardo Meani, Andrea Della Valle and Diego Della Valle of Fiorentina, and Lazio president Claudio Lotito were among those named by prosecutors Filippo Beatrice and Giuseppe Narducci, the ANSA news agency reported.

Juventus was relegated to Serie B and docked nine points in the scandal, while AC Milan, Fiorentina, Lazio and Reggina each received point penalties in Serie A.

The accusations range from conspiring to commit a crime to sporting fraud.

The prosecutors cited suspicious results in 29 Serie A matches in the 2004-05 season, ANSA said.