Two New Signings and a Donovan Assist

By: jen | January 10th, 2009

Donovan impressed earlier today in Bayern Munich’s friendly against Al Jazeera Sports Club in Abu Dhabi. He played the full 90 minutes behind Frank Ribery and Luca Toni, netting an assist with a beautiful through ball to Bastian Schweinsteiger in the first half. Sounds a lot like the Donovan we know and love. The question is, does Jurgen Klinsmann plan to play Landon as a striking midfielder, supporting his two greats (in Ribery and Toni) up top? It seems all the news I read has him vying for a position as a striker. It would be nice to see what he can do to set up Ribery and Toni, rather than replace one of them. Oh, the possibilities!

In other news, the Galaxy have signed two ~~old~~ new players for the upcoming season, Leonard Griffin and Stefani Miglioranzi.

Griffin is described as “capable of playing in central midfield, as well as all across the backline.”

Miglioranzi is described as “A central midfielder who is also capable of playing in defense.”

Looks like our wish for a better defensive midfield as well as back line may be coming true.

Oh, and it looks like Cronin and Kirovski will be sticking around for next season as well. It’s interesting to see what Arena is doing as he builds the team for 2009.

Some Related Galaxy Posts:

Category: 2009 Preseason, Player News, Team News

« Who Should the Galaxy Draft and/or Bring In? | Home | Landon’s First Goal for Bayern »

David

Donovan has repeatedly said he would like to play in Europe. If he plays well, Munich will want him. The question is whether the Galaxy will let him go. He has two or three more years on his contract. But Bayern would have to pay a transfer fee (I would guess in the $5-10 million range) and I'm not sure the Galaxy are willing to deny Donovan the chance and pass up the cap room if he goes. We'll see.

Beckham is quite a different story. He has repeatedly stated his commitment to the Galaxy and intent to return. I think there is less chance Milan would want to keep him long term, as they have other options. Beckham's compensation here also goes well beyond his salary and I think he has more incentive to remain.
jen

Thanks Laurie and Nicole. I've used myp2p before, I guess I just need to get up to date on the schedule. I'll check out Justin.TV and Big Soccer as well. Thanks!

Marco, I think most of us feel that Donovan will not return. And as much as we will miss him, we hope he can get a position in Europe either with Bayern Munich, or with another top tier team. It's true he is on loan -- but no one has denied that he is looking for a full time position in Europe.

Beckham is another story, at least for now. He is definitely on loan for now. Real Madrid would love to keep him. He might want to be kept. But I *think* his commitment to the Galaxy is genuine -- at least for another season. If he were to picked up by Real though, they would have one helluva salary to pick up as well.

So far it looks as though Bruce Arena is expecting Beckham to return. His signings, so far, indicate that he's looking for more defensive support, especially in midfield, that would allow Beckham creative free rein in the midfield. We will see.

For myself, I'd like to see Beckham return and I'd like to see the Galaxy put together some solid, respectable soccer. I don't care about flashy soccer -- and with Beckham on the field there are bound to be flashy moments from time to time -- I just want to see solid, competitive soccer.
Nicole

Jen, I go to Justin.TV. There's usually a stream there.

Also I'd recommend checking out Big Soccer - in the Yanks Abroad Gameday forum. There's always a game thread and several people will post several links to streams of the game.
Marco P.

Scrolling down through older Galaxy Offside posts, it seems you guys have fairly low expectations at seeing either Landon or Becks return in the Spring. Am I wrong?

Officially and bureaucratically-speaking though, both players are out on loan during the off-season right? Only if AC Milan and Bayern sign them on a permanent basis will they stay in Europe. Which brings me to another question (pardon my MLS-ignorance): will those clubs have to pay LA Galaxy a transfer fee, and if so how much do you think that will be?
Laurie

Jen, the best place to find European games that aren't shown in the US is myp2p.eu I can usually find at least one working stream for each game.
Jonathan

It makes me wonder, does he miss playing in the MLS at all? Germany fits him like a glove.
Evan

Miglioranzi is back??? He played three games for us in 2006.
jen

Glen, thanks for the link!

Nicole, how did you view the game, if you don't mind me asking. I'm looking for ways to watch the Bayern Munich games while Donovan is paying -- and hopefully that will be for a long time. :)
Nicole

I watched the game. If you didn't know better, you'd never know Landon was the new guy. I haven't watched the video so I don't know if it shows it, but Landon drew the foul that led to the free kick. He pounced on a loose ball and took off with it and they had to pull him down to stop him.

He got tired in the second half and it showed - plus with all the subs, it was really disjointed and not a good half. but it seems Klinsi is trying to get landon match fit asap.
MoMONEY

EDIT- watched the video... I actually think he looked a bit nervous out there... To be expected I know but he will have to do better
MoMONEY

Thats Ribery's spot... Doubt Donovan ends up there... I hope he does well as critical as I am of him and MLS...
Laurie

Excellent, Glen. The Donovan assist is at about the 2:15 mark, but if you watch the whole thing you do get the sense that he's fitting in well.

Even though it would hurt the Galaxy, I'd really like to see this work for Landon.
glen

here's some video of the game

http://www.footytube.com/2009/...