The Galaxy Reserves Have Me SO Confused!

By: Laurie | April 17th, 2007

First thing. Do the Galaxy Reserves really have a player named Johnny Bravo? Seriously? I mean, is that what’s on his birth cerficate? How cool is that? I’m thinking I’d like to be named Johnny Bravo. Can we make this happen?

The website tells us that “L.A. Galaxy reserves defeat Lancaster Rattlers 3-0.” Which is a good thing, because after last week a little confidence-building is certainly in order. But as a new MLS fan, I’m working to wrap my brain around the Reserves and how they work here. Who are these people? To start, let’s look at the Galaxy lineup for yesterday’s game:

Los Angeles Galaxy – Lance Friesz, Ian Russell, Shavar Thomas, Kyle Veris, Gordon Kljestan, Nathan Sturgis, Wilmer Lopez, Josh Tudela, Mike Randolph, Nate Jaqua (Johnny Bravo 79′), Robbie Findley.

Some familiar names, some unfamiliar ones. (Nate Jaqua playing for the Reserves?) If you’re a new MLS fan, how do you know who qualifies as a Reserve player? Since I’m not finding anything official, let’s go to Google, shall we?

Ah, here’s a 2005 article on the start of the MLS Reserves.

On the surface, MLS’s reserve teams might be confused with the junior varsity on the high school level or Class AAA in the minor league baseball system. However, everyone participating in the MLS reserve games is on the full-time team roster and eligible to play in regular season matches.

Although young players most benefit from reserve games, it’s also an opportunity for a veteran to regain his fitness following an injury or a borderline starter to prove himself. That’s not possible in regular MLS games because only three substitutes are allowed, leaving half the roster watching from the sideline or the stands.

Okay, fine. Then where’s Johnny Bravo on the Galaxy roster? Or Wilmer Lopez? And Gordon Kljestan was cut from the roster in March. What’s up here? Or have things changed since 2005? I’m SO confused!

Wait, here’s a bit more of interest from the same article:

To avoid burnout, players are forbidden from competing for more than 90 minutes during a weekend. So someone who plays 20 minutes in the regular match is limited to 70 in a reserve game. Each team is permitted to make six substitutes instead of the usual three.

And from here we add a bit from an article by the ever-interesting Bill Urban:

Because MLS holds to 28-player rosters, and has sensible limits on the total amount of minutes a player may be used during a 60-hour period, there have been frequent occasions in the first two seasons where “guest” players had to be drafted in to fill out rosters. The provisions for using “guest players” have been maintained for the division’s third campaign. While cost-cutting of this nature might be applauded from a business perspective, allowing lower level players to compete is not the best approach from a player development standpoint.

Okay, I’m starting to understand the non-rostered names I’m seeing. I think. Maybe.

But whatever. Our Reserves (which, as you’ve seen, included both Nate Jaqua and Robbie Findley) downed the Lancaster Rattlers of the USL Premier Development League 3-0.

Scoring Summary:
Nate Jaqua – 22nd minute
Robbie Findley – 35th minute
Robbie Findley (penalty kick) -78th minute

Is there any chance that Robbie Findley might take our PKs this season for the real, actual Galaxy? That could be interesting. I’m seriously liking Robbie Findley.

And for the record, from the website: “The Galaxy Reserves open their 2007 MLS Reserve Division schedule on May 13 against the New England Revolution at The Home Depot Center.”