Game 28: Union vs. Los Angeles Galaxy

Time: 8:00 p.m.
Venue: PPL Park, Chester, Pa.
Television: ESPN2 (J.P. Dellacamera and John Harkes)

Injury Report

Los Angeles Galaxy

Questionable: D Gregg Berhalter (neck strain), D Leonardo (left quad strain), M Dema Kovalenko (right adductor strain)

Philadephia Union

Probable: GK Brad Knighton (left shoulder strain), D Juan Diego González (left groin strain); M Eduardo Coudet (right calf strain); F Danny Mwanga (left shoulder sprain)

Before we get to tonight's game, a bit of news. In case you didn't see it because of the Phillies game, the Washington Post's Steven Goff reported last night that only around 6,000 tickets have been sold for next week's U.S.-Colombia game.

I know I'm supposed to be objective about these things, but that number is not good.

Goff cited a number of plausible reasons why sales have been so sluggish. Among the most prominent are high ticket prices for the game, and the attention being paid to the Phillies and the region's other sports teams at the moment.

I can certainly sympathize with those who have complained about the ticket prices. This has been a recurring point of annoyance with many U.S. national team fans in recent months, going back to the U.S.-Brazil game at the Meadowlands after the World Cup.

I can also understand the point about how crowded our local sports landscape is at the moment. I am willing to excuse the poor attention at last night's U.S. women's game, because the entire region is transfixed by the Phillies right now. Even I have been caught up in it, as I hosted our live Phillies chat last night instead of going to the soccer game.

But the Phillies aren't playing next Tuesday. Nor are the Flyers. So the U.S. game will have a relatively high proportion of local sports fans' attention, as it will be the major live action in town that night.

I'm sure a number of you are going to the game. If you aren't, feel free to explain why in the comments. And if you're on the fence, give it some thought. I know the ticket prices are steep, and I know that as someone who gets in for free with a press pass I have no right whatsoever to tell people how to spend their money.

But the best argument Philadelphia can make to get the U.S. national teams here on a regular basis is to keep bringing big crowds to games. No city, no matter how many soccer fans it has, has any kind of right to host national team games. The U.S. Soccer Federation will only go to places where it thinks it can make a profit.

With that out of the way, I hope you'll join me for a live chat during tonight's Union game. It should be quite a spectacle with David Beckham and Landon Donovan in town. If you're on a mobile device, you can join the chat by clicking here. It would be great to have some interaction from fans in the stadium tonight.