I’ve got three words: Galaxy vs. San Jose Earthquakes post-game analysis

And those words are: Western Conference champions!

In a fitting display on their home turf, the Los Angeles Galaxy put the finishing touches on a worst-to-first regular season for 2009. After a horrific 2008, the culmination of years of front-office incompetence and on-field underachievement accomplished under the glare of international media, the Galaxy put together a season that culminated in a first-in the West finish and a return to the playoffs for the first time since 2005. With the defeat of Columbus on Sunday evening by the New England Revolution, the Galaxy finished with the second-best record in the league, one point behind the Supporter’s Shield winning Crew and tied on points with Houston (winning on the head-to-head tie breaker).

The game itself was one of the better displays by a Galaxy team this year. Showing the kind of aggression that a superior team playing on its home field must display, the Galaxy took the game directly to the Earthquakes, dominating the first 20 minutes comprehensively. With a front six of Mike Magee, Edson Buddle, Landon Donovan, David Beckham, Chris Birchall, and Dema Kovalenko, the Galaxy put one of its better attack-minded line-ups on the field. This resulted in several chances in the first 30 minutes, including a scorching Beckham shot that just missed wide left of the goal. Landon Donovan’s goal in the 27th minute, deflecting off the leg of SJ defender Bobby Burling was typical of the Galaxy attack in the first half – lost of possession, passes to the wings, crosses into the box.

But while the aggression and approach were refreshing for a team that made its mark this year through tough defense and tenacious midfield play, the passing was often less than crisp, almost lazy. The play in the final third was plagued by easy give-aways, poor first touches, and errant passes. Everyone in the attack was at fault at some point in the game, which added a level of frustration to what was otherwise an encouraging show.

That said, it was another solid team effort that built from the back. Once again the backline and goalkeeping was steady as a rock. Todd Dunivant, perhaps the most underrated player on the field, was solid on the left, dealing with a speedy Shea Salinas with aplomb and getting forward into the attack with regularity. Gregg Berhalter did a stand-up job in the middle and in organizing the defense. Omar Gonzalez made several stops as the last defender back, defusing attack after attack. And Sean Franklin had his best game back from injury, playing at full speed without struggling and combining very nicely on the right with Becks and Birchall.

The second half of the game wasn’t quite as nice as the first, though the team again ran right at San Jose. But Mike Magee’s day was not stellar, just workmanlike and his average touch and creativity was responsible for a number of attacks that fizzled. Buddle’s game was much better than recent games, though he was not instrumental in any of the scoring. What improved the game in the second half was bringing on Eddie Lewis and then Chris Klein, who both brought veteran wiles, decision-making, and crisp passing to go with their fresh legs. They immediately improved the creativity of the Galaxy attack, even as Donovan went up top to play as a withdrawn striker. The epitome of this was the second goal of the evening which started with Beckham lauching a counter to Donovan in the middle of the park who passed wide to Klein who threaded a perfect pass back to Donovan at the top of the 18 where Donovan used his striker’s touch to beat Joe Cannon. It was beautiful.

I wonder if this means that we should start games with one of Lewis or Klein on the field, to increase the creativity on the field. I’m a fan of putting Birchall in the middle and platooning Lewis and Klein on the right (or left with Donovan on the opposite wing). Magee and Buddle up top should be a decent combination, but Magee needs to do better when he has the ball. And while I’m noting what can be better, I’m not that happy with how deep David Beckham often drops to collect the ball – as deep as Shalrie Joseph does often, but David has more offense in him than Joseph does in the normal run of things (though let me say that Joseph has plenty of offense in him). It sometimes takes Becks out of the game when he does this, though with Donovan as the intended target maybe that’s not a problem in the end. But it does make me want more Lewis/Klein on the field.

And that’s important because in order to win the Cup this year the team needs to score consistently and it’s consistently had problems putting the ball in the back of the net. Now that the team is going to be playing the elite teams in the league, offense is the piece that needs the most work. Defense wins championships, but we’ve got that this year. We still need to score. So consider that our charge. The only redeeming factor here, is that the first games of the playoffs are against Chivas, which has been having its own problems scoring lately.

But if the team takes the game to its opponents like it did last night (and playing all games at the HDC will make that easier), then it will be putting itself in the place to win. Add in the fact that the team is probably the healthiest it has been all season and the Galaxy need to be taken seriously as a team to challenge for the cup.

Playoffs for the Galaxy start on Nov. 1, Sunday, at 2PM PST (that’s the day the time change occurs to don’t let that screw you up) at the HDC with the Galaxy as the visiting team. Given the fact that Chivas can’t the stadium up, this is an opportunity for Galaxy fans to come close to parity with Chivas fans and make the game more like a home fixture. Tickets here. Le’ts make it happen.

Man of the Match: Landon Donovan

Official Team Awards
Humanitarian of the Year: Todd Dunivant
Defender of the Year: Donovan Ricketts
Golden Boot: Landon Donovan
MVP: Landon Donovan

What others are saying.

ESPN on Becks getting an ovation after being taken out in the 85th minute.
Ivan Orozco at MLSNet with the San Jose perspective
Larry Morgan at MLSNet with the Galaxy perspective
Larry Morgan at MLSNet with the game recap
Andrea Canales at Goal.com with a story on the Galaxy’s season of redemption
LA Soccer News with the game recap
The Sun (of England) with raunchy snark
AFP with another story on the worst-to-first angle
Joseph D’Hippolito at the San Jose Mercury News
Angel Magana at LAist
Luis Bueno at the Press-Entreprise (complete with podcast)
The AP at the Mercury News
Game recap at the Party Line blog (official LA Galaxy blog)
Locker room quotes from the Party Line blog
Miguel Melendez at the San Bernardino Sun
Nick Green at 100 Percent Soccer
Grahame Jones at the LA Times

Highlights

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Category: Player News