2008 LA Galaxy

Full game highlights here...

 

Had a brilliant time - Thank you!!!! Will attempt to write a blog, although I'lll try not to make it all about me me me this time!

Owe you a beer!

 

I say as the current season is over, we replace the league on the front page with that of MLS so i don't have to look elsewhere...
Cheers for the updates and the links

 

Fitzy, have you seen his 50 yard goal for Man Utd vs Wimbledon when he first burst onto the scene ? It was better than the one he's just scored.

 

Yes, I have...and it was a good goal, but see, Man U sucks.
Therefore, it isn't anywhere near as good as Beckham's 65 yarder playing for my team.

 

I've been on somewhat of an MLS info finding spree earlier, the wikipedia page is an interesting read and it seems the game has developed a hell of a lot over the past 4 or 5 years and it seems "soccer" is constantly on the rise over there. It's facinating stuff i must say and the Superliga competition is a good idea, i'm sure the whole Mexico vs USA shizzle will come to the fore.

Am i right in saying that the US Open Cup is effectively your version of our FA Cup ?

Galaxy's start to the season is impressive, it seems Ruud has done a very good job there and travelling across the States must be very enjoyable right now.

I've had a nose at the LARS forum and it seems like a top group and the way you have your own section is something we could learn from your game!

Go Galaxy :]]

 

From the Galaxy blog:
Notes:
· With the win, the Galaxy’s record stands at 4-3-2 on the season, giving them 14 points and leaving in first place in the Western Conference standings. Fitz's NOTE: We are 4th place if both conferences were merged into a single table.

· The last time that the Galaxy were in first place was on May 8, 2005 when they had a 4-1-0 record. Fitz's NOTE: Our coach Sigi Schmidt was promptly fired, and the disastrous Steve Sampson was hired with devastating results.

· The Galaxy are now above .500 for the first time since October 1, 2005.

· The Galaxy came from behind to win 3-1; it was their first come-from behind win in MLS play since October 7, 2007. On that day, Carlos Pavon and Gavin Glinton scored to erase a 1-0 deficit as the Galaxy defeated Houston 2-1 at Robertson Stadium.

· Chris Klein made the 94th consecutive start of his MLS career, surpassing Kevin Hartman for the most consecutive starts in MLS history. The last time that Klein did not start an MLS game for his club was on June 4, 2005 when he missed a game through injury as a member of the Kansas City Wizards. Hartman had originally set the record as a member of the Galaxy when he started 93 consecutive games from August 21, 2002 until September 10, 2005.

· Galaxy forward Landon Donovan scored his MLS best ninth goal of the season. He also added his MLS best sixth assist in the game, meaning the he is alone in the league lead in both categories.

· Edson Buddle scored his fourth goal of the season in the 74th minute. It was his second game-winning goal in as many games. The last time that a Galaxy player scored the game-winner in back-to-back games was on August 20 and August 26, 2006.

· Ely Allen made his first appearance in more than a month, replacing Joe Franchino in the 41st minute. Allen had been sidelined with a hamstring injury.

· Carlos Ruiz returned to the lineup as a second half substitute, replacing Landon Donovan in the 84th minute. It was Ruiz’s first appearance since being injured in stoppage time of the season opening defeat to Colorado on March 29.

· The Galaxy have not lost to the Wizards in MLS regular season play since October 16, 2004. LA is now 4-0-2 in that time, including 3-0-1 at The Home Depot Center.

· The attendance for tonight’s game was 24,176.

 

The League has some odd and arcane rules and policies. If you dig deep, you'll have lots of questions and I'll try to get answers for you.

Yes, the US Open Cup is very much like the FA Cup.
· The Galaxy are back in action on Tuesday, May 27 when they host the Colorado Rapids at The Home Depot Center in a U.S. Open Cup Play-In Game. The match will kick off at 7:30 p.m. while fans can also listen live in English at www.lagalaxy.com.

LARS is good fun.

The Superliga final was easily the best game of our season last year. It gave me hope for this year, and that has been borne out in reality, thank the merciful gods.

It's all Ruud, really. He has quite a mind for tactics, I'm happy to say.

 

I love how even the derby match with Chivas has it's own sponsor. Thats brilliant. Bogsider would have a nervous breakdown.

As Chewitt says, the Wiki page is good reading for anybody wanting to find out a bit more about the Galaxy.

It's becoming a close tie between Motherwell and L.A. as to who is my 'second' team.

The MLS should hire Fitz to promote the league around the world, or at the very least L.A. should sign him up as a global ambassador.

 

:]]

I assume that the game vs Colarado is 7.30pm their time which would make it 1.30am i think over here, i may well tune in.

 

their time as in Colorado/Mountain time = no
their time as in Pacific time = yes.

Sadly, I will not be at the match myself. I promised the wifey I'd take her to the Hollywood Bowl to see The Police. Trouble & Strife, indeed.

Here is Isaac's preview:

 

in 'merica, first you get the money, then you get the beckham.

i could be a drug kingpin soccer fan easily

 

Not a great shot, but you get the idea...

 

OK, the Galaxy will now have the rest of the season to focus on winning the league and those lucrative friendlies.

In an apparently boring and uninspired game, the Rapids beat the G's 1-0.

I didn't see it as I was taking in Elvis Costello and The Police, just like I would have in 1983. I am positive I had a better time than the rest of LARS.

Beckham and Donovan were out of town for some stupid crappy meaningless friendlies.

So long to the US Open Cup for another year...

 

Is it common knowledge amongst the people of Britain that Canadians insult one another by calling people 'hoser'? Or that they finish every sentence with "...,eh."? Or that they have their own sort of bacon but it isn't in strips...it's ROUND! Or that they wear funny hats called toques?

They are SO WEIRD!

Our boys will find out first hand about all these things as they go up to Toronto to face Canada's first MLS team Toronto FC This Saturday 5/31. The good news for you in England is that the game is 12:30pm Pacific, which should put it at primetime your time, so if you are a big loser with no money and no friends and no date for Saturday night, why not catch the game on http://channelsurfing.net/? You know you are dying for some footy.

Here is another edition of Isaac's preview:

The Galaxy are on 14 points after 9 games with 4 wins, 3 losses, and 2 draws on the season.

 

Gee...I wonder what would happen if the two best players for the Galaxy left for a while and then the team went on a road trip? Will they make it through successfully with a gutty road win or just disappear into the ether?

This photoset illustrates the result rather well, I'd say.


In the MLS and in particular with the Galaxy, the Salary Cap is the thing...
All the MLS teams get $2,200,000 to spend in salary for the year. Teams can get exceptions under the designated player rule to spend more on an individual but have only $400,000 go against the salary cap for the team.

Beckham gets paid $5.5 million, and Donovan $900,000. but only $4000,000 each go against the cap, so the two players alone comprise 40% of the entire team's payroll. When you take that much of the payroll away, what do you think will happen?

The next highest payroll guy, Carlos Ruiz, counts for $325,000 and played only 30 minutes when the game was sealed as he is coming off of injury. Another $125,000 is tied up in longtime Galaxy midfielder Peter Vagenas who has not impressed Ruud Gullitt with his propensity to pass the ball back rather than forward, and therefore is a bench rider.
Here is the lineup with their salary:
* 1 - Steve Cronin (GK) ($75,000)
* 2 - Mike Randolph 67 out ($33,000)
* 3 - Greg Vanney ($91,800)
* 7 - Chris Klein ($150,000)
* 12 - Troy Roberts ($33,000)
* 14 - Edson Buddle ($147,000)
* 15 - Alvaro Pires ($100,000)
* 16 - Joe Franchino ($50,000)
* 21 - Alan Gordon ($72,500)
* 28 - Sean Franklin ($36,000)
* 32 - Brandon McDonald ($12,900)
Salary Cap Total:---------($801,200)
Substitutes
* 20 - Carlos Ruiz 67 in ($325,000)

So the entire field of starting players for the Galaxy totaled Beckham's and Donovan's salary. Other teams have a much more balanced payroll, with the most commone starting player's salary being less than $100k, but more than $50k. It makes it very tough to win when the big two+1 are gone.

Result was a 2-0 loss to Toronto on the road, and it really wasn't even close. The Galaxy couldn't seem to trap and touch the ball on Toronto's artificial turf and the Galaxy defenders had no ability to go forward to bolster the anemic attack. The Galaxy midfield had no chance against TFC's very average middies, and that sealed the game right there.

Anyway, next week is against Colorado, who we lost to 4-0 on the disastrous season opener, which saw Ruiz maliciously hurt, and again 1-0 in the US Open Cup last week. Donovan will still be out with the USMNT, Ruiz may be back and I think Beckham will be back.

 

Time for some payback next week then!

 

I was really disappointed with the U.S. in the friendly the other night, plenty of willingness to work hard but completely lacking in inspiration. It's not hard to see why the best players seem to end up at Fulham.

Was disappointed not to see Donovan though, perhaps he'd have been the one capable of producing something from nothing.

You need to hope the Beckham-effect kicks into overdrive because otherwise it's going to be a long time before the U.S and A challenge for major honours.

Out of interest, what is the standard of coaching for football like in schools etc? Are there proper football coaches or just sports coaches in general?

 

The friendly was disappointing. Donovan would have helped. Those that played were irrelevant to what we are going to be doing in 2010, so it made me wonder why the hell they were played? The players were probably asking the same.

Anyway, it was nowhere near the best lineup we could put out.

The question you ask about coaching is a very good one.

Developmental soccer here in the US is in a shocking state, despite being far far better than when I was coming up. I never had coaching by ANYONE who understood the game, or even had ever played it in any capacity be that organized, rec league, high school, even AYSO...zero at all. They were well meaning fathers just trying to help out, so I have no ill will towards them.

US Soccer Foundation is today quite literally a bunch of these same amateur dad's, well meaning, but amateur. The tale of Juergen Klinsman nearly becoming the USMNT coach is telling. The amateur's in the federation were unwilling to accept (I read that as unable to understand his need for) complete control over not just the team in the field of play, but the youth development regime, and even 100% control of who is selected to play for the Senior team. Apparently, the coach chooses all but 2 or 3 spots, and USSF board selects the remainder. WTF is that? Klinsman told them, if you choose me, that goes away and I select the players I want or NO DEAL. Well, there was no deal.

So look what we got? The capable assistant running the show, playing his son. It must make the USSF proud that they have a guy who can start his own son at each game...like a dream come true for them.

What is needed is a total 'professionalization' of the USSF, which is exactly what Klinsi wanted. We missed the ****ing boat when Klinsman got away. It's very depressing. Getting to the coaching and ODP (Olympic Development Program) level, it is similar all the way up and down the line. Well meaning parents and coaches who are more interested in making a team profit than in developing the right kids for 'the program' are a recipe for disaster.

Nearly every parent I've spoken to in Club soccer complains about paying large amounts of money for their kid to be on the club, while a poor kid from 'the other side of the tracks' who has talent but no money gets a 'free ride'. The parents know that his free ride is their increased team fees.

So you have relatively rich kids who are mostly white and their parents as the bulk of the club soccer world, while tons and tons of kids (relatively poor and typically not white) who are great athletes with great soccer skills are left out or grudgingly allowed to play fee free.

Mind you, the club soccer way is not how baseball, football, and basketball players are developed. Those sports' athletes are developed through school sports programs. Good Jr. High School players are recruited into good High School programs. Good High School players are recruited into colleges and given free tuition to attend. The college sports world is full of tv contracts and money, and the programs are profit generators for their schools. The games are well covered with pro-scouts and the best players get good exposure and end up being drafted into the pros at great financial benefit to themselves and indirectly to the schools they came from.

This doesn't happen with soccer. Until recently there was no pro league for American kids to aspire to play in. If you had a hope of playing professionally, you were thinking of going overseas, so you had to be as good or better than those who had the benefit of European development of soccer skills, and that just wasn't likely...so even if you enjoyed playing soccer the most, if you were a good athlete, you would often choose to pursue baseball, basketball or football because there was a future in it, and NONE for soccer.

As the MLS takes root and looks like it will be here to stay, the teams are starting to develop their own professional academies that are competing directly with club soccer, and that is a VERY good thing. It is still too new to have any real effect though, but I am hopeful.

We have a long way to go here, and a professional soccer foundation would certainly be of help. But we just aren't there yet. Any success we have comes in spite of all this, and we are still underdogs in every game we play in. The only advantage we have is that our nation is so huge in number, and for that reason alone, there is lots of room for optimism.

 

Cracking reply Fitzy. I was quite shocked by the poor standard to be honest, i was expecting a lot more from your boys.

The coaches son, as i'm sure you know, has been linked heavily with a move over here, but he wasn't very impressive at all.

You could be waiting a long time for the grassroots stuff to get sorted out, we invented the game and we're far from having a decent level of coaching for young kids. Like over there, it's often just well meaning parents although i suppose the advantage they have over your lot is at least they played the game themselves. I'd always just assumed that there would be the same system for footballers as there is for basketballers etc where they go through the school system, receiving quality coaching etc.

I guess the minority who have made it though, at least you know they are there for the love of the game, rather than the cash.

 

Exactly, and so being a soccer fan and player in the US is a very different animal than being a football or baseball player/supporter. Rare and done for the love of the game.

 

I guess that begs the question. What would you prefer? A league of players chasing the gravy train and only looking to make dollars, the upside being an improved youth system and perhaps success on a national level? Or, carry on with the league as it is, players playing for the love of the game, a competitive league that with sensible planning any team can win along with a national side that is merely average?

Or is there a happy medium and is it a possibility in America or merely some utopian dream?

 

MLS is ten, well 12, years old now. We are in our infancy as a soccer nation. Since just before the start of MLS, we've gone from a football backwater where you could pretty much assure 3 points in any game, to a team that no one takes for granted anymore. That isn't success, but it is a start. We can perform and perform well. We don't have a full team of stars yet, like nearly every european team can claim, but it is in the works. As the generation of kids growing up since 1996 watching MLS gets near adulthood, you'll start to see more kids seriously pursue soccer rather than give it up or go to another sport. The Pro-League is the engine that will train these kids, which is why Beckham is such a huge deal to US Soccer, and not just the Galaxy. His success here is major contribution to World Cup 2018 and 2022. Every year I see more distance from the amateur national team of the 80's to the team that takes on Lampard, Terry, Beckham, Rooney & Gerrard and only lose 2-0 despite having a terrible game. That was a 6-0 result in 1984 (or 0-1 in 1950! I love you Joe Gaetjens!).

 

Do us a favour and wait 'til 2022 to make that WC bid. Things could get bloody otherwise

 

Isaac's Preview:
Week 11 : Galaxy vs. Colorado at home in the Home Depot Center

 

Oh yeah, London! You all better get your **** together before then. Never has the opportunity been better than that for adding that second star to your kits. Anyway, US plays terribly in World Cups held in Europe.

 

OK, the game apparently happened even without me in attendance. Who knew? The Wine country was great. Even better, the Galaxy scored 3 goals and held off a furious rally of 2 goals and the game ended 10 v 10 at 3-2. I didn't see it, so this is all hearsay.

QUESTION: Which one is the Smurf?

or

ANSWER: Both are. The Earthquakes are derisively snickered at for their color scheme and nicknamed the Smurfs...I think it is stupid, so I never say it.

 

Jovan Kirovski is ex-Man Utd if i remember correctly?

 

Very good win against the Rapids on Saturday, i managed to catch the 1st half audio on the web inc. the dust up on the stroke of half time :]]

Can't imagine Ruud is too happy with Gordan now being suspended, especially with Donovan unavailable.

 

I think so. He spent some time in Europe...

He's the left midfielder we had the most success with, and he hasn't been replaced adequately since being traded 4 or so years ago.

 

God I am LOVING Holland in the Euro...it gives me flashes of what Gullitt is trying to do with the Galaxy.

I never really cared about any European National team, but the Netherlands have won me over this year.

 

It surely is a masterclass. The fact that I have both Sneijder and Kuyt in my FF team helps.

 

Thank god England isn't there to stink up the competition...
[ducking!]

 

No need to duck, that's pretty much my opinion!

 

RESULT:
Galaxy 3 - 0 Earthquakes
Edson Buddle with his second hat trick of the year. The Galaxy now have the #1 and #2 in the golden boot race in Buddle and Donovan, as well #1 and #2 in the assist chart in Bex and Donovan.

Our support totally dominated the home supporters in the huge Oakland Coliseum. It was quite satisfying.