The tournament features the USA Eagles, Canada, England Saxons, Ireland A, Argentina Jaguars and Georgia. The teams will play doubleheaders at Infinity Park in Glendale – the first municipally owned rugby-specific stadium in North America – on June 6, 10 and 14.

The pool stage will be followed by a three finals June 21 at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park.

The 2008 Churchill Cup finals were played at Toyota Park in Chicago and attracted more than 9,000 fans. In front of a bumper crowd, the England Saxons beat Scotland A 36-19 to retain the main trophy, while Ireland A and Canada won the Plate and Bowl with 33-8 and 26-10 victories over Argentina A and USA, respectively. In 2009, Georgia has replaced Scotland A from last year’s lineup.

Pool-play tickets, which start at $15, will be on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday at TicketHorse.com.

Tickets to the finals tripleheader will be available at the Dick’s Sporting Goods Park box office from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays. Finals tickets also will be available at all Colorado Dick’s Sporting Goods locations or by calling 1-866-461-6556.

The games will be broadcast live on SkySports in the United Kingdom and on Setanta in North America.

Trained coaches from the Premiership club will travel from England to lead five-day programs for 11- to 16-year-olds, teaching boys and girls how to “play the Arsenal way.”

The academies will be the first official Arsenal program to take place in the United States and will focus on developing individual player skills. Sessions will focus on technical and tactical development, nutrition and fitness.

In addition to Commerce City, academies will be held in Massachusetts and Georgia.

The Arsenal academies are being led by former Arsenal player and former FC Dallas head coach Steve Morrow.  The coaches in the programs have been trained by Arsenal, and some have coached or been through the club’s youth system or women’s system. Arsenal has been operating training progams for more than 20 years and in 21 countries.   

Other sessions are from July 6-10 in Amherst, Mass., and from July 13 to July 17 in Atlanta.

Prices start from $125 per day for day campers and $170 per day for residential campers. Space is limited, but there are discounts for early registration.

For more information, go to playthearsenalway.com, call (303) 727-3648 or e-mail USA@arsenal.co.uk.

George Tanner is a former writer and editor for the Rocky Mountain News; the Greeley Tribune; The Daily Independent of Ridgecrest, Calif.; the Durango Herald; and the Boulder Daily Camera. He is a graduate of the University of Colorado and an associate professor at Metropolitan State College of Denver. E-mail him at ColoradoSoccerNow@gmail.com.

To advertise on Colorado Soccer Now, e-mail Cole McGinnis at ColoradoSoccerNow1@gmail.com.

For its final tuneup before a World Cup qualifier later this month against Costa Rica in Mexico City, the Mexican national team chose a high-altitude venue: Dick’s Sporting Goods Park.

And not only did the Mexicans perform at a high level at roughly one mile high, they delighted in playing on the ample ground at Dick’s. Mexico gobbled up the wide pitch en route to a 5-1 victory over Bolivia in a friendly Wednesday night in  Commerce City.

“If it’s wide, it’s good for us,” said Mexico coach Sven-Goran Eriksson. “The pitch was excellent.”

And, in fact, the Rapids shed a little light on how much  the Mexicans enjoyed the wide field.

Dick’s Sporting Goods Park opened two years ago with a playing surface that was 120 yards long and 80 yards wide, as big as the law allows.

However, last season, the playing surface, at the insistence of Coach Fernando Clavijo, was narrowed to 75 yards wide, still a wide field.

But there it was Wednesday night back at 80.

“I was happy to see them aggressive,” Eriksson said of his players. “I was happy to see them keep up the tempo.”

Eriksson said he was pleased with how El Tri moved the ball around on the big pitch. But, after Bolivia’s Juan Manuel Pena was ejected in the 39^th minute, the field got even bigger.

“This game was wide open,” Eriksson said. “It was different after the red card. We don’t expect Costa Rica to be wide open.”

But the reality was that Mexico didn’t need a one-player advantage to put away the Bolivians. Matias Vuoso and Leandro Augusto already had scored by the time Pena was sent off, and the game essentially was out of reach. The expulsion served to embolden the Mexicans, who, in turn, delighted their fans with aggressive play for the full 90 minutes.

Vuoso added a second goal in the 59^th minute, Sergio Santana scored on a penalty kick three minutes after Bolivia registered its lone goal and Jose Maria Cardenas wrapped it all up in the 85^th minute on a superb assist from defender Oscar Rojas.

PARDO A NO-SHOW: Pavel Pardo did not enter Wednesday’s game, and Eriksson said it was because of a slight injury. “He would’ve played if it was a qualifier today,” he said. “I spoke to him today, and we agreed it was best not to play. We didn’t want to make it worse.”

MORE FROM SVEN:  After the game, the Mexican media was very inquisitive about the roster for the Costa Rica game, to the point of repeating other journalists’ questions when they didn’t get the answer they were looking for. “I don’t know how many of these players will be able to play in qualifiers. We have some issues with the European players. It’s very hard to say which players will be called up.”

THE DOMINATION STARTED EARLY:  Mexico had its first chance in the first minute:  Midfielder Fernando Arce laced a hard, low cross from the right wing right onto the head of striker Omar Bravo, who nearly headed it in. Bolivian goalkeeper Carlos Arias made the save, but it was just a taste of what was to come. The Mexicans seemed to send balls across the goal mouth at will, and their forwards (and on at least one occasion a defender) got their heads on them. Had they been able to direct them on net, the score would’ve been worse than 5-1.

SAY WHAT? Wednesday’s stadium announcements were all in Spanish.

AN UPGRADE AT DICK’S? Did anybody notice those electronic field-level advertising boards on the northeast, east and southeast edge of the pitch? It was just like being at Old Trafford! Well, the boards are not new features at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park. They’re portable, and they travel with the Mexican team.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT: We didn’t see much from Bolivian midfielder Joselito Vaca. He was very quiet, and he left the game in the 61^st minute in favor of Didi Torrico.

BOLIVIA’S GOAL: Now I’m not up to speed on my Spanish language skills, but I could’ve sworn Torrico was announced as Bolivia’s goal scorer in the 69^th minute. However, the stat sheet at the end of the game gave credit to Alex da Rosa. Torrico wore No. 17; da Rosa wore No. 11. I’m pretty sure it was Torrico, despite what the stat sheet says.

SPEAKING OF THE STATS SHEET: Mexico outshot Bolivia 21-5 and had eight corner kicks (Bolivia had none). That’s the type of game it was.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Bravo was spectacular early in the game, but he just kept missing. He was close, but a miss is a miss. And two goals are two goals. So I’m going to have to go with Vuoso.

BOLIVIA’S MAN OF THE MATCH: Da Rosa made an impression early and was one of the few Bolivians playing at a high level well into the second half. He played the full 90.

LAST BUT NOT LEAST: The game, for which tickets cost $25 to $75, attracted 18,296 paying fans, a record for an international match at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park. Nearly all of them (perhaps 18,000 of them) were supporters of Mexico. It was a fantastic night, full of spirit and energy. At 5:20, hundreds of people were in line simply waiting to enter the stadium for a game that started at 7. There were a few boos for some of the Bolivians, but most folks were well-behaved and appreciative for a chance to see El Tri. So what does the Rapids’ staff do to retain these folks as customers? They had tables set up along the concourse to sell Rapids tickets. They offered two-fers on the tickets (buy one for the Mexico game and get one for the Rapids’ home opener). Using the scoreboard, they gently reminded the crowd that they could buy tickets to many – if not all! – of the Rapids’ home games. Will it work? Time will tell. But Wednesday’s crowd was a joy to behold. It was an atmosphere that would suit a Rapids home game well.

BOLIVIA

Goalkeeper: Carlos Arias.

Defense: Juan Manuel Pena, Edemir Rodriguez, Ignacio Garcia, Miguel Angel Hoyos.

Midfield: Walter Flores, Joselito Vaca, Alex da Rosa, Leonel Reyes.

Forward: Luis Gatty Ribeiro, Jose Alfredo Castillo.

Bench: Hugo Suarez, Santos Amador, Jaime Robles, Didi Torrico, Alejandro Gomez, Lorgio Alvarez, Joaquin Botero.

MEXICO

Goalkeeper: Guillermo Ochoa

Defense: Julio Cesar Dominguez, Leobardo Lopez, Fausto Pinto, Oscar Rojas.

Midfield: Fernando Arce, Leandro Augusto, Israel Martinez, Gerardo Torrado.

Forward: Matias Vuoso, Omar Bravo.

Bench: Jose de Jesus Corona, Juan Carlos Valenzuela, Hugo Ayala, Edgar Castillo, Paul Aguilar, Luis Perez, Antonio Naelson, Pavel Pardo, Cesar Villaluz, Jose Maria Cardenas, Sergio Santana.

The last time I covered a game from the press box, I couldn’t get an Internet connection. So I decided that tonight I’ll use twitter.com because I can, at the very least, send updates from my phone. And we have the Web site set up so that twitters will go directly to the homepage.

Check us out. The game starts at 7 p.m.

MEXICO
Goalkeepers: Guillermo Ochoa (América), José de Jesús Corona (Tecos UAG)
Defenders: Juan Carlos Valenzuela (América), Julio César Domínguez (Cruz Azul), Leobardo López (Pachuca), Fausto Pinto (Cruz Azul), Oscar Rojas (América), Paúl Aguilar (Pachuca), Hugo Ayala (Atlas), Edgar Castillo (América)
Midfielders: Pável Pardo (América), Leandro Augusto (UNAM), Luis Pérez (Monterrey), Israel Martínez (San Luis), Antonio Naelson (Toluca), Fernando Arce (Santos), Gerardo Torrado (Cruz Azul)
Forwards: José María Cárdenas (Pachuca), Vicente Matias Vuoso (Santos Laguna), César Villaluz (Cruz Azul), Omar Bravo (Tigres), Sergio Santana (Toluca)
Coach: Sven-Göran Eriksson
 
BOLIVIA
Goalkeepers: Carlos Arias (Bolívar), Hugo Suárez (Wilstermann)
Defenders: Christian Vargas (Blooming), Miguel Hoyos (Bolívar), Abdón Reyes (Bolívar), Ignacio García (Bolívar), Edemir Rodríguez (Real Potosí/), Luis Gatty Ribeiro (Real Potosí), Santos Amador (Wilstermann)
Midfielders: Walter Flores (Bolívar), Leonel Reyes (Bolívar), Didí Torrico (Wilstermann), Enrique Parada (San José), Helmuth Gutiérrez (La Paz FC), Ronald Gutiérrez (Bolívar), Carlos Saucedo (The Strongest), Alex da Rosa (San José), Alejandro Gómez (Blooming)
Forwards: Juan Carlos Arce (Oriente Petrolero), José Alfredo Castillo (Oriente Petrolero)
Coach: Erwin Sánchez

The game is El Tri’s final exhibition before its World Cup qualifier on March 28 against Costa Rica in Mexico City.

Read more about the game and the teams at the Colorado Rapids’ Web site.

Yes, the Lingerie Football League.

The teams play a four-game schedule of full-contact seven-on-seven football, the American kind, not the soccer kind.

The Denver Dream will host the Los Angeles Temptation at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 18. The other home game will be at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 9 against the San Diego Seduction.

“Season tickets” go on sale at 10 a.m. Monday and start at $15. Single-game tickets will be available at the Dick’s Sporting Goods Park box office or by calling 1-866-461-6556.

Won’t it be just a little bit cold to play football in a bikini at 7:30 p.m. in September and October in Colorado?

And isn’t there something wrong with the Lingerie Football League playing its games at Dick’s?

Just sayin’.