Friendlies that aren't really friendlies

Chivas USA and the Galaxy will wrap up their respective preseasons over the next two days. While these games will mean nothing in terms of the regular season, they could provide a glimpse of what will be for both local sides.

Chivas USA-Houston: Chivas host Houston tonight at HDC. It's actually being played in the main stadium and should have the feel of a real game. Chivas have a ton of question marks heading into the season as things don't look good in Red-and-White land. Injuries have carried over from the end of last year to the start of this season as players such as Ante Razov, Alecko Eskandarian and Bobby Burling are injured, and all were expected to play key roles for the club.

We should see in what direction the club will turn to in terms of a starting lineup, but we could see something like this both tonight and next week against Colorado: Thornton; Talley, Thomas, Curtin, Jazic; Kljestan, Marsch, Nagamura, Bornstein; Braun, Lillingston.

Normally, this would be a match against an MLS Cup contender but without Dwayne De Rosario and to a lesser extent Nate Jaqua, Houston doesn't have the feel of a favorite these days. They are a hard-working team but that doesn't mean they won't be contenders, just that they'll be the hardest-working average team out there.

Galaxy-Chicago: This game should be good. The Galaxy and Chicago play in Tempe, Ariz., on Saturday. Landon Donovan is back and will play with the Galaxy for the first time this year. That shouldn't really matter to him, as he could wait until the season opener against DC United to play and still do fine but his teammates, especially the new guys, will need to have him on the field to learn to play with him.

Chicago is a favorite, a cup contender, anything you've got. Columbus I think took a hit by losing Sigi Schmid and no other team closed the gap between themselves and the Fire. It's a good thing the Galaxy will be tested against one of the best teams MLS has to offer.