On Saturday August 28, 2010, the Los Angeles Galaxy will host the Kansas City Wizards at the Home Depot Center. Kick off will be at 7:30 P.M Pacific Time, as a large crowd is expected to fill the stadium for this weekend game.

The previous meeting between the two teams in April ended with a scoreless draw. But the next game is going to be a different story.

The clash between Los Angeles and Kansas City may not be full of surprises but the soccer betting odds will definitely be an interesting one. The preview for this game is based on nothing more than pure statistics. The Galaxy are currently the best team in the MLS, compiling 43 points in 21 games. As of the last week of August, Los Angeles leads the league in most goals scored (32) and wins (13.) The stats say that LA Galaxy should easily beat Kansas City Wizards on Saturday. Manager Bruce Arena has done an excellent job in keeping his team at top of the league table.

However, LA Galaxy have lost 3 games in August, which somewhat disrupted the team’s momentum as the undisputed kings of the MLS. A Loss to Chicago Fire and San Jose Earthquakes shook up Galaxy’s confidence. Even a friendly 3-2 loss to European powerhouse Real Madrid was demoralizing.

On the other side, Kansas City Wizards had some mixed results in August including a draw with Real Salt Lake and a convincing 4-1 victory over New England Revolution. The Wizards only have 23 points in 20 games, and are ranked fifth in the Eastern Conference. What the Wizards and Galaxy share in common is a loss to the Earthquakes in August. Based on the most recent results, Kansas City may take advantage of Los Angeles’ inconsistent performance in August.

When the game day arrives, there are high expectations on the attacking forces of Landon Donovan and Edson Buddle to lead the Galaxy to an easy victory. The Wizards are just a mediocre team, and will be nothing more than underdogs trying to stop a powerhouse. There is simply not enough star part on the Kansas City squad to stop the best team in the league.

Chelsea, by tabling a £25 million take-it or-leave-it offer with Santos in the next 24 hours, the club plan to step up their pursuit of highly rated Brazilian striker Neymar.

Attempting to resolve an escalating row over the 18-year-old who recently made his debut for the Selecao, representatives of Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich are currently in Brazil.

For Neymar, Chelsea had a £17 million bid which was rejected last month and are set to follow it up with a £25 million final offer. As Santos is holding out for the £29.6 million buyout clause in his contract, that £25 million still might not be good enough.

Despite Neymar had publicly expressed doubts about leaving – privately informing his club that he wishes to join Chelsea, the Brazilian giants won’t budge from their stance

Because Neymar value has already soared to beyond his buyout price, therefore the economic rights of the player are owned by investors, who believe that they need to persuade him to sign a new contract.

One of the reliable sources said, “There is a big fight still on to convince Santos to part with the player. There is strong pressure on the boy to stay. In the next few days we shall know one way or the other whether a deal with Chelsea can be achieved.”

For Neymar, Chelsea has been caught up in an amazing tug-of-war with Santos threatening to report them to FIFA for tapping up the striker.

He added, “The President of Santos had dinner with agent Pini Zahavi and the people from Chelsea. How can that be tapping up? The boy was forced to go onto Brazilian TV to say he wants to stay with Santos, when the truth is that he wants to go to Chelsea.”

For fans, the game on Saturday August 14 between Los Angeles Galaxy and the New York Red Bulls is going to be full of excitement because of a few big names. The game will be televised live on Fox Soccer Channel and Kickoff will be at 6:00 p.m.

By signing Thierry Henry and Rafael Marquez, New York has made some major headlines across the MLS and the entire global soccer world, in the last several weeks. To bring these two players from Barcelona F.C. to an American club, it was an interesting move.

Marquez is the star of the Mexican national team, while Henry is one of the greatest French strikers of all time. To fill up the new Red Bull Arena almost to capacity is what these two international stars promise. Henry’s and Marquez’s second home game appearances, it is expected that more than 20,000 fans will show up at Red Bull Arena. Red Bulls true star, Juan Pablo Angel has been overshadowed by all of this talk about the new arrivals. In fact, in this season once again by scoring more than 10 goals in less than 20 games so far, Angel has proved his striking abilities.

The clash of New York and Los Angeles will be a fight between the league’s best teams. While the Red Bulls are the second best in the Eastern conference, so far the Galaxy comes in with the best MLS record. To lead Los Angeles to a victory against New York, there are plenty of expectations on Landon Donovan and Edson Buddle. Can the Galaxy handle the pressure of facing some of the biggest names in MLS, the question remains?

On Thursday, August 5th, Columbus will travel to Union Field to face Philadelphia in MLS action. With one game each left to play before this pivotal match, Columbus sits first in the Eastern Conference with a record of 10-3-4 while Philadelphia is 6th in the East with a less than impressive record of 4-8-2.

For Columbus,Will Hesmer, their goalkeeper, is of utmost importance. While that should go without saying, Hesmer is a huge part of Columbus’ success. In 17 games started this season, he has made 45 saves. On the other hand, Chris Seitz, Philadelphia’s goalkeeper, is having a fairly mediocre year. In 14 games started, he has only made 23 saves.

Offensively, Columbus is very balanced. Guillermo Barros Schelotto has 5 goals on the season, Emilio Renteria has 4, and several other players have goals as well. Philadelphia is almost a polar opposite. Their offense mainly relies on two players: Sébastien Le Toux, who has 7 goals on the season, and Danny Mwanga, who has 5. The problem with this is that when Le Toux and Mwanga have a bad game, Philadelphia typically loses.

Despite the large gap in their records, this is still a pivotal match in the MLS Eastern conference. Columbus is looking to stay at the top, and Philadelphia is trying to claw their way back into contention. This match should provide plenty of action, and if Philadelphia can get everyone on the same page, they could certainly give Columbus a run for their money.