Galaxy v. Oita Trinita — Live Blog

By: jen | February 18th, 2009

45 minutes until kick-off: The stadium is so empty I should have told out commenters Justin and Lee to give a shout out and wave to us in TVland. I’m sure it will fill a bit before the Galaxy take the stage. (Hey look! It’s Neetan the Turtle and our t-shirt shootin’ Cosmo!)

Mark Rogondino interview with Arena: “Landon’s definitely going to be back.”

Starting lineup: (um, where is Ricketts?)

—————-Wicks—————–
Franklin——Sanneh—Gonzalez——-Lewis
Klein ——Kovalenko—-Tudela——-Kirovski
——–Buddle———-Gordon———-

1st minute: lots of air balls
1:10 Now we have better possession
1:45 Oika long shot goes wide
3′ Oika hand ball
4′ Was that Alan Gordon sprinting back on defense?
5′ Kovalenko cross to Buddle, top of 6 yard box, Buddle can’t get to it
6′ Galaxy free kick from corner — Lewis outswinger goes long across the box
8′ Galaxy showing nice possession
10′ Klein shot trapped and turned by Gordon who is offsides, goal is called back
12′ Oita not putting much pressure on us defensively
14′ Oika moving the ball around, Galaxy pressuring well
(sorry, Firefox froze on me)
24′ Great combination play by the Galaxy in and around the box
25′ Klein takes the corner, no scoring chance
28′ Awkward clearance from Sanneh
(earlier I heard Wicks yelling, “Away! Away!” like he did last season. I have to admit that it drives me nuts!)
31′ Oika giving us all the time in the world to create offense in their half
(FSC reporting a hamstring injury to Ricketts so he is resting tonight)
35′ Lewis sends decent long ball to Gordon, cleared by defense
37′ Buddle holds the ball on the flank — dribbles in to no help, dispossessed.
38′ Tudela fouled, free kick
38′ Oika shot on goal, slow and low, scooped up by Wicks
(lots of slipping on the surface)
40′ Kovalenko fouls Takamatsu, pushing and shoving ensues, broken up by — Klein, of course
41′ Kovalenko fouled at the corner of the 18 yard box, free kick from Klein into wall
44′ GOAL!!! Buddle capitalizes on defensive mistake, one v one shoots and scores near post!
45′+ Galaxy play possession to end the half

HALFTIME (time for BowFlex commercials)

46′ (whoops) Kyle Patterson replacing Buddle — Kirovski moves up to Buddle’s spot
49′ Nice bending ball into the box from Klein — cleared, but NICE ball
(Tudela is playing very well — he is all over the pitch, reading the game well)
51′ Corner kick cleared out for another corner
52′ Oika player booked with a yellow in the box — blatant hand ball — penalty kick called . . .
53′ Kirovski buries the penalty kick down the middle. GOAL!!!!!!!
55′ Galaxy pressuring in their offensive third
55′ Kovalenko long shot with the left over the crossbar
57′ Another corner chance . . . taken by Klein . . . bent to back corner of the six, Patterson gets a bit of a head on it, over the touchline.
58′ Tudela whistled for foul 20 yards out, directly in front of the goal
59′ Shot gets past the wall, just over the crossbar
Justin, pipe down there! (Obviously extra beer available for the last minute half time beer sales)
62′ Oita passing in their defensive third — and oh! we take it away again
(I haven’t seen a lot of creativity from the central midfield this game so far — that’s concerning)
65′ Wicks saves long shot
67′ Magee in for Gordon, has a shot on goal — goes wide
(There is a tax service in town called Liberty — they have someone outside dressed as the Statue of Liberty, waving at traffic to drum up business. The Oita keeper looks just like her!)
70′ Oita doing better to build up offense
70′ Shot from 25 yards goes wide, stretches Wicks out full
72′ Gonzalez won’t allow Oita player to turn in the box — Wicks scoops up the ball
74′ Much more pressure from Oita now, Lewis heads out a cross
74′ Bryan Jordan in for Chris Klein
77′ Nice movement and passing along the left side, beautiful ball from Lewis eventually cleared
78′ Free kick from 30 yards — Lewis bends it over the wall but over the crossbar
79′ Miglioranzi in for Tudela
80′ Oita in our defensive third, take their first corner of the match, better possession
82′ Oita sliding shot near goal — great defense from Gonzalez
84′ Kirovski offsides — he’s been quiet since he moved up to forward
85′ Kovalenko fouled
87′ DeLaGarza in for Framklin
87′ Awkward strike by Patterson, goes left
90′ Kirovski gets a hand in the eye, Oita player yellow card
90′+ Free kick into the wall, deflected out for a corner
90′+ Short corner to take up the rest of the time