2008 LA Galaxy

Discussion in 'General Football & Other Sport' started by Fitz, Mar 4, 2008.

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  1. Sir Faxalot

    Sir Faxalot Reservist

    Seeing that the Galaxy are doing as well as Watford, it seems she was a worthwhile reason to come in here instead:]]:]]
     
  2. Fitz

    Fitz Squad Player

    Saturday the Galaxy hosted the MLS Champions Houston Dynamo.

    Match Report:
    ----------------------------------------------------------
    Galaxy 2 - 2 Houston Dynamo
    Scoring:
    HOU -- Brad Davis 1 (Franco Caraccio 1, Brian Mullan 1) 36'
    LA -- Landon Donovan 4 (David Beckham 2) 67'
    HOU -- Franco Caraccio 2 (unassisted) 79'
    LA -- Landon Donovan 5 (David Beckham 3, Chris Klein 2) 84'
    Discipline:
    LA -- Mike Randolph (caution; Pushing, Holding) 25'
    LA -- Greg Vanney (caution; Reckless Foul) 57'
    HOU -- Franco Caraccio (caution; Game Disrepute) 78'
    HOU -- Ricardo Clark (caution; Pushing, Holding) 92'
    -----------------------------------------------------------
    Youtube highlights of the Galaxy/Dynamo game

    It was a tale of two games. The first half the Dynamo stretched and pulled the G's defense like taffy.
    (Do you have taffy in England? This is what a taffy puller looks like:[​IMG])
    Anyway, the Dynamo burned the crappy Galaxy defenders repeatedly in the first 30 minutes, with the goal finally going in with little interference from the Galaxy. (See 1:07 on the clip.) We were really quite lucky not to be down 3-nil at the half.

    For the first time though in his tenure here, Ruud Gullitt demonstrated actual football management talent by changing up the approach and tweaking the lineup at the break. After following the Galaxy and Watford for a couple years now, I can tell you that was very refreshing, though it took me a while to realize what had happened.

    Ruud-boy brought on Abel Xavier and new (apparently not drunk) Joey Franchino for Josh Tudela and Alan Gordon. Tudela had been having a fair game in the midfield, and Gordon was servicable playing out of position in the midfield (instead of his usual forward spot, a harbinger of the 'total football' 4-3-3?).

    Franchino was great! He played hard, and I was reminded that his nickname was 'Nails', cause he's hard. He's short and broad, and cleaned up a bunch of messes Xavier should have handled, and seemed to team well with Greg Vanney, who up to this point has been shockingly bad and responsible for 3 of the 8 goals scored against. Frappachino played a kind of sweeper in front of the 3 defenders, and I am looking forward to seeing more of him...what a difference a game makes!

    About X, he was underwhelming. He's had a rough year, and I'm tempted to conclude his lost steps may be too much for him to be an MLS player. I hope I'm wrong, because we need veteran responsible X not crazy red-card trip-py fall-y X.

    The second goal the Dynamo scored (See 2:00 on the clip) was a muscling of the G's again, this time the shot didn't go in, but the rebound was quickly fielded and netted.

    Oh, but the Galaxy goals...what a JOY to see. Both were beautiful, the kind of goals you MIGHT see once every 10 or even 20 games, but we got two in one game.

    Both were Beckham passes to Landon Donovan who put them in with an angry fire that makes me very happy to see. When Donovan is comfy, he is absent. When he is angered, he is an assassin. After the first goal (See 1:40 on the clip.), he stood over the defender as he lay on the ground after the goal and yelled in his face...see, he had knocked him over minutes before and the ref (OH THE REF!!!! I forgot how terrible he was...more on that later) failed to take any action.

    The G's 2nd goal came (See 2:30 on the clip) had Beckham leading Donovan into the box to receive a little pass that arrived just where he could knock it in...they should all be that easy, shouldn't they?

    5 minutes later in the 89', the G's were denied a goal.
    [​IMG]
    The ball crossed the plane of the goal, but a Houston defender inside the goal knocked it out and for some reason the linesman had his thumb up his arse and failed to flag it in. We had a great view of it live and the tv coverage kept running it back & forth...clearly in. What a frustrating boner. Another egregious blown call had a ball being called out of bounds, though it was really not even partially over the line. That was friggin weird.

    As always, I'm more hoarse from cursing the refs than anything else. Man I hate officials!
     
    Last edited: Apr 29, 2008
  3. luke_golden

    luke_golden Space Cadet

    Cheers for the highlights link Fitzy. Some really good goals for the G's.

    I love the commentator questioning Becks free-kick technique, absolute class, it's not like he's renowned for being one of the finest deal ball kickers in the world.
     
  4. Tenhourslater™

    Tenhourslater™ The Late mod

    Just got lucky a couple of times ;) I bet he wished he was getting Lucky with those cheerleaders that he's been seen eyeing up from behind during the basketball
     
  5. Fitz

    Fitz Squad Player

    These frankly quite provincial announcers think they are better than Becks because he was injured last season and disappointed them by not playing much.

    I hate announcers, but not as much as I hate refs.

    TOMORROW is the big one:
    Galaxy vs Chivas USA

    There will be blood (not kidding)
     
  6. Fitz

    Fitz Squad Player

    One of my buddies who lives in England is a frontline Riot Squad member and likes to play around with video cameras.

    He did a Preview for today's 'Superclasico' between the Galaxy and Chovas USA.
    Go to this site, Paynesintheass.com then select the Subbuteo player that says 'Videos' when you scroll over it. It's the first one, though he has nearly a dozen Galaxy & Riot Squad related flicks.

    His videos are well made and have certain corny roll your eyes type of humor, and are pretty creative for just some schoolteacher and his wife doing them.

    His wife is wearing my club team jersey in the video, look for 'FC LOT 13'!.
     
  7. Y&P

    Y&P Squad Player

    Fitzy, I love you and all, but I've just been reading your thread on the LARS forum and found this:

    Jay played the whole game, not sure if he was the guy who blew the coverage, but the shot was from the center and he's CB...

    This is disgustingly American. Please get it together.
     
  8. Fitz

    Fitz Squad Player

    Where did I go wrong?
     
  9. Y&P

    Y&P Squad Player

    'Blew the coverage'?

    This is our sport and you shall describe it in the queen's english.
     
  10. Fitz

    Fitz Squad Player

    He did blow it.
     
  11. Fitz

    Fitz Squad Player

    Another Preview:
    City pride rests on Chivas-Galaxy match

    I'm off to the brewpub for some pre-match pints...
     
  12. Fitz

    Fitz Squad Player

    It's been a long long long time since I've had so much fun at a game.

    The ONLY thing that could have made it better would be if the score ended 6-0.

    As it was, the game ended 5-2 for the Galaxy.

    1 & 2/3 hat tricks is pretty good for a days work. Then imagine if that had been against Luton, and then imagine if Luton shared the stadium with you.

    Well, that's what it was like tonight. This is the first time since August 27, 2006 (my 40th birthday when I had about 50 people over to my house for a keg of beer and a a DC United game) that a Galaxy game ended with a 5-2 victory.

    It's so SWEET! You should have seen the looks on the Chivas' fan's faces when we got the game winner, then another, then another again. Almost makes me forget what's happening at my other favorite team.

    Pictures forthcoming.
     
  13. luke_golden

    luke_golden Space Cadet

    Cracking result. I'm eagerly awaiting the highlights link and the pictures you mentioned.

    If Donovan continues banging in the goals, is there any chance he might take his chance in Europe again?
     
  14. Fitz

    Fitz Squad Player

    Good thing I'm typing because my vocal cords are in shreds this morning.
    On the plus side: no hangover.

    There is a lot of talk about Donovan and his future plans. Many here believe an America player isn't among the world's best unless they play successfully in Europe, like Brian McBride (who is revered among US soccer fans), Kasey Keller and a few others. These people really want him to go to Europe and succeed.

    Donovan seems to have other plans and is more about being personally happy than professionally notable. He was very unhappy in Germany (both times). He is married now to a TV star who works in Hollywood. That tells me He's not going anywhere until she doesn't workin Holywood anymore. Her show is pretty successful so that won't be for a while.

    He truly seems to want to be a great American player but stay at home...this is a new road to go on for a US player. He's good enough to make it a success though.

    To confuse things, he mentioned in an interview that he still had some desire to go to England maybe...probably after he saw his USMNT teammate Clint Dempsey do well for Fulham. He's knows he's better than Deuce, so...
     
  15. Fitz

    Fitz Squad Player

    Immediately after the players left the field, the Riot Squad was ushered out to the parking lot by security to avoid the problems we had with Chivas fans last year, so much of the celebrating went on in the parking lot. This video captures a lot of it. I am in it, but then again nearly all the Riot Squad is in it.

    LA 5 - Chivas 2: What the fsck are you gonna do?


    How's your espanish? Here is the first highlight reel available on Youtube:
    GOOOOOOOOOOOL de SUUUUPEERRRRR LANGDONGGG DONGOVANGGGG!!!!

    EDIT:
    Check here for English language highlights from MLS' homepage. Find "CHV @ LA", under the Highlights column and click watch.

    Raging Fire Ignites Donovan's Scoring Tear
     
    Last edited: Apr 27, 2008
  16. Y&P

    Y&P Squad Player

    Short, sweet, spontaneous and *****. All the right ingredients for a perfect soccer chant.

    I also like how the L...A descends into drunken grumbling


    Landon does seem to have a finish on him though. Worth a punt?
     
  17. Fitz

    Fitz Squad Player

    That's us...


    PS Landon has a team in his hometown with one of the marquee players in the world. It would have to be a pretty huge punt.

    More post game moshing.

    Here's the only picture I took last night. I was too busy ruining my voice box with song and drink.
    [​IMG]

    Donovan earned his yellow card this way:
    http://d.yimg.com/a/p/sp/*****/ec/fullj.44fe603fab0795f3360cc37c58d4b8af/44fe603fab0795f3360cc37c58d4b8af-*****-80188810vd012_cd_chivas_usa.jpg
     
  18. Fitz

    Fitz Squad Player

    The Riot Squad has about half white, half hispanic, a handful of african American, and a handful of asian Americans. We are about 15% female. We have hippy dope smokers, tattooed punk rockers, preppy white dudes, skin heads, Central American immigrants, Mexican-Americans goths, a couple Arabs, a couple Brits, plumbers and laborers, PhD candidates, computer techies, hollywood industry types, high school students, a minister...

    Of all the 3+millions that live in LA:
    It pretty well closely matches up with our #s.

    When Chivas' Sacha Kljestan scored the second Chivas goal, he came over to Section 138 where LARS resides and gestured to us with an "I can't hear you" motion. Jackass.

    When Donovan scored his 3rd, this is what he did right in front of the chivas bench sparking a bit of a controversy:
    [​IMG]
    Chivas coach Preki was very upset by Donovan's celebration, here's donovan on the incident afterwards:
     
    Last edited: Apr 27, 2008
  19. Fitz

    Fitz Squad Player

    Obligatory scoreboard shot:
    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Apr 28, 2008
  20. Fitz

    Fitz Squad Player

  21. Fitz

    Fitz Squad Player

    [​IMG]
    Name/Team-------------gp---g
    Landon Donovan/LA------5---8
    Alejandro Moreno/CLB---5---4
    Kenny Cooper/DAL-------5---4
    Jaime Moreno/DC--------4---3
    Sacha Kljestan/CHV------4---3
    Alan Gordon/LA-----------5---2
     
  22. krisvad

    krisvad Forum Viking

    Firstly - Fitz, congrats on that result. Always great to beat the arch rivals by a decent margin. And especially as it seems close until 70 minutes or so.

    Having seen the highlights - I'm sorry Fitz but most of those goals wouldn't have come close to the goal in a proper league. I think only donovan's goal to make it 4 for LAG is without error from Chivas defense.

    The first one is a good shot but poor defending on the rebound from the freekick. The header makes me think Chivas' goalie was a rookie outfielder put in goal. The fifth - well, a poor shot becomes a pass that should have been intercepted but wasn't.Mind you - as a Watford fan I'd take any goal right now.

    I understand the significance of the win to LAG fans. And I don't mean to belittle LAG or the MLS - but there's some ways to go before the league is good enough to supply the US national side with top class players. But if more players like Donovan decide to stay in the US - improvements will come along the way.
     
  23. Fitz

    Fitz Squad Player

    Tell me something I don't know. Everyone's gotta start somewhere, and this league started in 1996. Have you had a look at the post on typical salaries in the MLS? If you haven't, please do so.
     
  24. Evasive

    Evasive Requiescat in pace

    I thought that the Chivas 'keeper looked particularly erm 'talented'. ;D
     
  25. Y&P

    Y&P Squad Player

    Don't talk that way about Guzan. From online videos it would seem that LARS don't tae kindly to him.
     
  26. Fitz

    Fitz Squad Player

    Brad Guzan is a great player, and the future of the USMNT goal-keepery, and as a Goat, I will hate the hell out of him as long as he plays for them, unless he's in a USA kit.

    LARS vs Brad Guzan (HINT: LARS WINS)
     
  27. Fitz

    Fitz Squad Player

    My buddy Caasi writes a great preview each week. Here's this week's write-up of the Real Salt Lake away game.
     
  28. krisvad

    krisvad Forum Viking

    I have seen the salary post. The salaries are similar to those of the Danish Super League (maye even a little lower). Only that we don't have a Becks to double the average wage of the league single handedly.

    And you're right - it's got to start somewhere. And the MLS seems to be doing okay in a very very tough market place.
     
  29. Y&P

    Y&P Squad Player

    Why have we not yet been treated to news of Becks's brace, Fitz?
     
  30. Fitz

    Fitz Squad Player

    I wanted to follow Watford today! Now I have some time for this:

    Real Salt Lake 2 - 2 L. A. Galaxy
    Scoring:
    RSL -- Fabian Espindola 2 (Javier Morales 3) 6
    RSL -- Kenny Deuchar 2 (Javier Morales 4) 18
    LA -- David Beckham 2 (Landon Donovan 3, Alan Gordon 3) 36
    LA -- David Beckham 3 (unassisted) 40
    Discipline:
    LA -- Brandon McDonald (caution; Reckless Foul) 66
    LA -- Alan Gordon (caution; Professional Foul) 89
    RSL -- Jamison Olave (caution; Professional Foul) 89


    Here is a link to highights on Youtube.

    Mind the American Football lines on the pitch of Rice-Eccles stadium there on the campus of the University of Utah in the clip. It's very very distracting, and no being American does not help. Worse still, the pitch is an old variety of field turf, very practical when it comes to arid desert conditions since it's low on water consumption, but it doesn't take a genius to know it sucks to play on it. Abel Xavier refuses to play on turf and I don't blame him. The pitch is crap, and it wasn't supposed to be that way...plans for a Soccer-Specific-Stadium, a current league requirement, fell through twice before finally geting a green light, so many MLS games are stuck in these poor pitches.


    Background: RSL is one of the notoriously crappy teams in the MLS. Or so the stereotype goes. The truth is they usually handle the Galaxy, especially at home in Utah. It's true, the get punched out regularly, but late last season, they whacked their coach and MLS mega scorer Jason Kreiss was promoted from veteran striker to manager, and the turnaround was on...he brought in a couple foreign signees including Fabian Espindola, and later Kenny "The Dr." Deuchar. Most LARS folks picked the Galaxy to win 2-0...FOOLS! Don't they pay attention? I do...they pounded DC United away 3-1 already. Combined with the Galaxy's horrible defense, overconfidence from the tremendous derby win last week, and the crappy pitch, it seemed the perfect time for a loss. I was praying that Gullit would see it as do and take measures to prevent it from happening.

    Me and a few dozen other folks drove up to LA to the LA Soccer Club, the oldest soccer club in LA, run by some old German-born former US national team and olympic team members. Great German brews like Warsteiner and Erdinger on tap, but I digress.
    [​IMG]


    So the Galaxy get caught with their thumbs up their asses in the first 20 minutes, and get punished with two rather quick goals, and I'm thinking "I guess me and Ruud are not on the same page".

    Low and behold, David Beckham steps up to take charge. All season long he's been the consummate playmaker giving his chance to the other players who more often than not fumbled them, excluding MLS' leading goalscorer Landon Donovan. Not this week...in his first goal, you can tell he's got the shot, and he second guesses it for a short time probably feeling the lads might take the **** out of him for being so selfish, then I suppose he resolved that dilemma and hammers it home. I've been praying he'd do that more to draw more attention to himself as a scoring threat.

    Being down 2-0 already, when that first goal went in, the somber room erupted. The 50+ year old Germans even stood up and sloshed their beers! As MLS quality improves, and our excitement grows, the enthusiasm is rubbing off...

    Minutes later, the free kick goes in as scripted, and it's 2-2. You really start to expect each touch to be golden with the guy...

    The second half was a better played part of the game, though there was no score. There were a few notable incidents however. A goal for RSL is called offsides DUBIOUSLY. Later, Beckham is taken down in the box, but no PK was awarded. Again, dubious. Several chances were blown by the Galaxy, but HEY at least we got some chances.

    By the end, I was happy we could get away with a point, uninjured (though Edson Buddle was taken out with a minor injury early), and go back home to meet Red Bull New York next weekend.

    In what seems like yet another Simon Fuller orchestrated event, the city of LA has named next week Brit Week so there will be some apparently well known British bands playing before the game next week, since they are already in the area for the Coachella festival. Also, there will be another of the limited edition Galaxy t-shirts given away.
    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: May 5, 2008
  31. Fitz

    Fitz Squad Player

    Isaac's excellent preview of the May 10 match vs Red Bull

    Isaac's excellent preview:
     
  32. albangura9

    albangura9 Squad Player

    Hadn't bothered to read through all this thread until now, is interesting how football is developing abroad. Thanks for the updates.

    [​IMG]
     
  33. Y&P

    Y&P Squad Player

    What the ****ing hell is that!
     
  34. albangura9

    albangura9 Squad Player

    Cozmo, their mascot, apparently.

    [​IMG]
     
  35. Fitz

    Fitz Squad Player

    Cozmo is a space frog...long story. The man inside him is a pretty cool guy.
     
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