And those words are: Western Conference Champions!
In another step in the worst-to-first journey that MLS Coach of the Year Bruce
Arena has taken the team on, the Los Angeles Galaxy turned away a stiff challenge from the
Houston Dynamo in 30 minutes of extra time with a 2-0 scoreline.
This match promises to be a dogfight. The season series between the Los Angeles Galaxy and the
Houston Dynamo featured exactly one goal and a lot of physical defending. If that sounds a lot like
what Chivas and the Galaxy went through for the bulk of their five games this season, its not
coincidence.
First off, I apologize to everyone for not being able to get a post-game analysis together for last
week. It was one of those times when life bitch-slapped my futbol blogging time. In the future, I
will, at a minimum, create posts where you all can share your own reactions and analyses, even if I
can't start your comments off with a comprehensive review from my perspective.
I just watched the 11+ minute video of all of the GOTY nominees. I noticed that no GOTY nominees
were scored against DC United. On the face of it, that makes me happy. It is good to know that DC
United didn't get poster-ized to wide renown this season. Thinking about it more, however, one may be able to make an argument that for keepers like Rimando
or Reis, who seemed to figure prominently in these highlights, if the only goals that they are
giving up are the fantastical, flooky goals or the once-in-a-career one-timers out of midair, maybe
that's not so bad. Click to continue reading...
Kevin Hartman made his 100th start in all competitions for the Wizards. He's the 19th Wizard to hit
that mark. The 33 goals scored by the Wizards in league play, ties for the lowest goal output in team history.
The 1999 and the 2001 Wizards both scored 33 league goals. Claudio Lopez's goal was his 13th in league play for the Wizards, moving him into a tie for 12th
place all time with Matt McKeon, Jose Burciaga, and Sasha Victorine. Click to continue reading...
I'm still miffed that he was left off the All-Star team at least the one that suited up. I seem
to recall that he made the All-Star roster that counts for salary incentives. Yet one more bit of
byzantine MLS rules and regulation implementation for you there.
Today they, the ubiquitous they who say many things and say them often, have awarded the
Galaxy's own Landon Donovan the 2009 Honda Player of the Year award. This is given
away annually (hence the "of the year" part) to the best player for the year on the US Men's
National Team.
Or it could be seven words: This team is nothing without Landon Donovan.
So let's start with the positive: shutting out Houston at home in front of a sell-out crowd and
forcing Pat Onstad to actually make some saves. Once again Donovan
Ricketts proves his worth making a busload of saves and the backline bends but doesn't
break.
D.C. United 1: 0 Columbus Crew Six Word Novel Recap A decent team, with terrible supporters. Let me just start by saying that Steve Cronin impressed the hell out of me last night. He played
confidently, and he did not hesitate to come off of his line or even out of the box. At one point
last night, he ran almost to the corner flag to shield a Crew player off the ball until it ran out
for a goal kick. Click to continue reading...
The Los Angeles Galaxy took three points at home from a determined Fire team populated with a
large number of replacement for injured players. As has been the case all season, the defense
provided the base from which the Galaxy was able to generate just enough offense to put the game
away.
The Los Angeles Galaxy takes on the Chicago Fire in a battle of second place teams on Friday,
October 2 at 8PM. The game will be on ESPN2.
On paper this should be a tough, hard fought match between two teams that need to be peaking
right now if they have hopes of going deep in the post-season.
One of America's more perceptive futbol journalists. Beau Dure, has a lengthy profile of Landon
Donovan in yesterday's USA Today. (No comments on our speed of motion please.)
Aside from the a vintage shot of Donovan with blond hair, I actually learned a couple of things
about the front-runner for the Honda Player of the Year award.
It wasn't as exhilarating as last year, when the Islanders scored 3 goals at home (the last one
on the 119′ in overtime) to win the 2008 Semi-Final match up 3-2 on aggregate; but the Islanders
duplicated the same feat this year: to knock out the Rochester Rhinos of the USL
Playoffs.
It wasn't as exhilarating as last year, when the Islanders scored 3 goals at home (the last one
on the 119′ in overtime) to win the 2008 Semi-Final match up 3-2 on aggregate; but the Islanders
duplicated the same feat this year: they knocked out the Rochester Rhinos of the
USL-1 Playoffs.
Photo by Getty Images And those words are: Not the time to tinker.
Let me be clear at the beginning. I'm not a coach, I've never been a coach, and I don't have
access to the kinds and amounts of information an MLS coach has at his disposal, nor the skills to
interpret it. But, having said that, I just plain didn't understand Bruce Arena's
starting lineup yesterday.
And those words are: EPIC FAIL! Or maybe I've got five words: What the @#$%&! was that? 6-3?
That's a team record for goals allowed in a game. 4 FCD goals game after the 70th minute. Three
came after the 81st minute. It was an unbelievable set of breakdowns across the board and a
new-look, increasingly confident, and very fast Dallas team took full advantage.
And those words are: That's what I'm talking about!
Last week I was all about "No More Ties!", not because i have a vendetta against neckwear (and a
penchant for lame puns), but because winning teams know how to scratch out wins from adverse
conditions at crunch time. The frustrating game in DC was the catalyst, though it was the third
game in a week played in the aftermath of a hurricane at the end of August in DC's home
stadium.
CSN is letting me down. My wife and I are on a reduced entertainment budget, so we can't
necessarily afford the trip to RFK and the inevitable beers cotton candy. And we have Comcast basic
cable... I guess we are grandfathered in on that; is that even offered to new subscribers
anymore? Subsequently I don't get Fox Soccer Channel. Click to continue reading...
I might be prompted to build an argument for a change at manager around this game. Terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible,
terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible,
terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible. Click to continue reading...
For the 2nd consecutive time this season, the Puerto Rico Islanders posted a 1-0 shutout over
the Montreal Impact, this time at home in the Juan Ramón Loubriel Stadium in Bayamón in front of
5,701 fans.
The Islanders swept the Montreal Impact in their head-to-head series with 3 wins (no losses or
draws) this season.
Last week it was rumored in local news media that the Toronto FC may loan Marco Velez to the
Islanders.
Earlier today the Puerto Rico Islanders management confirmed that Marco Vélez would be joining
the Islanders to assist the team in the race to the USL championship.
Miami got lucky... Really lucky that it didn't finish 7-0 or 8-0!
The Islanders dismantled Miami FC 4-0 last night in front of 3,662 fans at Juan Ramón Loubiel.
Miami FC was outclassed in every facet of the game. Tactically, technically, and enthusiastically
the men in orange were superior to the men in blue, as Bill 'The Wall' Gaudette got his
8th straight shutout and his 11th of the season.
The Islanders rested Gaudette and Arrieta, to save them for the Toronto FC game this week; and
survived a halftime thunderstorm delay to drop their 2nd game this season in Vancouver, this time
4-2 for the Whitecaps.
Kyle Veris had an own goal in the 51st minute for the 2nd Vancouver goal.
Test yourself for self-delusion: "A point on the road is a good thing." Right?
No, none of us are that deluded. How about this? "The most frustrating thing about this match
was giving up a two goal lead." Any buyers? I see a few hands out there.
But, of course, that's a comforting delusion as well.
Sorry folks. At this point it may be too late... Consider this an open thread for your comments on
Saturday night's impressive win over Colorado. 1. The At A Glance stats have been updated on the sidebar. Gomez has provided three goals and two
assists in the past 5 MLS matches. 2. Click to continue reading...
I know this isn't how D does it. He races home from the match and types 5 thick paragraphs of
analysis about how United performed and why the outcome was the way it was. He probably begins his
compositions on his Blackberry while walking along E. Capital on his way to the Metro. It is very
impressive. Click to continue reading...
That's 4 wins in a row for the Galaxy, which is not the longest win streak since 2006. (The
dismal 2007 season featured a 5 game winning streak from September through October.) All of a
sudden the team is tied for third in the West and sitting pretty in a playoff spot (granted it has
still played a game more than most of the West) and it is surging rather than falling.
Yesterday's preview post wasn't much of one, in that it only talked about what I wanted to talk
about and probably nothing that you wanted to read about. Basically, I hope that United can contain Conor Casey tonight. I feel like there have been several times this season when United has allowed big-name, franchise
players to score to easily and as a result have dropped points on the road or had to battle back to
pull a point back. Click to continue reading...
when: Saturday, July 18th, 8pm where: Estadio RFK why: Ultimate Frisbee huh? Bob here, now and through the weekend. I love watching soccer and supporting DC United. But when I
am actually going to get outside and run around, Ultimate Frisbee is my game. And at halftime of
tomorrow's match, two local club teams will put on a demonstration of the sport that actually has
quite a bit of support in this area. Click to continue reading...
The year is over half over already, and that means time to look at my Wishes for 2009 and how
they've done so far. 1. Ground breaking on the stadium - The mall is down now and we actually have some renderings, but
we still have not seen an official ground breaking for the building of the stadium. Click to continue reading...
I don't believe in the "win at home, draw on the road" theory, but that doesn't mean the idea
doesn't have value. It has value, occasionally, it just shouldn't be a mantra. Columbus has come on
recently, but the single significant win was a 2-1 victory over Chivas. The other four wins include
2 wins against Kansas City (including a nice 2-0 road win), a win at home against San Jose, and a
win at home against New York.
Donovan Ricketts has been making huge stops all year long - All-Star caliber stops. But just
being good doesn't mean you are going to get what you deserve. Sometime you have to pimp yourself a
little. Press the flesh. Get the word out. Bribe people with food. Ricketts shows how to make it
happen on the field and off.
As has been widely reported in the futbol blogosphere, the Galaxy made a trade today with Chivas
USA, sending a conditional 2010 draft pick and allocation money down the hall in return for striker
Alecko Eskandarian. To make space on the roster, the team cut holding midfielder
Josh Tudela on the day his 2009 contract was to be guaranteed.
I watched this game twice, once in person (commenting from the stands on Jen's pre-game posting)
and once on the MLSLive.tv stream and both times I was impressed at how the Galaxy ended up playing
their game and made the Dynamo adjust to them. How unusual!
