Becks says he’ll be back on Sept. 11

By: NathanHJ | View Comments

In an article up on the official Los Angeles Galaxy website, long-injured star midfielder David Beckham says he is targeting the Galaxy’s game on September 11th as his return date to the field.

“The doctors’ original date was Oct. 1, but I always kind of said I want to be ready before then. I’ll keep my fingers crossed and hopefully will play in part of the game here against Columbus. I’ll be on the bench, and hopefully I’ll get on the field for 15-20 minutes. That’s what I’m looking at.”

If true, this couldn’t happen at a better time, in my humble opinion. While I was ho-hum about it for most of the season, given the strength of the start by the Galaxy and the continued strength of the core players, the summer has exposed several weaknesses within the the team. While Becks isn’t the final answer to any of them, given his age, fragility, and upcoming end of his contract, he bring needed quality and depth back to a midfield that has lost its punch and never truly solved its problems at left-half.

As a right-sided player Becks can allow Michael Stephens to play a left wing position with Juniho in the playmaking role and Landon Donovan pushed up as a withdrawn striker playing off of Edson Buddle’s hard work. This formation allows the team to get its best players on the field at the same time while allowing vets like Eddie Lewis and Chris Klein to bring their wiles to late-game situations.

I would not have said this before the Galaxy’s performance nose-dived starting in mid-July, but this could be just the thing to bolster the teams run to the Supporter’s Shield and MLS Cup.

What do you think? Is getting Becks back a good thing? Just “meh”? Does it help the team? Hurt it? Do nothing?

Share your thoughts in the comments below.

I’ve got three words: Galaxy vs Wizards post-game analysis

By: NathanHJ | View Comments

I’ve got three words. And those words are: Disappointed and frustrated.

I’ve had season tickets to the Los Angeles Galaxy for four years now, including some of the worst years in franchise history. But even in the injury- and Alexi Lalas-ravaged fiascos of 2007 and 2008, the Galaxy managed to put a product on the field that connected with the fans. Even the games in which the team was eye-bleedingly bad – with midfields anchored by Pete Vagenas and Josh Tudela and defenses featuring Troy Roberts and Abel Xavier – they played with something that was completely missing from Saturday night’s flat and mediocre performance.

Heart and grit.

But let me back up a minute.

I was out of the country from August 5th through the 22nd missing the Galaxy’s away win over Red Bull and their semi-shocking away loss to San Jose. But I still remember the embarrassment of losing a CONCACAF Champions League series to the Puerto Rico Islanders including a 4-0 home shellacking close on the heels of US Open Cup elimination to the hallucination-green-clad Seattle Sounders. And those are just the lowest low points in a full-fledged swoon that started with the return of Landon Donovan and Edson Buddle to the Home Depot Center from the World Cup.

There is no denying that the current edition of the Galaxy is among the most talented of the teams that have donned the uniform and it’s certainly better than anything put on the field since 2004. But it is not without flaws, despite its impressive form for the first half of the season. Even then I warned that it wouldn’t last, though I didn’t think the stumbles would be as pathetic or the slump as protracted. The problem is personnel.

Don’t get me wrong – the nucleus of the team that challenged just last year for the MLS Cup remains and was decently upgraded over the winter with Juninho and Michael Stephens especially providing new creativity and energy in the middle. I think that the combination of a strong core and new talent put the Galaxy over the top for the first part of the season. The core remembered 2009’s season of unexpected achievement and the new talent was unscouted and surprisingly good. This, combined with consistent breaks going the team’s way, was enough to surpass the rest of the league.

But by summer, the rest of the league had significantly upgraded their rosters and jelled as teams, with the exception of teams that have imploded, like DC United and Chivas USA, or suffered through epic injury bouts like New England Revolution. But the Galaxy did nothing during this time and so far their only major move has been to off-load Alan Gordon to Chivas for allocation money (though many have argued that this is a form of addition by subtraction). This leaves two singular challenges unaddressed, the lack of a second consistent striker to pair with and take the pressure off Edson Buddle and another talented and dangerous winger to contribute now. Eddie Lewis and Chris Klein are now limited to role playing and there’s no obvious replacement for Juninho, who himself still needs to gain more experience before he can truly join players like Javier Morales and Dwayne DeRosario in playmaking roles.

There’s one other positional problem the team needs to sort out: center back. Leonardo has talent and he gets better with every game. But he lacks leadership and he makes a lot of mistakes based on not being mentally quick or on getting caught in possession. The team without Gregg Berhalter in back is much less effective defensively despite his lack of pace and increasingly brittle body. Omar Gonzalez hasn’t stepped up to fill the leadership gap, leaving it to Donovan Ricketts who has shown an erratic streak during the slump that might be a result of having to adjust to Berhalter’s absence. Or it could just be a reversion to the form that left him without a contract in the lower divisions in England prior to his joining the Galaxy in 2009.

Finally, there’s the tactical situation from Saturday’s game against Kansas City. The Wizards came out in a 4-5-1, announcing an intention to clog the middle and counter-attack in numbers (switching to a 4-3-3 on the fly). And for the first 45 minutes the Galaxy couldn’t adjust. They played without rhythm, with no shape, with little sustained possession, and with an increasing desire, born of frustration, to dump the ball forward as quickly as possible. Kansas City used their speed to pressure the ball in all parts of the field, contributing to the Galaxy’s lackluster and frustrating play. Landon Donovan, assigned the playmaking role in the middle promptly disappeared for the entire first half providing no linking at all to the attack while his teammates could not help him break free from the shadowing Stephan Auvray put all over him like a cheap suit.

But overall, the team played without the grit and heart that sustained it through the dark days of 2007 and 2008 and made it so difficult to play against in 2009 and the first half of 2010. They were beaten to almost every 50-50 ball, they played sloppy passes, they were a step slow, they were uncreative, and it simply looked like Kansas City wanted this game more than did the Galaxy.

The 2009 team showed that owning and living your team identity can give you the intangible you need to consistently outperform better teams. This year the Galaxy has been largely the better team, but has let its identity as the gritty team that plays with heart and refuses to lose slip away as its points total climbed. That fact, combined with the club’s failures to address the positional weaknesses still dogging the team, has led us to yesterday’s dispiriting 2-0 loss to one of the worst teams in the league.

If the team hopes to recapture the form it showed in the first half of the season, it needs to remember what got it here in the first place and start playing again with the grit and heart of a hard-done-by underdog. Otherwise 2010 will be known as the year of the Galaxy’s Epic Collapse, rather than that of the Galaxy’s 3rd MLS Championship.

Man of the Match: Chris Birchall – the only Galaxy player to exhibit a nose for goal and to play with inspiration and determination.

What others are saying:

MLSSoccer Game Recap
Luis Bueno at MLSSoccer.com with the Galaxy perspective
Andrew Wiebe with the Wizards perspective
Jo-Ryan Salazar at Bleacher Report
Jo-Ryan’s play by play
LA Soccer News
Scott French at the LA Daily News family of papers
Nick Sloan at the Kansas City Kansan
Josie Becker at SB Nation Los Angeles
Adam Serrano’s play by play at Soccer By Ives
Adam Serrano’s match report
Nick Green’s 100 Percent Soccer
LA Galaxy official blog notes
LA Galaxy official blog quotes

LA Galaxy at San Jose Earthquakes: Preview

By: jen | View Comments

We are the better team. Hands down. But we need to be careful. The last time we played the ‘Quakes we underestimated their talent (result: 2-2 tie). The ‘Quakes are no longer in last place in the West — that honor goes to Chivas. Instead they have climbed to a playoff-run worthy sixth place. The Galaxy, as you know, are in first place. We can’t be cocky.

The greatest obstacle we face is not a speedy Arturo Alvarez or a powerful Cornell Glen, it’s the field size. So far this season the Galaxy struggles to maintain possession when the field is small. They can still get the results, but the small field will work to San Jose’s advantage.

The ‘Quakes GK Joe Cannon is out with a broken ankle suffered on Tuesday. John Busch is expected to take his place. In addition, San Jose’s new DP acquisition, Brazilian midfielder Geovanni, will not be able to start due to pending paperwork.

Of course, for the Galaxy David Beckham is out (and I do believe this is the first time I’ve mentioned him in months). Todd Dunivant is also having neck spasms but is expected to start.

MLS.com’s probable lineups:

Other previews:

LA Galaxy’s Official Site
Goal.com
Yahoo Sports
ESPN Soccernet
And apparently, San Jose fans still despise Landon Donovan

Galaxy vs. New York Red Bulls

By: jen | View Comments

Ooooh, this is gonna be a good match! Why?

Landon Donovan, Edson Buddle, and the Number 1 team in the West and in MLS

VS.

Thierry Henry, Rafa Marquez, and the 2nd place team in the East

Need I say more? Regardless of who wins the game this should be a beautiful game.

The match is live on FSC at 3pm Pacific, 6pm Eastern.

Check out the preview links below.

LA Galaxy’s official web site
Nick Green’s 100 Percent Soccer
Fox Sports
Yahoo Sports
Bleacher Report
New York Post

LA Galaxy vs. Real Madrid Open Thread

By: jen | View Comments

It’s an exciting evening for fans of the LA Galaxy and Real Madrid as they play in the Rose Bowl in front of a packed crowd of over 70,000. As I’ve noted before, this is another great opportunity for the Galaxy and MLS to gain exposure in the world soccer market.

The maternal side of me is excited for the younger Galaxy guys to be a part of this match. I can’t wait to see how our guys match up against Real and I know the entire team will make us proud.

I’ll be back with thoughts after the match. Please include your own in the comments.

Can’t We Just Forfeit?

By: jen | View Comments

Our Galaxy play the Puerto Rico Islanders tonight in CONCACAF Champions League play. You can catch the match on FSC at 5pm Pacific.

Tonight’s match is the second of two games to be played, the winner advancing on aggregate goals. Last week the Galaxy lost to the Islanders at the Home Depot Center by a score of 4-1. In order to advance, the Galaxy have to win on aggregate goals which is a tall order following last week’s results.

Which leads me to this — can’t we just forfeit?

After Sunday’s almost-comeback against the Chicago Fire (Chicago led 3-0 when the Galaxy were able to convert 2 penalties in the second half for a final score of 3-2) the Galaxy team boarded a red-eye flight to Puerto Rico to prepare for tonight’s match. Zzzzzzz. After tonight’s match the team will again return to SoCal to prepare for their Saturday friendly against Real Madrid (you know, CRonaldo, Kaka, and the like).

It’s too much! I would argue the match order of importance for the Galaxy is MLS league play, high-profile friendlies which bring positive attention to the league, CONCACAF Champions League, and then the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup.

We are out of the Open Cup, thankfully. And after last week’s defeat by the Islanders I wish we were out of the CONCACAF Champions League. This will be the team’s 7th match in four weeks — the Real Madrid friendly on Saturday will make it 8 matches in 35 days.

I do plan to watch the game tonight, but I will have mixed feelings. If we can jet out to an early and big lead then I’ll put my pom poms back on and cheer. But mostly I anticipate watching and hoping that no one gets injured or has such a craptastic game that their confidence is shot for weeks to come.

I’ve got three words: Galaxy vs Earthquakes post-game analysis

By: NathanHJ | View Comments

Not champions yet.

On Thursday, July 22 the Los Angeles Galaxy faced a slowly improving San Jose Earthquake squad at home in the friendly confines of the Home Depot Center. On paper, this should have been three points for the home team and a set-back for the team from the Bay Area. In practice, a Galaxy defense once again missing Gregg Berhalter, gave the Quakes two deadly looks on goal that they took advantage of them, leaving the Galaxy to chase the game not once but twice. For the first time in 18 games, the Galaxy entered half time trailing and for only the second time all season, but also the second time in three league games, the Galaxy gave up two goals raising their season total to 10 goals allowed. But for all that the team dominated the game for long stretches with the second San Jose goal coming decidedly against the run of play.

Because the Galaxy fell behind so early, the second minute off a rocket of a Bobby Convey put-back from a rebounding save from Donovan Ricketts, the game put the team to an unexpected and unfamiliar test: playing from behind for most of the game. The standard Galaxy modus operandi has been to play killer d, work the ball patiently through its quality midfield and find the strikers on runs into the box (or on crosses to their heads), take a lead, and then put the opposing offense on lock-down. This game plan, with a few modifications – the ugly victory in Columbus, the ugly loss in New England – had yielded a best-in-league record of 12-2-3 and a points total of 39 that was on pace to set a league record.

But San Jose upset all that with the opening goal and attack-minded play combined with tenacious defense. It forced the Galaxy to attack the game in a way it hasn’t had to before and challenged the team to step-up and show its quality. But even though it took the game to San Jose throughout the first half, it had trouble finding its rhythm, staying patient on offense, integrating all its midfield weapons and getting dangerous looks for its strikers. Granted, part of the problem was play both Edson Buddle and Alan Gordon up top. They play similar games and so often get in each other’s way without giving each other anyone to play off of. Combine that with Gordon’s inferior ball handling skills and many attacking build-ups can go wanting. The solution here is to hold the ball more through the midfield, playing the ball in, and then spraying it wide into space for Sean Franklin, Michael Stephens, or Todd Dunivant to cross into the heads of the big guys, preferably Gordon who does his best work in the air.

But until about the 25th minute, the team was befuddled and both San Jose’s Joey Gjertsen and Bobby Convey created chaos in the middle of the park and rampaging seemingly at will into the final third on dangerous attacks. When Juninho and Landon Donovan finally started connecting in the first half, the Galaxy started to dominate possession and create danger, though most of it never ended with a shot on goal. This is how it should have been all half because despite the steady increase in quality from San Jose all season, the Galaxy still has more talent and plays together as a team better.

Which became apparent to all in the second half. From the opening moments, when Donovan was fouled (or not) in the box, to the close of stoppage time, the Galaxy put the Earthquakes so far back on their heels you’d swear it was a sequence from “Dancing with the Stars”. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a team so thoroughly dominate an entire half and not come home with a win. It seriously reminded me of the Brazilian display in the second half of the title game of the FIFA Confederations Cup in 2009. Except, of course, they put in three that half and the Galaxy could only find two.

Part of it was clearly a kick in the ass from Bruce Arena at halftime. Part of it was a change in tactics. The kick in the ass resulted in Buddle’s 12th gol of the season in the 59th minute to tie the game. The change in tactics resulted in the Galaxy shifting to a 4-3-3 just afterwards with the insertion of Tristan Bowen for Dema Kovalenko and then going to a 3-4-3 for the final 20 or so minutes after San Jose scored their second against the entire run of play.

I have to say I was impressed. The Galaxy kept possession, they showed patience, they moved well off the ball, they made good passes, they got off dangers crosses and they took good shots. And they scored to bring the teams level in the 90th minute and remain undefeated at home. But as Donovan said in the post-game ESPN2 interview, “I’m not sure who we didn’t win that game, we had so many chances.”

Exactly. And that’s why they aren’t champions yet. Not because there are 12 more games to go in the regular season, but because this is the type of game they simply have to win if they want to raise the MLS Cup. You can’t dominate a team the way they did and not win. Not at home, not against a team that has yet to find its way into the top tier of MLS teams. Last year I would have been happy with this result because last year’s team didn’t score as much as this year’s and because last year was clearly supposed to be just another rebuilding year.

But this year is different. This year the Galaxy can do something special – set a points record, take the Supporter’s Shield, go deep into the CONCACAF Champions League, and win MLS Cup. But to do that, they have to take over games like this, games where the other team has the audacity to take an early lead on your own home pitch, and respond with fury. You have to send a message, “NO! Not in our house!”Then take the three points from the slack fingers of your demoralized opponent.

The Galaxy isn’t there yet.

But they start playing full games like they played that last 45 minutes and they could be. And that will be a sight.

Man of the Match: Landon Donovan

What did you think about the match? Who was your man of the match? What about that Bobby Convey handball on the goal line? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

Clint Mathis Likely To Retire

By: jen | View Comments

As reported by Steven Goff of the Soccer Insider:

“It will probably happen,” one source said. “Knees can’t take the beating anymore.”

Now, that is a quote applicable to most any 30+ MLS player, but I’m afraid the source may be right.

Mathis’ most recent injury was a torn meniscus in his left knee for which he underwent surgery in February. Although apparently injury-free now, he has not been getting minutes. Currently 19th in minutes out of 21 players, only Dema Kovalenko and Eddie Lewis have had less playing time this season.

I have scoured the internet and haven’t found any recent reports of recent injury. In addition, he has not been on the Galaxy’s Weekly Update injury list for several months.

My best guess is that he plans to retire after this season. As I commented on Nathan’s post, Mathis was one of the key players I envisioned leaving to make room for a rumored Ronaldinho trade.

He has been one of my favorite players since he joined the Galaxy in 1998 as a first round draft pick. I loved the temper verve of his younger days and it has been a joy to watch him mature into a smart play maker. My hope is that he will see some more playing time before he calls it quits, if he chooses to retire after this season.

Please share your thoughts in the comments.

Who roots for whom where: MLS fan bases

By: NathanHJ | View Comments

Why this baseball map, showing the claimed territories of the various MLB teams on this futbol blog? Glad you asked. Jen and I got this intriguing email from a Portland Timbers fan, Rich – who is known to Portland Timbers fan message boards as MannyJello, about the team’s pending entry into MLS with the start of the 2011 season. He’s interested in replicating this in a mural on his wall, except with the MLS teams and their fan base territories.

This is great.

But. He’s new to MLS and he’s got some questions about where one might actually put the territories for the various teams in the league.

Specifically he asks the following:

If you had to take a stab at creating a map separating Galaxy support from Chivas support, how would you separate them? Do either team’s fan base spread far into Mexico, if at all? Also, how far into California and the surrounding states would you say the Galaxy support is spread?

Being a complete newbie to the MLS, if you have any other advice regarding the geographic boundary lines for supporters throughout the MLS, I’m all ears. A few questions I have are:

· Where does San Jose support start/stop in No Cal?

· Any idea how Real Salt Lake and Colorado support is demarcated?

· Dallas/Houston as well?

· Kansas City/Chicago/Columbus supporters?

· How far east does Columbus support exist, especially now that Philadelphia has a team?

· How far south does DC United fan support spread?

- How far east does Vancouver love spread?

- How far west does Toronto love spread, and does any of it leak into the US (Detroit or Buffalo areas)?

- With Montreal about to join the league, where does the Toronto/Montreal divide exist? Where does Ottawa stand?

So I thought we should crowdsource the answers to these questions, especially since I think a lot of this is up for debate. So let’s get debating. I’ll start.

*Galaxy vs Chivas USA – I’m pretty sure that there is no CUSA fan base in the United States, at least not judging by their attendance or the fact that not so long ago one of their bigger supporters clubs ditched a CUSA home game to catch grown-up Chivas in an international friendly. In Oakland.

But to take the question on face value I’d say most of CUSA’s fan base is concentrated in southern LA county and northern OC County with some intrigued fans as far south as San Diego looking at CUSA because they have the name “Chivas” attached.

The Galaxy, being an MLS original, have a fan base the stretches across SoCal and reaches as far west as Las Vegas, though I bet those folks are now splitting loyalty with Real Salt Lake.

*San Jose can claim the entire Bay Area and probably gets folks from as far south as Monterey and as far north as Sacramento.

*RSL gets all of Utah and probably up to Boise and is probably claiming parts of Nevada just for kicks.

*Colorado’s fan base is so paltry it doesn’t even reach from Denver to its actual stadium in Commerce City. Except on July 4th.

*Dallas gets about 15 miles north from downtown to North Dallas. Too bad their home pitch is 40 miles north.

*Houston gets the rest of the state and probably parts of Arkansas and Louisiana just for good measure.

*KC still gets all of MO plus the half of Kansas with people in it, despite what AC St. Louis says.

*Chicago gets everything from the Wisconsin border with Minnesota to Indianapolis.

*Columbus gets Ohio. Maybe some of Michigan. Maybe. No one in Western PA could with any self-respect root for a team from Ohio or from Eastern PA.

*DC gets from Baltimore to Atlanta.

*I’ve got nothing to say about Canadian teams because of Canadian treachery during the War of 1812. That and they are undercutting our glorious pharmaceutical industry with their reasonable drug prices and socialized medicine. They are dead to me.

Even though I’m sure that everything I said is the gospel truth, I’m opening up the floor to everyone else. In the comments, tell us where you think the territories are for the various teams MannyJello is asking about.

Galaxy 2, DC United 1: This Photo Says It All

By: jen | View Comments

The look of complete joy on Edson Buddle’s face.

The look of utter dejection on Stephen King’s face.

The Galaxy’s next game is Thursday when they host the San Jose Earthquakes. The game will be broadcast on ESPN2 at 7:30 — woohoo, that’s means HD for me!

As for last night’s victory, see the video highlights below. It’s nice to have Landon and Edson back in the full-time fold.