Galaxy v. DC United Pregame

By: jen | March 21st, 2009

Woohoo! The season is finally upon us! My husband begins his tenure as soccer widow once again, as my weekends are spent watching or playing the game. That’s okay, he’s got his poker.

So. Let’s get down to business. Who is playing? Who is injured? What’s the sitch? (I’m so down with the slang! Yeah, from 1990.)

Injuries: OUT: DF Todd Dunivant (R ankle post-surgery); DF Leonard Griffin (L abdominal strain); QUESTIONABLE: FW Edson Buddle (R quadriceps strain); GK Donovan Ricketts (R groin strain); PROBABLE: FW Alan Gordon (R hamstring strain); MF Eddie Lewis (L hamstring strain); MF Stefani Miglioranzi (R knee bone bruise).

I think we’re going to be missing Ricketts the most from this list. He was impressive last weekend before he reinjured himself. And by the way, groin or hamstring? Methinks there’s only a few inches difference.

I bet Eddie Lewis will be playing, whether at left mid or left back I’m not sure. I’m a bit worried about Gordon starting instead of Buddle. Gordon CAN get it done, but usually doesn’t. I hope I eat my words. I say look for Kirovski to be contributing on offense. He and Donovan could have some very good chemistry up top.

Andrea Canales also notes that each time Landon has returned from playing in Germany he has led his team to the MLS Cup Championship — with the Earthquakes in ‘01, and with the Galaxy in ‘05.

Wait! There’s another pattern here! Fill in the blank everybody: Donovan championship 2001, Donovan championship 2005, Donovan championship ______.

Most of what I’ve read or heard predicts a close game tomorrow. Both teams are described as somewhat better than last year, on paper anyway, and both teams have something to prove. Hopefully it’s not an opening day Suck Bowl, like we had so many of last year.

Here’s my expected line up:

——–Kirovski——-Donovan——–

Magee—-Tudela–Kovalenko—-Klein

Lewis—Gonzalez—Sanneh—Franklin

————-Saunders—————-

You can also check out Jon’s write up of the game over at DC United’s Offside page.

Finally, I’d like to send the guys a message:

Please oh please oh please oh please oh please play well and win.

UPDATE from NHJ: Follow the game in the comments. Right now I’m just talking to myself.

Halftime Summary: Ball movement, speed, vision, attacking orientation and midfield control were all on the Galaxy’s side. Actually putting the ball in dangerous positions was less good, but Donovan had at least two decent chances and Kovalenko had one.

There was no question that the Galaxy dominated the half with only a few United attacks making it to the 18. Unfortunately one of those resulted in a foul by Kovalenko in the box, leading to a Christian Gomez penalty kick.

The Galaxy is going to have it a bit harder in the second half, playing into the wind. I recognize that Kirovski has a veteran presence and understands positioning et al, but I don’t see him adding anything else. I’m leaning towards putting Bryan Jordan in his place, but maybe not to start the half. Maybe in the 60th minute. We need one more offensive piece. Ideally that would be Buddle, but he’s injured.

What was better from last year, was a midfield that had bite and could control the tempo of the game. This keeps the pressure off the backline. The backline is better, but still suspect. Luckily United is struggling more than the Galaxy so DeLaGarza isn’t under a lot of pressue and Sanneh can provide veteran leadership to him and Gonzalez.

Overall a nice looking half from the Galaxy with the exception of penalty kick. Now we’ll see if the Galaxy have the heart to come back from one down and carry the game to United in the second half.



LA Galaxy MLS ForumsLA Galaxy ResultsBet on LA Galaxy games Buy LA Galaxy Tickets


Category Category: 2009 Season

Subscribe
 

rss_icon The Offside RSS Feeds

Print
Print article
Share
del.icio.us:Galaxy v. DC United Pregame digg:Galaxy v. DC United Pregame reddit:Galaxy v. DC United Pregame fark:Galaxy v. DC United Pregame Y!:Galaxy v. DC United Pregame stumbleupon:Galaxy v. DC United Pregame

Comments  

    Displaying the most recent 25 comments from a total of 59 comments.
    Read the rest of the comments

  • NathanHJ |  March 22nd, 2009 at 1:25 pm

    cornercorner

    Are you kidding me? Pontius scores without a single defender challenging hime from the moment he got the ball in the left side of the box. Great goal, but atrocious defending.

    Posted from United States

    cornercorner
  • NathanHJ |  March 22nd, 2009 at 1:27 pm

    cornercorner

    Nice opportunity goes wanting for a good finish from… Kirovski. This guy frustrates me.

    Posted from United States

    cornercorner
  • NathanHJ |  March 22nd, 2009 at 1:30 pm

    cornercorner

    Lots of ball watching from the Galaxy. It looks like they are running out of gas with 25 minutes to go. Not good.

    Posted from United States

    cornercorner
  • NathanHJ |  March 22nd, 2009 at 1:31 pm

    cornercorner

    Jordan almost gets on the end of a Klein cross, but puts it high and wide.

    Posted from United States

    cornercorner
  • Steve-O |  March 22nd, 2009 at 1:32 pm

    cornercorner

    Might be all that “experience” (aka age) starting to show. That’s one of the many things that impressed me about Seattle. They ran hard the whole game.

    Posted from United States

    cornercorner
  • NathanHJ |  March 22nd, 2009 at 1:32 pm

    cornercorner

    You know who’s playing well? Josh Tudela.

    Posted from United States

    cornercorner
  • NathanHJ |  March 22nd, 2009 at 1:34 pm

    cornercorner

    Man that scramble was ugly. Looked like Olson took out Kirovski in the box, but I don’t think that counts as a foul in MLS.

    Posted from United States

    cornercorner
  • NathanHJ |  March 22nd, 2009 at 1:36 pm

    cornercorner

    Galaxy definitely playing with urgency, but can’t make that last pass.

    Posted from United States

    cornercorner
  • NathanHJ |  March 22nd, 2009 at 1:40 pm

    cornercorner

    Vicious head collision between McTavish and Janicki. Blood on both players.

    And Galaxy bring in Alan Gordon. Desperate times call for desperate measures. And having Gordon in the game qualifies as desperate. Still, I can’t imagine him worse than Kirovski.

    Posted from United States

    cornercorner
  • NathanHJ |  March 22nd, 2009 at 1:42 pm

    cornercorner

    Finally the Galaxy catch a break with a hand ball in the box by United. Except you can’t see it on any replay, though it looks like every single Galaxy player saw it.

    Posted from United States

    cornercorner
  • NathanHJ |  March 22nd, 2009 at 1:43 pm

    cornercorner

    Donovan comes through!

    Posted from United States

    cornercorner
  • NathanHJ |  March 22nd, 2009 at 1:45 pm

    cornercorner

    Gordon almost proves why the Galaxy keep him on the payroll beating Wicks for a header that goes wide right.

    Posted from United States

    cornercorner
  • NathanHJ |  March 22nd, 2009 at 1:47 pm

    cornercorner

    7 minutes for glory. Clearly the better team on the pitch, the Galaxy are still down by 1 (1-2) and need to take points from this game.

    Posted from United States

    cornercorner
  • NathanHJ |  March 22nd, 2009 at 1:49 pm

    cornercorner

    Now that was a golazzzo!

    Posted from United States

    cornercorner
  • NathanHJ |  March 22nd, 2009 at 1:49 pm

    cornercorner

    Landon perfect positioning for a beautiful cross from … I can’t tell what that was. Sanneh?

    Posted from United States

    cornercorner
  • NathanHJ |  March 22nd, 2009 at 1:52 pm

    cornercorner

    Great collective d from the galaxy stops a certain goal.

    Posted from United States

    cornercorner
  • NathanHJ |  March 22nd, 2009 at 1:53 pm

    cornercorner

    Assist was from Patterson, who entered the game in the 80th minute for Kovalenko.

    Posted from United States

    cornercorner
  • NathanHJ |  March 22nd, 2009 at 1:54 pm

    cornercorner

    Almost a 3rd goal in stoppage time for the Galaxy off a donovan free kick. but it goes wide.

    Posted from United States

    cornercorner
  • Steve-O |  March 22nd, 2009 at 1:55 pm

    cornercorner

    Woo hoo! One more for us in stoppage please?? Well, we’ll take the point.

    Posted from United States

    cornercorner
  • Steve-O |  March 22nd, 2009 at 2:02 pm

    cornercorner

    Guess we need to work on shots-on-target…among other things. Next weeks a bye, no? Practice!! Oh, all those subs deserve to start now.

    Posted from United States

    cornercorner
  • NathanHJ |  March 22nd, 2009 at 2:08 pm

    cornercorner

    Well… we didn’t win, but the game was exciting to watch for its entire length and the Galaxy pulled level after two unlucky goals from United. I feel like we should have won, but I’ll take the tie, given we scored twice in the last 10 minutes of the game.

    However I am nervous for the upcoming games against more settled midfields. Our offensive shortcomings need to be addressed pronto, but I suspect that involes getting Buddle healthy. And as much as DeLaGarza did okay for a rookie, getting Lewis on the field is going to solidify the entire left side and bring a new threat to bear.

    Magee did well with positioning, but his touch was off and he couldn’t get the ball out from under his feet enough. I’m hoping he can improve over the next few weeks. If not I’m going to be super frustrated. He could be as good as Robbie Rogers, but he needs to work at it.

    Kirovski brought pretty much nothing to the game as far as I could tell. That’s not quite fair. His touch is better than Gordon’s and his positioning is good so he plays off Donovan well, but he doesn’t finish well or create dangerous chances. He should definitely sit once Buddle is healthy.

    Jordan brought energy and intensity, but lacks finesse on the ball, which is a problem for a forward/attacking mid. Maybe, like Magee, a few more games will bring better touch and control because his nose for goal is second only to Donovan’s.

    I’ll do a complete game wrap later in the day.

    Posted from United States

    cornercorner
  • Lee |  March 22nd, 2009 at 5:01 pm

    cornercorner

    It really looked like we had the better of play for the
    entire first half. Like you said the midfield was much,
    much better.

    I liked the play of Tudela. He was strong all game long.

    I haven’t seen a replay of the game yet, I forgot to set
    the DVR. So I don’t know exactly how things broke down
    for the two goals. Having said that I thought Gonzalez
    did a good job in the central defense. DeLaGarza would
    follow a brilliant touch with a bad one and then a
    mediocre one.

    The hand ball looked pretty clear from my seats but it
    could have been a weird bounce. Wickes certainly wasn’t
    happy.

    I’ll take the result. Last year the team would snatch
    a draw from the jaws of victory and a loss from a draw.
    This comeback could be a good moral booster and instill
    some confidence in the team.

    Posted from United States

    cornercorner
  • Steve |  March 22nd, 2009 at 5:36 pm

    cornercorner

    Just got back. For all of you who scorned my belief in Tudela…I believe my faith in him is justified. He played a lot more aggressively in the second half, but I’ll admit he was doing a pass-back Pete impression in the first half. Good job.
    Patterson’s cross to Donovan was great, but his shots on goal were woeful. Good first effort though. Magee did have a lot of trouble with his touch.

    Posted from United States

    cornercorner
  • Steve-O |  March 22nd, 2009 at 6:07 pm

    cornercorner

    Basically everyone who’s on the DL, we need healthy: Dunivant, Ricketts, Lewis, Buddle. We were really missing half the team. Kirovski i useless so far. Jordan brings the late game boost. Hopefully his skills improve. Gordon should also be a late game sub. He’s only got about 15 min of gas in him. With a healthy A team and Beckham back in July, we might actually have something here.

    Posted from United States

    cornercorner
  • jen |  March 22nd, 2009 at 6:43 pm

    cornercorner

    Tudela definitely had legs the entire game, I’ll give him that. I liked how Patterson controlled the game more. He wasn’t panicky on the ball when the others were one touching unnecessarily.

    I’ll have more to share later, I’m sure . . .

    Posted from United States United States

    cornercorner

Comments are closed


USA National Team News

Tickets to upcoming games


Offside RSS Feeds

Search The Offside


 

rounded_corners









Categories


rounded_corners

Send Your Tips!

Found a great story, photo or video that's perfect for The Offside?
Email lagalaxy[at]theoffside[dot]com

Related Links


Write for The Offside

LATEST COMMENTS


Archives