Oh, Blessed Optimism! (And a Galaxy team list)

By: Laurie | February 21st, 2008

I stopped by the official, snark-free Galaxy blog today to get the list of players in Hawaii, and I got the giggles over this wonderfully optimistic halftime report from last night’s game. (Remember here that this was after the absolutely abysmal first half):

An early Bare goal is all that separates the two sides as Gamba Osaka leads the Galaxy 1-0 at halftime.

Factually accurate. Yes it is. If these guys wrote PR for the Titanic, they’d say, “A little incident with an iceberg was all that separated the ship from a perfect maiden voyage.”

Also, the site is saying the Gals were playing 4-3-3 with Beckham on the right wing. I was thinking 4-4-2, especially with the amount of defending he did, but I guess I was wrong.

But anyhoo. The list of players in Hawaii.

GOALKEEPERS (3): Charles Alamo, Steve Cronin, Josh Wicks

DEFENDERS (10): Celestine Babayaro, Sean Franklin, Michael Gavin, Ante Jazic, Brandon McDonald, Mike Randolph, Troy Roberts, Julian Valentin, Greg Vanney, Abel Xavier.

MIDFIELDERS (8): Ely Allen, Alvaro, David Beckham, Kelly Gray, Kevin Harmse, Chris Klein, Josh Tudela, Peter Vaganas

FORWARDS (6): Edson Buddle, Landon Donovan, Alan Gordon, Bryan Jordan, Carlos Ruiz, Israel Sesay

Where was Mike Randolph last night? Anybody know?

Some Related Galaxy Posts:

Category: Exhibition Matches, International Games and Issues

« Galaxy Fans, About Last Night… | Home | Putting Galaxy Names to Galaxy Faces »

RC

No worries on the Randolph thing...merely trying to provide insight from his Portland days. He always did a good job getting forward and had good wheels to get back.

As far as Wicks' contract, I don't think any of the fans know any particulars other than what's on the Timbers website that he re-signed for 2008 (i.e., no knowledge of any escape clause). But then, we also have Jordan under contract (to our knowledge).
Steve

Sorry RC
I re-read and understand now what you were saying. I won't be so quick to type next time.
Steve

A response to RC
To my recollection, Randolph never started at left mid. There were a few games in the second half of the season where he was moved up there during the course of the game, usually when Martino was subbed out or wandering into the center as he had the habit of doing. He really did a good job all the way up the line.
Laurie

Kevin, do you have a source I could quote? Thanks!
Kevin

The Clause....seems the Timbers have a clause that takes all the way to LA.....
Laurie

Kevin, I was wondering the same thing. Does the Portland contract have an escape clause? (And this Sounders fan is NOT going to have fun with that phrase. At this moment.)
Kevin

Commenting on the comments: Last week our timbers announced they had signed Wicks for 2008....then they announce yesterday he is practicing with the gals....
where is he going?
Glen

we have to admit the 1st half was so so bad, and I cringed a lot with the horrible mistakes but with a few changes at half-time made a nice improvement and we actually controlled good stretches in the 2nd half.

Franklin and Valentin show promise along with Wicks. I'm thinking Wicks may be the number keeper we have. He showed so much more confidence than Cronin. Still no finishing ability up top. Buddle, what can I say... it's time to go! Allen showed some ability, but no great touch on the ball, he had a couple shots and didn't get them off! Klein should never ever be a defender, just too slow.

We were missing some key players and this being the 1st scrimmage for the Galaxy, I think Rudd learned about the players and can only improve from here.

Houston on the other hand looked really strong!
George

Oh, by the way, the video also has some really intense background music. It's kind of funny.
George

Yes, on the Galaxy website there's a post-match interview where Ruud said that a lot of the guys didn't play because of the artificial turf. I though Mike Randolph was young enough that he could take the turf, but maybe not?

Here's the link to the video that interviews Ruud and Beckham. It's about a minute long, but it's a good watch if you're interested in what they had to say about the game.

http://ww2.mlsnet.com/media/pl...
tower0surfer

Wow that was a pretty lousy game. I thought Becks should have leaned in on a few of the guys like Klein and Buddle; that way the rest of the team would feal like they too need to step up. So is is it safe to say the Xavier will not be playing in D.C., N.Y.,Toronto, RSL, or any other venue with artificial turf; if this is the case why is he in the blue and gold. If Babayaro is playing left back can we see Jazic playing somewhere else please, maybe package him with "Stomper" I mean Harmse back to Canada or San Jose. I think we can see a potential win against Sydney, they look like they are more interested in the nightlife then the field at this moment. Anyway I still think this is a great idea, it could be worse; we could be RSL losing to a DII college or playing "friendlies" against other mediocre league opponents. Good for the league if Dynamo beat defending J league champs Gamba; I hope they perform well in CONCACAF for the leagues sake. Things are definitely going in the right direction.
MF

Was wondering about Randolph myself. Found this at ESPN:

...Ruud Gullit did not play several Galaxy stalwarts during the match. Landon Donovan was out with a slight tendon injury. Pete Vagenas, Abel Xavier, Kevin Harmse and Mike Randolph, all key contributors last season, did not make the bench. ... "We have some guys that we didn't want to put on AstroTurf," midfielder Chris Klein explained. "That ruled out about 10 guys. Guys that had a little back pain, or something else -- nothing major, we just didn't want to put them on that surface."

Randolph seems pretty short for a stalwart, though.
MF

Via ESPN:
....Ruud Gullit did not play several Galaxy stalwarts during the match. Landon Donovan was out with a slight tendon injury. Pete Vagenas, Abel Xavier, Kevin Harmse and Mike Randolph, all key contributors last season, did not make the bench. ... "We have some guys that we didn't want to put on AstroTurf," midfielder Chris Klein explained. "That ruled out about 10 guys. Guys that had a little back pain, or something else -- nothing major, we just didn't want to put them on that surface."
Bob

Dear Galaxy,

Please send Jordan and Wicks back to Portland when they are done surfing in Hawaii. Oh, we'll also take Randolph back and while you are at it how about letting us have Gavin since he played college ball here.

Thank you kindly.
RC

Randolph was principally a left defender in Portland...I don't recall seeing him play at all at left mid.

RC
Portland, OR
Kevin

Mike Randolph was one of the 10 players that did not suit up.
Misareaux

I hope Israel Sesay gets some play in the third place game. He's great on the ball and ridiculously fast. It'll be nice to see our other allocation/draft pick. And since he's only 17 right now, I'm hoping that his development, along with Valentin and Franklin, will be something that Gullit takes a strong hand in.
Laurie

And yes, I really liked both Franklin and Valentin. And Wicks, the keeper, too.
Laurie

What I'm reading in a lot of places is that the plan for now is to put Babayaro at leftback and Randolph at left mid, where he apparently played a lot when he was with the Portland Timbers USL team. If Babayaro is good and stays healthy, this could be a good thing.
Steve

yeah, I as wondering about Randolph last night. The entire left side was being covered by Gavin, who seemed to being doing a wingback role, and Allen, who was more attacking midfielder than forward. They really should consider moving Randolph to LM, there was an obvious hole and the left side. And the mid field..wow...chaos..it was like a Dutch free role style of soccer in the first half. Hopefully this will all sort out after a few more friendlys.
Hey..Franklin was promising, though.