The Women’s World Cup Final will be played either Oct. 11 or 12 at Carson’s $150 million Home Depot Center on the campus of California State University, Dominguez Hills, which last weekend held its first professional soccer game, the Daily Breeze has learned.

No events are scheduled on those days and four other dates also are being held for potential World Cup games from Sept. 23 to Oct. 11 or 12, when the tournament is scheduled, sources said.

The Associated Press reported the tentative location of the final game and dates Monday, citing an anonymous television official. The Breeze

independently confirmed that information from two other parties familiar with the deal who also did not want to be identified.

Home Depot Center officials have said for some time that they expected several Women’s World Cup games and perhaps the final itself to be held at the home of Major League Soccer’s Los Angeles Galaxy and the training headquarters of the U.S. Soccer Federation.

Anschutz Entertainment Group, which financed the 27,000-seat stadium and owns the Galaxy, also owns the domestic television rights to the Women’s World Cup.

“We had some indication it was probably going to happen,” Carson Mayor Daryl Sweeney said Monday. “It’s great news for the city of Carson, for the region. . . . Hopefully there will be a lot of revenue brought into our city. It will put a great spotlight on Carson as well — a lot of free publicity.”

Soccer officials wouldn’t comment

Jim Moorhouse, a spokesman for the U.S. Soccer Federation, declined to comment, but said a formal announcement will be made soon.

“We will only announce a game when everything is signed, sealed and delivered,” he said.

The fourth edition of the 16-nation tournament was switched last month from SARS-hit China by FIFA, soccer’s world governing body.

The 1999 version that was held in the U.S. drew more than 660,000 spectators to stadiums, and all 32 games were broadcast live on national television, where an estimated 40 million Americans watched the host capture its second World Cup title at a sold-out Rose Bowl.

The final game, famously capped by Brandi Chastain throwing her shirt into the air, pushed the women’s game to unprecedented levels when it became the sports story of the year. The tournament prompted the formation of a women’s professional soccer league — although that is now said to be struggling — and little girls raced to sign up to play in the Hawthorne-based American Youth Soccer Organization.

Because the tournament is being held on such short notice, the event is expected to be more modest this time around with a budget of $8 million to $14 million.

The Home Depot Center, touted as the nation’s “soccer shrine,” beat out the Rose Bowl and other venues, including New York’s Giants Stadium, where the National Football League’s New York Giants had objected to use of the stadium, AP said.

“We’ve had some conversations with U.S. Soccer, but nothing recently,” Rose Bowl General Manager Darryl Dunn said Monday. “Based on the fact that we hear they’re going to be making an announcement in the next few days, our sense is that the Rose Bowl is not in U.S. Soccer’s plans.”

Other venues for World Cup games are expected to include East Rutherford, N.J., Foxboro, Mass., and the the soccer-specific stadium in Columbus, Ohio. Washington’s RFK Stadium would be the site of the tournament’s opening game.

The U.S. Women’s National Team will practice at the Home Depot Center and is also expected to play a World Cup warm-up game there Sept. 1 against Costa Rica, although that has yet to be confirmed.

The Carson stadium opened Saturday with a sold-out game between the Galaxy and the Colorado Rapids.

Final means world recognition

The nation’s soccer brass lauded the intimate, European-style venue that sports a soaring white roof and palatial restaurant overlooking the field at one end for its fan-friendly features.

Given the rising status of the Home Depot Center and the influence of AEG, its selection as the site of the final game was to be expected, said David Carter, a consultant with Redondo Beach-based Sports Business Group.

“It might not have surprised a lot of people, but this is actually the kind of branding opportunity the Home Depot Center was looking for,” he said. “The fact that Philip Anschutz is essentially financing soccer in this country, it’s a pretty important giveback.

“It certainly gives the South Bay another reason to crow,” Carter added.