Galaxy vs. Rapids Pre-Game
By: jen | June 6th, 2008
This should be fun, after that 4-0 arse-whoopin’ we got in March. We are certainly a better team than the one that showed up at Dick’s that day.
The Rapids, with a record of 5-5-0, are leading the Western Conference standings. However, with their 15 points, the Rapids would only be tied for 4th in the Eastern Conference standings. With the Galaxy’s 14 points, we would be 5th in the East.
With Donovan gone for National Team duty and Beckham returning, the link between Beckham and Ruiz will be vital. Good news for us is that the Rapids’ defense will be more porous than usual. Coundoul and Mastroeni are both out for national team duty, and Petke is out due to injury.
I look forward to seeing Ruiz in action again. It was this game against Colorado that resulted in Ruud pulling the guys back a bit and focusing on simple soccer. I’m hoping that Ruiz can fit into that dynamic. He has some brilliant touches and creative passes in his play — but will the rest of the team be able to read his play and finish? I most want to see Ruiz’s scrappy play and annoying (to defenders) diagonal runs with a great finishing touch. We’ve missed that since his absence.
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Tags: 2008 Season, Beckham, Carlos Ruiz, Colorado Rapids, Donovan, Galaxy, Player News, Team News, USMNTSubscribe
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klien saved that one.
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come on possession
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x-man nice block
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Becks is tuckered.
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yea he is
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just another minute
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30 sec’s
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We missed that midfield possession when Vagenas came off.
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last play
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finally over, First Place!
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Whew. 3 points.
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Jen your right, it really hurt when Vagenas came out. he helped holding the ball in midfield
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so Allen, has the game winner, awesome for his confidence
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What an enjoyable game. Well, except for the two goal comeback by Colorado.
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they player well for 60-65 minutes controlling the game. it was entertaining for sure
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Jen, have a good night, it was fun.
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G’night Glen. Off to check on the kids and then get in bed.
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Lord, nothing like almost snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, eh? (Or is it the other way around? I always get those confused.) You wouldn’t think that when you take a 3-0 lead you’d have to worry. But the Galaxy always figure out a way to keep us on the edge of our seats.
But still. Top of the west!
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What a bizarre night. I think there were at least 5 injury stoppages. That red card incident was insane. The ref goes in and cards Gordon for kicking the Col player (was it Erpen) in the face. They then showed the replay on the big screen. I swear to you the ref stopped and watched. That’s when he saw that the Col player had started it by trying to kick Gordo (maybe in the junk), so he red cards the Col player! Instant replay in the MLS! Then a fan runs on the field, Klein kicks him and a security guard sits on him and it looked like he punched him. They ran the guy out past us and he actually looked pleased.
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Just a couple of notes on the players:
Klein actually played good D tonight. Ruiz looked winded and missed opportunities he would have made before. I hope it is just lack of fitness and not something worse. Vagenas continues to do nothing for me.
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Only caught the last 15 minutes of the match which gave me a different perspective than the match reports I read, along with comments — elsewhere — about the terrible defense etc etc. What stood out during the protect the lead scramble was that that the defense was actually getting to the ball. Fair enough to the critics, in a perfect world you don’t “hang ten men from the cross bar” to protect your lead, and preferably stay as far from your own box as possible, where, obviously the ball is most dangerous. But in that perfect world you have enough players with the skill to maintain possession in the offensive end, and burn time with the hope of scoring again. That can be a stretch for teams at any level and it certainly looks like it would have been for the Galaxy last night. So yeah, there seemed to be a lot of clearance to no one up the field, but the guys did get to the ball in order to clear it, which is an improvement. It was fun in the end to see Becks and Ruiz make a few runs up for a little give and go. It told me more about how their experience, instincts, and competitive drive will match up than if they were doing it with more time and energy left.
Was I seeing Ruiz at full speed last night or is he still getting fit? If he’s faster that will really make things interesting.
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Oops, just read my answer re Ruiz’ speed in David’s comment, and share the same hope.
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Our LA Galaxy team did such an amazing job in winning balls, tunr-overs, maintaining such awesome posession. Then you may be asking, how come the socre is 3 – 2. And, not 3 – 0. Yes, that’s the question that I’m sure Ruud will have to keep harping on and breaking into the guys.
It’s so good to have David Beckham back with us – YES!!! YES!!! David is such a talented, hard-working professional!!! He played his “darn behind” off today – and, fans – this coming back from National Team Duty!!! My hats off to him and hands and feet both are trying to clap!!! David, Chris, Alvaro, Sean, Abel, and Mikey worked very hard for us today. Hey, does anybody know if Mikey was injured or may have pulled something during training sessions this week… Mikey was too tired in the second half. This was one reason why Colorado was able to come back & score. The main reason was that Fernando Clavijo brought in Omar Cummings and Hercules Gomez is the 2nd Half… and, then the tides were starting to turn in the favor of Colorado. Their tenacity, their speed, their weaving around our slower midfielders and defenders… came back to bite our rumps!!! Plus, Steve seemed to have an off-night… Sorry, Steve like I said earlier – it takes at least… at least a full year-and-a-half before a STARTING GOAL-KEEPER gets his instincts, prowess, and timing down correctly.
Sorry to hear and see that Alan got a Red-Card tonight… but, we can thank our lucky stars that one of Colorado’s got a Red-Card also!!! So, when it became a 10-on-10 game for us… guess what happened when Fernado Clavijo put in two very fast forwards. YEP – they began to find spaces, and get break-outs… plus Colorado did very well in applying some SERIOUS PRESSURE & HEAT in the second half after it became 10-v-10!
Once again, members of our team got caught up in the craziness and LOST FOCUS, SHARPNESS, DETERMINATION, DRIVE, & QUICKNESS! This is why we still keep getting dooped and scored on… Think about it – would our team stand a chance against much faster, speedier, grittier teams like New England and Chicago. Is it any reason why they’re the leaders in the Conference?Posted from
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David Beckham tried so hard for our team – to drive our team – to spark our team players to dig in and score some more… to walk away from tonight with a score line of 4 – 0 or 5 – 1. But alas, there are members on our Galaxy team team that just don’t get it! They don’t have the same GRIT, HUNGER, EMOTION, COMPETITIVE FEVER like David or Alvaro, or Chris, or Joey… and, this is something that Head Coach Ruud, Alexi Lalas, and Tim Liweke must, must see, take notes, and be prepared to address, demand, and change. Because without making some necessary changes we (our LA Galaxy) is NOT… I repeat NOT going to get to MLS Cup 2008. So do what needs to be done… what has to be done… some players are just not cut out to be competitve, hungry, driven MLS Champions. Our LA Galaxy needs to be driven, hungry, tough, controlled, attacking, with every intention of winning and to keep it there!!!
Love this sport – GO GALAXY!!!Posted from
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What has happened to Xavuer? Last year he was solid, this year he is weak, going to groung too easily, not standing up forwards, I don’t get it he is better than that. Hope Pete is not hurt, Galaxy looked like a totally differant team with him in the line up.
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