Tomorrow is a significant day for those fanatical Philadelphia Union fans. Perhaps you've heard of the Sons of Ben, but if you haven't, they are a story worth checking out. Yesterday, MLS released a list of protected players -- 11 on each team -- that the new club can't pick as the roster-building process will begin, and 10 players will have to make plans to pack up and move the day before Thanksgiving.

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The Galaxy has 14 players the Philadelphia Union can choose from Wednesday. Remember, each team may only lose one player.

Available players: Todd Dunivant, Alecko Eskandarian, Alan Gordon, Leonard Griffin, Bryan Jordan, Jovan Kirovski, Chris Klein, Eddie Lewis, Yohance Marshall, Stefani Miglioranzi, Kyle Patterson, Tony Sanneh, Josh Saunders, Julian Valentin.

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The mix of young and old make the Galaxy a tough team to figure out for the expansion draft. (Getty Images)

We are quickly working our way through the 15 MLS clubs as we gear up for next week's expansion draft. The new kids on the block, the Philadelphia Union will get to select 10 players from the list of unprotected players that each club will have to submit by next Monday.

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Welcome back to the playoffs!

It has been three long and, to be blunt, disastrous years since the last time the Galaxy played post-season futbol. That year they peaked at the right time after basically backing in to the playoffs and ended up taking the MLS Cup from New England on Pando Ramirez's only goal of the season.

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The Galaxy come into the season's final game knowing a win will give them the top spot in the Western Conference and home field advantage in the playoffs because L.A. holds most of the tiebreakers over Houston and Chivas USA, which play each other at noon Sunday here at Home Depot Center, should either of those two teams finish tied with them on points.

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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.

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I didn't have time away from the family to write a preview.

But check it out Bryan Jordan is starting up top. How many times have we wanted to see what he can do up there? And of course my maternal side is sooo happy for him!

Eddie Lewis is out with Sean Franklin in his place. Donovan, Migs, and Birchall round out the midfield (Becks out with a small injury).

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The trivia question was prompted by an item in the Chivas USA game notes for the July SuperClasico I scoured Monday as I researched today's column.

Chivas USA claims nine players on its roster who were either born or grew up in Southern California:
Jonathan Bornstein (who was born in Torrance and grew up in Los Alamitos)
Chukwudi Chijindu (Fontana)
Jorge Flores (Anaheim)
Dan Kennedy (Yorba Linda)
Sacha Kljestan (Huntington Beach)
Gerson Mayen (Los Angeles)
Ante Razov (Los Angeles)
Sasha Victorine (Corona)
Cesar Zamora (Sylmar)

Three of these players - Bornstein, Razov, Victorine - played college soccer at UCLA, while Dan Kennedy played at UC Santa Barbara.

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Image by Victor Decolongon of Getty Images

And those words are: Should've taken three.

I can't remember the last time my frustration from a Los Angeles Galaxy performance was based on the fact that they clearly outplayed their opponent for an entire game, but could not deliver the death blow.

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Playing a little catch-up with some non-David Beckham related news:

*Three Chivas USA players and two from UCLA were selected for a 10-day camp in Argentina that begins today that is the final tune-up for the United States Men's Under-20 National Team that plays in the FIFA World Cup for that age category in late September in Egypt.

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Admittedly, a rather light subject, but since Twitter is all the rage right now it seemed silly to ignore it. Hence, today's column.

Here's a list of selected soccer tweeters. It's not mean to be definitive, but by all means add folks who you follow (or yourself) in the comments section below:

Galaxy & MLS:

*Striker Edson Buddle: EdsonBuddle

*Forward Bryan Jordan: BJ6

*Radio play by play voice Joe Tutino: joetutino

*Fan group Angel City Brigade: ACBrigade

*Don Garber: thesoccerdon

*Jimmy Conrad: JimmyConrad

Chivas USA (past and present)

*Sacha Kljestan: SachaKljestan

*Brad Guzan: bguzan

Sol & WPS

*Midfielder Aly Wagner: alywagner

*GM Charlie Naimo: LASolGM

*WPS Commish Tonya Antonucci: wpscommissioner

*Sol: LosAngelesSol

*Sol Midfielder Manya Makoski: Makoski22

U.

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It was always going to be an interesting game. David Beckham's first game of the season against the team he played for this winter. Would the Galaxy fans embrace Beckham or would they be upset at how he treated them and MLS this winter?

From the banners around the sold-out Home Depot Center it was pretty apparent before kick-off how the Galaxy fans felt.

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                                                                      Photo by ISIphotos.com

David Beckham's welcome home to the Home Depot Center was far from a warm one, but that didn't stop him from making an impact.

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                                                                      Photo by ISIphotos.com

David Beckham's welcome home to the Home Depot Center was far from a warm one, but that didn't stop him from making an impact.

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Photo by K. Djansezian of Getty Images

I not going to do a real post-game analysis, just leave you with some thoughts and impressions and invite everyone to leave their own.

*****
I'm warming up to the idea that you don't have to be the best team in the league, just the best team in the stadium.

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AC Milan and the Los Angeles Galaxy played a friendly Sunday night. The match was a chance for David Beckham to play against his club he was on loan to for the 2nd half of the season and a warmup for AC Milan who is competing in the World Football Challenge. Here's a recap and video highlights of the match.

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Galaxy 2 AC Milan 2

(Blogging software issues - apologies).

AC Milan showed how fast it could strike in the 61st minute, half time substitute Filippo Inzaghi finishing off a a deadly move of stunning swiftness and simplicity with a shot from 12 yards out that beat sub Josh Saunders in the net.

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And those words are: Pleasantly Surprised.

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!

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And that word is: Punchless.

One shot on goal, seven shots overall, despite controlling the game for decent stretches over the course of the afternoon. Punchless. One shot on goal despite fielding an "offensive-minded" lineup designed to counter the improved San Jose Earthquake defense and attempt to victimize the leakiest defense in the league.

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LA Galaxy forward Bryan Jordan is started to get more noticed by not only LA Galaxy fans but also his coach. Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena said he has been impressed with the second-year player. "He's done well, and we expect him to grow a lot as a player over the next couple of years," said Arena, who also has used Jordan, normally an attacking player, for defensive purposes.

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I gave myself the better part of two days before committing this Galaxy-FCD postmortem to the foreverness of the internets because I wanted to get past the bitter taste of frustration lingering in my mouth after Saturday's excursion to Frisco. I wanted to see if that would change what I had to say.

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Wow. Did that suck or what?

Here are the high points:

The Galaxy is now unbeaten in seven games.

I'm sorry, I guess that just high "point".

Let me put this another way. The season is now almost one third over (I know the pundits keep saying "at the quarter point", but the G's have played 9 games in a 30 game season.

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Post-game press conference with Warzycha and Arena as well as player interviews from Guillermo Barros Schelotto (spanish only), Robbie Rogers, Gregg Berhalter, Landon Donovan, Donovan Ricketts, and Bryan Jordan to come.
ADDENDUM:
-Update on Birchall and LA Galaxy: According to my sources, Birchall has already left LA for the Trinidad and Tobago World Cup Qualifier. Click to continue reading...

My second consecutive noon Sunday Galaxy game and what a difference a week makes.

The clouds are clearing in Carson, but instead of 30,000 screaming green-bedecked Sounders fans in Seattle last weekend it's a half-empty stadium with the makings of an ugly game in store given these two teams' records.

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What a finish! Those who were brave enough to sit through the first 89 mundane minutes of last night's match between Real Salt Lake and the Los Angeles Galaxy were treated to a wild and controversial ending. Four minutes of stoppage time yielded three goals, including two for the penalty spot and a stunning last-second goal by the Galaxy's Mike Magee to earn a share of the points in the 2-2 draw. Click to continue reading...

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                                                      Photo by ISIphotos.com

Three stoppage time goals turned what looked to be a 1-0 Real Salt Lake victory into a 2-2 tie as the Los Angeles Galaxy scored both goals in extra time to stay unbeaten on the road.

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                                                      Photo by ISIphotos.com

Three stoppage time goals turned what looked to be a 1-0 Real Salt Lake victory into a 2-2 tie as the Los Angeles Galaxy scored both goals in extra time to stay unbeaten on the road.

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That game totally and completely qualifies as "pulling one out of your ass".

As a Galaxy fan, this game was a tie that felt like a victory. Not only are we the first team to take points at Rio Tinto this season, but pulling it out in the 95th minute AFTER conceding a penalty kick showed the major difference between this year's team and the previous two.

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RSL 2 Galaxy 2

This game was just sort of petering out for both teams when it came alive in stoppage time with RSL's Will Johnson the focal point of all three late goals.

First, Johnson made a hash of a clearance in the box, the ball struck his arm, the ref pointed to the spot and Landon Donovan equalized with his second spot kick in as many games.

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                                                               Photo by ISIphotos.com

Call Week Five of the MLS season the week of the goalkeepers because several net-minders delivered outstanding performances for their clubs

From Pat Onstad making a clutch penalty kick save, to Zach Thornton delivering yet another quality outing, to Jon Conway returning from suspension to post a shutout for New York, goalkeepers as a group enjoyed a great week.

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Northern and Southern California, to pass the million years by before San Andreas makes us neighbors, had a soccer derby this weekend. Had it been for water rights, it would have been more interesting. Jeff pretty much summed up the MLS version here - the word "sucked" has a prominent position in my vocabulary precisely for games like this, Bryan Jordan and Donovan Ricketts playing through pain excepted. Click to continue reading...

It's all about young players getting into the scoring table this last week as Chukwudi Chijindu (Chivas), Bryan Jordan (Galaxy), and Macoumba Kandji (Red Bulls) score their first goals of the season.  Chukwudi comes to MLS this year from the University of Connecticut where he was a psych! major, while Bryan and Macoumba came from the USL.

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MLS Week 5 Matches & Scores:
-Fri Apr 17
DC 1-1 New England - DC goal by Ben Olsen. NE goal by Shalrie Joseph. Click to continue reading...

This was the best game of the season from the Galaxy by far. For long stretches the midfield dominated possession, taking the game to the San Jose defense, resulting in 12 shots (four on goal) and three corners. The Galaxy's make-shift frontline had consistent problems in the final thrid of the field, often failing to shoot or put the shots on frame, but the fact that the team was even in that position was something of a revelation after the first three games of the season.

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Saturday's 2-0 win over Seattle gives Chivas USA an early season four point edge over the rest of the league. (The Galaxy, incidentally, drew 1-1 up in Oakland with the San Jose Earthquakes and remain winless on the season. Bryan Jordan scored the second half equalizer after San Jose took a fifth-minute lead).

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AP Photos

Current Galaxy striker Bryan Jordan and former Galaxy defender Ty Harden go head to head during Tuesday's U.S. Open Cup game in Carson, which the Rapids won on penalty kicks after the two teams played to a 0-0 overtime draw.

The Galaxy failed to find a way past a team that played for most of the night with 10 men, but frankly Coach Bruce Arena didn't look too disappointed with dispensing with the distraction of the U.

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Colorado has the first kick.

Round 1

Omar Cummings scores.
Alan Gordon just scrapes it in after Preston Burpo gets a hand on it.

Round 2

Mehdi Ballouch puts it in the left corner to make it 2-1 Colorado.
Chris Klein grasscutter to right of Burpo is saved.

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Wholesale changes for the Galaxy tonight as one might expect, which will no doubt leave the 241 in the crowd (at 7:25 p.m. - a press box colleague counted) quivering with anticipation

I'll get to the lineups in a minute, but first some non-news:

*Italian striker Christian Vieri is not coming to the Galaxy.

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Ah, the season home opener! Plenty of California sunshine (with the occasional cloud and rain shower), a full stadium (well, 18,000 announced attendance), a team fresh off pre-season (except for injuries to the starting keeper, starting forward, starting left back/midfielder, and possible starting holding midfielder plus the absence of the team's highest paid player) ready to redeem itself for the last two years.

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If you are like me, then you have March 22nd circled in red on your calendar, are making plans for a brunch of gumbo at the Creole restaurant in one of the strip malls by the the Home Depot Center, and turning down offers of a free weekend birthday/wedding anniversary combo getaway to Ojai all in anticipation of the Galaxy's season opener that Sunday.

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