Galaxy celebrates a goal against the Union from May.

Game number 28.

League leading team vs latest expansion outfit, eliminated from the playoffs.

Away at a stadium the home team has only lost twice in.

Supporter’s Shield and home field advantage are on the line.

It is time to put up or shut up.

Thursday’s game at PPL Park in Chester, PA (ESPN2, 5PM PT) is exactly the kind of game the Galaxy should win, even if it is away. They’ve led the league for practically the entire season, the have the current front-runner in the Golden Boot race (Edson Buddle), two of the better assist men (Landon Donovan and Michael Stephens), a healing David Beckham, and what looks like it could be the answer to Gregg Berhalter’s extended absence in pairing AJ DeLaGarza with old college teammate Omar Gonzalez. Their opponent is a first-year team suffering from expansion blues. Eliminated from the playoffs, they feature a not-yet fully melded lineup that relies heavily on younger talent with largely journeyman MLS veterans inserted in a few key roles.

Or so it would appear on paper.

In truth the Galaxy have been only a little better than average over the last 11 games with only the recent 3-1 win over Columbus an example of a truly exceptional 90 minute effort. This has prompted a tactical shake-up in the middle and a scramble at the back as Bruce Arena has tried to fit his players together into a unit that builds on their strengths and masks their weaknesses. Sunday’s game against Chivas produced a very solid first half and a passable second half. Thursday will be an opportunity to see if the new-look midfield is for real or only succeeds against teams going in the wrong direction, while it will also give the DeLaGarza-Gonzalez partnership more time to regain the rapport they had at the University of Maryland.

Philadelphia Union, on the other hand, is a team that is starting to peak, though it will matter little to the final standings. Their core youth is augmented by role players like last-year Galaxy man Stefani Miglioranzi, and proven creators like Fred and Justin Mapp. Leading their offensive charge is former Seattle Sounder Sebastian LeToux who has 13 goals and 10 assists, giving him a role in 23 of the Union’s 32 goals. In the back, captain Danny Califf provides bite and veteran savvy. And they are at home, a place where they have learned to refuse to lose. In other words, they are a team that has gotten to know themselves playing at home in what is sure to be a loud and supportive atmosphere.

This one won’t be easy for the Galaxy.

What to watch for:

The Union play a free-flowing attacking style that likes to go through creators like Fred and find LeToux making dangerous runs or on the end smart crosses. They like to spread the field and run at the defenders from the flanks. They will run the channels and then look for LeToux all night long. Their midfield has been slowly upgraded over the course of the season and now features steady performers. Whereas their earlier 3-1 defeat at the Home Depot Center was partially due to nerves and inexperience, they are no longer easily intimidated.

Despite this, the Galaxy are clearly the superior team. The revamped midfield with Juninho backing up Becks in the middle and Stephens and Birchall on the wings should assert their dominance over the course of the game and control for long stretches. This will be essential for the pairing of Donovan and Buddle up top who will seek to take apart a defense that is fairly leaky and back-stopped by keepers who have yet to prove themselves difference makers at this level. Press the defense and it will break. If Donovan can find the game, Philly will fall.

For the Union’s part they will need to test the new-look Galaxy defense in an effort to disrupt the communication and puncture Los Angeles’ shape. I’m not sure this will be so easy to do. DeLaGarza is at home in the middle and the rest of the backline is steady and dependable. Ricketts, if focused, should also be up to the task of keeping the ball out of the back of the net.

Key Matchups:

Fred and Mapp vs Todd Dunivant and Sean Franklin
Donovan vs Califf
Buddle vs Califf
LeToux vs DeLaGarza

Prediction:

The Galaxy’s offense does well when their midfield keeps its shape and concentrates on short, quick passes that evade the defending midfielders and find the forwards on audacious runs. Philly likes to play wide open, which will give the Galaxy the opportunity to impose their style on the game. If they can do this, they win. Philly, on the other hand needs to disrupt the Galaxy midfield and catch the defense napping. Could happen. But it probably won’t.

Galaxy 2 – 1 Philadelphia

What about you all? What do you think? Who needs to perform? What does the Galaxy need to watch out for? What is your key to the game? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

And, because I love you, VIDEOS!

SuperClasico postgame interview with Chris Birchall

Galaxy Raw – Week 27

This Week Inside the Galaxy – Episode 25

And, AJ’s appearance on the weekly Cup of Joe interactive video show with Joe Tutino

Edson Buddle races for the ball in Galaxy's 2-1 victory over Chivas USA. (Photo by Victor Delcolongon)

More of that please.

Just when it looks like there’s nothing new to write about with regards to the Galaxy’s tactical approach to a game (Kirovski _again_?, Not Cazumba!, Please put Donovan up top, etc.), Bruce Arena rearranges the entire middle of the park. Michael Stephens made his 19th appearance after sitting out a batch of matches, Chris Birchall came in for an injured Dema Kovalenko, Juninho played defenisve midfield (his accustomed role at Sao Paulo or so says John Harkes) and David Beckham plays service provider from the top of the diamond shaped midfield. And for one half it totally worked.

Forget for a minute that Chivas USA coach Martin Vasquez started a sub-optimal lineup with a questionable tactical approach. Forget for one second that Chivas USA lacks the talent to compete effectively for 90 minutes in the middle of the park. Forget for a moment the progressively more horrific refereeing decisions. Forget for the time being the semi-howler from Donovan Ricketts. Forget for a nonce the uncomfortably high number of unforced giveaways. Forget, even, for a smidge, the sight of Alex Cazumba on the field when _defensive_ acumen is required. Instead revel in what was one of the finest halves of futbol the Galaxy has had all season. Since the fine show at Quest Field when the team ate the Sounders’ lunch to the tune of 4-0 at least. (Yes I know we beat Columbus 2-0 just three weeks ago.)

Just as the recent stumbles have come from lack of steel in the back, on Sunday, the pairing of AJ DeLaGarza and Omar Gonzalez brought the bite back to a rather feckless back line. Communication and tactical awareness were the Achilles heels of the recent inexperienced pairings of Yohance Marshall and Leonardo, but DeLaGarza and Gonzalez drew on their deep experience playing the same positions at the University of Maryland and denied the middle to the Chivas attack, forcing it wide into the feet of the inexperienced LaHoud and the out-of-position Braun. Sean Franklin continued his offensive growth while Todd Dunivant delivered his usual steady, professional, smart play on the left side of the field. Without him, that side of the field would have been much more of a problem this season than it has been.

But the heart of the tactical overhaul of the Galaxy was in the front six. Commentor David S has been calling all season for Landon Donovan to put paired up top with Edson Buddle, and tonight he got his wish for the entire game. David Beckham got the call in the playmaker’s spot as Il Bruce moved Juninho into Kovalenko’s spot and put Birchall, who is naturally a right sided player, onto the right side. Then he brought back Michael Stephens onto the left side to run tirelessly and make better decisions than Alex Cazumba.

And it worked!

For the first 45 minutes Chivas had no answer for anything the Galaxy did and but for some poor finishing or inexplicable refusals to take shots, the Home Depot Center landlords could have been up 4-0 at half. Certainly the sweetest pass of the night was the 9th minute through ball that Becks laid nicely at the feet of a sprinting Buddle that allowed him to go one-on-one with the keeper, though he ended up bouncing it off the crossbar. But about 15 minutes later, Stephens took a pass from Juninho, who had won a 50-50 ball near the center stripe, looked up and saw a streaking Buddle breaking down the right center of the field. One beautiful stroke later and the ball was delivered perfectly to meet an in-stride Buddle, who cracked a one-timer across the face of goal and into the left corner. Zach Thornton could only feel the wind burn across his face as he fell awkwardly to his left.

Beckham put his name on the scoresheet 10 minutes later when he sent in a beautiful free kick from about 23 yards out that was reminiscent of his 2007 SuperLiga strike against DC United that froze Troy Perkins in his tracks. This time Thornton moved to the ball, but was beaten from the word go. All in all it was vintage Buddle circa 2008 and 2010 and vintage Becks circa his entire career. All that despite a pair of flubbed offside calls on the Galaxy.

The second half did not live up to the standards of the first. Chivas made some tactical adjustments that shored up their midfield possession and sharpened their attack. Becks, who was fighting the flu and who recently went 90 minutes when he should have gone 70, flagged early. Landon Donovan, who drew defenders with him allowing Buddle space to operate, never really found a game beyond that. And, of course, the refs started botching call after calls, resulting in a clearly offside goal from former Galaxy man Alan Gordon (allowed in by a pretty shambolic goalkeeping sequence from Ricketts) and then the utterly ridiculous red card against Eddie Lewis.

(So let me get this straight – a guy comes in on you studs up as you hug the sidelines, you jump straight up because its the only place to go and you come down on his chest because he’s slid that far into your space and YOU get a red card and he gets yellow? Really? Really? Paging MLS, please pick up the white courtesy clue phone…)

In any case, the second half was pretty worrisome from a “how far are we going in the playoffs” perspective. It continued the trend of the Galaxy refusing to put a game away and allowing the other team to think it has a fighting chance. Especially when the team is like Chivas – one you should beat like a dirty rug – you need to come out in the second half and just break the team’s back. Be the jackbooted thugs leaning on the necks of the oppressed bottom-feeding team. Be the essence of Dema Kovalenko’s game – Kill, kill, kill! Because just look at how Real Salt Lake and FC Dallas have been over the last half of the season. It also showed the vulnerabilities in the line-up, especially without Beckham on the field to play traffic-control cop. Having said that, I think part of it was just unfamiliarity with that tactical arrangement. Certainly the flow in the first 45 minutes was loads better than it had been with the exception of the Columbus game, not to mention the rich veins of creativity the arrangement opened up. If Stephens can give consistently good performances and Becks can go 90, then this arrangement could be the one that delivers MLS Cup on top of the Supporter’s Shield.

Next up is Philadelphia on Thursday at 5 pm PT on ESPN2. This should actually be a really good game. Philly is tough at home and plays an attacking game. The Galaxy is short on rest and still dealing with a slightly unsettled lineup, but faced with another must-win situation if it wants the Shield and home field advantage. Besides, this is a game they should win, so, given that it is their 28th game of the season, they absolutely need to. It’s that time of year. Make it count.

Man of the Match: AJ DeLaGarza because he stepped up and played a flawless game in a position that was costing the Galaxy points for the last 6 weeks. And because I love a 5′8″ centerback.

What about you guys? What did you see? Who did well? Who didn’t? What did you think about the tactical formation? What about Landon not really making an impact? Or did he? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

And here are the highlights:

It’s all about Edson Buddle. I don’t expect that Landon Donovan will be in the 18 today or if he is to get the start (in fact, I’d be kind of pissed if he plays since he really needs a break and this is a game where the Galaxy don’t need him). So it’s up to Edson to amp up the Galaxy attack. While the two stars have been gone the team has done well, but it is clear that they miss the creativity of Donovan and the up-front play of Buddle. This game, against a struggling New England team devastated by injuries and a lack of new talent to draw on, should provide Buddle ample opportunities and a chance to deepen his partnership with Tristan Bowen.

I expect that the Galaxy midfield will dominate a Revolution midfield missing just about every one of its creative players with the exception of Shalrie Joseph who means everything to this Revs team. Michael Stephens, Juninho, Chris Birchall and whomever replaces Donovan (I’d like to see Eddie Lewis, but it will probably be Alex Cazumba who has had, in my opinion, two mediocre showings in a row) should be able to handle the pressure and clogged midfield that New England will aim to provide.

The defense, missing Omar Gonzalez for the first time in 45 games due to yellow card accumulation, should handle the anemic attack from the home team and have its hands full with Buddle and Bowen. If the team can strike quickly they should be able to put the Revs back on their heels and force them to chase at the same time, which should open the game up wide enough for the Galaxy to put multiple balls in the back of the net.

Here’s who I’d like to see start:

Buddle – Bowen
Lewis – Juninho – Birchall – Stephens
Dunivant – Berhalter – DeLaGarza – Franklin

I’d also be happy with Leonardo in for AJ.

What do you guys expect? Who do you want to see start? Leave your comments below.

You can also follow me on Twitter for the game. I’m at @nathanhjb.

And, as always, feel free to comment during the game below.

The game is on Prime Ticket on cable at 4:30 or on the MLS Direct Kick package.

Here are a few other previews.

Mark Rogondino’s View from the Booth
CBSSports.com
Goal.com
MLSSoccer.com
Prost Amerika Soccer

It’s been a week since Jen or I updated this blog, for which we profusely apologize and blame the World Cup and family vacations. It couldn’t possibly be our own fault could it? No. Not in an America ruled by reality TV.

In that week the Galaxy played no fewer than three games – league matches at Toronto and home to Seattle and a home tie with AC St. Louis of the USSF-2 as part of the US Open Cup.

LA Galaxy 0 – 0 TFC
If you saw the Toronto game, then you, like me, had no trouble taking a nice afternoon nap while it was on. It was a snorefest that made its 0-0 scoreline look exciting. This was inevitable, given the fact that without Landon Donovan and Edson Buddle, the Galaxy’s offensive output was mostly taking advantage of opponents’ miscues generated by the team’s stifling defense. I know that somehow Jovan Kirovski has two goals this season, but when you are relying on him to help generate offense you might as well be relying on solar power in Seattle. And I really like Alex Cazumba’s attitude, but he’s not playing up to the speed of the game, either in terms of technical skill or in-game intelligence. I know he’s about 90 years younger than Eddie Lewis, but sometimes a guy can get enough game experience in 60 minutes so the vets can come on to win something.

That was pretty much the story of Toronto. Of course TFC is an improving side that enjoys a tremendous home field advantage, so kudos to them to shutting down an attack that left its creativity back in the third grade with the finger paints. And kudos to the Galaxy defense for shutting down Dwayne DeRosario who had eight goals through the year and a TFC attack that is gradually learning how to put balls in the back of the net. The only thing worth noting is that Michael Stephens continues to make a strong case for rookie of the year and Juninho gets better and better every game. You keep wondering when he’s going to break-through on the score sheet.

LA Galaxy 2 – 0 AC St. Louis – US Open Cup
Which brings me to Tuesday’s home match with AC St. Louis, the newest USSF-2 side (which used to be the USL, but then the owners got mad when the league was sold and some tried to start a new one called the… NASL but there was too much chaos so the USSF stepped in to administer the 2010 season while the competing sides figure it out for 2011 – which is why a team you’ve never heard of from a league you’ve never heard of was at the HDC on Tuesday) as part of the US Open Cup.

I went to this game because I was suffering from World Cup withdrawal and because it was a cheap way to see live futbol and get an insight into how Bruce Arena is thinking about his lineup given the three competitions this year – MLS, US Open Cup, and CONCACAF Champions League. Turns out the Cup is where you start all your vets and jejune players. AC St. Louis is not a terrible team, despite gracing the bottom of the USSF-2 standings. But they aren’t great either. When they choose to play 11 behind to ball and counterattack strategically, they can be a tough nut to crack. Which is what happened during the first half. Galaxy dominated possesion, but somehow Eddie Lewis, Chris Klein, and my BFF Jovan Kirovski had a hard time figuring out how to work with the rest of the team, including a revamped backline that include Leonardo, AJ Delagarza, Bryan Jordan, and Alex Cazumba (out to sea at left back). Granted there is no space when the other guys play 11 defenders, but that means you use veteran guile and rookie speed to unlock the defense. But that didn’t happen.

What did happen was that in the second half Arena put in Juninho who created the offensive spark necessary to start picking the AC St. Louis defense apart, allowing Chris Klein to score a cracking goal, which, in turn, forced ACS to go forward more often, which then allowed Juninho to find the space for a magnificent goal that was a precursor to what you would see on July 4th.

This means that the Galaxy travel to Seattle on Wednesday for a rematch with the Sounders, but this time for the right to advance to the semifinals of the Cup. You can hear the match in English at the Galaxy’s webpage. And you can read the game recap here.

LA Galaxy 3 – 1 Seattle Sounders
Here are my five words: Steve Zakuani stole my chicken.

On a night that would have been cliched if you watched it in a movie, the only thing the Galaxy did wrong was blow the defensive assignments on a lost midfield possession and allow Seattle winger Steve Zakuani to waltz in on goal and blow the clean sheet. Which means that no one in the stands was able to claim the $10 gift certificate from Pollo Campero, which is only given out when the Galaxy keep the other team off the scoresheet.

Other than that, this game was a beauty. Returning World Cup heroes Landon Donovan and Edson Buddle joined the starting line-up and immediately added the offensive spark that has been much harder to generate without them. The Galaxy had the Sounders on their heels for the entire first half, generating chance after chance, all of which went begging until the 19th minute when the two stars connected on a corner. Donovan delivered a finely weighted ball to just outside the 6 yard box, which Buddle put away on a definitive header for his 10th goal in 10 games – Donovan picked up his 10th assist on the play as well. The Galaxy were unlucky not to have a bigger lead heading into halftime.

The second half was a less one-sided affair, though that was a combination of a tiring Donovan, a slightly injured Buddle, and a 2-0 lead generated when Juninho take a Michael Stephens pass from the left side of the field about 30 yards out, moved it into space so he could strike it with his right and sent a rocket into the top right corner, in ESPN’s Glenn Davis’ words, “with no regard for humanity“.

With the defense and midfield taking Seattle’s biggest threats completely out of the game – you would never have known that Freddie Ljundberg or Fredy Montero were even on the pitch – there was nothing left for them but misery and frustration. Until the defense gifted Zakuani a straight line in on goal that left Donovan Ricketts helpless. Ricketts did come up in the waning minutes of the game to preserve the eventual advantage. And Flash Gordon deserves credit for creating the conditions that led to the Seattle own goal by charging into space on a clean breakaway and crossing to Landon.

What was particularly striking about this game was noticing how a midfield of Juninho, Chris Birchall, Landon Donovan, and Michael Stephens can not only break up offensive build ups from opponents, but it can dominate possession, and create chance after chance. Granted, Seattle’s make-shift midfield is not the ultimate MLS test, but as the understanding between Juninho and Donovan increases and Juninho’s confidence and assurance grow, there is every reason to believe that this will end up being the best midfield in MLS. When you layer on the talents of Edson Buddle and the speed of Tristan Bowen, this Galaxy team is likely to end up as the top offensive in the league, fighting with Real Salt Lake for that honor.

A few notes on the game.
**Galaxy fans need to watch every one of the remaining 15 games, because after the end of the season Landon Donovan will be playing in Europe. See him in person and in a reasonable time zone while you still can.

**And see him playing for a Galaxy team in which he isn’t relied upon to be the main engine of their offense. With the quailty defense and midfield to back him up, Donovan now has the freedom to be at his incisive best and play in combination with intelligent creative players in Stephens, Juninho, and Buddle.

**I know Danny Mwanga has scored four goals in five games. But he doesn’t do nearly as much for his team as Michael Stephens does. If he has a similar second half to his season, he should win Rookie of the Year walking away.

**The Galaxy are now 11-1-3 for 36 points. That’s on pace for a 72 point season, which seems a bit far-fetched. But not as far-fetched as it did at the start of the season.

**The defense has yielded five goals in 15 games, which is a 10 goal pace for the year and a .33 goals against average. Again, unlikely to hold, but still remarkable enough that the nearest best defense has more than doubled their number of goals allowed (11).

**Is there are more underrated left back in MLS than Todd Dunivant?

**Even with putting five past New England this weekend, can RSL match the Galaxy by the time the playoffs roll around?

Man of the Match: Landon Donovan would be tempting, but I’m going to give it to Juninho for orchestrating much of the offense and partnering with Chris Birchall to do much of the dirty work in the center of the park.

What others are saying:
Nick Green at 100 Percent Soccer
Adam Serrano’s play by play at Soccer by Ives
Adam Serrano’s post-game recap at SBI
Phil Collin at The Daily Breeze
Prost Amerika Soccer
MLSSoccer.com’s game recap
Luis Bueno at MLSSoccer.com with the Galaxy perspective
Luis Bueno with a focus on Donovan and Buddle
Zac Lee Rigg at MLSSoccer.com with the Sounders’ perspective
LA Galaxy official blog with post-game tidbits
LA Galaxy official blog with post-game quotes
Paul Kennedy at Soccer America
Jonathan Vera at Goal.com with the game recap
Jonathan Vera’s game report
Bill Hare at The Bleacher Report
Jo-Ryan Salazar at The Bleacher Report
Jo-Ryan Salazar’s play-by-play
David Falk at Examiner.com
Alex Baker at 90Soccer.com
The News Tribune.com
Laura Myers game report on the LA Times via FSW
LA SoccerNews.com
Joshua Myers at the Seattle Times with the game summary
Joshua Myers play by play
Joshua Myers with player quotes
Todd Dybas at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer’s blogs
Dave Clark game review at Sounder at Heart

Highlights

Need a quick Galaxy fix in advance of seeing Landon Donovan and possibly Edson Buddle take on England?

No worriers. I got you, video style.

First, the post-game interviews I linked to in my RSL post-game analysis are up on You Tube, so I thought I’d just go ahead and embed them here.

Bruce Arena

Chris Birchall

And for an inside look at the Galaxy’s week, here’s Galaxy Raw Week 12.

And here’s MLSSoccer.com’s The Daily in which Greg Lalas, who I respect as an MLS commentator, shows his less than thorough knowledge of Law XI – Offside.

If you all have links to videos you’d like to share, put them in the comments below and I’ll promote the best ones in their own posting.

(I apologize for the tardiness of this posting. I had a computer meltdown so getting to a spot where I could get this up was a challenge. But it is here now and just a day before the last game before the WC2010 break.)

And that word is: Overwhelming.

12 games down, 32 points taken. 12 games down, ten wins and two ties. And zero defeats. The Galaxy could hardly hope for a better start to the season and could hardly have put themselves into a better position to take on Real Salt Lake in the last game of the season before the two week World Cup break. Their undefeated start to the season has tied the record for the longest undefeated streak to start a season, held by the 1996 edition of the Galaxy. They are sitting 12 points clear of their closest rival in the Western Conference, which happens to be Real Salt Lake, and 11 points clear of New York Red Bull, the current Eastern Conference leaders.

At this point it is something of a cliché to attribute the Galaxy’s superb start to depth of personnel, but it is also true. As noted almost continuosly since Landon Donovan and Edson Buddle left in mid-May for World Cup duty, other players needed to step up and take up the slack of the league-leading goal scorer and the league’s assist leader. Well, as this game against the Houston Dynamo showed, mission accomplished. After spreading the scoring around 11 different guys, the Galaxy minted two more multiple goal scorers – Jovan Kirovski’s brace gives him three on the season, and Tristan Bowen added his second goal. Other players have stepped up as distributors as well, lately Michael Stephens, whose deft touch and smart passes gave him three assists on the night, and Sean Franklin who delivered a beautiful cross for Kirovski’s first strike and a heads-up pass to a trailing Kirovski put the Galaxy ahead for good. There’s one last statistic that bears out the depth hypothesis: 22 of 24 players on the roster have started at least one game this season.

What’s particularly intriguing about the team that Bruce Arena has put together is that not only is it filled with people who can contribute at this level, but it is composed of players who can bring different strengths to the table. This allows for tactical shift in starting line-ups and in the midst of games. For example, Houston’s midfield is technically sound as well as speedy. To counter the challenge posed by speedsters like Corey Ashe and Danny Cruz and the ball control of Brad Davis and Lovell Palmer, Arena was able to call on Stephens, who only strengthened his case for Rookie of the Year, and Alex Cazumba, one of the on-loan Brazilians on the wings, and Juninho, back from family duty in Brazil, in the middle. With their agility, work rate, deft passing, and, yes, speed, combined with the steady defense the Galaxy have become known for, Houston’s offensive engine was mostly silenced. (Clearly in the second half, the schedule congestion and travel caught up with the Dynamo as the three games in eight says plus cross-country travel left them with dead legs.)

On top of that foundation, there was plenty of opportunity for the Galaxy’s offense to puncture an unusually leaky Houston defense, starting with the new 3rd fastest goal in Galaxy history when Kirovski’s header found the back of the net in the 47th second. The Galaxy midfield continued to dominate possession for most of the game, though some parts were choppier than others and the speed of Bowen made itself felt throughout the night, including on a fantastic breakaway before the half that a more seasoned striker would have turned into a goal.

Because of the increasingly deadly midfield and the very strong defense, I’m increasingly becoming reconciled to players I used to dread seeing on the field. You will note that I left Kirovski off of my preferred lineup in the preview because I’ve never been enamored of his lack of creativity, lack of pace, and penchant for giving the ball up. But his brace shows how effective he can be when the rest of the team is both quality and plays as a unit. I can now say the same thing for Alan Gordon and you can see how well Bowen is doing. He’s still raw, but when he’s playing in front of a good team, he can play his role and be effective. As a fan, its refreshing. It’s more than that, it’s fun. Something the Galaxy haven’t given their fans in a hot minute.

And you know the best part? This team isn’t even at full strength. You’ve got talent like Eddie Lewis and Clint Mathis recovering from injury and not ready to go the full 90. Mike Magee has a slight knock. Alan Gordon is just now getting back on the training field. Leonardo and Dema Kovalenko are still being treated for their injuries. And there’s the English midfielder, too. And the guys in South Africa. This team could be scary good if it can get its players all healthy at the same time.

One last word about the defense. Sean Franklin, AJ DeLaGarza, Gregg Berhalter, Todd Dunivant, Omar Gonzalez, Donovan Ricketts, Josh Saunders and let’s put Chris Birchall in there too, have been spectacular this season. The two players who have gone every minute of every game so far this season, Dunivant and Gonzalez, are both part of this unit. It has let in a league-low 3 goals for a remarkable .25 goals against average. It has nine shutouts, almost twice as many as the next best team (San Jose with five). Tellingly the team as a whole has committed the most fouls in the league, a testament to the hard-nosed full-field defense they play. While it seems likely that as the season progresses and other teams find their rhythm the defense will break more often than it has so far, it also seems likely that it will remain the best unit in MLS. And that’s the kind of thing that can win you silverware.

The next test comes Wednesday against RSL at home, where they are very tough. This will be a big test for the team, as big as last week’s match in Ohio. If the defense shows up, it could be a very long night for the second best offense in the league. We’ll see.

Man of the Match: Michael Stephens. Three assists, a massive header in the second half to save a goal, and unrelenting work in the middle of the park give him the nod this time.

What others are saying:
MLSSoccer.com game recap
Adam Serrano at MLSSoccer.com with the Galaxy perspective
Post-game interviews with Tristan Bowen and Alex Cazumba
Post-game tidbits from the official LA Galaxy blog
Post-game comments from the official LA Galaxy blog
Jo-Ryan Salazar at The Bleacher Report with the game summary
Jo-Ryan Salazar at the Bleacher Report contemplating Wednesday’s game
Jo-Ryan Salazar at the Bleacher Report with the game recap
AP story in the San Jose Mercury News
Jonathan Vera at Goal.com
Steve Lowrey at the Los Angeles Times
Angel Magana at LAist.com
Phil Collin at the LA Daily News
LASoccerNews.com
Eric Altshule at MLS Soccer Talk
MLS Week 11 roundup at USSoccerPlayers.com, the USMNT’s union’s website

What about you guys? How do you feel about the season so far? What did you think of the game? Who was your man of the match? What are you looking for versus RSL on Wednesday? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

Video Highlights

And those words are: Best in MLS.

In today’s edition of MLSSoccer.com’s The Debate Team, Jared Borgetti, er, Jason Saghini, Greg Lalas and Simon Borg got into a knock-down drag-out over who is currently the best team in MLS, the Columbus Crew or the LA Galaxy. Granted, the Crew have played three fewer games, so points alone don’t count, and both teams are undefeated. Simon Borg was a full-bore Galaxy supporter citing the stifling defense and the explosive offense led by Landon Donovan and Edson Buddle. Borgetti, I mean Saghini, on the other hand, likes the Crew because he thinks they have more offensive depth and can grit out tough wins and ties.

Which brings me to last night in which the Galaxy traveled to the league’s worst-sited venue in Frisco, TX and put the beat-down on FC Dallas. After the game Dallas coach Schelles Hyndman said it was the worst game his Dallas side had ever played. (There’s something about a Galaxy visit to Pizza Hut Park that causes problems, apparently. Remember how the team got previous Dallas coach Steve Morrow canned?) This begs the question: was Dallas that bad or the Galaxy that good? I’m going with the second one. The thing about this team, which Borg rightly points out, is that it wins by playing hard-nosed defense from box to box, which is a powerfully disruptive force on opponents. When you take away Buddle and Donovan, then it just gets worse because the team relies on the counter for most of its offensive production. And that’s not pretty for either side.

Which was the case last night. Borgetti’s arguement that the Galaxy’s depth was aging veterans is factually true, but analytically shallow. Yes. Jovan Kirovski, Clint Mathis, Eddie Lewis, Gregg Berhalter, and Chris Klein are all well over the 30. But how many of them are consistently starting? And how many would be if not for injury to younger players like Alan Gordon, Leonardo, Alex Cazumba, Sean Franklin and AJ DeLaGarza? What’s fantastic about the Galaxy’s depth is that it is both young and old, wily vets and eager young guns. This team has the tools to play competitively in three competitions this year and watching the team dismantle Dallas last night only confirms that.

The game itself was, as noted, fairly ugly, but also gave Tristan Bowen his first ever start (in a mostly forgettable effort save his intelligent run and smart pass to Mike Magee for the goal), while putting Magee up top. I’ll say this. Magee was better than Bowen. But Michael Stephens and Juninho were better than both of them. If there’s one point that Borgetti makes (what? I called him that twice in a row? Huh.) that seems cogent it’s the lack of depth in the attack for the Galaxy. Mathis could be a tremendous addition. But Magee is erratic, Gordon is, well, Gordon, and Bowen showed that he needs a lot more work. I don’t even want to talk about Kirovski who continues to show a great work rate and the ability to get lucky about twice a year.

But the Galaxy struck on the counter, Klein finding Bowen on the run and Magee finishing with a simple unhurried touch. Then the defense put it on lockdown. Donovan Ricketts had his most active game of the season with a few tremendous saves and was helped by some atrocious finishing by Jeff Cunningham and Brek Shea. Omar Gonzalez kept his give-aways to a minimum while winning everything in the air while Todd Dunivant and Berhalter had their usual steady veteran game.

The defense is so good this year that it has set an MLS record for fewest goals allowed through 10 games with two. That’s on pace for six goals for the entire year. I don’t think that’s possible, but it sure is something to aim for. This game was the 8th shutout of the season for the team as well. And, if the team can stay on track for two more games, then they can tie the record for most undefeated games to start a season. A record that is held by the Columbus Crew and the 1996 Galaxy.

Personally, despite the Crew’s great form, I think the Galaxy is clearly the best team in the league right now. The depth is there, even if I wish it had more sure options in attack. But it didn’t have much after Donovan and David Beckham last year and they went to the MLS Cup. They’ll resort to last year’s grind-it-out grit, refusing to lose, relying on the league’s best defense and finishing enough chances earned from counters to stay in front of the pack. Don’t discount the fact that they will gradually add attacking options as players come back from injury or regain match fitness as well.

Speaking of the Columbus Crew, they are the Galaxy’s next league opponent on May 29th in Columbus. That should be the first must-watch game of the 2010 season and the true test of the Galaxy’s depth.

What about you guys? What did you see? Who did well? Who didn’t? What do you think the chances of the team maintaining it’s league-leading form are? Is the Galaxy the best team in MLS at this moment? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

MLSSoccer highlights here (their code won’t embed in this blog).

Highlights from FSN via the LA Times.
 

Last night’s game was the most complete game the Galaxy has put together this year, a dominating performance on both sides of the balls that thoroughly demoralized the struggling expansion side from Philadelphia. It all started 53 seconds in when the Galaxy’s second leading scorer, right fullback AJ DeLaGarza, got on the end of a spectacular Edson Buddle cross and buried his shot in the top of the net over former University of Maryland teammate Chris Seitz for the second fastest goal in Galaxy history. In a case of “No kidding, really?”, DeLaGarza told Seitz on Friday that he was saving his first goal of the year for him.

That goal was emblematic of the fluid passing and dominating possession the Galaxy exhibited the entire game. The opening goal-scoring build-up started with a clearance out of the back that went to Alan Gordon who won the header in the final third and directed it back to Juninho, who controlled the difficult pass, got it Landon Donovan who passed to Michael Stephens about 20 yards out in the middle who slotted it to Buddle on the left side of the box who crossed all the way across the box to DeLaGarza who had sprinted up the length of the field to finish from about 4 yards out. It was a beautiful sequence that showcased the young talent on the team along with the intelligent veteran presence the team can draw on.

As has become almost run of the mill this young season, Buddle dominated the offense for the Galaxy, turning back to his goal-scoring ways twice during the match and they showed how he’s been able to score just about any way possible this year. His eighth tally of the season came from a goal mouth scramble started by a Donovan corner that Gordon latched on to for a diving header the Seitz blocked. But Buddle found the loose ball, first trying a cheeky backheel before turning and putting it in the left corner amongst five Union defenders. And his ninth goal in six games was on a 45th minute counter with Donovan’s final pass finding him all alone on the left with only Seitz to beat, which he did, handily.

So far this post reads like an Edson Buddle hagiography and to a certain extent its hard to avoid describing the exploits of the player who’s had a hand in every single Galaxy goal this year, but the thing that really struck me about the game last night was how well the entire team worked together in both offense and defense. That and the consistent level of talent that Arena is able to deploy at any position on the field. The offensive flow is the best it’s been since 2006, even taking into consideration the offensive outbursts of the 2008 season. Particularly important is the fact that offensive sparks can come from places other than Buddle and Donovan.

Cases in point: Juninho and Stephens. There is a reason Juninho keeps getting the starting call and that’s because of his ball control and distribution. He has looked both incisive and pedestrian in the first five games, but today he looked solid and was a steadying force playing on the left.

Stephens, who impressed me immensely in pre-season, has shown an incredible amount energy on the field, incisive futbol intelligence, and good technical skills. His two assists last night were the natural result of his hard work to get in good positions combined with his excellant passing skills. At least twice last night he took long crosses and first-timed dangerous passes into the box for Donovan. He also takes his defensive responsibilities seriously, stymieing several Union build-ups or smothering dangerous attacks in the box. If Arena can keep developing his skills and maintaining his consistency, the Galaxy is going to have another rookie of the year candidate on its hand.

While its true that the Union was not the stoutest challenge of the year, it was still encouraging to see Clint Mathis come into the game in the second half and be immediately dangerous. Even Tristan Bowen, who remains very much a work in progress, was able to find dangerous spots after he came on. Actually, the best example of how well the teams works together and supports itself on both sides of the ball is the fact that Alan Gordon found dangerous spots and could have had a goal except for Seitz’s goalkeeping. For most of the game the Galaxy was able to play to Gordon’s strengths — being good in the air and his hold-up play — without exposing his limited skill set. While Flash still gave the season ticket holders around me a reason to roll their eyes, the eventhly distributed strenght of the Galaxy’s team allowed him to make offensive contributions, including the diving header that started the sequence that led to Buddle’s eighth goal.

The showing against the Union, who for the third time in five games played a significant amount of the game a man down, was a good showing going into a tough stretch that sees a Wednesday game in Colorado against a quietly achieving Rapids team and then a Saturday tilt in Seattle in front of one of the most daunting crowds in MLS. The Galaxy will need to build on Saturday’s strong showing to take points away from two places that are always tough on visiting sides and maintain their league-best record (one point ahead of the surprise New York Red Bulls who have looked both good and horrible in scratching out five victories so far this year). This includes working on eliminating the mental lapses like the one that marred an otherwise strong performance by Omar Gonzalez and gifted the Union the breakaway that led to 17-year-old Jack McInerney’s first MLS goal.

Man of the Match: Edson Buddle, which honorable mentions to Michael Stephens (a force on offense and defense) and Landon Donovan (steady and incisive playing the true number 10 spot).

What about you guys? What did you see? Who was your man of the match? What do you think could have been better? What did I get wrong or miss? What does the Galaxy need to do to be successful over the next two games? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

What other are saying:

MLS Update from ESPN
Game recap from Jonathan Vera at Goal.com
Galaxy reactions from Jonathan Vera at Goal.com
Grahame Jones at the Los Angeles Times (finally a decent game story from the paper of record for the city)
Angel Magana at the LAist
James Clark’s blog at the Press of Atlantic City
LA SoccerNews.com with a recap focused on Buddle
LA SoccerNews with a full game recap
Phil Collin at one of the various suburban papers all owned by the same media company, MediaNews out of Denver
Phil Collin with “Galaxy Notebook” at another of the various suburban papers owned by MediaNews
PhillySoccerNews with the Union perspective
Grahame Jones talks to Peter Nowak and analyzes the Phill team post-defeat
The Official Galaxy Blog with post-game notes
Official Galaxy Blog with post-game quotes
Nick Green at 100 Percent Soccer (also part of the MediaNews empire) with the game recap
Luis Bueno at MLSSoccer.com with the Galaxy perspective
Shane Evans at MLSSoccer.com with the Union perspective
Adam Serrano at Soccer By Ives
Jo-Ryan Salazar at The Bleacher Report with the play-by-play
Jo-Ryan Salazar with the game report
Jo-Ryan Salazar with a profile of Clint Mathis

And here’s the post-game interview with AJ DeLaGarza

LA Times highlights
 

And it was a nice one. (That’s Landon celebrating Tim Cahill’s opening goal over there on the left).

Donovan scored the second goal in Everton’s 2-0 defeat of Sunderland earlier today in Premier League action. Cahill nodded the ball down to Landon in the box where he got perfect control of the ball and placed his shot just out of reach of Sunderland keeper Craig Gordon.

Video of the goal here at the official, snark free Galaxy blog.

It has been hinted at by several in the media that Landon may hope to make his loan to Everton permanent. I’ve told you how I feel about it. As much as I’d miss him as part of the Galaxy, I hope to see him go. If he does, I may have to cough up the money for Setanta so I can watch him play on the big(ger) screen. I’m already tired of streaming faulty feeds on my laptop from the soccer viewing underground. Andrea Canales has the best write up of Landon’s permanent move possibility.

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In other Galaxy news, preseason training began on Monday. Not as many new faces this year as, well, the past three years as Bruce Arena has dismantled the revolving door entrance to the HDC.

But look who’s back!

(photo courtesy LA Galaxy blog)

Aww yeahhh, Clint Mathis baybee!

Not a Clint Mathis fan? That’s okay, you can tell me all about it in the comments.

I love the guy. I remember when he was a young hot head playing with the Galaxy in 1998 through 2000. Hell, even my husband remembers him as I would drag him to the games at the Rose Bowl when we were engaged. (For those who don’t know, we’re the typical American soccer couple, in reverse. He watches the kids while I play on Sundays. He finds something else to do while I watch matches on tv. He’s a pretty great guy!)

And look who else is back? Yes, Mr. Eskandarian himself. It looks as though his head is good for one more season at least.

For a complete list of who has come and gone check out the Galaxy blog.

I’ll be back soon with some more preseason musings and updates on Landon’s spell at Everton.

Share any news with me in the comments or by emailing at lagalaxy[at]theoffside[dot]com.