LA Galaxy Quietly Remain Undefeated
June 4th, 2010
With all eyes in Los Angeles focused on the Lakers and their journey to the NBA Finals, the Galaxy continue to show their dominance in Major League Soccer.
The LA Galaxy (9-0-2, 29 points) have outscored their opponents 18-2 over the course of their first 11 matches this season. They currently hold the best record in the league, 8 points above their nearest competitor.
Los Angeles shut out the Columbus Crew away from home with an impressive win. The Galaxy's consistent defensive play was key for the team once again, It was a game that we had to dig deep tonight. There were a lot of set pieces to defend.. I think as a team, collectively, we played well defensively, Los Angeles defender Gregg Berhalter said on LAGalaxy.com.
The win gave Head Coach Bruce Arena his 100th career victory, making him just the fourth coach in MLS history to reach the milestone. The others include, Sigi Schmid (128 wins), Bob Bradley (124) and Steve Nicol (100).
Arena didn't believe he had reached his own win tally when asked about it after the game, "I don't think that's correct. Arena told LAGalaxy.com, I haven't sat around and put a pencil to the paper, but I don't think that's right. I need to see for myself.
The Los Angeles team sits just 3 wins and 1 point behind last year's season total. The team made it to the final where they fell 5-4 against Real Salt Lake . The game required a shoot-out as the teams found themselves tied 1-1 at the end of regulation.
The appearance in the final qualified the team for the 2010-11 CONCACAF Champions League which the club has taken part in five times, most recently in 2006. They were the champions of the League in 2000.
Forward Edson Buddle leads the league in goals (9), hitting on 50% of his attempts. Teammate Landon Donovan leads the league in assists (9). Both players will be joining the U.S. soccer team in South Africa for the 2010 FIFA World Cup which begins June 11.
The team's next match will be against a Houston Dynamo club (5-6-1, 16 points) currently sitting in 4th in the Western Conference. The Dynamo have had trouble keeping the ball out of their net, allowing 15 goals in just 12 games giving them a goal difference of plus 2.
The hot-scoring Galaxy will look to take advantage of Houston 's soft defense this Saturday at the Home Depot Center at 5 PM.
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.
|
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.
|
