Both Landon and Becks have reunited with their respective national teams in London for Wednesdays friendly. Several sources are reporting that the US is looking good to defeat England. I’m not so sure about that, but it should be a good game nonetheless. Jeff Carlisle has a good article previewing the match. As we all know, this will be Donovan’s 100th cap. Congratulations Landon! But I’m particularly interested to see his play on Wednesday. He has been doing more strength training this season and has been punishing defenders so far this season, so it’ll be interesting to see what he can do on the national level — especially when there are so many other good US players that need to be marked. Mark him one v. one and he’s guaranteed to slip dangerously by his defender several times. Can you tell I’m a big Donovan fan? Oooh, it’s going to be so fun to watch!

Of course, Beckham will be there for his 101st cap (a much greater feat when playing for England). It’s quite possible that he and Donovan will be marking each other. The media is reporting a big to-do about David Bentley going after Beckham’s starting spot. I’m not sure why the hoopla, of course that’s what Bentley wants to do. And Capello hasn’t decided yet whether or not the right wing spot is Beckham’s to lose. For the 2010 World Cup Bentley may become a better choice than an older Beckham, but let’s wait and see how things play out shall we?

The Galaxy’s next game is Saturday, May 31st, against Streamer FC Toronto FC. It will be broadcast on Direct Kick, and Fox Sports West.

Nowak says he wants to see more talent and team options before naming his Olympic squad.

This is great news for these three — and it will benefit the Galaxy as well. More playing experience, especially internationally, can only increase the skills and experience they bring to the Galaxy. And wouldn’t it be nice to grow one of our own players for a future starting job on the senior roster, rather than trading all of our developing talent away? I am a big fan of Julian Valentin too. I’m hoping he can break into the starting defense sometime this season.

And it’s too bad, too, because the article is fascinating — all about Ruud’s culture shock in coming to the land of the salary cap.

One of the most interesting parts is about the trials and tribulations of fielding a Reserve team. I think we all kind of knew most of this. But I for one didn’t know the extent of what’s involved in actually tracking down players who can play for the Reserves on any given week.

“I’m sure that when people think of LA Galaxy, the picture that comes to mind is not of our staff making phone calls to friends on Friday to see if they can play in a reserve game on Sunday, but, strange as it may seem, this is the reality,” reveals Gullit, sitting in the sun near the VIP area of an empty stadium. “Two weeks ago we had a game at home [against San Jose] and I had two of my office staff from the commercial department playing, two people whose job is to sit in the office all day doing their work. We needed bodies and we didn’t have bodies, so we asked them to play, they wanted to play and they just played. There are 26 players on our roster, five were out injured. This left us with 21 players, but there is a rule [in Major League Soccer (MLS)] that prevents reserve team players from playing for more than 120 minutes within the space of 48 hours. If they have played the day before in the first team for 90 minutes [reserve games are usually scheduled for the following day] you can do the maths.

“In the first reserve game of the season at Colorado I had a few players who could play for only 70 minutes and another who only could play for half an hour. So what did we do? We started with 10 men because we had to. You can say that it’s only a reserve game, but you can’t operate like this because the reserve game is important. Why? Because of the development of my injured players and players who have to practise their rhythm because they haven’t played for a long time.

“If I have a reserve game and come up two men short, what happens? We have to call people from their job, maybe a carpenter, and they just come to play with our reserve team. If we play in Toronto, we have to call people in Toronto because no one will travel on their own all that way. Of course, we laugh about it a little bit, but in the end it’s not a laughing matter and it’s not good. We need to have a full squad that trains together. I haven’t been able to build up a reserve team because I’m only two months here and it’s not possible, so this is an example of the things I am trying to adapt to. I’m not trying to change it yet, I’m trying to adapt to it, but in the end I’ll say, ‘You need to do things in a certain way because otherwise it’s not serious’. Really, it’s ridiculous.”

The rest of the article is very interesting too. A reminder of how far we have to go. But at the same time, you’re kind of reminded of…oh…I don’t know. “Bad News Bears” or some other “Coach succeeds in bringing ragtag group together to win the title” kind of movie.

Starring David Beckham, as himself.

(As long as they don’t cast Will Ferrell as Ruud Gullit, I’m good with this scenario.)

First, if you’re a working stiff, don’t forget to TiVo “Ellen” on Thursday, which is either today or tomorrow depending on when you’re reading this. Beckham will be there! And according to the preview (go here and click on the little “Thursday” thing with Beckham’s face on it), Ellen works on getting him to strip. At least a little. So we have that to look forward to.

Second, Landon made Goal of the Week! And you helped! Unless you didn’t, in which case, Go away, Loser.

(Just kidding. We still love you. But next time you’d better vote.)

And not only that, Landon was also named MLS Player of the Week by the North American Soccer Reporters.

And on top of that? Landon’s currently the leading scorer in MLS. So take that, all you “he oughta still be in Europe” crybabies.

Also, the Galaxy Reserves lost this weekend to Houston, 1-2. The goal came from Bryan Jordan. The reserves aren’t doing so hot this year — currently 0-2-1. But it will get better. Right?

Oh, and according to the Iranian media? We are not playing a friendly with their national team. Because I know you were wondering. So stop asking already.

(Everybody wants a piece of our boys.)

That’s all I can think of. If I forgot something, leave word in the comments.

1) “Our chef is excellent.”
2) “But I’m afraid we don’t serve fish tacos.”
3) “However, we have a very nice uh…seafood burrito?”

Something like that. So. Let’s give this a try, shall we?

1) I forgot to tell you! The Galaxy Reserves played Chivas Reserves the weekend of the Chivas game!
2) And…well…they lost. 4-3.
3) But that still means we got three goals!! Santino Quaranta 16′, Taylor Canel 24′,Mike Casso 70′. (And don’t say, “WHO?!?” You’ll hurt our guest players’ feelings.)

Los Angeles Galaxy Reserves (4-4-2): Lance Friesz; Kyle Veris, Andy O’Shay, Ian Russell (Nathan Sturgis 77), Gordon Kljestan, Josh Tudela, Taylor Canel, Wilmer Lopez, Mike Randolph, Santino Quaranta (C) (Robbie Findley 46), Mike Casso.

(Want to hear something sad? I saw that 4-4-2 up above and my first thought was YEA! We actually have four wins! We’re at .500! And then reality set in.)

But anyhoo. That takes care of the previous weekend. Now on to this past weekend.

1) Galaxy Reserves played again! This time against Rapids Reserves!
2) But they totally sucked. AND
3) Ummm…uh… Oh, hell. How can you pretend there’s anything positive about a 3-0 loss? So let’s just skip #3, okay?

I’d give you the scoring summary, but why would you care? It’s all Colorado guys.

LA Galaxy Reserves – Lance Friesz, Ian Russell, Kyle Veris, Andy O’Shay, Gordon Kljestan (Wilmer Lopez 63), Johnny Bravo, Taylor Cancel, Josh Tudela, Mike Randolph, Mike Caso (Santino Quaranta 63), Jason Boyce (Robbie Findley 46)

Uh…let’s see…I know there’s a positive here…

I’ve got it! There’s always next year?

(And I’ll give you just a second to think about that comment.)

Actually, it’s more like a Who’s Who of people I’ve never heard of, plus Developmental Players and a couple of first teamers.

Los Angeles Galaxy – Lance Friesz, Ian Russell (Steve Cronin 83′), Kyle Veris, Andy O’Shay, Gordon Kljestan, Taylor Canel, Josh Tudela, Wilmer Lopez (Robbie Findley 67′), Mike Randolph, Santino Quaranta ©, Mike Casso.

Yes, the copyright sign after Santino’s name came directly from the Galaxy website. I have no idea why it’s there, but I think if I could just smoke enough Herbalife I could determine the deeper meaning behind it.

But anyhoo. Unlike the sad game the night before, the Galaxy beat the Revs Reserves 2-1. Santino Quaranta, mister Copyright himself, was the man of the match, scoring both goals. The first on a PK, the second:

A quick outlet pass from Friesz found Casso wide on the left near the midfield stripe. Casso pushed forward and chipped a pass over the Revolution backline for Quaranta who fired a right-footed shot that beat New England ‘keeper Brad Knighton high at the right post, putting the Galaxy in front 2-1.

Scoring Summary:
LA – Santino Quaranta (Penalty Kick) 33′
NE – Pat Noonan (Willie Sims) 44′
LA – Santino Quaranta (Mike Casso, Lance Friesz) 59′

(And is anybody else looking at that photo above and thinking we should give Santino a faux-hawk?)

Yeah, the Seahorses. Truly, what kind of name is this for a team? I mean, if you’re stuck on the Marine Life motif, why not go for something manly? Like, y’know, the Swordfish! Or the…the Orcas! Or the Sperm Whales, for heavens sakes.

(Seriously, when I become rich and buy a soccer team, they will be called The Sperm Whales. I’m not kidding.)

But at any rate. The Galaxy beat the Seahorses last night at La Mirada High School. “Galaxy” here seeming to mean the team that was called the “Galaxy Reserves” last time out, give or take a couple and minus Jaqua and Findley. And they did include my new favorite player, Johnny Bravo, who is so new and unheard of he doesn’t even seem to have his own Wikipedia page. Imagine! When you google the name “Johnny Bravo,” all the links go to the cartoon character.

But at any rate, this wasn’t the cakewalk some probably expected, with the scoreline reading 0-0 at the half. Fortunately Mike Randolph and the newly healthy Gavin Glinton must have taken that halftime pep talk to heart, because here’s the scoring summary:

Scoring Summary:
Los Angeles – Gavin Glinton (Mike Randolph) – 49th minute
Southern California – Steven Lenhart (Takashi Yamada) – 75th minute
Los Angeles – Gavin Glinton (Mike Randolph) – 78th minute
Los Angeles – Mike Randolph (Gavin Glinton) – 88th minute

Finl score: Galaxy 3 – 1 Seahorses. I’m thinking it may be good to have Gavin fit again.

This was the Galaxy lineup: Lance Friesz, Josh Tudela, Andy O’Shea, Kyle Veris, Gordon Kljestan, Peter Vagenas, Mike Randolph, Johnny Bravo, Wilmer Lopez (Brian Park 61′), Santino Quaranta (Mike Casso 69′), Gavin Glinton.

The website tells us that “L.A. Galaxy reserves defeat Lancaster Rattlers 3-0.” Which is a good thing, because after last week a little confidence-building is certainly in order. But as a new MLS fan, I’m working to wrap my brain around the Reserves and how they work here. Who are these people? To start, let’s look at the Galaxy lineup for yesterday’s game:

Los Angeles Galaxy – Lance Friesz, Ian Russell, Shavar Thomas, Kyle Veris, Gordon Kljestan, Nathan Sturgis, Wilmer Lopez, Josh Tudela, Mike Randolph, Nate Jaqua (Johnny Bravo 79′), Robbie Findley.

Some familiar names, some unfamiliar ones. (Nate Jaqua playing for the Reserves?) If you’re a new MLS fan, how do you know who qualifies as a Reserve player? Since I’m not finding anything official, let’s go to Google, shall we?

Ah, here’s a 2005 article on the start of the MLS Reserves.

On the surface, MLS’s reserve teams might be confused with the junior varsity on the high school level or Class AAA in the minor league baseball system. However, everyone participating in the MLS reserve games is on the full-time team roster and eligible to play in regular season matches.

Although young players most benefit from reserve games, it’s also an opportunity for a veteran to regain his fitness following an injury or a borderline starter to prove himself. That’s not possible in regular MLS games because only three substitutes are allowed, leaving half the roster watching from the sideline or the stands.

Okay, fine. Then where’s Johnny Bravo on the Galaxy roster? Or Wilmer Lopez? And Gordon Kljestan was cut from the roster in March. What’s up here? Or have things changed since 2005? I’m SO confused!

Wait, here’s a bit more of interest from the same article:

To avoid burnout, players are forbidden from competing for more than 90 minutes during a weekend. So someone who plays 20 minutes in the regular match is limited to 70 in a reserve game. Each team is permitted to make six substitutes instead of the usual three.

And from here we add a bit from an article by the ever-interesting Bill Urban:

Because MLS holds to 28-player rosters, and has sensible limits on the total amount of minutes a player may be used during a 60-hour period, there have been frequent occasions in the first two seasons where “guest” players had to be drafted in to fill out rosters. The provisions for using “guest players” have been maintained for the division’s third campaign. While cost-cutting of this nature might be applauded from a business perspective, allowing lower level players to compete is not the best approach from a player development standpoint.

Okay, I’m starting to understand the non-rostered names I’m seeing. I think. Maybe.

But whatever. Our Reserves (which, as you’ve seen, included both Nate Jaqua and Robbie Findley) downed the Lancaster Rattlers of the USL Premier Development League 3-0.

Scoring Summary:
Nate Jaqua – 22nd minute
Robbie Findley – 35th minute
Robbie Findley (penalty kick) -78th minute

Is there any chance that Robbie Findley might take our PKs this season for the real, actual Galaxy? That could be interesting. I’m seriously liking Robbie Findley.

And for the record, from the website: “The Galaxy Reserves open their 2007 MLS Reserve Division schedule on May 13 against the New England Revolution at The Home Depot Center.”