Galaxy: September 2008 Archives
Two team's, one season, different directions.
Passion, guts, determination - Chivas USA have embraced those qualities, the Galaxy have not. For the most part, that's the difference between the two franchises this season.
Reading between the lines, Galaxy Coach Bruce Arena appears to agree:
"This is not a project were looking at in the short term, but building this team up over the next couple of years and getting the right kind of characters on the field and by that I mean in terms of their personalities, their competitiveness and their ability. We've got to get the right balance and the right combination of players. Obviously, this year we're going to evaluate what we have and how we can make it better."
Here's Arena on one of the team's major weaknesses that surfaced yet again in Chicago:
"Between (central defenders) Sean (Franklin) and Troy (Roberts) and our goalkeeper (Josh Wicks) in that game ... I bet there's not 50 league starts in there in those three positions - right down the heart of your team and that's obviously an issue."
Storm clouds were (literally) gathering as the Galaxy practice ended Monday at Home Depot Center, the suffocating miasma of the sticky air seemingly reflecting the deepening gloom engulfing the team.
Veteran Pete Vagenas, usually one of the friendliest and most accommodating Galaxy players, walked off the field, his gaze locked at the ground straight ahead in a clear sign he was in no mood to talk.
Landon Donovan hobbled by, a leg encased in ice, a metaphor for a cold, stark season seemingly staggering to an inevitable conclusion.
I was there to gauge the mood of the team after another dispiriting loss last week to the Chicago Fire - and it wasn't difficult to discern:
"We're a little bothered, frustrated by our last game," said rookie defender Sean Franklin, out of Cal State Northridge. "We've got four games left. I'm pretty sure we've got to win out or at least get three of the four. We've got to come up with a better mentality this weekend in Columbus."
Franklin acknowledged the Galaxy just keep making the same old errors:
"We talked about how we had to step up to the midfielders and not give them a lot of space because they will shoot. They got space, (Rolfe) dribbled and exactly what we didn't want to happen, happened. ... We need to do a better job communicating."
Coach Bruce Arena agreed:
"In general I don't think we played well," he said. "We're too inconsistent. Our defending as a group isn't good enough. We have some major holes open in our defense and that's not attributed only to defenders, it's attributed to the entire group."
I'll have more from Arena on the Galaxy's psyche in Tuesday's column and whether he can bailout the Galaxy any better than Congress could the banks today.
A couple of notes from training:
*Goalkeeper Steve Cronin practiced today for the second time since his injury.
*Defender Eduardo Dominguez was also back practicing with the team for the first time since making a flying visit to Argentina where at 12:52 p.m. Sept. 15 his wife gave birth to the couple's first child - a son. Mateo Dominguez weighed in at about 6 pounds 6 ounces.
*Angels outfielder Juan Riviera was at practice today and had his picture taken with Donovan.
*The Galaxy reserves (1-5-2) lost 2-1 to their Chivas USA (2-3-3) counterparts Sunday, Maykel Galindo getting the winning goal in a come-from-behind victory in the 81st minute. Izzy Sesay, 18, scored the Galaxy's opener from a Pete Vagenas cross. Newly-acquired Chivas USA midfielder Dejair assisted on Keith Savage's equalizer.
Chivas USA reserves lineup: Lance Parker, Eric Ebert, Jim Curtin, Bobby Burling (Keith Savage 46), Gerson Mayen, Kraig Chiles, Daniel Paladini, Dejair Ferreira (Ian Etherington 66), Jorge Flores, Anthony Hamilton (Maykel Galindo 60), Roberto Nurse.
Galaxy reserves lineup: Josh Saunders, Joe Franchino (Ely Allen 46), Julian Valentin, Scott Bolkan, Vardan Adzemian, Mike Randolph, Peter Vagenas (Alvaro Pires 46), Brandon McDonald, Josh Tudela (Mike Muñoz 59), Bryan Jordan, Israel Sesay.
Sunday college scores:
UCLA men 2 (2-3-3) Cal State Northridge 2 (4-3-1)
LMU men 1 (1-2-4) Oregon State 1 (3-4-2)
Cal State Dominguez Hills men 3 (9-1-1) Cal Poly Pomona 1 (3-6)
Arizona State 1 (6-2-3) Long Beach State 0 (6-3-2).
UC Irvine 2 (6-5) Pepperdine 1 (4-5-2)
Cal State Northridge 1 (6-3) San Francisco 1 (4-5-2)
Cal State Dominguez Hills 1 (6-5) Cal Poly Pomona 0
Just not good enough is the verdict.
An unspectacular David Beckham. A sublime Blanco move. A goalkeeper and others - Sean Franklin is not the MLS MVP folks - that are just not good enough. Did I say that already?
At this stage of the season it's not worth doing tactical analysis. The season (again) has pretty much passed the Galaxy by.
YouTube highlights:
Apologies: the blogging software has been down for hours, only just came back up and I have other things to do.
So very briefly:
*The Galaxy play another must-win game against Chicago at 6 tonight on ESPN2.
*Former Chivas USA goalkeeper Brad Guzan played - and lost - his first game with Aston Villa Wednesday night.
*The Cal State Dominguez Hills men are eyeing another championship.
Toros midfielder Scott Mariano started 14 games last year.
Photo by Scott Varley
A smattering of Galaxy related reads for your perusal:
*Soccer America's Ridge Mahoney looks at Landon Donovan's MLS MVP chances. (On track for a career-best season, Donovan is doing his best to impress so he can jump ship to Bayern Munich, Europe in general or really anywhere as long as he flees the increasingly erratic Galaxy).
*Sports Illustrated's Grant Wahl checks in with the latest scheme being concocted by Galaxy power broker Tim Leiweke. (Leiweke's latest contention that the Galaxy are actually being harmed because of the designated player rule has a kernel of truth, but good luck selling this to the rest of MLS long since convinced L.A. receive preferential treatment).
*Variety reveals the television empire building plans of Galaxy owner Anschutz Entertainment Group. (Televised reserve team games anyone?).
*Finally, I keep forgetting to blog this, but if you've always wanted to know whether Alan Gordon can hit a really little hole better than a yawning big one (and you have $500 you didn't put in WaMu stock burning a hole in your pocket) you might want to sign up for the annual Galaxy Day on the Links.
From the (edited) Galaxy press release:
The LA Galaxy Foundation will host their annual Day on the Links golf tournament on Monday, October 20 at Industry Hills Golf Club at Pacific Palms Resort in Industry Hills, Calif. LA Galaxy players, coaching staff and TV personalities will tee off at 11 a.m. on the Eisenhower Course, with on-course contests and prizes, a post-tournament awards dinner, raffle and silent auction adding to the festivities. Foursomes and individual spots start at just $500.The event's proceeds will benefit the LA Galaxy Foundation's outreach programs, including Kicks for Kids, Camps for Kids, a new Reading Garden built with the Home Depot Charitable Foundation, the annual Foundations' Feast and the Holiday Assist Program.
To register for "Day on the Links," go here, call Gloria King at 310-630-2222 or e-mail gking@lagalaxy.com.
Spent the day columnizing for Tuesday's newspaper about the most popular national team in Southern California - Mexico - which plays an 8 p.m. Wednesday exhibition at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum against Chile.
Fans who want to get an autograph or two from Mexican National Team stars should show up at the adidas Sports Performance store Tuesday on Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica. Tecos goalkeeper Jesús Corona, Pachuca's Fausto Pinto and Jaime Correa, Toluca's Antonio Naelson and Monterrey's Luis Pérez will be on hand for the hour-long autograph session that begins at 11 a.m. Fans can win match tickets and gift cards.
In other news, Landon Donovan was named MLS Player of the Week Monday (surprise!) after his dominating three-goal performance in the 5-2 win over on the weekend over D.C. United. The award is the ninth of Donovan's MLS career, tying him with Jeff Cunningham, retired Galaxy great Cobi Jones and Chivas USA's Ante Razov for the most in MLS history.
Donovan, who leads the league in goal scoring, now has 19 goals and will inevitably become the third player in Galaxy history to score 20 or more goals in a season. Carlos Ruiz got 24 goals in 2002 and Eduardo Hurtado slammed home 21 goals in 1996. The Galaxy have reached the MLS Cup in each of the previous seasons in which they had a 20 goal scorer. Oh great, helluva time to break the string, huh?
How prolific is Donovan? This from MLS:
"For just the second time in MLS history, a player has reached the 19-goal mark in 20 games. Landon Donovan did it Saturday with his hat trick against D.C. United. The only other player to score at that pace through 20 games was Trinidadian Stern John, who did it with the Columbus Crew in 1998 en route to 26 goals in 27 games.John's 1998 campaign is still the best scoring rate during a single season at 0.96 goals per game. Donovan could break that record this season."
The chart:
Highest Single-Season Scoring Rates in MLS History:
Yr. Player Team GP Goals AVG
1998 Stern John CLB 27 26 0.96
2008 Landon Donovan LA 20 19 0.95
2000 Mamadou Diallo TB 28 26 0.93
2002 Carlos Ruiz LA 26 24 0.92
1996 Roy Lassiter TB 30 27 0.90
Oh, and Donovan was saying all the right things over the weekend in encouraging Juergen Klinsmann's Bayern Munich to come in for him after the season. Contrary to at least one report, however, the German giants have not tendered any sort of offer for Donovan.
BTW, David Beckham and Alan Gordon have joined Landon Donovan and Greg Vanney on official warning from MLS, meaning that they will receive a mandatory one-game suspension if they receive one more yellow card. Next for the Galaxy: the Fire Thursday in Chicago on ESPN2.
In college soccer, Loyola Marymount University junior goalkeeper Patrick Simpson was named West Coast Conference Player of the week for the second time this season. That's the first time an LMU player has won the honor in a season since former Chivas USA player Arturo Torres did it three times in 2000. Simpson came within seven minutes of pitching two shutouts against #9 Northwestern and #11 Illinois-Chicago over the weekend.
Serious bloggers actually blog immediately after the game.
The rest of us go to Oktoberfest.
Game story from a Galaxy perspective.
By the way, David Beckham had yet another sub-par game complete with errant passes, petulant behavior and little creativity. Yet Galaxy Coach Bruce Arena, perhaps playing politics, praised his performance as "excellent," while Becks himself simply conceded it was "all right."
"I'm sure I've played better," he said. "I've definitely played worse."
Best line of the night goes to Bruce Arena as he left the post-game conference, leaving David Beckham to face the media. "Monday!" said Bruce brightly of the next practice day, which players usually have off. "Yes, Monday," said Becks, considerably less enchanted with the idea.
Quotable:
Pete Vagenas on the early goal:
"I was ready to walk out the stadium when they scored off the corner kick to be honest with you. I can't tell you how many times we went over set pieces this week."
United Coach Tom Soehn on the outcome:
"We got careless. I'm not sure if the early goal caused that. We turned over the ball in some really bad spots. Guys like Landon, you can't afford to leave them unmarked."
On the officiating:
"The officiating crew had a bad night. ... The red card? The whole Galaxy staff looked at me - it was just a soft card."
On the season:
"I won't lie - it's been a tough season. As we look to get guys back it's going to take a little bit of time to find our rhythm. ... Some of the mistakes we're making are real basic."
On the Swiss cheese-like United defense:
"Landon did a good job of finding the holes and we didn't account for them. ... They moved the ball around well and exposed some of our weaknesses."
Arena on the early goals in each half:
"The way we came out in the second half - we gave up another goal. These are bad habits. These are things we have to get better at - concentration has to improve."
On the difference between the desultory performance last weekend in Kansas City and tonight:
"I accept the responsibility for Kansas City - because I put Landon and David in an unfavorable position. They had a lot of games, travel and I put at least two tired players on the field. My job as the coach here is to position players to be successful and I didn't do David any favors in Kansas City nor did I do Landon any favors. ... If I had to redo it, I'd probably do things differently on that day."
On the officiating:
"What can I say? At this point we're not willing to give back the three points. We needed three points tonight so we're going to take them anyway we can get them."
Beckham on the end of the winless streak:
"To go so many games without a win - I've never done that before - and I'm sure many of the other players have not done that before."
Ante Jazic on the D.C. defense: "They reminded me of our defense early on in the season."
On the difference Arena has made:
"If anyone knows soccer, they can see we're more organized, more compact, especially the back line. ... Before we were a little bit of a make-shift team. But now we're playing as a unit."
Landon Donovan on the season so far:
"Before the season started my goals were to lead the league in scoring and be the league MVP and I got a lot closer to both those tonight, which is good."
The Galaxy snapped their 12-game winless streak in some style, dissecting a defense that had more holes than their own for a 5-2 win capped by a Pete Vagenas (!) volley in the 81st minute.
Donovan scored his third and the Galaxy's fifth in second half stoppage time although he appeared more than a tad offside.
D.C. played with 10 men for the final half hour, after Marc Burch stupidly received a straight red for hacking David Beckham's ankle with the ball already out of play It wasn't a particularly nasty challenge and it appeared even Beckham thought a straight red was overly harsh and he appeared to have more than few words with the assistant referee.
Before Vegenas' late goal - created by Donovan who held the play up while awaiting Vagenas' arrival - the Galaxy had led by just one goal after South African striker Thabiso Boyzzz scored his first MLS goal three minutes after the break.
It was the third time the Galaxy had scored five goals all season.
The first win for Bruce Arena hauled the Galaxy off the Western Conference basement and into a tie with San Jose for fifth place.
Back with more from the locker rooms later.
.
After giving up a goal just 71 seconds into the match - and earning deafening boos from the almost capacity crowd - the Galaxy came back to score three straight, the first three goal outburst in a half since May for L.A.
It should have been four - Edson Buddle couldn't beat D.C. goalkeeper Louis Crayton (a Liberian who played most of his career in Switzerland and was picked up by D.C. in August) when he was in alone on stoppage time and then hit the bar when the ball came back out to him.
Landon Donovan got two of them, extending his MLS best goalscoring streak to 18 in 20 games, already the fourth most goals in a season for the Galaxy.
Devon McTavish got the first for D.C. from an Ivan Guerrero corner kick, deftly trapping, turning and firing home while his marker - Buddle - had completely lost him. It was the fourth fastest goal the Galaxy had ever given up.
Donovan equalized in the 23rd minute, when a Chris Klein through ball from his own half beat three square D.C. defenders and LD coolly shot over a sprawling Crayton.
A Donovan scorcher from 25 yards out in the 35th minute made it 2-1 and three minutes later Alan Gordon made it three. A hard Lewis shot was only parried by Crayton and the ball fell to Gordon who snuck home a shot just inside the near post, two D.C. players on the goal line failing to stop the ball. It was Gordon's fifth goal of the season.
In between, a Lewis header hit the post and Beckham received a yellow card for dissent after screaming at the referee. One more booking in the next three games and he'll be suspended for a game.
The Galaxy ended the half with 11 shots on goal to United's four.
First off, my thoughts are with Palos Verdes Peninsula resident Bill Mason this evening, a long-time AYSO referee and a score board operator for the Galaxy, who I discovered tonight had a stroke last Sunday and is in intensive care at Torrance Memorial Medical Center. Bill has struggled with ill health for some time and certainly didn't need this, so let's hope he's back in the press box soon.
Back to business: the mediocre meets the truly awful tonight in a game that could realistically spell the end of the Galaxy's season without three points.
D.C. United come into the game occupying the eighth and final MLS playoff spot, although they are winless in their last five games and have just one win in their last five games.
The antidote may be the Galaxy, without a win in a dozen games now and counting, although they began the day just four points out of the third and final guaranteed playoff spot in the Western Conference.
David Beckham and Landon Donovan are playing together at Home Depot Center for the first time since July 10.
The Galaxy lineup: Wicks, Klein, Franklin, Roberts, Jazic, Beckham, Donovan, Vanney, Lewis, Buddle, Gordon.
Bryan Jordan drops to the bench after last week's depressing loss to the Wizards.
United starts former Galaxy midfielder Santino Quaranta, while Luciano Emilio - fourth on the MLS goal-scoring charts with 11 goals - is up front.
The game is on Fox Soccer Channel.
More than you ever wanted to know about your blogger: Why am I posting this alleged "preview" when it's almost noon? For the first time in years I stayed up until the wee hours in a (ultimately futile) attempt to finish this (highly recommended) novel.
So I'll keep this brief.
If you're going to the game tonight (an unusual 8 p.m. kick off, BTW, live on Fox Soccer Channel), there's a pre-game concert by A Cursive Memory.
Check them out:
Chivas USA is in Salt Lake City.
Game story.
Both ex-Galaxy midfielder Sasha Victorine and Brazilian Dejair, who has received his work permit, could make their debuts for Chivas USA.
Incidentally, Chivas USA supporters group the Union Ultras will host a viewing party at the Black Watch English Pub in Upland at 5:30 p.m. The pub is at 497 N. Central Avenue.
Friday college scores:
No. 2 UCLA women 3 Miami 0
No. 13 Oklahoma State 4 (7-0) Loyola Marymount women 0 (3-2-2).
No. 9 Northwestern 1 (6-0-1) Loyola Marymount men 0 (1-2-2).
Arizona State 2 Cal State Northridge women 1 (5-2).
Utah 1 (3-5-1) Long Beach State 0 (4-2-2).
Gotta finish this book.......
Sgt. Chris Cognac, who works for a South Bay Police Department, is also a food, wine and travel writer for the Daily Breeze and hosted "The Hungry Detective" on the Food Network. Cognac is a season ticket holder for the L.A. Avengers Arena Football team and will soon become a Chivas USA season ticket holder. In this guest post, he explains how he discovered his love of soccer and why he spurned the Galaxy for Chivas USA.
I was raised in Torrance and like a typical teenager in the 1980s I loved football and wrestling.
I didn't really care much for soccer. I wouldn't take time out of my busy teenage schedule to watch a game (besides, there weren't many girls there).
I remember my disdain for the fact Cal State Dominguez Hills was going to allow a soccer stadium to built on campus for a sport that like 50 people watched. I mean, where was I going to see Lollapalooza now!
While I had an outward disdain for soccer, I was secretly impressed by the likes of Cobi Jones and Alexi Lalas, who ran so fast his wild red hair would streak back like his head was on fire.
Still, while soccer was cool for all those English dudes, this was California.
Then 2008 came along, I was fat from filming for the Food Network and needed to do something else besides eating in restaurants, so I became addicted to Arena Football and the Los Angeles Avengers. Well, that season ended (not well I might add) and I needed a "fix." I had to find a sport to love, to scream at the top of my lungs in support of, to obsess over the players, to bond with the fans and become "part of".
And, oh yeah, it had to be affordable for my family of four, just like Arena Football.
Beckham, Beckham, Beckham - all I heard about was David Beckham. Maybe I should just go check out this soccer thing at Home Depot Center.
Well, I clicked on the Galaxy Web site and saw that a family four-pack was $100 bucks for four tickets and four hats. I wasn't into soccer that much to spend a "Hundy" for a game.
Then I discovered Chivas USA also played at Home Depot Center and for $58 I could get four tickets, four hats - and four hot dogs. I couldn't click fast enough to order - but I couldn't figure out the stupid online ordering thing.
Enter the most important guy in my Chivas USA world - ticket rep John Santos.
John set me up with tickets and answered my important questions:
*Is the game announced in Spanish or English? (Both, it turned out).
*Are there fights in the stands? - I had seen English soccer riots on TV. (He assured me that Chivas USA games are family friendly and I would have a good time).
I bought the "coolest looking" jerseys in MLS and went with my wife, Martha, and the boys. Game time came and before I knew it, I was cheering along with the Union Ultras yelling "Chivas USA, Chivas USA" at the top of my lungs. My adrenaline was kicking in, my wife and boys were screaming and I realized - what was this? - I was screaming for soccer. And loving it!
Like a giant tuna, I was hooked. And when they scored and the announcer yelled GOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLL!!!, I began making plans for a return to Home Depot Center to cheer on Chivas USA again!!
I managed to get to a Galaxy game a short time after and while it was OK (Landon Donovan is amazing), it just didn't "do it" for me.
I mean, it's so "West side." The crowd just does not seem to get into the game like a Chivas USA crowd does.
You get lots of "snooty" looks from the "don't you know who I am" type crowd (no, I don't know who you are and you don't know who I am, so we are even). We all felt the "vibe" and felt like outsiders.
When we are at a Chivas USA game my family feels like we are truly part of the "international" crowd of soccer with drums, chants and horns. It's very worldly. I feel part of something bigger - and not that I just came to see Beckham.
I have been to CONCACAF Champions League and SuperLiga games with my boys rooting hard for Chivas USA.
Seeing my favorite players like Ante Razov, Sacha Klejstan, Paulo Nagamura and Jim Curtin (that dude works hard!) became so exciting. I am a soccer "junkie."
Then today I went to the HDC box office to get some Galaxy tickets, since I needed something to do on Saturday.
I was told by the box office that the least expensive ticket available was $42! Wow - I wasn't about to pay almost $200 bucks for four tickets to watch the LAST PLACE team lose yet again.
I looked behind me and saw the Chivas USA players walking out the door and down the sidewalk to practice. I asked one of them, "are your practices open, can I watch?"
"Sure," they replied, so I followed them down to the field and from about 10 feet away, observed these athletes practicing. For them, it seemed to be about "love and passion" for the game. They all had smiles on and great attitudes about practicing. Impressed and tired from just watching them, I took that as a sign from the gods that I was destined to be a Chivas USA fan!
I wish them luck for the rest of the season and hope that I can take my family to watch them in the playoffs and MLS Cup (hear that Galaxy?). Destiny and good value brought us together.
If you have not gone to an MLS game, check out Chivas USA.
Oh, and did I mention that the Chivas USA mascot "Chiva Fighter" is about the coolest mascot ever - plus he gave my seven-year-old the scarf he was wearing. (How great is that!)
Now where do I get red and white paint to make stripes on my face for the next game?
See you in the end zone section!
Apparently this parody was first done earlier this year just before the Super Bowl.
But this version will resonate more with long-suffering Galaxy fans.
Check it out before the video Gods take it away. (Caution: lots of naughty words).
Here's your live soccer and television viewing guide for the weekend.
The Galaxy (6-10-8) look for their first victory in 12 games at 8 p.m. Saturday at Home Depot Center (live on Fox Soccer Channel) against D.C. United (10-11-3), while Chivas USA (8-10-6) are on the road in Salt Lake (live at 6 p.m. on KAZA or delayed until 8 p.m. on FSN) and will look to leapfrog their opponents in the standings and haul themselves back into an automatic playoff spot.
Incidentally, veteran defensive leader Jesse Marsch has had his jaw unwired and could play for the first time since breaking it Sept. 14 against the Galaxy.
Other televised games include:
*Manchester United-Chelsea at 6 a.m. Sunday (Fox Soccer Channel) in the undoubted game of the weekend. Incidentally, this is so big so early in the season, the BBC unearthed former Galaxy and Chelsea Coach Ruud Gullit to offer his wisdom on the game. Among Gullit's insights regarding Luiz Felipe Scolari taking over at Chelsea:
"A coach must adjust to the players he has and, at a club like Chelsea, get results," he says.Hmmm. Read the whole thing here.
*7 a.m. Saturday FSC - Managerless Newcastle United face West Ham.
*9:30 a.m. Saturday FSC - Arsenal-Bolton Wanderers.
*5 p.m. KVEA - Jaguares-CD Guadalajara.
College soccer offerings locally this weekend include:
*The UCLA Women's Cup begins today with No. 2 UCLA (5-0-1) taking on Miami (7-0) at 5:00 p.m at Drake Stadium, followed at 7:30 p.m. by No. 24 USD (5-2) against New Mexico (3-1-3). On Sunday it's USD versus Miami at 11:00 a.m., and UCLA against New Mexico at 1:30 p.m. Tickets are $7 adults, $5 youths/UCLA students. The Bruins slipped to No. 2 in the rankings after their scoreless draw with Brown last weekend.
*The UCLA men (1-3-1) hosts Santa Clara (1-3-1) 7 p.m. Saturday at Drake Stadium in a rematch of last season's NCAA second round playoff match, which Santa Clara won 3-1.
*The No. 4 Trojans (6-1-0) begin a six-game home stand at McCalister Field 1 p.m. Sunday hosting SMU (1-4-1).
It says a lot about the UEFA Champions League and a lot more about the global stature of Manchester United that for many in Los Angeles the most important game of the week does not involve the Galaxy or Chivas USA, but today's 11:30 a.m. game on ESPN2 that has the Red Devils facing Jozy Altidore's Spanish team Villareal.
(Alas Altidore, who just made his debut for Villareal over the weekend, is not on the Champions League roster, according to The New York Times' soccer blog Goal).
Other televised UEFA and CONCACAF Champions League games worth checking out today:
*2 p.m. ESPN Classic - Real Madrid-FC Bate Borisov (of Belarus in case you were wondering and I know you were).
*5 p.m. Fox Soccer Channel - Montreal Impact-Joe Public.
*10 p.m. Marathon-Cruz Azul.
A couple of other CONCACAF related notes:
*Panama's FC Tauro, vanquishers of Chivas USA in the preliminary round of the Champions League, lost to the Puerto Rico Islanders of the USL 2-1 Tuesday night.
*Hey, mon - Barnsey's back! Former England and Liverpool wing wizard John Barnes has resurfaced as coach of Jamaica. The Reggae Boyz face a crunch World Cup qualifying clash Oct. 11 against Mexico.
While we were distracted by the start of the Champions Leagues and the return of Sacha Victorine to Southern California, Galaxy Coach Bruce Arena quietly picked up former FC Dallas developmental player Jeremy Barlow before the close of the MLS transfer window Monday.
Finally:
*The U.S. Women's National Team plays the second game of its post-Olympics tour tonight against Ireland in New York.
*The Cal State Dominguez Hills men (7-0) jumped to No. 4 in the latest NSCAA poll.
This was a game that looked like it involved the two last-place teams in the league, at least until the Wizards scored two goals in two minutes to dispose of the Galaxy.
The largest Wizards crowd of the season - 26,113 - watched as the Galaxy winless streak reached 12 games, a stretch that has seen L.A. go 0-6-6 while getting outscored 28-16.
How bad is this?
*The winless streak is longer than any Chivas USA endured during its horrific inaugural season.
*New York hasn't been this bad in almost a decade, back when they were called the MetroStars.
*The Galaxy are within striking distance of tying the all-time MLS winless streak set by Real Salt Lake, something they will do if they fail to win any of the rest of their games.
Here are the all-time MLS winless streak "leaders:"
Team Number When set
Real Salt Lake 18 8/10/2005-5/6/2006
Real Salt Lake 15 9/23/2006-6/17/2007
Columbus Crew 13 6/10/2006-8/16/2006
New York 12 7/14/1999-9/5/1999
Galaxy 12 6/21/2008-?
Chivas USA 11 5/14/2005-7/2/2005
Incidentally, defender Eduardo Dominguez may have made the best move of the night and he wasn't even on the field. The Argentine flew home to be with his wife who was due to give birth to the couple's first child.
And David Beckham is clearly not with us.
Watch and weep:
Perhaps this video makes the point even better. The Galaxy have just six MLS games left in the season.
The remnants of Hurricane Ike are expected to miss Kansas City today meaning reporters there can focus on another overblown phenomena - David Beckham - during today's 2 p.m. game (live on Prime) between the Wizards and Galaxy.
A big crowd is expected despite the iffy weather to see Becks; Galaxy fans just hope it's a case of 12th time lucky.
Friday's men's college results:
No. 24 UCLA 0 (1-3-1) No. 19 Indiana 3 (The three goals came within eight minutes).
Wisconsin 2 Cal State Northridge 0 (3-2-0).
No. 7 Cal State Dominguez Hills 1 (6-0) Cal State Monterey Bay 0
Women's scores:
Loyola Marymount 3 (3-2-1) Cal State Bakersfield 0
No. 3 USC 3 (5-1-0) Georgia 2 (Trojans came back from two-goal deficit to win in double overtime).
Pepperdine 2 No. 23 Tennessee 0
No. 20 Cal 1 Cal State Northridge 0 (4-1-0)
Cal State Dominguez Hills 3 (3-3) Cal State Monterey Bay 0
Josh Saunders, a goalkeeper the Galaxy signed to a developmental contract in 2005, but never played a game for the club, has signed on loan with the team for the remainder of the season from Miami FC of the USL.
The Grants Pass, Ore., native hooked up with the team today in Kansas City ahead of the Galaxy's game Saturday against the Wizards.
The Galaxy needed to sign a back-up for goalkeeper Josh Wicks after regular starter Steve Cronin broke a hand.
Saunders, 27, who played at Cal State Fullerton before transferring to Cal, was originally drafted by the San Jose Earthquakes in 2003, but never played a game for the club.
I'm not sure about these lists of virtually everything these days that passes for journalism, but for what it's worth Forbes has now issued its inaugural list of the most valuable teams in MLS with the Galaxy sitting atop the rankings.
The financial magazine estimates the Galaxy are worth a cool $100 million (have they seen them play lately?) with revenues of $36 million that are double that of any other MLS team.
By comparison, Chivas USA are No. 10 among MLS teams, valued at a mere $24 million with revenue of $10 million.
The complete story and rankings are here.
The power of two. The Galaxy scored two, conceded two and were without star players Landon Donovan and David Beckham for Saturday's game against Real Salt Lake. Here Head Coach Bruce Arena directs operations as Associate Head Coach Dave Sarachan looks on.
Photo by Sean Hiller
Full disclosure: I did not attend the game, opting to stay at home and watch on TV since I was technically on vacation.
Notable:
*The final score was 2-2.
*Bryan Jordan, recalled earlier this week from the USL Portland Timbers, scored in his first MLS start.
*The Galaxy winless streak hit 11 games, a team record.
*The Galaxy slumped to dead last in MLS.
*Salt Lake City striker Fabian Espinola scored a goal that was disallowed and broke a bone in his leg while spectacularly flipping during his celebration.
Galaxy beat writer Phil Collin kindly sent along some quotes that did not make it into the print edition.
Here's Real Salt Lake Coach Jason Kreis on the disallowed goal:
It was a little bit mind-boggling there. I'm not exactly sure how it went down. We all kind of thought he may have been in an offside position and we were all looking at the linesman and everybody on the field was as well. The linesman was running back indicating a goal and there was some discussion there between (Galaxy Coach) Bruce (Arena), the linesman and the fourth official and the referee. They came to a collective agreement that it was offside.My initial indication from upstairs was that it was offside so I can't complain too much about the call. I wish it had been a little quicker because then my player wouldn't have celebrated the goal and broken his leg.
Here's Kreis on whether he has seen injuries from overly-exuberant goal celebrations before:
"Yeah I have. I used to do the same thing and came very close to injuring myself one time and I know there was another player in Dallas who did a flip after a goal one time and hurt his back and had to miss the next match," yet he added he won't curtail them. "No, absolutely not. That's what the fans come to see. They come to see the goals, they come to see the passion and the emotion the players have after they score a goal. It's a fluke accident and he could just as well could have broken his leg walking down the stairs this morning."
Actually, Jason fans come to see healthy players playing to their potential for their team so they get to see the best possible game of soccer they paid good money for. They don't come to see some flashy foreigner stupidly injure themselves.
At least Espinola was embarrassed by his dumb move even if Kreis wasn't: as far as I could tell he spent the rest of the game hiding behind his towel no doubt hoping the ground would open up and swallow him.
By the way, Kreis sounded like a coach who knew this result was a missed opportunity:
"I think in our locker room we're a bit disappointed with that result. We came into this game knowing they're missing a lot of key players, a lot of important players. We were confident enough to come in here and think we could take away the full three points. Having said that, we haven't been very good on the road this season so I think we do have to take some positive stuff out of tonight."
Here's Arena on the ever-lengthening 0-5-6 run:
"Am I worried about the streak or the length of it? No. I can't worry about that. I guess if they wouldn't have that streak, I probably wouldn't be here either."
Fair enough.
Here's Arena on Jordan:
Certainly he had a great effort tonight. I don't want to single out any one two or three particular players - it sticks out in my mind right now that the performance of Bryan Jordan was excellent."In terms of Bryan getting continued minutes we'll have to wait and see, but that performance tonight certainly doesn't hurt his cause at all," Arena added. "We were thin at a bunch of positions tonight and Bryan was having a good year at Portland and I'm aware of him from our coaching staff from preseason and he had a good week of training. We had not a whole lot of choices. Bryan certainly showed that he's a player that belongs on the field."
Arena sounded considerably less convinced about the latest contribution from Eduardo Dominguez:
"He did OK. He hasn't done much here and we knew the position would be challenging. By trade he's more of a center back. We put him in a new position and we knew fitness would be a problem as well. He gave us 55 minutes we needed because Brandon McDonald just came back from injury."
Finally, here's Jordan on the likelihood of getting back on the field once the likes of David Beckham and Landon Donovan return:
"I've been waiting for the opportunity and now that I got it I feel I did very well. I know we do have key players missing who might take over my role again but I'll still be fighting hard and trying to get out there."
Highlights:
Before we get started, it's worth noting that Deputy MLS Commissioner Ivan Gazidis announced on the commissioner's blog on the league Web site Friday that the issue of scheduling will belatedly be reviewed.
About time. And why couldn't Garber blog about that himself? He's in Cuba for the U.S. World Cup qualifier. Let's hope that irony hasn't escaped Garber et al.
Still, that doesn't help Chivas USA or Toronto FC. Both teams spent the week scrounging for warm bodies to put on the field for today's 1 p.m. game in Canada that's live on Prime.
The U.S.-Cuba game is live at 5 p.m. on ESPN Classic and Galavision.
The political implications of the game have overshadowed the sporting ones, but on paper Cuba have little chance against the U.S. Cuba hasn't beaten the U.S. on a soccer field since 1976.
Notable:
*Defender Steve Cherundolo is suspended for the game.
*Michael Bradley leads the U.S. in 2008 in minutes played (647).
*Leagues from eight different countries are represented on the U.S. roster: Belgium, Denmark, England (4), France, Germany (3), Mexico, Scotland (2), and the United States (7).
Standings so far:
GROUP 1 W D L GF GA Pts.
Trinidad & Tobago 1 0 0 3 1 3
United States 1 0 0 1 0 3
Guatemala 0 0 1 0 1 0
Cuba 0 0 1 1 3 0
BTW, Hurricane Ike isn't expected to hit Cuba until later in the week, but the weather sounds brutal to play soccer in.
Finally, the Galaxy plays at 7:30 p.m. against Real Salt Lake live on Prime.
Here's what former RSL midfielder Chris Klein had to say about the transformation in Utah:
"It's a completely different team. (Coach) Jason (Kreis) has completely over-hauled them and done a good job of getting them to play better as a team. They've got good players at every position and they're very organized when they come out to play.They've struggled on the road a little bit, but I don't think that's any indication of the team we're going to see Saturday night.
The real engine of their team is (Javier) Morales in the middle. He's a guy who provides their service and creativity. Obviously they're very sound defensively, but offensively they have Morales and (Fabian) Espindola scored their two goals last week (in the 2-0 RSL victory over the Rapids) so those are two of the guys we can key on Saturday night."
Since I am in vacation, a barbecue beckons and there is plenty of soccer on TV, I'll skip the Galaxy game tonight.
For those of you going, there's a T-shirt and towel giveaway, while L.A. band Under the Influence of Giants plays a pre-game concert.
Check them out:
Almost forgot:
Here is a brief college soccer roundup of Friday scores.
In other games it was:
Long Beach State 3 Harvard 0
Pepperdine 1 Iowa 0
Cal State Northridge men 1 UNLV 0
Cal State Northridge women 2 UC Irvine 1
LMU men 1 Cal Poly 0
LMU women 3 UC Irvine 1
With MLS blithely carrying on with a regular schedule this weekend despite the heavy World Cup qualifying fixture list around the world, criticism is mounting about the harm the domestic league is doing to its credibility at home and internationally.
Coaches hate it, players hate it, fans hate it, but the MLS suits don't appear to understand the harm they are doing to the league. Soccer is a global game. MLS needs to get with the rest of the world and at least - the very least - honor FIFA international dates.
By this point it's a bit of an old saw, but it's worth talking about just to keep it in the public eye and keep the pressure on MLS.
Toronto FC Coach John Carver fired the first salvo last weekend after the game against Chivas USA, observing he will be without nine or 10 players who are on World Cup qualifying duty this coming weekend:
"We asked the MLS, because we thought it's an extreme circumstance, if we could postpone the (return) game (this weekend against Chivas USA). They turned us down. ... On this occasion I don't think common sense has prevailed."I'm going to have to get kids and put kids in. It's that embarrassing. I may even have to go get kids who play in amateur teams.
If I'm a fan of Toronto FC, I don't think I'm getting value for money because I've paid good money for my season ticket - we've got fantastic support up there - yet we're not putting the product on the pitch.
"It's something they have to look at. I don't think there's another league in the world that would ask a team to play in these circumstances."
He's right and Galaxy midfielder Chris Klein piled it on:
"It's a disgrace. ... (MLS) Commissioner (Don) Garber came out and said a few things about scheduling problems and all I can say is we have to figure those out. You play a game on Thursday night when you're missing David Beckham and Landon Donovan and Cuauhtemoc Blanco and (Gonzalo) Segares and the list keeps going. And these are games that are at the most important time of the season. For us, come Saturday night, we're missing four guys - four very important guys and that doesn't help the league. We need to make this league about the product on the field first."
(The Galaxy are without Donovan, Eddie Lewis, Beckham and Canadian Ante Jazic, who are all on international duty).
Galaxy Coach Bruce Arena is similarly unimpressed with MLS scheduling:
"That needs to be again reexamined by the people who make the decisions in MLS. I've spoken about that for years. I don't think it's the way to go, but I'm a non-voting member, so-to-speak. You look at our team this weekend and we lose four players in our first XI. That's a factor and it is for other teams. Obviously there needs to be a reexamination of the schedule. You look at (Tuesday) night - you have two MLS teams eliminated from the (CONCACAF) Champions League by clubs from Panama and Trinidad (& Tobago) and that tells me the schedule is catching up with everybody. ... Of course I believe you honor (FIFA) fixture dates."
Boston-based soccer writer Frank Dell'Apa agrees with Bruce about the CONCACAF Champions League.
And it's humiliating for the U.S.
Meanwhile, Galaxy striker Edson Buddle has the last word (and best quote) on the issue in regard to Saturday's game against second-place Western Conference team Real Salt Lake:
"Hopefully we'll put them to sleep not having four good players here. So hopefully they'll go to sleep and they won't think it will be a tough game and we'll steal some points."
Not a bad hope.
I'll be back in the morning with previews of the Galaxy, Chivas USA and U.S. games.
Kidding themselves it was somehow bright to continue with a full domestic league program when most others around the world are suspended this weekend, MLS officials are trying to ignore what the rest of the planet is focusing on: the dozens of World Cup qualifiers scheduled this weekend (and next week).
The action begins at 11:30 a.m. today with England playing Portugal in a Under-21 qualifier on Fox Soccer Channel.
Here's a sampling of what other games are on when and where this weekend (and, as always, consult your local listings for the complete run-down):
*7 a.m. Saturday - Azerbaijan at Wales on GolTV.
*10:30 a.m. Saturday - Denmark at Hungary on Fox Soccer Channel.
*Noon Saturday - Germany at Liechtenstein on GolTV.
*1 p.m. Saturday - Iran at Saudi Arabia (delayed) on Fox Soccer Channel.
*2 p.m. Saturday - Bosnia-Herzegovina at Spain on GOLTV.
*3 p.m. Saturday - Jamaica at Mexico on KVEA.
*5 p.m. Saturday - U.S. at Cuba on ESPN Classic, Galavision.
*8 p.m. Sunday - Japan at Bahrain on Fox Soccer Channel.
The U.S. arrived in Havana Thursday night.
BTW, FIFA released the latest version of its always suspect rankings Thursday. Spain remains atop the table, England and Scotland are 15th and 16th respectively, Mexico is 24th (up eight places) and the U.S. 28th (up three spots).
I think there's a couple of MLS games involving the Galaxy and Chivas USA Saturday, too. More on that later.
Which reminds me: former Galaxy forward Herculez Gomez is on the move again and now he really is a wizard on the field.
In other MLS news, Rolling Hills Estates' John Thorrington still intends to play for the Chicago Fire Saturday against the New York Red Bulls despite suffering a nasty broken nose last weekend.
In Chicago Thursday, Chivas beat bitter rivals Club America 2-0 in an exhibition game.
And finally, given the dominant topic in this post it's perhaps an apt time to note the documentary on the Homeless World Cup ESPN was plugging during Thursday's MLS game that will air next week was dismissed with this cursory review in Variety.
In any event, here's the trailer for "Kicking It":
Husky-voiced Josh Wicks, the self-described Barry White of goalkeepers, who played just two halves in Hawaii, and another half in Shanghai in preseason before coming on after 45 minutes last weekend for injured starting goalkeeper Steve Cronin, talked to the assembled media today (well, OK, all two of us) about his expected start Saturday:
Q: How did coming in at half time in the New England team help before your first MLS start Saturday against Real Salt Lake?
A: It got my feet wet a little bit, it took a little bit of the nerves off, coming in at the middle of the game rather than the start - the game was already rolling - so all I had to do was get on the bus and continue to ride. It kind of helped as far as shaking loose some nerves and getting rid of some of the cobwebs.
Q: What's the difference between the USL (Wicks was the 2007 USL Goalkeeper of the Year) and MLS?
A: It's sharper. Talent's better - I wouldn't say it's extremely better - but it's better. The players are a lot smarter and a lot quicker on the ball and it's not as direct. ... And the finishing - as a goalkeeper - is a lot more clinical in MLS than it has been in the USL.
Q: I'm sure when you came in at half time last weekend you didn't have a chance to be nervous. Are you nervous (ahead of this weekend)?
A: I actually got a chance to be nervous coming in at half time against New England. The whole time I was warming up I was OK, but the 10 seconds from the rest of the meeting to running on the field ... I had to get rid of my nerves. I'm looking forward to Salt Lake. I think if you don't get nervous, there's something wrong, it's part of the game. Everyone wants to do well, everyone wants to play well and not make a mistake - so a little butterflies here and there there's nothing wrong with it, but it's what you do with it and how you perform on that day that's going to determine how you play.
Q: As far as the goalscoring threats for Real Salt Lake, who are you going to be most keeping your eye on?
A: My goal - make sure it doesn't go in the goal. I don't want to fixate on one person, I'd rather fixate on my back line, make sure they don't allow them any chances.
Q: Talk about your goalkeeping style with the defense. Are you louder than Steve or quieter?
A: I'm loud anyway, on and off the field. As far as me talking you'd probably have a harder chance getting me to shut up.
With the Galaxy down to one healthy goalkeeper in Josh Weeks after Charles Alamo and now Steve Cronin suffered what Coach Bruce Arena effectively regards as season-ending injuries, he is calling in reinforcements in the shape of former Colorado Rapids draft pick Mike Graczyk, a former University of New Mexico standout now in the MLS pool of goalkeepers retained for just this purpose (so no Kasey Keller on loan then, I guess).
Arena knew nothing about Graczyk, who was on the Dallas roster earlier this season and has also played for the PDL Des Moines Menace.
But at training today Arena said he believes Wicks is ready to start his first-ever MLS game Saturday at home against Real Salt Lake:
"He's trained hard and my understanding is he's done well in preseason and throughout the year. I think he's prepared to play. I thought he did a good job on Saturday for his first taste, so it's good he had 45 minutes against New England.
I chatted with Wicks at training today and will be blog later today with a Q&A of that conversation.
The Galaxy have also recalled three players on loan from the USL Portland Timbers - defender Scott Bolkan, defender Varden Adzemian and Bryan Jordan, who has played in one Galaxy and nine Timbers games this season.
A reminder to the dozen or so of you out there still paying attention to the sadly ignored U.S. Open Cup (this is our F.A. Cup, after all) - the 95th annual final between D.C. United and the USL's Charleston Battery is live at 4:30 P.M. on Fox Soccer Channel.
The Battery are seeking to become the first USL team to lift the trophy since the Rochester Rhinos in 1999. Also at stake: a place in the 2009 CONCACAF Champions League.
Battery basics:
Head Coach: Michael Anhaeuser
2008 U.S. Open Cup Record: (3-0-2, 2-0 in PK shootouts)
2008 Open Cup Leading Scorer: Darren Spicer (4 goals, 1 assist)
All-Time Open Cup Final Record: First Appearance
2008 USL-1 Record: 10-9-7 (37 pts., Third Place, single table)
2008 League Leading Scorer: Randi Patterson (8 goals)
Last Outing: 0-0 draw on 8/29 vs. first-place Puerto Rico Islanders
Finally, several Southern Californians were among the 40 selected today to attend the fall U.S. Under-17 Residency Program in Bradenton, Fla. There are 17 new players and 23 who are returning.
Southern Californians to attend include: midfielder Luis Gil of Garden Grove; defender Emilio Orozco of Oxnard, who plays for Rampage FC; and defender Alberto Rosas of North Hollywood, who plays for Real So Cal.
Starting Galaxy goalkeeper Steve Cronin is out four to six weeks with a broken right hand, Galaxy officials confirmed Tuesday.
Cronin suffered the injury when his hand struck the face of New England's Taylor Twellman as the Revolution opened the scoring in the seventh minute of Saturday's 2-2 draw with the Galaxy.
Cronin stayed in the game until half time, when he was replaced by inexperienced backup Josh Wicks, who made his MLS debut.
Wicks is the only healthy goalkeeper listed on the Galaxy roster, with draft pick Charles Alamo out for the season.