Galaxy, in danger of losing Landon, sign Tristan

The days may be getting shorter, but the cloudless skies are providing power for another excursion by the Solar Powered Soccer Blog today.

First, a brief recap of Earthquakes-related news:

- GM John Doyle and coach Frank Yallop are in Cary, North Carolina this week to scout the ACC tournament and will move on to Tampa for the Big East championships on November 14 and 16. Goalkeeper coach Jason Batty is attending the Big Ten championships in Madison, Wisconsin. Assistant coach Ian Russell appears to be the lucky one of the bunch, though — he’s going to Las Vegas to scout UNLV games this weekend. Tough assigment there, Mr. Russell.

- A deserving Quake has earned a call-up to the U.S. men’s national team! Head trainer Bruce Morgan, the only staffer who’s been with every San Jose MLS team since the league’s inception, is in Commerce City, Colo., for the team’s training camp ahead of their November 19 World Cup Qualifying match against Guatemala.

Now, onto the headline news. As the blog has noted previously,  former Earthquake Landon Donovan, after the most productive season of his career at age 26, has been talking up his desire to play in Europe, and it looks like he may get his chance. As reported in a number of outlets, including Soccer America, Donovan has started a 10-day training stint — or, as is more likely, a trial — with perennial German powerhouse Bayern Munich. Bayern is coached by Donovan’s fellow Southern California resident Juergen Klinsmann, a man who is familiar with Donovan thanks to his past experience as a technical consultant to the Galaxy.

Bayern is treating Donovan’s visit as a Big Deal. The team has posted a photo gallery and even two video interviews on their web site. In a story posted today — you can find a version translated by Google here —  Donovan is quoted as saying, “I’d like to play in Europe.” His skills, having been put on display in a training match, get a thumbs up from Bayern and Germany forward Miroslav Klose as well as the club’s general manager, 1974 World Cup winner Uli Hoeness.

It remains to be seen if the German giants will pursue acquiring Donovan or if they can work out a deal with MLS, but it looks like  the Galaxy is preparing for Landon’s potential departure by signing Tristan. No, not his twin sister — not even L.A. is that desperate for some cheap PR ink — a 17-year-old forward named Tristan Bowen.

(Sorry to drag you all that way for a lame Landon/Tristan joke. It’s the off-season and already the SPSB is clearly short of match fitness.)