Friday Kicks: Galaxy update & more

*The Galaxy’s Todd Dunivant can do without frequent flyer miles.

*USL Pro team the LA Blues (of Orange County) have entered a U-23 team in the Premier Development League replacing and assuming the schedule of the Hollywood Hitmen who joined the National Premier Soccer League.

*Meanwhile, the Blues’ senior team have signed a well-known San Fernando Valley player.

*Chivas USA has a special event at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach tonight that features players Tristan Bowen and Sergio Arias.

*Click on the Live Soccer TV link at top right for a run-down of all the televised soccer action, which includes foul-mouthed Wayne Rooney taking on Clint Dempsey and Fulham at 7 a.m. Saturday on Fox Soccer Channel.

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Thursday Kicks: Deflated Donovan & more

i-62b5dc04676fcbac3b8e40bfd4b51f6d-conordoyle.jpgMassive fail: Derby County striker Conor Doyle, who scored the only U.S. goal in the 2-1 loss to Guatemala Wednesday at the CONCACAF U-20 championship, reacts at the end of the game to the fact the Americans will not go to an eighth-consecutive FIFA U-20 World Cup (AP Photo).

*It’s early in the MLS season and Landon Donovan is already tired.

Meanwhile, the next Galaxy opponent, D.C. United, which beat the Philadelphia Union in the U.S. Open Cup Wednesday, have sold a reported 18,000 tickets to Saturday’s game with a crowd of as many as 25,000 expected.

*Say, do you think United’s Andy Najar looked at the U.S. under Coach Bob Bradley and opted for Honduras? It’s obvious what 100 percent Soccer readers think of Bob Bradley (although voting number are down due to spring break) – and you can still vote in the poll here.

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Wednesday Kicks: MLS makes history & more

*As hard as it is to believe today marks the 15th anniversary of the inaugural MLS game, when Eric Wynalda saved soccer fans from the derision of haters of the sport by scoring in the 88th minute to give the San Jose Clash a 1-0 win over D.C. United, the team the Galaxy faces on the road this weekend.

Coincidentally, Real Salt Lake showed just how far the league has come – and why they are the best team in MLS right now – by beating Costa Rica’s Saprissa 3-2 on aggregate Tuesday night to become the first American team to reach the CONCACAF Champions League final.

RSL, which comprehensively beat the Galaxy 4-1 last month, can eclipse LA in another fashion if they beat Mexico’s Cruz Azul or Monterrey – their semifinal decider is tonight – in the final later this month. The Galaxy were the last American team to win the competition when it was known as the CONCAF Champions Cup.

The Galaxy beat CD Olimpia of Honduras 3-2 in 2001 with a lineup that included Kevin Hartman, Alexi Lalas, Greg Vanney and Simon Elliott. Ezra Hendrickson (2) and Cobi Jones got the Galaxy goals.

*Domestically, Chivas USA – who are giving a week-long trial to a Liverpool youngster – are gearing up for Saturday’s game against the Columbus Crew at Home Depot Center in Carson.

Chivas USA are coming off an encouraging road tie in Toronto, which earned them their first point of the young MLS season.

The Crew are similarly a team in transition and that includes Rolling Hills Estates’ Robbie Rogers who may be playing one of his final games in the South Bay judging by this report (although he also told a reporter this morning he could stay with the Crew, too).

Still, Rogers has to have an impressive season and start living up to his potential before he can go to Europe. Another possibility: he returns to Southern California with Chivas USA, where one of his mentors as a youth – Nick Theslof – is now technical director or heads to Seattle where another influential figure in his career – former Galaxy Coach Sigi Schmid – heads up the Sounders.

A Chivas USA video preview of the game is here, which includes some perspective from Coach Robin Fraser about why he dropped goalkeeper Zach Thornton last weekend in favor of Dan Kennedy:

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Media matters: The Galaxy’s David Beckham and Landon Donovan

i-a1f57fdef62210660a380ff5b9df66fe-tomnbecks.jpgA meeting of the minds: Tom Cruise and David Beckham greet each other at a recent Lakers game (AP Photo).

I’m guessing Galaxy teammates David Beckham and Landon Donovan don’t hang out much together outside the locker room.

That assumption was given further credence today when I belatedly noticed Landon Donovan has his own blog, although the understated site has not huge picture of its author

Beckham does too on his own website, which features a very large, pensive looking Becks apparently looking for his soccer ball (it’s behind you on the couch!).

But that’s where the similarity ends.

Here’s an excerpt from Beckham’s most recent post:

I’m back in LA now and we’re already a couple of matches into the new season. We won our opening match against Seattle 1-0, which was a hard-fought victory in Seattle in front of a passionate crowd who certainly know and love their football, all in all a great win.

And here’s a snippet from Donovan’s blog:

The moments that eat at you forever are the big games where you didn’t prepare properly, didn’t work hard enough, didn’t play well. For me, that happened in the 2006 World Cup. The team played poorly, I was awful and I was embarrassed by what happened. I just couldn’t get motivated to play and I had trouble figuring out why. The 2 weeks after the World Cup were incredibly difficult for me and I fell into a period of depression.

Instructive, no?

The former ‘Dear diary” style post tells you nothing about Beckham, the latter makes you want to know more about Donovan.

Hardly surprising, though.

Beckham has spent his time in LA palling around with celebs and appearing on vacuous talk shows to reinvent the English language (“we wuz”?) and talk about driving his children to school (gasp!).

Donovan apparently prefers spending evenings with books like the acclaimed “Letters to a Young Poet.”

Yeah, I’m guessing their paths don’t cross often off the field.

But guess who gets the magazine cover.

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Read Tuesday’s column & take the poll: What about Bob (Bradley)?

i-b4300a3d29edc39b721899d72210f2de-landonappeals.jpgForward frustration: Landon Donovan appeals for a call during last week’s 1-0 U.S. loss to Paraguay (AP Photo).

Is the U.S. moving forward under Coach Bob Bradley?

Read the column here.

And have your say here:

Should Coach Bob Bradley be fired if the U.S. fails to win the Gold Cup?
Absolutely!
No, stick with Bob.
He should have been canned after last year’s World Cup.
  
Free polls from Pollhost.com

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Revisionist trades: Chivas USA’s Galindo officially gone

i-e55f5154d9cd79aff203ce92937eb2f2-galindo.jpgYes, I know it’s a shock Chivas USA fans.

The MLS rights to striker Maykel Galindo, who had 18 goals in 67 games for Chivas USA from 2007-2010, were traded to FC Dallas Friday in exchange for a 2012 first round supplemental draft selection, Chivas USA announced Monday (yes, today).

Galindo, 30, was quoted as saying Saturday that “hopefully we can make a deal maybe today or in a few days. Everything is close.” Apparently that happened.

“I want to be Maykel Galindo again,” he said. “Sometimes when you aren’t happy and you don’t want to play, you want to go to another team. I’m glad to be here in Dallas because this organization is amazing. Last year, they made the finals. Hopefully this year, we continue that. I want to be part of everything.”

Dallas Coach Schellas Hyndman said Galindo is “probably four weeks” from playing.

What of Galindo’s injury issues?:

“I think there’s always concern since there’s a bit of history there,” Hyndman said. “”At the same time, he went through training with us in preseason and never missed a day. We can use a player of his talent and his experience.”

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Weekend video rewind: A look at the Galaxy’s next opponent, USWNT lose to England & more

*D.C. United, the Galaxy’s next opponent on Saturday, plays the Colorado Rapids in a game aired at 4 p.m. today on Galavision. D.C. United Assistant Coach Pat Onstad previews the game here:

*The U.S. women lost to England Saturday for the first time since 1988 just a few months before the World Cup begins. Torrance’s Shannon Boxx began the move that led to the U.S. goal. But the Abby Wambach goal drought continues. The result, though, was no fluke despite the U.S. domination of the second 45 minutes:

Next for the U.S.: Against Japan May 14 in Columbus, Ohio.

*UCLA’s Kelyn Rowe scored two goals as the U.S. Under-20 Men’s National Team swept by Panama Saturday into the quarterfinals of the CONCACAF U-20 Championship Wednesday against Guatemala. The prize for the winner of that game: a spot in the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Colombia.

UCLA’s Eder Arreola, a Southern California native, also went the full 90 in this one, as did Chivas USA’s Zarek Valentin.

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Galaxy-Philadelphia Union postgame

Galaxy 1 Philadelphia Union 0

i-b5dde2706b6542a04c5bb8d5cfc99e72-jpamiss.jpgIt really wasn’t that bad Juan Pablo Angel – the Galaxy won (AP Photo).

Playing against an undefeated opponent and coming off a bad road loss, the Galaxy devised a conservative game plan that featured a deep-lying David Beckham and a safety first perspective. The Galaxy throttled this game, getting the win and the three points before heading on the road for three games.

*Phil Collin has the game story.

*Notable: Leonardo scored on his mom’s birthday. “I’m offering this goal to her and also to the team because it was very important to get three points,” he said.

*Quotable: “In the end they ran out of ideas to break us down,” said David Beckham.

*Here’s the Philadelphia persective.

*Next: The Galaxy now embark on their longest road trip of the season – at D.C. United Saturday, Toronto April 13 and Chicago April 17.

Highlights:

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Live: Philadelphia Union (2-0) at Galaxy (1-1-1) from Home Depot Center

Final: Galaxy 1 Philadelphia Union 0

Union substitute Jack McInerney also got a straight red after retaliating because he didn’t like a Chad Barrett tackle in second half stoppage time. That led to a bit of a scrum, but was largely uneventful, much like the game really.

Philadelphia didn’t have a single shot on target.

The Galaxy did what they needed to do and got the win with a minimum of fuss. The Union didn’t offer much offense in what was a fairly comfortable win for the Galaxy, if not a particularly inspiring one.

David Beckham got a yellow card for time-wasting in the 89th minute, although it was fairly obvious he was waiting for the Union wall to go back a full 10 yards. Why didn’t the ref use that temporary turf spray to mark 10 yards you randomly see in some MLS games and not others?

The Galaxy got their second shutout win of the season and are now alone atop the Western Conference..

Tonight’s attendance: 24,998.

The overly-officious referee handed out 10 cards (!) in what was not a bad-tempered or violent game.

Factoid: This MLS game was the only one with a winner today; every other one ended in a tie.

More later.

Updated

Juan Pablo Angel should have had a second for the Galaxy from a six-yard header after a speedy Landon Donovan outran the Union defense. If he had put it on target instead of wide with only the goalkeeper to beat, it would have been a goal in all likelihood.

Carlos Ruiz just had a header in the 78th minute from close range, but Donovan Ricketts was there to collect easily enough.

Updated

Bryan Jordan replaced the ineffective Miguel Lopez, who suffered a bloody nose from an elbow in the first half, in the 57th minute. Three minutes later Galaxy goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts received a yellow card, apparently for time wasting while “taking” a goal kick, even though the ball was in the stands at the time.

Updated

Chris Birchall has received what appears an unduly harsh straight red after fouling Carlos Ruiz, who received a yellow in the 53rd minute. If there was an altercation between the two after the initial foul, I missed it. Something fishy there, huh?

The ejection comes seconds after a stunning Juninho blast off the bar from 18 yards.

Halftime

A relatively uneventful half with the Galaxy doing just enough to deserve the lead. The best Union chance may have been a high Leonardo slice just before halftime that Donovan Ricketts saved on the goal line.

There were zero Union shots, period, let alone any on target.

Perhaps not surprisingly, Union Coach Peter Nowak, looking for more punch up front, replaced striker Danny Mwanga with Keon Daniel at the half.

Updated

The Philadelphia just conceded their first goal of the season, Galaxy defender Leonardo, who was completely unmarked, scoring his first-ever MLS goal in the 33rd minute with an eight-yard header from a David Beckham free kick.

Updated

We’re 23 minutes into this one in Carson and most press box scribes have barely typed a word. Slow start at the extreme for both sides. Every MLS game so far today has ended in a tie and it doesn’t look like anyone wants to take the initiative in this one.

**************************************

The weather is a helluva lot better tonight in Carson than it was for the home opener, with overcast skies, but relatively balmy temperatures.

Coach Bruce Arena has made four changes to the starting XI that lost badly to a good Real Salt Lake City side last week.

Center back Omar Gonzalez returns to man the middle with his former college teammate A.J. DeLaGarza giving way and Donovan Ricketts returning behind him between the posts in place of Josh Saunders. Both are making their first appearances of the season after nursing sprains and the Jamaican goalkeeper has already received a warm round of applause from the sprinkling of fans in the stands as he came out to limber up.

Landon Donovan returns from international duty to man the midfield in place of Michael Stephens who doesn’t even dress tonight, while rookie Miguel Lopez gets a first MLS start partnering Juan Pablo Angel up front and Chad Barrett drops to the bench.

Galaxy XI: Donovan Ricketts-Sean Franklin, Leonardo, Omar Gonzalez, Todd Dunivant,-David Beckham, Chris Birchall, Juninho, Landon Donovan-Juan Pablo Angel, Miguel Lopez.

Bench options include Mike Magee and Jovan Kirovski.

The undefeated Philadelphia Union proudly sit atop the Eastern Conference for the first time ever having won two successive games for the first time in franchise history.

The Union have Faryd Mondragon in goal who Beckham scored on 13 years ago from a 30-yard free kick in his first World Cup start as England defeated Colombia in France.

UCLA midfielder Kyle Nakazawa of Palos Verdes Estates makes his third successive start in the Union midfield.

Former Galaxy striker Carlos Ruiz partners Danny Mwanga up front, while former Galaxy midfielder Stefani Miglioranzi joins Brian Carroll, the always dangerous Sebastien Le Toux and Nakazawa in the Union midfield.

Former Galaxy defender Danny Califf is in the starting Union back four, apparently able to overcome his knee issue.

The game is on Fox Sports West beginning at 7:30 p.m.

I’ll update this post throughout the game.

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Final: Chivas USA at Toronto FC

Toronto FC 1 Chivas USA 1

i-5da12dcc8d6c6b93451cd320000bf4a5-maiconsmiss.jpgMaicon’s miss: Former Chivas USA striker Maicon Santos should have scored the game-winner against his old club in the second half, but missed with one of the most selfish, inept efforts seen in front of an MLS net in years (AP Photo).

The best Chivas USA (0-2-1) performance of the young season so far yielded the best result of Coach Robin Fraser’s reign, a road draw against a similarly retooling Toronto team embarking on the post-Dwayne DeRosario era after he was traded Friday to the New York Red Bulls.

Former Chivas USA striker Maicon Santos should have won the game for the hosts in the second half and become the second Toronto player to score against his former club – Alan Gordon got the opener for the Canucks – but perhaps demonstrated why the club didn’t keep him around after an inexcusable miss that came with the Goats’ goal yawning and a teammate begging for the ball.

Alejandro Moreno assumed the captaincy in the absence of Jimmy Conrad (concussion) and responded with a third minute goal. A wide open Alan Gordon popped in the equalizer from a header off a free kick when Justin Braun (why is an attacker attempting to mark a fellow striker?) lost his man.

i-418b6f15d58b5e608ed99938838612cb-braunmiss.jpgOff target man: Justin Braun heads wide and Chivas USA headed home with one point instead of three.

Had Justin Braun done better on a couple of occasions in front of goal, Chivas might have even stolen a win, as Fraser pointed out:

“Without a doubt, I think a point on the road you have to look at and say you’re satisfied with that. Having said that, we felt like we had enough possession that we could have created more chances and we probably could have done a little bit better with some of the chances we had

“When you have a team on the ropes it’s important you try to put away another one and really bury the game,” Fraser added. “But we’re a very a young team and we are learning and I felt it was a positive step forward today. We were very aggressive and if the players smell blood they have to go after it.”

It wasn’t a vintage performance by any means, but relatively speaking, it was an improvement over recent efforts and something to build on.

Gordon wanted more than one point over his former team:

“I don’t think it’s a great result for us at home. You’re always looking for three points, especially against a team like Chivas, that will probably be somewhere around the bottom of the West. It’s a tough result for us, but we’ve got a lot of new guys, a lot of new faces, and it’s going to be a job, getting together in a quick amount of time.

“This is my second trade and it’s my second goal against my former team, so yeah, it felt real good,” he said of the equalizer. “Goals feel good, period, but to do it against my former team, being so soon that I was there, it was kind of sweet.”

Dan Kennedy got his first start of the season over Zach Thornton and Andrew Boyens and Jorge Flores also made their 2011 MLS debuts.

Game story.

Chivas USA lineup: – Dan Kennedy, Heath Pearce, Mike Lahoud, Andrew Boyens, Ante Jazic, Nick LaBrocca, Marcos Mondaini (Gerson Mayn 67), Ben Zemanski, Jorge Flores, Justin Braun (Victor Estupian 86), Alejandro Moreno

Highlights:

Next for Chivas USA: Columbus (1-1-1) Saturday at Home Depot Center. The Crew beat Dallas 2-0 Friday at home.

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