Galaxy vs. Earthquakes Preview

By: jen | June 20th, 2009

Well, on paper we were supposed to win last week. This week we are almost guaranteed a win — on paper anyway.

San Jose is having an awful season. Add to that injuries to key starting players and our chances still look great without Landon and Eddie Lewis. I learned my lesson last week though, so I’m not making any predictions.

Keys to winning the match:

* Quick passing through the midfield into the final third.
* Getting the ball wide in the attacking half.
* Defensive midfield marking, as well as smooth transitions from the d-mids to offense.
* Buddle dribbling at players.
* Ricketts having yet another stellar match in goal.

We’ll see, we’ll see.

Tune in at 1:30 Pacific on ESPN2.

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Category: Game Previews

Tags: Beckham, Donovan Ricketts, Earthquakes, Eddie Lewis, Edson Buddle, game previews, LA Galaxy, Landon Donovan

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• jen |  June 20th, 2009 at 1:34 pm

  
  
  

  Oooh, looks like Kyle Martino is providing color commentary. He’s really good — I haven’t heard him on a Galaxy game though.

  Posted from United States

  

• jen |  June 20th, 2009 at 1:36 pm

  
  
  

  The usual four in back.

  Kirovski, Migs in center mid, with Patterson and Klein on the wings.

  Magee and Buddle up top.

  Posted from United States

  

• NathanHJ |  June 20th, 2009 at 1:37 pm

  
  
  

  Patterson in sthe starting lineup on the left for Lewis. Color me unimpressed. He dribbles too much, his crosses suck and he gets into trouble with nearly every possession. He’s a turn over waitning to happen.

  I sure hope he proves me wrong…

  Posted from United States

  

• NathanHJ |  June 20th, 2009 at 2:25 pm

  
  
  

  Wow.

  So NOT impressed with Patterson.

  Posted from United States

  

• NathanHJ |  June 20th, 2009 at 3:36 pm

  
  
  

  Like I said last week, SJ’s midfield improved dramatically over the last two weeks as they got guys back from injury, while the G’s lost quality with Lewis out on suspension and Donovan with the Nats. Even though Galaxy dictated the game for decent stretches, they missed the quality passing in the final third where they just coulnd’t get anything going. Magee did better than I expected and I wish he could play at that level as a baseline in every game, rather than just when he concetrates hard enough. Buddle again starved for service. I think the 10 game streak was a case of the Galaxy playing above themselves and making full use of Landon Donovan. These last two games show how thin the talent on the team is and how the combo of salary cap restrictions and horrendous personnel choices made under the Lalas regime have hamstrung the team’s chances. Team needs 25 points out of 15 games. That’s 9 wins or 8 wins and 1 tie. Not going to happen even with Becks, Donovan, and Birchall. They’ll need 3-4 games just to get on the same page with each other, and then there are fall World Cup qualifiers…

  Time to start playing as if you are developing a team, not tyring to makethe playoffs…

  Posted from United States

  

• Laurie |  June 20th, 2009 at 4:31 pm

  
  
  

  Sad result. But on the plus side, your goal was gorgeous. It gave ma a huge dose of set piece/header envy.

  Posted from United States

  

• Adethomas |  June 20th, 2009 at 4:38 pm

  
  
  

  can any body tell me when we had a good result when Gregg Berhalter was playing ?/ if he is not getting sent off he is ginving a penalty away WHEN we did win Guess what he was not playing and we beat TFC

  Posted from United States

  

• jen |  June 20th, 2009 at 5:16 pm

  
  
  

  Laurie! It’s good to see you!

  Berhalter HAS been having a bad stretch. I imagine he has saved more goals than he has caused, but maybe not by much in recent months.

  Posted from United States

  

• Glen |  June 21st, 2009 at 8:10 am

  
  
  

  Patterson sure missed a great opportunity, I knew with Huckerby/Convey coming back it was going to be a tough match on the road for us. We had some chances but didn’t convert them into goals. Ricketts made some great saves, I’m just surprised Berhalter didn’t get another red in this game- he’s over do.

  Posted from United States

  

• David |  June 22nd, 2009 at 1:18 am

  
  
  

  Trick question to ask when we had a good result with Berhalter playing. When have we had a good result with anyone playing? In the games I have seen, Berhalter has made a significant, positive contribution. He is a talented defender who aggressively stops attacks and is usually good at feeding the ball to the midfield. He is far from perfect though, being both overly aggressive at times and a little over the hill for a soccer player. Generally though he is a vast improvement over our prior defense.

  Posted from United States

  

• Cheap Laptops |  November 5th, 2009 at 5:31 am

  
  
  

  thanks !! very helpful post!

  Posted from United States

  

• Villa Rentals |  November 8th, 2009 at 10:00 pm

  
  
  

  Your site layout is a bit off in Chrome. Good post however.

  Posted from United States

  

• Girlsoutloud |  November 10th, 2009 at 7:41 am

  
  
  

  I thought this was a very interesting post thanks for writing it!

  Posted from Singapore

  

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