Saturday, March 22, 2008

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.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

fingers crossed it's nothing serious/long term


Valentin was outstanding when he played during this preseason, great vision for such a young lad and ball winning interceptions and tacklings.

get well soon "Scarface"!

I'll cross my fingers and toes for your medical bulletin.

Ben

charlesj27 said...

Well, Fan Fest 2008 was, again, a nice, fun, family-day event! The most rewarding event for me was to see the the full-sided scrimmage against San Fernando Valley Quakes. And, the Quakes held their own - it was refreshing. It gives me great comfort to know that we (Southern Californians) have good USL and PDL soccer players. Great places for Director Paul Bravo to scout from in the coming years! The introduction of the staff & players at the end was also very nice of LA Galaxy to do! I'm sorry to hear that Julian is also added to the injury list - I saw him; yes, he was using crutches... I am hoping that almost all our guys are able to be healthy and playable once April 3rd comes around.

In the scrimmages that LA Galaxy played, certainly the main message from Coach Ruud during the pre-season was evident and present. And, that is - to apply constant pressure and maintain the majority of the posession through the entire game. So, YES - that was indeed evident! Next, every player on the field when playing must be engaged and moving and circulating throughout the pitch. To a large extent - YES, that was there, too! After that comes creating opportunities and chances... for our LA Galaxy... this task largely belongs to THREE experienced individuals - David, Landon, and Carlos. Getting the ball... starting from the back midfield, played thru the central midfield, and dropped off into the far-side or central entrance of the Goal-Mouth. Okay, as long as ALL three critical LA Galaxy players are non-injured, non-tired, and fully focused on most every game... I agree, these three critical LA Galaxy players do get their jobs done. These critical LA Galaxy players (David, Landon, Carlos, Chris, Greg, Alvaro, Abel, and Michael) have accepted what Coach Ruud wants from each of them... and, try to serve up the ball to our "front forward brigade" as chances permit. If all of you haven't noticed... the other teams' Big Defenders, Fast Defender-Mids, and Tactical Central-Mids are always trying to corner and envelope the Main Three (David, Landon, and Carlos). This means each of these three maybe, maybe has three to five seconds to deliver the ball as close as to the first third of the field, as possible. Then it becomes the difficult, but important task of our "front-forward" brigade to hold onto and cannibalize the several opposing team's defenders and especially the opposing team's goal-keeper. Guys, it is our LA Galaxys' FINISHING... putting those delivered balls onto the goal posts, or better, into the nets... this where our LA Galaxy still needs MORE WORK! To me, this has got to be the focus and emphases from now until April 3rd!!! Guys, our LA Galaxy team is much improved over the course of this pre-season... But, our LA Galaxy MUST breakthrough and cannibalize their THRUST & PUSH & DRIVE into the NET!!!

At present, in my opinion, the two(2) LA Galaxy players that try and try to make this happen (scoring, I mean) are Ely Allen and Alan Gordon. Both, steady, pacy, and urgent with their drives. But, it's Shot-On-Goal THRUST, POWER, ACCURACY that's missing. Our LA Galaxy SPEEDY youngsters MUST constantly be threatening and must be menacing towards the opposing team's goal-keeper(s). Ely Allen, Alan Gordon, Bryan Jordan, Israel Sesay... these guys over the next few weeks MUST focus, practice, and drill many different schemes for driving all the way into the net. They 've got to do it with THRUST, PACE, TENACITY, and RELENTLESSNESS. It is their jobs to constantly threaten the opposing team's goal-keeper(s).

Can't wait until 2008 MLS season begins - Go GALAXY!!!