Galaxy End Preseason With 0-0 Draw Against Aguila

LA Galaxy 0, CD Aguila 0
Sunday, March 21, 2010
The Home Depot Center — Carson, Calif.

Scoring Summary:
None

Misconduct Summary:
LA – Omar Gonzalez (Yellow Card) 88’

Lineups:
LA Galaxy: Donovan Ricketts; Alex Cazumba (Todd Dunivant 46’), Leonardo, Omar Gonzalez, Sean Franklin; Dema Kovalenko, Eddie Lewis (Michael Stephens 68’), Juninho (Chris Klein 87’), Tristan Bowen (Chris Birchall 46’), Landon Donovan©, Edson Buddle.

Subs Not Used: Josh Saunders, Kevin Guppy, Yohance Marshall, A.J. DeLaGarza, Bryan Jordan.

CD Aguila: Miguel Montes, Hermes Martinez, Isaac Zelaya, William Cabrera, Deris Umanzor, Gliberto Murgas (Eliseo Salamanca 74’), Arturo Albarran (Luis Hernandez 66’), William Alegria (Darwin Bonilla 65’), Leonel Guevara, Francisco Alvarez (Nelson Reyes 86’), Rudis Corrales (Shawn Martin 74’)

Subs Not Used: Benji Villalobos.

Notes:
• With the draw, the Galaxy finish the preseason with a 6-0-3 record.
• The Galaxy were 2-0-0 against college teams, 1-0-0 against USASA teams, 2-0-2 against MLS opponents and 1-0-1 against foreign opposition.
• The Galaxy allowed just two goals in their nine preseason games, with both of those coming in a 5-2 win over San Diego State.
• Landon Donovan, Todd Dunivant and Chris Klein were all in the lineup for the Galaxy after returning from Washington D.C. last night. They were in the Nation’s Capital as part of the MLS Players Union at the Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiations. Donovan played the full 90 minutes while Dunivant played 45 minutes and Klein played the final three minutes.
• Donovan Ricketts did not have to make a save for the Galaxy to keep the clean sheet.
• The Galaxy outshot Aguila 19-2 in the game while shots on goal were 6-0 in favor of the Galaxy.
• The Galaxy’s three Brazilian offseason acquisitions – Alex Cazumba, Juninho and Leonardo all started for the Galaxy.
• Michael Stephens, the Galaxy’s first round draft pick out of UCLA, came off the bench and played the final 22 minutes in midfield.
• This was the Galaxy’s third all-time game against CD Aguila. They are now 1-0-2 in those games, tying 1-1 in San Salvador on February 21, 1999 and winning 3-1at the Rose Bowl on May 29, 2002.
• The attendance for today’s game was 6,364.
• The Galaxy are back in action on Saturday night when they host the New England Revolution in the MLS season opener at The Home Depot Center. The game kicks off at 8 p.m. and can be seen live on Fox Soccer Channel.
• For more about today’s game, please visit www.lagalaxy.com.

LA Galaxy vs CD Aguila Running Blog

Ready to Go

The teams are in and we're ready to go for the final preseason game of 2010 as the Galaxy host Salvadoran power CD Aguila. Fan Fest is complete and the fans are making their way inside the stadium as we speak.

Here is the Galaxy team...

-------------Donovan---------Buddle--------------

Lewis----------------Juninho----------------Bowen

---------------------Kovalenko---------------------

Cazumba-------Leonardo-----Gonzalez------Franklin

----------------------Ricketts------------------------

Subs: Saunders, Guppy, Dunivant, DeLaGarza, Marshall, Birchall, Stephens, Klein, Jordan.

And here is the team for CD Aguila head coach Nelson Ancheta...

-------------------------Corrales----------------------

Alvarez---------Albarran---------Guevara-------Alegria

--------------------------Murgas------------------------

Umanzor--------Martinez--------Zelaya---------Cabrera

--------------------------Montes-------------------------

Subs: Villalobos, Hernandez, Reyes, Martin, Salamanca, Bonilla

All Systems Are Go For Aguila -- And 2010

The LA Galaxy completed preparations for Sunday's international friendly against C.D. Aguila by training inside the main stadium of The Home Depot Center today. The session was the final training session of the eight-week-long preaseason.

At the same time the players took the field, MLS Commissioner Don Garber and the MLS Players Union took part in a conference call to announce the agreement of new collective bargaining agreement that commences with the 2010 season and concludes on December 31, 2014.

MLS Commissioner Don Garber (left) and MLS Players Union Executive Director Bob Foose shake hands after announcement of new five-year CBA. Photo Credit Jose Argueta/MLS

After Commissioner Garber spoke, LA Galaxy captain Landon Donovan joined the conference call. This is what Donovan had to say...

Along with Landon, Todd Dunivant and Chris Klein also took a part in the negotiations in D.C. All three are scheduled to return to L.A. later today and will be available to play tomorrow.

Back at The Home Depot Center, Galaxy Head Coach Bruce Arena was glad the two sides were able to broker a deal -- which allows the 2010 season to kickoff next week as scheduled.

"We're very pleased that there's been an agreement on a new five-year CBA between MLS and the MLS Players Union," Arena said. "We look forward to getting the 2010 season started next Saturday against the New England Revolution. This is going to be a great year for MLS and soccer in the United States."

At the conclusion of training, we caught up with assistant coach Dave Sarachan, forward Edson Buddle, midfielder Dema Kovalenko and rookie midfielder Michael Stephens.

Here's what they had to say regarding tomorrow's preseason finale...

Dave...

Edson...

Dema...

Stephens...

Here are some more photos from today's training session...

Two Days Til Aguila

The next to last practice ahead of Sunday's game against Aguila took place this afternoon under sunny skies at The Home Depot Center. The highlight of the day was a string of fast paced 9v9 games which featured all 16 of the club's available field players going back and forth at one another.

Tristan Bowen scored the game's deciding goal for his team, which was made up of Edson, Eddie, Birchall, Omar, Sean, Gregg, Alex, Donovan and Tristan, just before the end, just minutes after Leonardo had equalized for his team.

Here are a few photos from the game, and be sure to scroll to the bottom for exciting news about Sunday's game.
Finally, we be sure to check back here tomorrow for photos from the team's final training session, which will take place inside the stadium, and some thoughts from a few of the guys going into the game against Aguila.

For that game against the Salvadoran power (which you can read about here) we will have a live audio stream right here, with Joe Tutino and Ralph Perez bringing you all the action live. ESPN Deportes Radio 1330 AM will also have all the action live on the radio starting at 4:30 p.m.

2010 MLS Season Preview - Tonight on FSC

The Galaxy don't open their season live on Fox Soccer Channel for another eight days, but if you want to get a taste of some MLS action starting tonight, you can tune into the network at 5 p.m. (PT) for their 2010 MLS Season Preview Show from Red Bull Arena.

This hour-long look at America’s premier soccer league – the only program of its kind among MLS’s national broadcast partners – goes on location at the new 25,000 seat home of the New York Red Bulls in Harrison, N.J. MLS fans will get an insider’s look at this architecturally-stunning, $200-million soccer cathedral.

Beginning with a review of the 2009 season, host Mark Rogondino will then take an in-depth look at the prospects of all 16 MLS teams, detailing off-season personnel changes as squads gear up for the new campaign.

Be sure to check it out tonight at 5 p.m. (PT) and check foxsoccer.com for a complete list of rebroadcast times.

Landon Leftovers

This man has been racking up the airline miles this week, that's for sure.

After flying from London to Los Angeles on Sunday, Landon Donovan was back on a plane today as he joined teammates Todd Dunivant and Chris Klein (who left yesterday) at the collective bargaining agreement negotiations in Washington D.C.

Here is what Landon had to say about the current labor dispute at yesterday's press conference.


We also had a few left over clips from Landon regarding David Beckham's injury...


and the perils of driving on each side of the Atlantic...


This wraps up everything from yesterday's press conference and tomorrow we'll begin to look ahead to Sunday's preseason finale against Aguila.