UPPER 90 AMERICAN FANS IN FOR A TREAT.

Byline: SCOTT FRENCH SOCCER

It's a big week -- or two -- for games that mean absolutely nothing, with the buzz building from Seattle to Chicago, Houston to New York and, of course, right here. European champion Barcelona, its hated rival, Real Madrid, and English champ Chelsea -- the three biggest clubs on the planet -- are coming to the U.S., and America, it seems, can't wait.

At least American soccer fans. Fueled by images from Germany, teased by Fox Soccer's summer replays, and longing, as always, for something richer and more satisfying than Major League Soccer, they'll pack the stadiums. It's an annual ritual, these summer treks by superclubs, and the benefits work several ways.

The clubs sell tons of merchandise and make imprints in a growing U.S. market while doing the bulk of their preparations for the coming season. The fans see the best of the best, albeit not at the best time of year. MLS gets to show its strengths to the big boys; and makes some cash -- and valued connections -- through its marketing arm.

American soccer is enriched by the experience.

The L.A. clash in the series, Sunday at the Coliseum, might be the best of all: Barcelona, with Ronaldinho, Lionel Messi, Samuel Eto'o, Rafa Marquez, Carles Puyol, Xavi, Deco, Mark van Bommel, Edmilson, Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Ludovic Giuly and now Lilian Thuram and Gianluca Zambrotta -- surely the world's No. 1 club -- and Guadalajara, the original Chivas, Mexico's (and L.A.'s) favorite team ... celebrating its centenary!

Last year it was Zinedine Zidane, at his finest, directing Real Madrid in a 2-0 romp over the Galaxy at Home Depot Center.

This time we get Ronaldinho, the reigning World Player of the Year, seeking to bounce back from that oddly subdued World Cup. Messi preparing the next step in his rise to ``world's best player.'' And two of Juventus' World Cup all-stars, Thuram and Zambrotta, making their debuts in the wake of Italy's calciopoli scandal.

This could be much bigger, maybe bigger even than last year's Guadalajara-America superclasico that drew 88,000 to the Coliseum.

More than 60,000 tickets have been sold, and L.A. Mexicans are walk-up buyers.

Chivas USA, Guadalajara's infant cousin, takes on the New England Revolution in the 4p.m. opener. Barcelona and big Chivas face off at 6:30.

Barcelona also plays in Monterrey, Mexico (Thursday vs. UANL Tigres), Houston (Aug. 9 against Club America) and East Rutherford, N.J. (Aug. 12 vs. New York Red Bulls) on this tour. Real Madrid -- with Zidane gone but van Nistelrooy, Fabio Cannavaro and Emerson joining David Beckham and Ronaldo -- takes on two MLS clubs, facing D.C. United Aug. 9 in Seattle and playing at Real Salt Lake three days later.

Chelsea, the world's richest club, provides a test for MLS's All-Stars on Saturday at Toyota Park in Bridgeview, Ill. ESPN will broadcast at 3:30 p.m.

The MLS Stars, with six U.S. World Cup players plus Freddy Adu, have never lost to a club team, beating Guadalajara in 2003 and Fulham last year.

Quakes lament early loss

It was a cruel finish to a satisfying season for the San Fernando Valley Quakes, who wrapped up their initial Premier Development League campaign with a one-goal loss to the best team in the division and barely missed the playoffs.

The Quakes, among 59 teams in the national amateur league governed by the Florida-based United Soccer Leagues, finished 10-5-1 for 31 points, just one point behind Orange County Blue Star (10-4-2) in the race for the second Southwest Division postseason berth behind the Southern California Seahorses (13-3-0).

The 1-0 loss 10 days ago to the Seahorses at Granada Hills High School was the clincher, but the real damage had been done long before. The difference was Blue Star's stunning comeback from a three-goal deficit in the final nine minutes to pull out a 4-3 victory May 13, the Quakes' second game.

``I think about that every day,'' said midfielder Matt Davis, a former pro who's also the team's president and one of its owners. ``That's it. We win that game, we could be going to (the semifinals).''

Coach Ali Khosroshahin, also head women's coach at Cal State Fullerton, had been devastated by the loss, triggered when late substitutions backfired. He soon had the team, its available personnel often changing with the day, on a trio of three-game winning streaks and into a three-team battle for those two playoff berths.

The Quakes were without captain Derek Hanks (Cal State Northridge, El Camino Real of Woodland Hills) for the loss to the Seahorses; their defensive leader and No. 2 goalscorer was grieving the death of a very close friend.

Blue Star, coached by former UCLA standout Nick Theslof, won its first two playoff games to advance to the national final four for the second successive year.

Several Quakes enjoyed fine seasons, including UC Davis' Ryan Shaw (team-best eight goals), UCLA's Jason Leopoldo, CSUN's Sean Franklin and Kevin Guppy, and CSUN recruit Adrian Lopez.

``It was a learning season,'' Davis said. ``It's a very special league. You have some guys (available) some weeks and not other weeks. It's an interesting setup. It's not like the college setup, and it's not like the professional setup, it's it's own type league.

``We learned the ins and outs how to deal with all the situations. Ali and I were tearing our hair out sometimes. We learned a lot. Things happened (on and off the field), and we had to react. Now we can act upon things and that's going to increase our chances for success five-fold.''

CAPTION(S):

photo, 2 boxes

Photo:

Arjen Robben, left, and Frank Lampard of Chelsea practice in L.A. recently in advance of their match against the MLS All-Stars.

Oscar Hidalgo/Associated Press

Box:

(1) WORLD'S BEST

(2) Etc.