Galaxy v Whitecaps Review
By: jen | May 14th, 2008Not a bad outing overall. Wicks was fantastic in goal. How I’d love to see him start an MLS game!
This Edmonton Journal article captures the game well.
Playing minus Carlos Ruiz and Landon Donovan, Major League Soccer’s leading goal scorer (thanks hugely to Beckham) and with a full set of second stringers, the Galaxy lost 2-1 to an inspired Vancouver side.
Beckham set up his team’s only score, by Alan Gordon, who converted a sublime cross from Beckham to tie the game 1-1 in the 43rd minute.
Overall I think both sides got what they wanted. The Whitecaps got great ticket sales (over 30,000) and a good showing by Becks. The Galaxy got some good practice in with several junior roster players getting minutes. It also gave Ruud and Cobi a good look at the reserve players.
But I swear I’m going to start a petition or something to get Ruud to play Wicks. He must be seeing (or not seeing) something that we aren’t privy to.
Category: Exhibition Matches
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Comments
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How do you get rid of a Galactic defender from your front door? Pay for the dang pizza!!
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Wicks has to get a chance relatively soon. He deserves one, and if you’re going to stick with your #1 choice regardless of his form, why call up such a good backup? We (including non-Galaxy fans like me) want to see Josh play.
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His positioning and anticipation are by far ahead of Cronin. What is it that Ruud sees in Cronin? Wicks was in position on the first goal, forcing the forward to make a quicker shot, that almost was blocked completely. He was able to cover more and better for a defense that almost never plays together. I bet he gets Colorado again next week for USOC. Tudela also looked great, making runs on that pitch was awesome, almost scoring a couple of times. I cannot wait to see the movement in the transfer window, Abel gone, Vanney gone, Pete gone, and moeny and room to bring in players. Our defense is really close to jelling if they can get a few bugs worked out, like a goalie who knows his position and every defenders position in front of him. I would love to see Wicks in goal agains Dallas with the first defense, lets see if he can organize them better.
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tOs, when does the transfer window actually open and close? Found this a bit confusing last year. Thanks.
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I knew Wicks was better than Cronin before the season started. All I needed was the first preseason game they split halves on. Wicks was by far the better goalie.
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The transfer window is June 15th to August 15th.
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There is no question wicks is so much further along in his GK skills and instincts, you have it or you don’t. I feel Cronin don’t have them. Should we all pitch in and get a banner flown over the Galaxy practice saying Play Wicks!
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the Edmonton Journal did a good job it sounds like on their assessment of the game.
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Before we even think about starting a petition to get Wicks to start between the pipes (which I am in favor of), we need to get a petition going amongst all Galaxy fans / season ticket holders to either get Lalas to resign or fired - whichever comes first. Seriously, he has to go - his time has come and AEG needs to wake up.
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Ditto on Wicks being the first choice on GK over Cronin. Tower0surfer, I do agree… Josh Tudela is playing with more urgency and intensity. Always good to see. If he gets the proper coaching & time on the practice field, plus more opportunities to play competitive matches, his abilities will only improve, I think. It was interesting to note that Josh was playing both as an attacking midfielder and as a defensive midfielder in this exhibition game. What a “NASTY / HORRIBLE” pitch. Good lord, no wonder David walked off in the 72nd minute, I believe. Abel was pure molasses on that field. You know - still, even now, too many “balls-towards-net” get past Troy Roberts. Is something the matter with him (No, seriously, does he have vertigo or something???) Ante Jazic seems to have his speed back, but, still needs much more scrimmage time with the team to get the communication between him, Vanney, and Abel down. Yes, everyone - I too am anxiously wondering and waiting what will transpire for our LA Galaxy during the transfer season. I just hope we get some of our regulars playing again for a full 90 minutes. We have TOUGH games ahead of us this month. We need everyone healthy and fully-charged. David is okay, isn’t he?
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You guys are kidding right? I took that game as a sign of why Wicks isn’t ready. Also, while Tudela had plenty of hustle, he gave away enough balls that I didn’t bother counting. It was good to see Jazic back in action though.
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Yeah I am with Jeff Tudela turned a whole lot of balls over. He seems to be more of an attacking mid, and we do not need that in the way our lineup is now. With Wicks I have seen a few reserve games and he is in position almost always but Cronin is also. We need to fix our de Back line and that will help a million times over. Also I notice everyone is always quick to blame Roberts for things and if you watch the New York game he was all over Altidore he did a great job and has been doing good back there.
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Sorry Justin - not to be disrespectful. I will admit that there were a high number of turn-overs when Josh had the ball and were making the charging runs. But, in that game against Vancouver Whitecaps at Edmonton… both physical size, energy, and clear desire to win was on the side of the Whitecaps. Josh played as he thought he must… he took on the role of attacking mid-fielder… because the service from Beckham to Alan or to Jordan kept getting smacked down by Whitecaps defensive line. In those instances - YES - you would need an attacking midfielder to charge ahead and try to get “scurried” or “knock-off” goals. Josh is not elegant and clinical, but the young man has heart & grit. Maybe you’re right… with what Head Coach Ruud is trying to set-up and accomplish, Josh is finding it hard to fit-in and be what the coach wants him to be… May be? But, in that game - I believe, Josh did the right thing. Cronin vs. Wicks… Yes, both of them can stay and find positions inside the pentalty area. However, MORE loose balls have been tipped away / knocked away by Wicks than by Cronin. Wicks (from what I’ve repeatedly seen) seems to have the faster reaction times. However, BOTH Cronin and Wicks are athletic, fit goal-keepers. I certainly would not mind if our LA Galaxy kept both of them! You are right, Roberts worked hard in our LA Galaxy game vs. NY Red Bulls. He did indeed block/post-up against Jozy many times. However, has he been just as commanding in “air-ball / fly-ball” situations? Not that I’ve seen. A full-back is NOT just a physical defender… but, also a “hawk” & a “dragon” during air-balls & fly-balls towards net. A full-back should not always leave that duty to just the Goal-Keeper behind them. Yes, our LA Galaxy defensive line does need a LOT of work… I just don’t know how our LA Galaxy team is going to acheive quick, reactive, effective coverage of opposiional forwards and loose-balls with the current senior line-up our LA Galaxy have??? On Sunday, our LA Galxy face FC Dallas… a team with FAST forwards (Cooper, Alvarez, Ricardinho)… Do we see Xavier and Vanney effectively stopping / thwarting them ???
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Well you better call Ruud and let him know you want to change his formation. lol Also I have seen the reserve games at the HDC and I am a Season ticket holder so I could be missing things that you see on tv, who knows.
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I’m with Jeff–Wicks settled down some but he didn’t inspire any more confidence in me than Cronin does. In fact, early on, he made some pretty weird and frightening choices. One can attribute that to his rustiness and to the whole defense being cobbled together, but it strikes me as wishful thinking to use this game as proof that Wicks is a better choice than Cronin.
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