Galaxy-Barcelona Pre-Game Team News & More
It's just after 6:20 p.m. here at the Rose Bowl and the crowd is beginning to filter in.
I took a ride over here on the free shuttle from Old Town and it was incredibly fast and easy; parking spots were available within just a couple of blocks for all of $5, so I recommend that option for those of you still planning to head to the game (shuttle details are in this morning's post - click on arrive early!). They forecast 55,000 fans will take the shuttle buses.
The crowd looks to be about 50:50 Galaxy-Barcelona fans and the party atmosphere outside the stadium is reminiscent of a big Galaxy game pre-2002. (They're giving the pitch a good watering right now, BTW). And, yeah, it's hot.
A little team news: I'm told the Galaxy will play 4-5-1 with Jovan Kirovski starting up front (!). We'll see if that's accurate when they hand out the lineups in an hour or so.
Edson Buddle (right foot strain), Alecko Eskandarian (broken nose) and goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts (who didn't train all week after hitting the post in the AC Milan friendly) as well as long-term absentees Sean Franklin and Julian Valentin, will all miss the game through injury.
Midfielder Dema Kovalenko, however, is expected to play tonight for the first time in six weeks.
BTW, central defender Gregg Berhalter turns 36 years old today; let's hope he doesn't drag down a speedy Barca forward and gets sent off for a third time this season.
MLS Commish Don Garber is here and will chat with the media at the half. Anyone got any questions for him?
Back later with lineups.
Updated: The Galaxy are out warming up (accompanied by a mix of boos and cheers as they entered the field) and will indeed play a 4-5-1 formation: Josh Saunders, A.J. DeLagarza, Omar Gonzalez, Tony Sanneh, Todd Dunivant, Landon Donovan, David Beckham, Chris Birchall, Stefani Miglioranzi, Eddie Lewis, Jovan Kirovski.
Options off the bench include: Gregg Berhalter, Alan Gordon, Bryan Jordan, Chris Klein, Dema Kovalenko and Mike Magee.
Barcelona (4-3-3): Jose Manuel Pinto, Marc Muniesa, Rafael Marquez, Maxwell Andrade, Daniel Alves, Seydou Keita, Toure Yaya, Jonathan Dos Santos, Lionel Messi, Bojan Krkic, Pedro Rodriguez Ledesma.
Among those on the bench are Carlos Puyol, Xavi Hernandez, Eidur Gudjohnsen and Thierry Henry
Updated: Barcelona received a much bigger cheer than the Galaxy when they entered the field to warm up. Despite my earlier comment, this is not an evenly split crowd - many more Barca replica jerseys can be seen than those wearing Galaxy gear.
I'm told the announced 82,000 crowd for the Chelsea-Inter Milan game was probably 10,000-15,000 fewer than that; a press box colleague who was at that game said the crowd here looks lighter than that.
A gaggle of former Galaxy players are on the field prior to kickoff including Dan Calichman, Mauricio Cienfuegos, Cobi Jones, Jorge Salcedo and Harut Karapetyan.
Nice moment of silence before the game for former Barca coach Bobby Robson (and Ipswich, England, etc.) who died of cancer earlier in the week.
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About 100 Percent Soccer
Sportswriter Nick Green has written the 100 Percent Soccer column since 2005 for the Daily News, Daily Breeze and other Los Angeles area newspapers. The blog of the same name began in 2007. A native of England, he began writing about soccer in the mid-1980s and in 2000 permanently exchanged a seat in the stands for one in the press box. He lives six miles from Carson's Home Depot Center, home of the Los Angeles Galaxy, Chivas USA and the training headquarters for U.S. Soccer and is married to a long-suffering soccer widow. Join Nick on FaceBook and follow him on Twitter.
Questions for Don Garber:
Tell him thanks for the good job he's doing.
Please ask him about the new CBA, Expansion and a possibility of a better MLS USL partnership (no merging leagues or promo relegation) regarding youth development?
Thanks for all your reports, news and all that.
Nick replies: Garber had no comment on the CBA (and won't until it's a done deal), there's nothing new on the expansion front and MLS is not contemplating any partnerships with other leagues (USL or other). Oh, and promotion/relegation is not going to happen.
thanks for asking him anyway :)
2 things MLS needs to do in my eyes:
raise the salary cap, so that the
1) youngest players can make a halfway decent living (no 13k).
2)keep more (not all, I'm not delusional) talented players on these shores instead of (them) going to Scandinavia for example.
3) attract more and better players.
work out a better youth system, where all colleges/universities/academies/regions are covered
work with, instead of against them.
create a reserve and youth league that works or/and make a partnership with USL, PDL teams - where you can officially send players there for playing time, development, coming back from injury.
Nick, it's too bad that promotion and relegation doesn't happen to soccer executives. We could relegate Tin Lie-weakly (and, if he were still here, Alexi Lal-ass) to Traktor Novosibirsk in the Russian fifth division for 40 tons of fertilizer (natural, not chemical). That way, the HDC field will always look pristine, not as if Woodstock was staged for 40 consecutive weeks!
Nick replies: How long does it take you to dream this stuff up, Joseph?