I’ve Got Two Words: Galaxy vs. TFC Post-Game Analysis

By: NathanHJ | June 7th, 2009

I’ve got two words for you in the aftermath of the Galaxy’s second victory of the year, on the road in Toronto.

And those words are: Edson Buddle.

Two appearances in the last two games, both with less than 30 minutes to go in the match and two goals displaying heads-up play and clinical finishing. In the words of 100 Percent Soccer’s Nick Green,

“The reporter in me wonders how many more games the now 2-1-9 Galaxy would have won if Edson Buddle, who has now scored his only two goals this season in the last two games, had managed to stay fit.”

Yes, exactly.

Buddle can’t get game fit fast enough, especially now that Landon Donovan is going to be out with the Men’s National Team in the Confederations Cup, which starts a week from Monday. Through 12 matches the Galaxy have managed to put their defense into a tie for 4th best in the league, allowing only 14 goals, but their offense is tied for fifth worst (granted the G’s are in a 3-way tie and there’s a tie for 4th as well), scoring only 15. The fact that these stats are part of a 10-game unbeaten streak puts Coach Bruce Arena’s statement last night, “I think our team refuses to lose, and that’s a positive sign” in its proper context.

Two weeks ago I talked about the frustration of going to Frisco, playing a man up for the bulk of the game and still only tying – in fact, giving up the equalizer while up a man. Last week, I …, well, I didn’t write anything because I was on the road for work for 8 days, but I was both frustrated and happy with the Kansas City result. I mean, you have to win at home, right? But at the same time, Edson Buddle made sure that the team didn’t lose.

This week, after the Dichio rebound I was plunged into despair at the prospect of another tie. Actually, that’s not true. I felt resigned. The team was on the road, in one of the toughest venues in the league without Donovan, starting Alan Gordon and Mike Magee.

But then Edson Buddle happened. This game almost makes up for giving away the last vestiges of the Galaxy defense to TFC when we acquired Buddle back in 2007. Turns out that wasn’t that horrible a trade. Buddle’s having productive seasons and Lord knows that TFC isn’t using the defense we gave them (Kevin Harmse is mostly ineffective and Tyrone Marshall is playing for Seattle). I mean, as Nick Green said yesterday,

“The cynic in me now knows how bad a defense needs to be to make Alan Gordon (who had the opening goal and an assist today) look good.”

Ah, Alan Gordon. He’s like a big ungainly Labrador Retriever. He’s clumsy, he sometimes gets distracted, he often makes poor decisions with the ball at his feat, but he’s got a fantastic workrate and he’s, umm, dogged in his commitment to the team. Every time you get exasperated with him, he goes and does something endearing, like getting a goal and an assist to help the team to a road win. You have to wonder that, given Mike Magee’s inconsistency, if the starting forwards for the next month won’t be Gordon and Buddle.

Okay, so the attack, once Buddle was on the field, stayed dangerous. Let’s look at the midfield. Dema Kovalenko had a solid day. For all his being a card magnet, he’s brought the midfield a level of toughness and bite that we’ve lacked for quite a bit. When he has a quietly good game, the team functions at a higher level, winning more 50-50 balls and controlling possession.

The return of Chris Klein to the midfield was also a boon. I don’t know what The Bruce has been trying to figure out, having him come on as a substitute, but the midfield is just steadier when he’s there and the offense gets a boost as well. Lewis out on the left finally had the kind of game I’ve been waiting for since he signed with us last year. He was a real force, combining well with Todd Dunivant and sending in several decent crosses, while shutting down the right side of the TFC attack. If he and Duni can do that against better midfields, then maybe, just maybe, the Galaxy can make a real season of it.

The defense did just enough to keep the game from getting out of hand. This was not a good game for the unit as a whole. Tony Sanneh, before getting injured, was routinely getting burned and his communication with the rest of the unit is still lacking, but he does have grit and a veteran presence. AJ Delagarza is still learning. You can see him making better decisions, but he still has a problem either just dumping the ball forward to no one, allowing the offense to reload quickly or not getting rid of the ball fast enough. On the other hand, his positioning is getting better. If he works hard, he could become the next Michael Parkhurst, a defender who shuts down plays more with positioning than brute force.

Leonard Griffin, making his first appearance of the season (really of the past 2-3 seasons), filled in adequately for Sanneh.

Which brings me to the real reason the Galaxy left with a win: Donovan Ricketts. 10 saves on the night, including stoning Dwayne De Rosario 4 times. That’s the real story of both Ricketts’ quality and the make-shift nature of yesterday’s defense. 11 shots on goal and 10 saves. Which brings me back to Nick Green’s first observation. If we’d had both Ricketts and Buddle available for the entire season, how many wins would the team really have right now?

So after 12 games the Galaxy sits firmly in 5th place in the 8 team Western Conference on 15 points, ahead of Real Salt Lake by three and behind Colorado and Seattle by two. If the season ended today, they still wouldn’t make the playoffs, but they are one or two points away from the five teams above them who would.

Which makes the impending upgrade of the midfield that will happen when David Beckham returns and Chris Birchall joins in July something that could determine whether or not the Galaxy really does make a respectable run at the playoffs this year. Next week is RSL at home, a team notoriously bad on the road. The Galaxy have mastered the “won’t lose” attitude. Now, in the words of Arena, “we need to have a habit of winning.” If they do so, the Galaxy could suddenly find themselves in the heat of the battle for third in the West, trading punches with Seattle and Colorado.

And wouldn’t that be fun to watch?

Man of the Match: Donovan Ricketts. Honorable Mention: Alan Gordon and Edson Buddle.

What others are saying:

The Official Internet Party Line
The Associate Press in The Daily Breeze
Slightly longer AP story in the LA Times
MLSNet Game Summary from Peter Mallett
MLSNet TFC Perspective from Mark Polishuk
MLSNet Galaxy Perspective from Peter Mallett
ESPN Soccernet by Ryan Johnson
The Sports Network via The Miami Herald
The Canadian Press (hosted by Google)
The Toronto Star by Daniel Girard
Goal.com by Rashed Abuodeh
The National Post by Eric Koreen
Another one from Daniel Girard in the Toronto Star

What about you guys? What did you see? Who played well? Who didn’t? What does the future of Edson Buddle but no Landon Donovan hold? What about July when Landon gets back and Birchall and Becks get added? Who was your Man of the Match? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.