Game Preview: Galaxy vs. Seattle Sounders FC

By: NathanHJ | May 10th, 2009

The first regular season meeting between the Los Angeles Galaxy and Seattle Sounders FC promises to be a lot like the mid-week clash against Real Salt Lake. Seattle is missing a key piece of its offense in Freddy Montero, serving a suspension for throwing an elbow in his last game, while the Galaxy is coming off a hard-fought tie, leaving them undefeated in three road games.

I would expect more of what we saw in Colorado and Utah: compact shape from the Galaxy, 10 men behind the ball, looking for the counterattack and only for the counterattack for scoring opportunities.

This is will be the roughest road test yet. Instead of missing three pieces, like RSL, Seattle is only missing one, leaving players like Freddy Ljungberg, Kasey Keller, and Tyrone Marshall still on the field. The defense will be stiffer and the offense will be more potent that what RSL deployed.

For Galaxy fans this will be a constant nailbiter as Seattle presses the bunkering team hard. For Seattle fans this game will be frustrating as the Galaxy shut down the passing lanes and make the Sounders work hard for their offense. For futbol fans overall, this will be a fairly ugly game.

As always, feel free to follow the game in the comments with me.

What others are saying:

The much more thorough and therefore thoroughly embarassing preview from Laurie and Steve at the Seattle Offside site.

MLS Preview

Andrew Winner at MLSNet preview for the Seattle perspective.

What do you guys think? What will the game be like? Who needs to step up? Do we have an answer for the Seattle offense and can we solve the Seattle defense?

Some Related Galaxy Posts:

Category: Player News

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DAVE

This would be a great addtiton.

http://www.tribalfootball.com/...
David

Looks like the Birchall story has something to it. Multiple sources confirm that the Galaxy offered him a deal a short time ago, but Brighton rejected it because they were fighting relegation. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/h....

Well, seasons over and he is apparently training with the Galaxy now and talking about a transfer. http://www.goal.com/en-us/news....

Sounds like he wouldn't sign for another month or so, but who knows. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/h....

So, not bad to have a player from an English league and an international squad I guess. We could certainly use someone in the midfield. You can check him out on the Brighton page: http://www.seagulls.co.uk/page....

Sky Sports has a page on him too. They only rate him a 5, but I'd bet that's higher than they'd rate Miglioranzi or Kovalenko. http://www.skysports.com/footb....
George

Sorry, Buddle is :
http://www.twitter.com/EdsonBu...
George

I recommend all of you subscribe to these Twitters:

LA Galaxy: http://www.twitter.com/LAGalax...
Edson Buddle: http://www.com/EdsonBuddle
Bryan Jordan: http://www.twitter.com/bj6
Fan

Hey..what do you guys think about this? Do any of you know anything about this? Is this true?

http://www.soccer-training-inf...

Apparently, Beckham will be giving out a crossing lessons to MLS players, especially those who really need the help, and even waiving the fee altogether for them! And the best is..the possibility of both Paolo Maldini and Ryan Giggs in joining him in giving the lesson. Isn't this great if it is true? ;>
DAVE

A new midfield player? Beckham must surely be gone.

http://www.tribalfootball.com/...
birchall-could-happen-july-according-player-244163
Glen

I don't think that's an outsider's perspective when your a fan of the other team.
Laurie

To be honest, watching the team in this game made me ashamed to have ever been a Galaxy fan.
George

Galaxy has been getting a lot of crap recently, but I'm really proud of them. They've stolen points from other Western conference teams while on the road, so hopefully they can beat them at home.
Laurie

Also, after viewing this team now from an outsider's perspective, the reason people think LA gets special treatment is because they do.

Oddly, it doesn't seem to help them all that much.
Laurie

Gordo climbed up into the stands to give his jersey to a Galaxy fan after the match. That was fun to see.

Other than that, to quote Didier Drogba, Tim Weyland is a @#$%iing disgrace who should never be allowed on the pitch again. He was the ref for your SuperClasico cardfest, and John Carver recently got a $750 fine for criticizing his incompetence in the Dallas TFC game. This man is pathetic.

Also, Magee deserves an Oscar for his dramatizations. And even the fourth official thought Berhalter deserved a yellow for his role in the brawl, but for some reason Weyland ignored him.

On the plus side, it was fun to see guys like Chris Klein today, and since my seats are midline on the second-half Galaxy's right side, I got to see a lot of him.

And hate to admit it, but Gordo's header was superb. The kind of thing we wish Nate Jaqua would do.
seba

as a sounders fan, I am very disappointed with a draw, even though down to 10 with the Galaxy in shell mode I still thought we could get the 3pts.

You guys are funny and so pessimistic. The few Riot Squad in attendance at the bar after the game were friendly, glad to see supporters not being total tosspots.
Glen

I do agree with both of you guys, were falling behind in points badly if we want to make the playoffs. I just hope it doesn't come back to bite us in the arse down the road, but I could see us getting into trouble pushing forward in this game since we were getting out hustled badly even a man up. Have a nice Mother's Day guys.
Lee

I hear you Glen and it's a valid point but we need to
get one or two of these.
Glen

it was fun guys, watching the game and reading the comments. see you next game :)
Glen

I think after the way we got out played, a point on the road is not bad. we just have to get our act together playing at home, now if we settled for this at home I would be disappointed.
Glen

a few seconds left
Lee

We're playing for the point. But I agree that's not
good enough.
Glen

let the crowd boo :)
Glen

just a couple min's left, no injuries and take a point
Glen

we need to get out of here, ricketts is down
Lee

Sloppy, sloppy play right now.

Good play by Dunivant down the wing.
Glen

there we go, making some passes holding the ball
Glen

gotta love ricketts, he's our savior for sure
Glen

we needed buddle earlier
Glen

yea, were getting out ran right now. how does that happen when were a man up, crazy. at this point I want a draw and get out of here
Glen

lundberg acted on that one some
Glen

crap....
Glen

looked like jaqua grab'd berthalter and took him down after they came together
Glen

it really doesn't look like we have a man advantage still
Glen

yellow card him, jaqua gets a card
Glen

yea donovan's crosses have really been off today.
Lee

Yep, Glen. That's the Jaqua we all know and love.
Glen

offsides, damn he may as well wait at the post next time :)
Lee

We need to focus on the passes in the back. Several
bad turnovers.

We really need to get the 3 out of this.
Bob

Donovan needs to put some magic in his corner kicks. Have any made it into the box yet?

Oh yea, put Buddle in!!
Glen

lewis, no buddle
Lee

Why do we always take that shot on the bounce back
out of a corner instead of pulling it back and restarting
the possession.
Glen

atleast were down in there end more, creating some chances
Glen

sanneh, that crossed was so slow
Glen

buddle buddle! need to bring him in now!
Bob

Why does it look like we are playing a man down? Seattle is still dominating us with a player down.
Glen

donovan waited too long to cross it, damn
Glen

hopefully seattle's emotions will get the best of them and and tire them out
Glen

bring in buddle soon.
Lee

Nice touch by Gordon but Klein's got to get that off
a little quicker or in better position against Keller.
Glen

crap, that was a great opportunity there, damn keller
George

Now Buddle should come next.
Glen

yea, we have to play smart and take advantage of the extra player and start making some passes, run them out of steam
Lee

Klein in for Kirovski instead of Lewis but a good change.
George

Angry Ljunbberg is dangerous!
Lee

There's the dumb play. That could have been the even
up but only a yellow, which is probably appropriate.

Nathan, you're spot on about the advantage.
Glen

we can't loose ricketts!
Glen

oh my god, that was dangerous
Glen

it's getting a little chippy out there for sure.
Lee

We've got to play smart now. The Ref is going to look
to even this up.
Glen

yea, lundberg gets a yellow too
Glen

red, yes!
Glen

yellow, make it a red
Glen

damn, lost the stream to just.in tv :(
Lee

Sanneh did a better job of keeping up with Zakuani
that time but that's going to get us eventually if
there's not an adjustment.
Glen

yea, the first 10-15 minutes are gonna be tough for the galaxy. if they can hold tight I think it will settle down some. I think Buddle should come in around the 60th minute and hopefully free up some space for Donovan.
Glen

Lee, I agree with you. bring in Lewis for kirovski.
Lee

I'll admit it. I'm a homer on the calls. :-)
Glen

lol, justin tv is a little sketchy watching so it's hard for me to see for sure but seeing the replay it looked that way, but the ref could have easily givin them a pk.
Lee

Yep, Nathan, the question is when to make the subs and
who goes.

Maybe bring in Lewis for Kirovski and slide Donovan
into the middle. Gotta give Gordon another 15 minutes
or so though.
Glen

yea, going into halftime with it 1-1 after the way that 1st half was going is great, and the goal seem to rattle seattle a little
Glen

the hell was Seattle doing there holding the ball when it was our thrown in, should have yellow carded him
Glen

be nice to put in another one right before half
Lee

We got a bit of a break but that was a serious flop.
Glen

no pk, jaqua is an actor
Lee

We need to settle down now and get out of this half
with the draw.
Glen

looks like a great crowd and atmosphere there
Glen

bad corner from donovan, he gets another chance now
Glen

gordon, is funny just when you want him out of the game, he pulls off a great goal :) you just never know with him!
Bob

That's why Gordo is still around.
Lee

We've been harshing on Alan and he puts one home. Nice
cross from Magee.
Glen

great header from gordon. :)
Glen

hope we can get into halftime just down 1 goal and we can make some changes
Glen

won't the ref call anything for us?
Glen

almost seems like they have 2 or 3 more players out there than us
Lee

Alan's out there. He's had three bad turnovers.

I'm usually not the negative one, but this could turn
into a rout really quickly.
Glen

Ricketts is gonna be busy today
Glen

they're really moving the ball on us right now
Glen

looks like a full house
Glen

NathanHJ, thanks for the link. right when I turned it on seattle got the goal :(
Lee

Yup, that was a pretty pathetic sequence.
Glen

I don't get TeleFutura where I'm at, any other suggestion on watching the game?
Lee

This lineup doesn't have to win the game. It just
has to keep it scoreless through the first half, which
could be difficult.
Lee

Three games in eight days will do that.

As for who has to step up, Kirovski in a big
way and also Magee.
George

Franklin not on bench.
George

Very weird lineup. Tiredness?