Galaxy Remains Winless Despite New Coach
August. 28th, 2008
Despite getting a new coach, struggling Los Angeles Galaxy was beaten by the Chicago Fire on Thursday in a Major League Soccer game.
The 0-1 loss extended Galaxy's winless streak to nine games, although the team's new coach Bruce Arena had vowed to turn the corner.
Chicago 's John Thorrington scored his fifth goal of the season in the 65th minute, off an assist by Brian McBride, who played for Arena in the 2002 and 2006 World Cups and was making his debut with Chicago after leaving Fulham of England's Premier League.
Galaxy midfielder David Beckham missed the game in Carson near Los Angeles as he traveled to Beijing to participate in Sunday's closing ceremony of the Summer Olympics after playing for England in an exhibition game Wednesday in London .
Los Angeles also played without forward Landon Donovan, the league's leading scorer. Donovan was given the day off after playing for the United States in a 1-0 victory over Guatemala in a World Cup qualifier Wednesday in Guatemala City .
The loss dropped the Galaxy's record to 6-9-6 as it remains tied for fourth in the seven-team Western Conference. If the season were to end today, the Galaxy would miss the playoffs for the third consecutive season.
The Galaxy is 0-5-4 in its last nine games. The team-record winless streak is 10 games, set from May 6-June 24, 2006 when it was 0-8-2.
Arena, the winningest coach in the history of the U.S. men's national team, was named Monday as the Galaxy's coach and general manager.
Arena, 56, succeeds Ruud Gullit as coach and Alexi Lalas as general manager. Gullit resigned Aug. 11, citing personal reasons, 19 games into his only season with the team. Lalas was fired as general manager and team president the same day.
Arena is the Galaxy's third coach since Beckham joined the team in 2007. Frank Yallop was released from his contract following the conclusion of the 2007 season to become coach of the San Jose Earthquakes.
New York Red Bulls waive F John Wolyniec (PA SportsTicker) Thierry Henry is officially on the New York Red Bulls' roster. Donovan reiterates desire to return to Everton (PA SportsTicker) Landon Donovan says he still wants to return to Everton and the English Premier League. MLS Injury Report - Friday, July 30 (PA SportsTicker) EASTERN CONFERENCE Manchester United routs MLS All-Stars (AP) Javier Hernandez scored on his Manchester United debut as a youthful Red Devils team put in an impressive performance to beat the Major League Soccer All-Stars 5-2 in a friendly on Wednesday. Federico Macheda had two early goals while Darron Gibson and Tom Cleverley also found the net for the Premier League side.
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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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