4 Reasons Why the Galaxy Rule Los Angeles
April. 9th, 2010
The L.A. Galaxy extended its unbeaten streak in its "SuperClasico" rivalry with Chivas USA to nine games with Thursday's 2-0 victory at the Home Depot Center. The tally is five wins and four draws since the Goats last beat their cross-stadium rival in September 2007.
Why does the Galaxy rule L.A.?
1. Landon Donovan: America's top player is at his best in big games, and there are no bigger games in Major League Soccer -- playoffs excepted, of course -- than Galaxy-Chivas encounters.
Donovan accomplished little in last week's win over New England; sure, he assisted Edson Buddle's goal, but he wasn't involved nearly as much as he needs to be. L.A. coach Bruce Arena left a note in his locker: "Zero fouls suffered, zero fouls committed, zero shots." Said Donovan on Wednesday: "For me, that's not good enough. So I will certainly take that to heart and change that this game."
Presto! Donovan was all over the field Thursday, making defensive plays, connecting teammates, drifting deep for the ball and playing vital roles in both goals. On the first, he fed Sean Franklin for the cross to Edson Buddle; on the second, he took Mike Magee's pass on the run, beat Michael Umana as if it were nothing, then squared the ball for Buddle to finish first time.
2. Wins the physical battles: Chivas USA had one of the strongest, most physical midfields last year, with Jesse Marsch and the woefully underrated Paulo Nagamura. Both departed during the offseason -- Marsch to become an assistant coach on the U.S. national team, Nagamura to join Mexico's UANL Tigres -- and Goats coach Martin Vasquez doesn't think it's important to replace the bite his team has lost in the middle.
Marcelo Saragosa isn't physical enough, and rookie Blair Gavin, who teamed with Saragosa on Thursday, is a classy midfielder, not (yet) a battler. Vasquez says he wants to play flowing soccer, and that it's more important for Chivas to play through midfield than it is to fight. And so Dema Kovalenko, one of MLS's most brutal tacklers, and Chris Birchall cleaned up Thursday.
Chivas had more possession than the Galaxy, but it did little with it, and possession alone doesn't win games. Winning the midfield war does.
3. Defense wins games: The Galaxy's young backline has been superb. Omar Gonzalez, last year's MLS Rookie of the Year, looks like a seasoned vet at 21. Brazilian newcomer Leonardo, just 22, has been nearly as good next to him -- and they're still learning how to communicate with each other. Franklin, 25, the 2008 Rookie of the Year, is playing the best soccer of his career. The only true veteran is Todd Dunivant, 29, at left back.
With Kovalenko causing havoc in front of them and Jamaican goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts handling whatever gets past them, the Galaxy has surrendered only three decent chances in the first games. Ricketts has faced only three shots on target.
4. Buddle at his best: Edson Buddle quietly has scored 77 goals in a nine-plus-season MLS career. He has gone to double digits three times, with 15 two years ago for a hapless Galaxy side. He has never played better than he is right now. L.A. had only two shots on goal Thursday, both of them exquisite finishes by the 28-year-old striker. His goal last week was just as good.
Buddle is named after a pretty good goalscorer, one Edson Arantes do Nascimento. Better known as Pele.
Galaxy salvages draw with Fire off Gonzalez header (AP) Omar Gonzalez made up for his gaffe in a big way. With Chicago Fire fans still celebrating their go-ahead goal -- set up by Gonzalez's foul -- Gonzalez headed in a corner from Landon Donovan in the 90th minute Saturday to salvage a 1-1 tie for the Los Angeles Galaxy. "Most teams in the league would have lost that game," said Donovan, who blew two chances to score in the first half. MLS Injury Report - Saturday, September 4 (PA SportsTicker) EASTERN CONFERENCE Wizards beat Galaxy 2-0 for 2 straight (AP) Davy Arnaud and Jimmy Conrad scored to give the Kansas City Wizards a 2-0 victory over the Los Angeles Galaxy on Saturday night. Goalkeeper Jimmy Neilsen made three saves for his eighth shutout as the Wizards (7-9-5) earned their first road victory against Los Angeles since 2004 and won consecutive games for the first time since the season's first two games.
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The Galaxy opened their stadium, the Home Depot Center on June 7. But in order for their home to be ready, the team had to play a record 8 games to start the season and failed to win a game. In fact, the Galaxy finish the season without a win away from home the whole season. After the season's final game, the Galaxy had the final playoff spot in the West. In their aggregate series with the Earthquakes, they seemed well on to vindication for the MLS Cup loss 2 years earlier as they held 4 goals to 0 lead midway through the 2 nd game. A thing happened as the Earthquakes scored four unanswered goals to force a tiebreaker. In that session, the Earthquakes' Rodrigo Farina score to send the Quakes onto the next round.
In 2004 Looking to return to the top, the Galaxy would go through a mediocre 1 st half of the season before 3 straight wins over the summer. But from July 14 on, the Galaxy won only 2 more games, one in September and one in October. The Galaxy had a record of 11-9-10, good enough for 2nd in the West and the playoff, remaining the only club in MLS to have a playoff spot in every year of league in the playoffs, the Galaxy withstood an early challenge from the Rapids to win the aggregate goal series, 2-1, scoring 2 times in Game 2. In the conference final, the Galaxy's season would come to an end in Kansas with a 2-0 loss to Arnaud and the Wizards.
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