Becks to Visit Leno!

Photo Caption: See how many of these LA Galaxy stars you can id from the club's first appearance on the show in 1996...see bottom of post.

LA Galaxy midfielder David Beckham will be a guest on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" on Tuesday, April 1. The show airs at 11:35 p.m. ET/PT on the NBC. Other guests scheduled to appear on the show include Sherri Shepherd of "The View" and musical guest The B-52's.

WHO: LA Galaxy midfielder David Beckham
WHAT: To be a guest on NBC’s “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno”
WHEN: Tuesday, April 1, 2008 at 11:35 p.m. ET/PT
WHERE: NBC - Check local listings for the channel in your area.

Photo Caption: Becks will be following in the footsteps of many of the worlds most recognizable figures, including this guy above who was making his second appearance on "The Tonight Show".

Could you name everyone?

...From Left to Right: Curt Onalfo (KC Head Coach), Jorge Salcedo (UCLA Head Coach), Jay Leno (Same Job), Brad Wilson (Pension and Benifits Insurance Rep), Andrew Shue (Exec. Producer - Gracie), Dan Calichman (front row - Claremont McKenna Head Coach and CATZ Partner), Robin Fraser (Assistant Coach - Real Salt Lake).

Alvaro is In

Early this morning we received the International Transfer Clearance for Alvaro Pires, meaning that he has officially been added to the roster and is eligible for selection on Saturday.

In order to complete the signing of a player from a foreign club, teams must have a P-1 visa approved and completed, as well as the ITC from said player's last club. That came in today meaning that the deal could be completed, meaning that Alvaro will join the rest of the team in flying to Denver today.

One More Practice

Ruud and the boys will train one last time tomorrow before departing for Colorado on Friday afternoon. We caught up with a few of the guys after another spirited session as the preseason officially came to an end. Colorado is on deck and the boys are ready.


And some photos from Thursday's training session...

Five Days From Kickoff

With the regular season just a few days away now, the intensity levels in training have noticeably ratcheted themselves up a few notches. In that vein, we wanted to slide some information your way...

Josh Wicks and Bryan Jordan each finished their contracts today and have now been added to the Galaxy roster. Also finishing up their deals were Michael Gavin and Brandon McDonald. Gavin and Wicks will be included on the 18 man senior roster while Jordan and McDonald will be on the Developmental Roster.

Legendary Belgian National Team goalkeeper Jean-Marie Pfaff was in attendance at training today. A well-known celebrity back in Europe both from his playing days and from the reality show that chronicles the life of his family "De Pfaffs", Jean-Marie is starting a magazine and today interviewed Ruud for a feature. We'll have more once the magazine hits newsstands.

Jean-Marie spoke to Ian Feuer, who he remembered from his playing days at Club Brugge in Belgium and all of the Galaxy's goalkeepers prior to their session today. In addition to remembering Feuer, Pfaff remembered running a goalkeeping clinic a few years ago in Sacramento, a clinic that was attended by a young Steve Cronin.

The guys had a pair of sessions today with the morning work being done outside at the Athletes Performance tent as the guys did weights and a series of other strengthening exercises. In the afternoon everyone was back on the field for one of the final training sessions before Saturday’s season opener.

After missing Saturday’s scrimmage against San Fernando Valley (be sure to check out the highlights) and training on Monday with a right quad injury, Peter Vagenas was back in training on Tuesday and should be ready to go on Saturday. For a full injury report, check out the Weekly Update.

Lastly, you can catch all the latest Galaxy news and features every week on Galaxy Deportivo. Back for another season, Alejandro Navarro and Elmer Polanco bring you everything you could want to know about your favorite MLS team, including exclusive video, interviews and insights. You can watch Galaxy Deportivo every Saturday on KWHY-22 starting at 6 p.m. and every Sunday on Telemundo-52 at 11 a.m.

Fan Fest Game Highlights

Here a few highlights from the Galaxy's 3-1 win over the San Fernando Valley Quakes (PDL), always nice to beat up on the Quakes, even if it's not the real ones. Hopefully, this form will continue for the home opener on April 3. The Galaxy earned the win behind first half goals from Carlos Ruiz, Michael Gavin and Landon Donovan.

More Than 4,000 Attend Fan Fest

More than 4,000 fans were in attendance at The Home Depot Center on Saturday afternoon for the LA Galaxy’s Third Annual Fan Fest. The event, which was free and open to all fans, served as the official kick-off to the 2008 MLS season. Fan Fest 2008 gave fans the chance to see, meet and get autographs from their favorite Galaxy players while also experiencing some of the in-game entertainment options that will be available to them at Galaxy games this season.
Even the LA Riot Squad got in on the action, giving the crowd a demonstration of a few classic Galaxy cheers.

Season ticket holders also received an opportunity to participate in a question and answer session with Galaxy President and General Manager Alexi Lalas following his “State of the Galaxy” address to them.
Lalas touched on a number of different topics including emphasizing the club’s commitment to turning around the on-field performance this season. He also touched on the signing of two-time FIFA World Player of the Year and Former Chelsea Manager Ruud Gullit, who will be tasked with returning the club to its winning ways. Look for a complete video of his speech in the next few days.The event began with a 60-minute scrimmage between the Galaxy and the San Fernando Valley Quakes (USL-Premier Development League), which the Galaxy won 3-1 behind first half goals from Carlos Ruiz, Michael Gavin and Landon Donovan. Fans were also treated to a series of interactive booths, games and contests before the day’s main event, the introduction of the 2008 Galaxy team.Following the match, Galaxy coaches and players went around the stands signing autographs for fans young and old.

• Landon Donovan stayed for the game and then signed autographs for fans before heading to LAX and a flight to join the U.S. National Team for the friendly against Poland on Wednesday.
• Meanwhile, David Beckham played most of the match and looked in good shape coming off the field including stopping to sign autographs for fans. He was present for the official team introduction and even addressed the crowd sharing his thoughts on the upcoming season, despite some audio trouble that made it difficult for fans to hear him. He then headed straight to the airport to join England prior to their match against France in Paris.
• There was an impressive array of Galaxy memorabilia current and some from years past. One fan even pulled out from the attic and moth balls, a giant 2002 Carlos Ruiz Galaxy jersey that received a smile and applause from the “Fish”.
• Following Becks’ lead, Josh Wicks brought his son Dominic, who was sporting his own, one of a kind, “Wicks #31” goalkeeper jersey, down onto the field to join him as he went around signing autographs for fans.

Fan Fest 2008 also helped raise money for a pair of great causes. A silent auction of autographed memorabilia from the Galaxy and the rest of the sports world raised more than $7,000 for the Sward Accident Fund, which will aid a local Southern California family who are recovering from a recent tragic accident. An equipment sale raised more than $5,000 for the Los Angeles Galaxy Foundation.

Injury Update

We gave you an update on all of the Galaxy's injuries the other day as Charles, Ante and Edson were all ramping up their rehab efforts.

Unfortunately, we've had to add one more name to that list as Julian Valentin left training late on Thursday with a right ankle injury. There has not been a complete diagnosis as of yet, but Jules was held out of training on Friday and did not play today. He was walking around with the assistance of a crutch and we should have more details on Monday, along the rest of our injury report.

Media Day Redux

We told you that we had a video from Tuesday's Media Day, and here it is.

Enjoy.

Ready, Set, Go!

The Los Angeles Galaxy Foundation and The Home Depot Center Charitable Foundation hosted the Second Annual Easter Egg Hunt on Friday morning. Children ages 1-10 participated in the annual hunt, which saw Cozmo and the Easter Bunny, as well as players Steve Cronin and Ante Jazic, entertain the children.

Big Day for David

Not only was David named in Fabio Capello's 30-man provisional England squad ahead of his country's friendly in France today, it was also announced that a segment featuring him will air this weekend on 60 Minutes.

This interview, which many of you may have seen being taped at the Select A Seat event a couple of weeks ago, will feature David speaking with Anderson Cooper about his life both on and off the field, including his move to the Galaxy last year.

The show will air on CBS this Sunday, March 23, at 7 p.m.

One to Go [UPDATED with new scrimmage opponent]

The players had their next to last day off ahead of the season opener (which is just 10 days away) today but will be back in for a pair of sessions on Thursday. But even though the players were at home with their feet up, that does not mean that we were as well.

Some big announcements have been finalized over the last couple of days, with the final touches being put on our new radio deal with AM 570.

We've also announced the schedule for Fan Fest, which will be held at The Home Depot Center on Saturday at 10:30 a.m. and will give most fans their first chance to see the team up close this season...

FAN FEST SCHEDULE
10:30 a.m. - Gates Open
10:30 a.m. - 12 p.m. - Open Practice
10:30 a.m. - 1 p.m. - Equipment Sale
10:30 a.m. - 1 p.m. - Silent Auction
11:30 a.m. - Contest #1 – Fan with most Galaxy gear
11:45 a.m. - Contest #2 – Fan with oldest ticket stub
12 p.m. - Contest #3 – Fan with biggest Galaxy tattoo
12:40 p.m. - Contest #4 – Player/Coach Look-A-Like
12:45 p.m. - Contest #5 – Oldest and Youngest Fan
12:50 p.m. - Contest #6 – Parent/Child Trivia
1:15 p.m. – LA Galaxy Player and Coach Introductions

(Visit Miss LA Galaxy and her Court once you get to Fan Fest to sign up for all of the contests)

Season ticket holders will also be invited to a special State of the Galaxy Address which will be held inside the Stadium Club. However, seating is limited for this event, so get your seats early.

What has not been announced but will be for the first time here is that the training session at Fan Fest will include a scrimmage with local PDL side San Fernando Valley Quakes.

Other notes from inside the team...

• Edson Buddle is close to a return to full training. He's been out since February 23 with a dislocation of the SC joint in his right collarbone, an injury that he picked up in the 2-1 win over Sydney FC in Hawaii. He's been doing fitness work with the rest of the team this week and may be ready to join in to soccer activities early next week.
• Ante Jazic has also stepped up his rehab efforts and has been outside, running the last couple of days as he stays on course for a return to action early into the regular season following ankle surgery.
• Rounding out the injury front, Charles Alamo dropped in for a while on Tuesday. His spirits were up after undergoing knee surgery last month and he says that he is already ahead of schedule which is of course, a good thing. He was on the bike doing some cardio so that his fitness levels will up once he's ready to get back on the field.

In addition to rehab, the three aforementioned players and the rest of the guys did a bunch of media on Tuesday as well. A bunch of the local and national broadcast partners were out to shoot the guys reading taglines and doing intros for ESPN, FSC, FSN and others, while also taping their DiamondVision intros and taking some marketing photos.

Everyone seemed to have fun with it and we'll have the video posted soon to prove it.

One-On-One w/ Cronin

As we clean out the video vault from our 2008 preseason travels, we bring you an exclusive one-on-one with goalkeeper Steve Cronin just before the last game in Hong Kong. He talks about his experience during the preseason, bonding as a team, working with Ian and the progression of the team. We can't get enough of our starting netminder...You will also catch your first glimpse of Galaxy videographer Troy Bardy, hard at work manning the camera and conducting the interview at the same time…without whom, you would not be enjoying all of the videos from our travels right here.

What Time Is It? [UPDATED] with comments from Steve Cronin

Now that we're all back from Dallas we can start to wrap our heads around the latest innovation from our new fitness coach Chris Neville.

Despite the two hour time change between LA and Dallas, Chris attempted to minimize that effect by keeping our entire schedule on Pacific Time for the entire trip. Not only was everything from our meals to our departures to the actual kickoff time of the game was listed two hours behind the actual time on the itineraries that all of the players receive the day before we depart, but even the times that we scheduled events for was changed.

For example, rather than have all meals on local time (breakfast at 9 a.m., a team snack, which usually consists of fruit and sandwiches, at noon and then the pregame meal at 3:30 (four hours before kickoff)), we simply ate breakfast at 10 a.m. (CT) , cancelled the snack and then still had the pregame meal four hours before kickoff.

The thought process behind this is to try and keep your internal body clock on one schedule, rather than alter everything for a 36-48 hours just to return to West Coast and try to get re-adjusted

We'll talk with a few of the players on Monday to see what, if any, effect the change had on them.

One person that we know the time change, or lack there of really, was our Team Administrator Shant Kasparian who spent the hours before our departure to Dallas on the phone with the hotel, asking them to change the clocks in all of the players' rooms to Pacific Time. He also had to remind the guys not to change their watches upon arrival and to make sure that their cell phones also remained on Pacific Time.

Adding to it all, Nev was not even with us on this first trip as he was back in England completing his Visa paperwork. He returns this week and will have to get the players impressions upon his arrival... or by reading it right here.

UPDATE - We didn't have a chance to talk to too many of the guys today but Steve Cronin did stop by the Blog Office and let us know what he thought of our attempts at altering time...

"It was odd, especially at the start. The thing that helped the most was that they changed the clocks in our rooms because otherwise guys would have been looking at their watches all the time and trying to figure things out. But overall though, I can see the point of it and over the course of the season I think that it will be a positive thing. As of right now a lot of guys are just thinking 'what are we doing' and 'why can't we just do it the way we always have' but the job of Chris Neville is to find the little things that will give us a competitive advantage and who knows, maybe this will be it."

Underway

We're underway at Pizza Hut Park and still scoreless 15 minutes in. (Remember that you can watch live here.)

Ruud has sent the guys out in a 4-5-1 as the Galaxy look to recreate the magic of last season's 6-5 thriller in the final SuperLiga group game.

Cronin is once again in goal with a back four of Gavin, Vanney, Abel and Klein in front of him from left to right. Pires is sitting right in front of the back four with Tudela, Randolph, Donovan and Beckham joining him in midfield and Gordon playing alone up front.

At the half, we are still scoreless on a chilly night in Frisco. Some may remember seeing a story about Frisco getting six inches of snow over a week ago, well, we believe it. As for on the field, the Galaxy have been playing solid possession and looking to get the ball up the wings to Donovan and Beckham with Klein and Randlolph overlaping in behind. We have created a few solid scoring chances with the best of the first half coming off a Donovan long range blast and a Xavier header from close range that were both tipped over the cross bar by Dallas goalkeeper Dario Sala.

The entire bench is on the field warming up for the second half, so we expect to see a few changes and will get those to you as soon as the second half kicks off...no changes to start the second half. In the 60th minute, Jordan replaced Randolph. Donovan has moved into the middle of the field with Jordan on the left wing. In the 8oth minute, Vagenas comes on for Tudela.

In the 82nd minute, a cazy sequence that saw Jordon's header of a Donovan cross bounce off the chest of Sala rebound to Beckham, who rolled it back. Gordon's shot was saved then Klein dumped the ball back into Donovan, who stumbled on the ball. Jordan went to recover it was was taken down in the box. Penalty kick....No. Freekick for Dallas. In the 85th minute on the counter, Beckham plays a beautiful cross field pass for Donovan, who attempts to chip the keeper but Sala swats it away.

Overall, it was a good match for the boys, but we probably deserved the win. However, a scoreless draw is not a bad result considering the jetlag the players have had to recover from this week. The season is just around the corner and the team is looking to be on track.

Ready for Dallas

The team got in to Dallas last night and spent a quiet night here at the hotel as we begin to get ready for tonight's match. Twenty of the 24 players that are currently signed or training with the club have made the trip down for tonight's charity match.

Alamo, Buddle and Jazic have all remained in LA because of their injuries, as has Fish who was being held back with a slight hamstring strain. The training staff is not too worried about it and have simply elected to rest him with the start of the regular season now just two weeks away!

Landon and Izzy both missed the Asia Tour but are now back with us and ready to go. Landon trained on both Thursday and Friday and said afterwards that he felt good.

We caught one more interesting note at training on Thursday, which was our first day back in following the Asia Tour...

With 20 players available for a full-field scrimmage, both Cobi and Ian jumped in to round out the sides. Ian, all 6-foot-6 of him was called upon to play left back and try as he might, the other team found a lot of joy down the right flank. On one occasion, a movement down the right led to a goal, only for it to be called back for offsides, much to the consternation of many of the players. David was the most vocal about the bad call, joking with our trainer Armando, who was serving as the linesman and came to us after working in the Angels organization for the last seven years, that there is no offsides in baseball so he must not know what he's talking about.

Let's just say that more than one guy could be seen laughing after that one...including Armando of course.

Here's the complete roster...
GK - Cronin and Wicks
D - Franklin, Gavin, Klein, Randolph, Roberts, Valentin, Vanney and Xavier
M - Allen, Beckham, McDonald, Pires, Tudela and Vagenas
F - Donovan, Gordon, Jordan and Sesay

Live on the Web

We've just been told that Saturday's friendly against FC Dallas will be shown live via webcast on our official website. Making it better, the feed for this charity game, which will be raising money for the U.S. Fund of UNICEF, will be completely free! The game kicks off at 5:30 p.m. (PT) from Pizza Hut Park in Frisco.

This will mean that all Galaxy fans will have had the chance to see all six of the club's preseason games so far this season.

Ruud and the boys will train here at the stadium on Friday morning before heading down to Big D in the afternoon. We'll have some interesting news for you from Pizza Hut Park so be sure to keep checking us out all weekend long..

Hong Kong Recap

The LA Galaxy ended their Asia Tour 2008 presented by Herbalife with a 5-4 defeat on penalties following a 2-2 draw in regulation with the South China Athletic Association Invitation Team on Sunday afternoon in Hong Kong. Here is a quick recap.

Asia Tour 2008 In the Books

With Li Haiqiang's second penalty kick of the match, the Galaxy's Asia Tour 2008 presented by Herbalife officially came to an end. The team rounded out the three match tour with a win and two draws, though we went on to fall on penalties after each of the two draws. In a turn of events that few others knew, had the match in Shanghai finished level at the end of regulation, it would not have gone to penalties per the request of the home team. Rather, the Galaxy, as the visitors would have been given the victory as odd as that sounds.

It has been an enjoyable three weeks on the road but all the players and staff (including us) are happy to be heading back to LA on Monday morning. Life on the road can be taxing and difficult, especially when you've been away for as long as we have been, so there will surely be some happy faces once we touch down at LAX. They'll be even happier when they remember that they don't have to return to training until Thursday!

The match report from today can be found on the official website and we might be able to post before heading home but if not, thanks for coming along with us on Asia Tour 2008 and we'll see you all at The Home Depot Center on April 3 for the home opener against San Jose.

Underway

We've kicked off here at Hong Kong Stadium. A number of the sections are packed to the capacity, including nearly the entire bench side, while much of the South Stand and lower East Stand remain empty. There looks to be about 20,000 fans here in attendance, which would be the smallest crowd of the tour, but impressive given that tickets just went on sale Wednesday and only on sale at the stadium.

More to come as we continue to be amazed by the size of Hong Kong's center forward Detinho (#30).

A New Face in Goal

With Charles Alamo out injured it appears that Ruud might be looking for a third goalkeeper to complement Cronin and Wicks and it looks like in addition to Vanney the other night (link), these three might be throwing their hats into the ring.


Based on their performances, Charles can't get back soon enough!

For those of you who do not know, that is Bryan Jordan, Sean Franklin and Becks who joined Fish, Abel, Klein, Gavin and Brandon at an adidas clinic on Friday afternoon for about 80 youth soccer players here in Hong Kong.

It was a great day for everyone in attendance, and all eight of the players received a one-of-a-kind Galaxy jersey with their name and number written in Chinese. Check it out.

Hong Kong Preview

On Friday, LA Galaxy head coach Ruud Gullit, David Beckham and Chris Klein spoke with the Hong Kong media in a pool side press conference at the team hotel. Well not exactly pool side, but the room did look out on the pool. Klein discussed the pressure to win when you put on the LA jersey and the increased fan and media attention with the additions of Gullit and Beckham.

Travel Day to HK

Here is a quick video documenting the team's travel day from Shanghai to Hong Kong.

Galaxy Enjoy A Fish Trick

Now that everyone has had a chance to see Wednesday's 3-0 win over Shanghai Hong Kong United, here are a few highlights and interviews from the match. We even caught up with Fish at halftime and asked if his first half goal would open the floodgates in the second half. Let's just say that we were right on the money.

Wednesday in Shanghai

We're not going to post anything about the game as most of you have not had the chance to see it, but after watching it live we're sure that you all will have some definite opinions once the final whistle blows, so come here and let's hear what you have to say.

We'll leave you with this as the scoreboard operator obviously thought that Ruud was going to try an experimental new formation.

Did we need the second goalkeeper?

Tune in to Fox Soccer Channel tonight at 8 p.m. (PT) and find out for yourself!

The Galaxy Lineup Is In

There are three changes to the starting 11 that played on Saturday in Seoul. Ely Allen, Michael Gavin and Brandon McDonald are brought in as Ruud sends the team out in a 4-4-2.

Cronin is back in goal with Gavin, Vanney, Xavier and Klein across the back. Ely and Becks are on the wings with Brandon and Alvaro Pires in central midfield and Fish up front and Gordo in behind him.

Blackberry Blogging

The posts have been a bit sporadic so far in China but we promise to have a good explanation.

We can't see our own site.

Since entering China on Sunday night, we have been unable to view this blog or any others in the blogger family. While we can still perform some administrative functions and Youtube works (hence) the videos, it is significantly more difficult to post this way compared to traditional methods.

With that said, four quick notes to pass along...

As most of you already know, we waived Celestine, Kyle and Kelly on Monday. None of the three were picked up in today's waiver draft.

Michael Gavin and Brandon McDonald have each been offered developmental contracts. Upon talking to them on this trip, we've also discovered that they know each other from back in their younger days growing up in Arizona and are now roommates on this trip.

Gavin and Julian Valentin have been working on their running forms/styles with Chris Neville. Nev had Troy video tape each of them running so they could see the things that he was trying to correct. It will be interesting to see the way that the new work will help them as the season goes on.

Lastly, we're a bit late but Happy Birthday Landon, who turned 26 on Tuesday. His was the third birthday since we left LA, following Julian's 21st on 2/23 and Ante's on 2/27. Galaxy PR extrordinaire Sahar also celebrated a birthday on Tuesday and she's been holding down the fort since we hit the road so we would be remiss not to also mention her.

Shanghai Days

The LA Galaxy have spent the last two days in Shanghai preparing for Wednesday night's match against Shanghai Hong Kong United at Shanghai Stadium. Defenders Chris Klein and Troy Roberts checkin with an update on the progress of preseason training.

Shanghai Press Conference

Here is a preview of Wednesday night's match against Shanghai Hong Kong United, which is an All-Star team made up of players from first division clubs in Shanghai and Hong Kong. Participating in the press conference were Ruud Gullit, David Beckham and Steve Cronin.

Post-Game Recap

Here is a great post-game recap from the Galaxy's 2-1 loss to FC Seoul on penalty kicks. Find out head coach Ruud Gullit's evaluation of the match, learn David Beckham's thoughts on playing with Carlos Ruiz and Bryan Jordan, and when and where Alan Gordon came up with his "Crane" goal celebration. Enjoy!

The Galaxy Are Heading to China

Following yesterday's match in Seoul, the Galaxy enjoyed a relaxing night in Seoul before packing everything up and boarding the buses heading out to Incheon Airport. The team flies to Shanghai in a few hours for the second leg of Asia Tour 2008, so we're just hanging out in the Asiana Air Lounge.

All the players have different ways of unwinding after a game, but last night, most of the boys congregated in an area that we dubbed Club 27. The 27th floor of the Lotte Hotel, that the Galaxy have called home for the past couple of days, had a series of computers with free internet and assorted snacks available to all hotel guests, with a private area set aside for Galaxy players and staff. So rather than pay the $20 a day to get internet service in their room, the guys made their way up to 27, with nearly half the team up their at once at times.

We left them to their own devices, but judging by the volume of the laughter that was created on occasion, the guys were having a good time.

A few of the staff who were not up on 27 encountered some transportation issues upon trying to return to the hotel later in the evening. The group (who will go nameless) jumped in a cab and asked to go to the Lotte Hotel, only to be taken to the Lotte World Hotel which is more than 10 minutes away from the intended destination. Unfortunately, this fact was only discovered after exiting the cab, paying for it and seeing it race off into the night.

A couple other notes from Seoul...

• Because of the cold, the equipment crew of Raul and Jose busted out the stadium coats and winter hats for the first (and hopefully) only time this season. It was so cold at kickoff yesterday afternoon that the players all wore their yellow warm-up tops in the team photo (seen at the top of the last post).


• We have a new face with us in camp on this trip, but it's not a name that most fans would recognize. Dr. David Chang, a colleague of club doctor Dr. Mandelbaum, is with the club here in Asia to lend a hand and assist with any medical issues that may (but hopefully don't) arise.


• Loyal blog readers saw the video of the adidas store appearance in Seoul on Thursday, but what you probably did not see is that as the crowd dispersed outside the store, the players in attendance were given the opportunity to grab some new gear off the racks as an added thank you for stopping by. Not surprisingly most of the guys (and perhaps a blog staffer or two) took the store up on the offer and are now carrying slightly heavier bags.

Here's another look at the adidas in store.

• Lastly, the number of the tour so far is undoubtedly 22. A bunch of the young guys, such as Wicks, McDonald, Franklin, Jordan, Randolph, Tudela, Valentin and a few others have been playing the card game on the bus to and from the stadium every day. The staff is always right at the front of the bus, with the rookies close behind, so we've seen them playing plenty and let us say that Brandon is good (we think) and we still don't understand the rules.

Talk to you all in China.

LA Falls to FC Seoul, 2-1, on PKs

Due to some technical difficulties with the wireless system at Seoul World Cup stadium, we were unable to provide the promised updates during the game. Below is a quick summary from the game:

The LA Galaxy fell to FC Seoul on Saturday, March 1 losing 2-1 on penalties after playing to a 1-1 draw in regulation in the Motorola Cup at Seoul World Cup Stadium in the first game of the Galaxy’s Asia Tour 2008 presented by Herbalife.

The Galaxy took the lead in the 22nd minute when Alan Gordon, who played in center midfield, beat the offsides trap to get on the end of a David Beckham freekick. Gordon beat Kim Ho Jun with a right-footed shot for a 1-0 advantage. Carlos Ruiz was fouled in the center of the field about 35 yards from goal, setting up a freekick opportunity for Beckham. Rather than go for goal, the Galaxy captain deftly clipped the ball over the defense for Gordon who ran onto the pass and took it down with his chest before hitting a right-footed shot past the Korean keeper.

Despite being in Korea, Gordon went with a classic martial arts celebration "The Crane" that was made famous in the "Karate Kid" movie.

FC Seoul equalized ten minutes later when Jung Jo Gook scored from the penalty spot. Gook stepped up and sent his kick straight down the middle, beating Steve Cronin to level the score at 1-1. In the penalty shootout, LA dropped a 2-1 decision as the FC Seoul keeper made four saves, while Cronin denied two PKs of his own.

For the complete game report go lagalaxy.com.