Duh… winning! Galaxy start three game road trip vs DC United

That’s an aspirational headline, not an outright prediction. But, having hedged my professional prognostication reputation with that disclaimer, let’s just put it right out there: despite the rigors of cross-country travel and lurking parity, the Los Angeles Galaxy is the better team in each of the three match-ups that start tonight with the contest at RFK Stadium against DC United (then Toronto FC and Chicago Fire). That means I’m expecting points from each match, each of which should, on paper, be victories.

United are in the process of rebuilding. Again. With Ben Olsen as the permanent Head Coach, the team seems to be showing its old DC United pride, the kind that comes with being an early MLS power and the only team with four MLS Cups to its name. They’ve revamped the offense, giving Andy Najar and Santino Quaranta some support in the form of some kid from New Hampshire named Chuck Davis or something? And Fred is back in the fold to dance along the left sideline and wreak havoc along with Josh Wolff, a dependable and savvy striker with veteran wiles. (Actually, the chance of seeing Charlie Davies, every US futbol fan’s favorite story of perseverance and guts, tonight are slim as he’s still dealing with a groin injury he picked up two weeks ago.) So, more offense = check.

United’s midfield has been boosted not just by Fred, but also by Dax McCarty who was left unprotected by FC Dallas during the expansion draft and ended up in DC after the flurry of trading that accompanies that draft. Also Chris Pontius is back and healthy, Kurt Morsink is available, Brazilian youngster Junior Carreiro is an exciting addition and underrated Stephen King is also kitted out in the black and red. So, better midfield ball control = check.

That leaves defense. Whoops. Not Olsen’s fault really, since the injury bug is what’s going on here. Start with both keepers going down in pre-season, necessitating recently retired-from-the-field Goalkeepers Coach Pat Onstad to unretire so there was someone between the pipes for United. Then both first choice centerbacks have been unavailable for cards and injuries and first choice d-mid Clyde Simms has been injured, and the team has been unsettled in the back, which was its undoing against Colorado last week. But don’t expect that to be the case this week. Both Perry Kitchen and Dejan Jakovic should be back in central defense, Simms is listed as “probable”, and Bill Hamid played in gol against Philly in their mid-week US Open Cup clash. So, more solid defense = check.

Having said all that, the Galaxy is still the better team. Most of this comes down to experience playing together and the Galaxy’s core players now have 3-4 years of experience with each other. Also, the defense is starting to find its feet after early season injuries, which will make life difficult for a United attack that without Charlie Davies misses the ability to pressure the Galaxy centerbacks. The Galaxy midfield is still one of the best in the league, even without Chris Birchall who is suspended following his phantom foul on Carlos Ruiz in last week’s game. The biggest challenge for the Galaxy will be gols, just as it has been all season, save for the three called back against Seattle in the opening game.

The intriguing line-up choice to watch is how Bruce Arena handles missing Birchall. With David Beckham playing centrally last week to help deny the ball to the Philadelphia midfield and improve the connection between defense and the attack, Birchall played wide right, while also tracking back to support Beck’s who had freedom of movement. So, will Arena move Beckham back out right and insert a new player, like Paolo Cardozo into the d-mid spot? Or will he keep Becks in the middle and perhaps insert Michael Stephens on the right or even on the left, with Landon Donovan moving to the right? Or will he move Juninho into the back with Becks in what would be essentially a 4-2-3-1 with Miguel Lopez as the point in the “3″ and Juan Pablo Angel as the lone striker? I suspect that Arena will want to keep trying his experiment with Becks in the middle, especially with Juninho as the forward link between the midfield and the attack.

Here’s what the Galaxy need to do to win:

**Shut down the improved United attack, through stout defending, and ball possession in the midfield

**Involve the forwards more than they have been. The team must break the defensive pressure and get good service into JPA who can hold the find Lopez and Donovan on attacking runs into the box. And make sure that some good balls are played in for JPA to use his superior aerial game as well on United’s shorter defense.

**Come out ready to play. No repeats of the RSL game. This United team is better at icing games than previous incarnations (though their line-up against the Union in the Open Cup game failed at this).

Do that and the Galaxy will come out of RFK as 1-0 winners.

What about you guys? What do you expect to see in DC tonight? Who needs to step up? What kind of lineup do you want to see? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

Oh, and, I hope to see Becks do this during the game:

Finally, here’s a pre-game video to help set the mood:
Oh, wait, the team is only making this available through the ass-tastic Silverlight product that doesn’t embed in most blogs, including this one. Whoops. So no additional views through this source for you. You’ll have to go to the official LA Galaxy website for that.

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Category: 2011 Season, Pre-Game Preview