Weekend Wrap

The guys were back on the field this morning for their first full training session since the 3-1 loss in Chicago last week. There were a few notable faces who stopped out to today's session, with LA Angels outfielder Juan Rivera swinging by to see a few old friends, as well as former MLS defender David Vaudreuil and former Galaxy defender Abel Xavier stopping by.

Bruce and Co. put the squad through an intense session this morning, no doubt impressing the interested observers while starting the process of getting the group ready for Saturday evening's game in Columbus.

Here are a few other notes from the past weekend.

- Eduardo is back from Argentina. For those who forgot, he returned to his native country for the birth of his first child earlier this month. He has not been available for selection in any of the last three games.

- Steve Cronin was back on the field today, doing some light work on the side. Cronin has missed the last month after breaking his right hand against New England on August 30. Josh Wicks and Josh Saunders handled all of the goalkeeping duties in today's small sided games, with Cronin still not cleared to participate in all drills.

- Israel Sesay finished off a Peter Vagenas cross, but it was not enough as the Galaxy Reserves lost 2-1 to the Chivas USA Reserves on Sunday. Sesay scored his second goal of the year just before halftime to give LA a 1-0 lead at the break, but Keith Savage and Maykel Galindo scored after the break to give Chivas USA the win. The Galaxy Reserves are back in action on Sunday, Oct. 12 when they host Colorado.

- But everything was not lost this weekend as the Galaxy Rios opened play in the U.S. Soccer Development Academy on Saturday. The U-16 squad defeated Nomads 4-1 in San Diego, with Eric Verso scoring twice and Cameron Souri and Trent Clifton each adding goals. Immediately after that game, the Rios U-18 squad knocked off the Nomads U-18s, winning 4-3. Josh Borja, Jonathan Zurita, Brian Angel and Alan Hernandez scored for the Rios to give them a winning start to their season.

Galaxy Fall 3-1 in Chicago

LA Galaxy 1, Chicago Fire 3
September 25, 2008
Toyota Park – Bridgeview, Ill.

Scoring Summary:
CHI – Chris Rolfe 5 (John Thorrington 2) 13’
LA – Eddie Lewis 1 (Chris Klein 6, Landon Donovan 9) 35’
CHI – Cuauhtemoc Blanco 5 (Unassisted) 57’
CHI – Chris Rolfe 6 (Gonzalo Segares 2, Logan Pause 1) 59’

Misconduct Summary:
CHI – Bakary Soumare (Yellow Card) 72’
LA - Brandon McDonald (Yellow Card) 88'
LA – Troy Roberts (Yellow Card) 90’

Lineups:
LA Galaxy: Josh Wicks, Chris Klein, Sean Franklin, Troy Roberts, Ante Jazic, Greg Vanney (Brandon McDonald 80’), Eddie Lewis, David Beckham©, Landon Donovan, Edson Buddle (Bryan Jordan 77’), Alan Gordon (Peter Vagenas 63’).

Subs Not Used: Josh Saunders, Julian Valentin, Joe Franchino, Ely Allen.

Chicago Fire: Jon Busch, Gonzalo Segares, Bakary Soumare, Wilman Conde, Brandon Prideaux, Logan Pause, John Thorrington, Justin Mapp (Mike Banner 79’), Cuauhtemoc Blanco (Diego Gutierrez 89’), Chris Rolfe (Stephen King 84’), Brian McBride.

Subs Not Used: Nick Noble, Lider Marmol, Diego Gutierrez, Andy Herron, Tomasz Frankowski.

Notes:
· With the loss, the Galaxy are now 7-11-8 on the season, leaving them on 29 points and in a tie for sixth place in the Western Conference with the San Jose Earthquakes. Both teams remain two points behind Real Salt Lake and the Colorado Rapids for the third and final guaranteed playoff spot in the West.
· Bruce Arena named the same starting XI that he used in the 5-2 win over D.C. United on Sept. 20. It is the first time since Arena was named the head coach of the Galaxy on August 18 that he has used the same lineup in consecutive games and just the fourth time this year that the Galaxy have put out the same lineup in consecutive games.
· Eddie Lewis’ goal in the 35th minute was his first-ever goal for the Galaxy and his first in MLS since September 19, 1999 when he was a member of the San Jose Clash.
· Chris Klein started for the 111th consecutive game, extending his own MLS record. He is the only Galaxy player to appear in all 26 of the club’s games so far.
· Defender Eduardo Dominguez missed his third straight game while in Argentina with his wife, who gave birth to the couple’s first child on Sept. 15.
· With Chris Rolfe’s goal in the 13th minute, the Galaxy have now allowed the first goal in seven of their last nine games, including each of their last five games away from The Home Depot Center. This year the Galaxy are 2-11-4 when allowing the first goal of the game and 5-0-2 when scoring the first.
· The Galaxy are now 0-4-0 all-time at Toyota Park, losing all three of their league games there as well as the 2006 U.S. Open Cup Final.
· The attendance for tonight’s game was a sellout of 20,156.
· For more about tonight’s game, please visit http://www.lagalaxy.com/.
· The Galaxy are back in action at home on Saturday, October 4, when they take on the Columbus Crew at Crew Stadium in Columbus, Ohio. The match will kick off at 4:30 p.m. (PT) and can be seen live on FSN Prime Ticket. The match will also be available live on the radio on KTLK 1150 AM (English) and KWKW 1330 ESPN Deportes (Spanish).

On the Field and Ready To Go at Toyota Park

The lineups are in, and the Galaxy's starting XI has a familiar feel. Bruce and Co. will go with the same lineup from last week, when the club beat D.C. United, 5-2, at The HDC.

Here's who the Galaxy will go with against the Fire.

--------------Buddle------Gordon-------------

Lewis---------------Donovan----------Beckham

---------------------Vanney-------------------

Jazic---------Franklin-----Roberts--------Klein

----------------------Wicks--------------------

Subs: Saunders, Valentin, Franchino, Vagenas, McDonald, Allen and Jordan

Ready to Fight the Fire

We trained in Chicago today, or Bridgeview specifically, on the Fire's training field in the shadows of Toyota Park.

There was a police driving training session going on in one of the parking lots next to the training field with police cars swerving and screeching all over the place, but the real noise was on the field as the guys made the final preparations ahead of tomorrow night's game, which can be seen live on ESPN2, starting with the pregame show at 6 p.m., with the game starting at 6:30.

A number of the guys addressed the media after today's session and we spoke with a few others, so here is what they had to say.

Be sure to check out the pictures after the audio.

Bruce


Landon


Becks


Klein


Wicks

Becks Talks About his Old Boss

David was Eriksson's captain of choice with England.

Mexico plays a friendly with Chile tonight at the Coliseum at 8 p.m., a game that marks Eriksson's first game with El Tri outside of Mexico.

The television network Televisa was out at training late last week and asked Becks about his former manager as well as Cuauhtémoc Blanco, who recently announced his retirement from the Mexican National Team. Blanco, coincidentally, is Beckham's opponent this week as the Galaxy take on the Fire this Thursday at Toyota Park at 6 p.m. on ESPN2.

Here's what David had to say about Sven and Blanco.

Player of the Week Up For Goal of the Week

Landon's first goal from Saturday night's win has been nominated as the Sierra Mist Goal of the Week. Go here to vote for LD and give him his second Goal of the Week award of the season.

We just heard that he has won the Player of the Week award for the fourth time this season. We may be partial, but it really couldn't have been a contest this week. This is the ninth time in his career that Landon has won the Player of the Week award, tying an MLS record.

So Landon now has one award this week, now it's up to you to make it a perfect two for two with the Goal of the Week.

The Streak is Dead; Galaxy win 5-2

LA Galaxy 5, D.C. United 2
September 20, 2008
The Home Depot Center – Carson, Calif.

Scoring Summary:
DC – Devon McTavish 1 (Ivan Guerrero 4) 2’
LA – Landon Donovan 17 (Chris Klein 4) 23’
LA – Landon Donovan 18 (David Beckham 9) 35
LA – Alan Gordon 5 (Unassisted) 38’
DC – Thabiso Khumalo 1 (Gonzalo Martinez 2) 48’
LA – Peter Vagenas 1 (Landon Donovan 8) 81’
LA – Landon Donovan 19 (Chris Klein 5) 92+

Misconduct Summary:
LA – David Beckham (Yellow Card) 20’
DC – Clyde Simms (Yellow Card) 33’
LA – Alan Gordon (Yellow Card) 56’
DC – Marc Burch (Red Card) 63’

Lineups:
LA Galaxy: Josh Wicks, Chris Klein, Sean Franklin, Troy Roberts, Ante Jazic (Joe Franchino 87’), Greg Vanney (Brandon McDonald 80’), Eddie Lewis, David Beckham©, Landon Donovan, Edson Buddle, Alan Gordon (Peter Vagenas 62’).

Subs Not Used: Josh Saunders, Julian Valentin, Ely Allen, Bryan Jordan.

D.C. United: Louis Crayton, Bryan Namoff, Gonzalo Martinez (Ryan Cordeiro 79’), Devon McTavish, Marc Burch, Clyde Simms, Ivan Guerrero, Fred, Santino Quaranta (Rod Dyachenko 83’), Thabiso Khamalo, Luciano Emilio© (Francis Doe 87’).

Subs Not Used: Zach Wells, Mike Zaher, Quavas Kirk, Craig Thompson.

Notes:
· With the win, the Galaxy are now 7-10-8 on the season, leaving them on 29 points and in a tie for fifth place in the Western Conference with the San Jose Earthquakes. Both teams are now two points behind Real Salt Lake and the Colorado Rapids for the third and final guaranteed playoff spot in the West.
· The win snaps the Galaxy’s 12-game winless streak, which had been the longest in club history. The Galaxy were 0-6-6 during the streak and were outscored 28-16, allowing two or more goals in 10 of the 12 games.
· The win is also Bruce Arena’s first career win with the Galaxy.
· Bruce Arena made one change to the team that lost 2-0 against the Kansas City Wizards last weekend, with Alan Gordon replacing Bryan Jordon in the starting XI.
· With his three goals tonight, Landon Donovan now has two hat tricks this season, tying him with Edson Buddle for the most in MLS this season.
· Donovan now has 19 goals in the season, tying him with Cobi Jones for the third-best single season goal tally in club history. Donovan now only trails Carlos Ruiz (24 goals in 2002) and Eduardo Hurtado (21 goals in 1996) for the most goals in a season for the Galaxy.
· Alan Gordon’s goal just before halftime was his fifth of the season. He is the fourth different Galaxy player this season to score five or more goals.
· Peter Vagenas goal in the 81st minute was his first goal of the season and his first for the club in MLS competition since September 30, 2006 in a 3-0 win over Chivas USA. He is the ninth different Galaxy player to score this season.
· Chris Klein started for the 110th consecutive game, extending his own MLS record. He is the only Galaxy player to appear in all 25 of the club’s games so far.
· Josh Wicks posted his first win as an MLS goalkeeper.
· Defender Eduardo Dominguez missed his second straight game while in Argentina with his wife, who gave birth to the couple’s first child on Monday.
· Joe Franchino entered the game in the 87th minute, replacing Ante Jazic. It was his first appearance since July 10, a 1-1 draw with Chivas USA. He missed the last two months with an ankle injury.
· With his 20th minute yellow card, David Beckham has now been booked four times this season. If he receives a yellow card in any of his next three games, Beckham will receive an automatic one match suspension.
· Alan Gordon also picked up his fourth booking of the year in the 56th minute, leaving him one card away from a mandatory one match ban.
· Devon McTavish’s 2nd minute goal for D.C. United was the fastest goal allowed by the Galaxy this season and tied the mark for the fourth fastest. Three times in their history the Galaxy have allowed a goal in the first minute. Before tonight they had allowed a second minute goal just once.
· The attendance for tonight’s game was a sellout of 27,000. It was the sixth consecutive home sellout for the Galaxy and their ninth in 13 home games this season.
· For more about tonight’s game, please visit www.lagalaxy.com.
· The Galaxy are back in action at home on Thursday, September 25, 2008, when they take on the Chicago Fire at Toyota Park in Bridgeview, Ill. The match will kick off at 6 p.m. (PT) and can be seen live on ESPN2. The match will also be available live on the radio on KWKW 1330 ESPN Deportes (Spanish) and at lagalaxy.com.

On the Field and Ready for D.C.

The lineups are in as the Galaxy look to snap their 12-game winless streak tonight at The HDC.

Here is the lineup that Bruce and Co. will put out there in search of three all-important points.

--------------Buddle------Gordon-------------

Lewis---------------Donovan----------Beckham

---------------------Vanney-------------------

Jazic---------Franklin-----Roberts--------Klein

----------------------Wicks--------------------

Subs: Saunders, Valentin, Franchino, Vagenas, McDonald, Allen and Jordan

Cleaning Out the Vaults

We're clearing out the audio and video vaults before tonight's game with D.C., so take a look and have a listen.



Ante looks ahead to D.C.


Chris Klein looks to get the Galaxy back in the win column.

Final Preparations Completed; United on Tap

The guys went through their final training session of the week ahead of Saturday's game against D.C. United. The group went over a series of different things, including set pieces (both offensively and defensively) and a number of other situational tactics.

Everyone was out on the field and Bruce should have his full squad available for selection tomorrow.

After training we spoke to Bruce and David to catch their thoughts on the upcoming game and much more. Take a listen.


Bruce...


David...

Alamo in the Papers

If anyone has a chance to pick up a copy of today's Riverside Press-Enterprise we strongly suggest that they do so that they can read all about Galaxy goalkeeper Charles Alamo. As most of you already know, Alamo has had to undergo not one but two surgeries to repair a torn ACL in his left knee. He first suffered the injury in a preseason friendly against Houston in Hawaii in February, a game that the Galaxy won 4-0. After rehabbing and getting back into the team, Alamo tore his ACL again, this time in a Reserve Division game against San Jose on August 3.

Jim Alexander from the Press-Enterprise caught up with Alamo to talk about his road to recovery, his desire to get back onto the field and the mental fortitude that is required to go through this process all over again.

If you can't find a copy of the paper, be sure to read the story here and share your thoughts on it at the bottom of the page or by commenting on this post.

A Running Start

With the exception of Steve Cronin, all of the players who are eligible for selection to Bruce Arena this weekend were out on the training field this afternoon as preparations continued for Saturday's game against D.C. United.

As you can see above,the guys did a bit of running after going through a full field 11v11 game for much of the day. After training we caught up with Sean Franklin to talk about this weekend's game and his push to become the first Galaxy player ever to win the Rookie of the Year award.

But first, we spoke to Jeremy Barlow to give you the fans a little bit more background on him and what you can expect from him on the field.

Jeremy Barlow



Sean Franklin

Back on the Field; Preparations Begin for D.C.

The guys were back on the field today, beginning preparations for Saturday night's all-important home game against D.C. United, who was in action on Tuesday night against Deportivo Saprissa in the CONCACAF Champions League.

Bruce, Dave, Trevor and Cobi put the entire group through a series of drills and small sided games that were quite spirited throughout.

The newly-signed Jeremy Barlow was on the field today and managed to score a few goals, impressing a few of the training session onlookers. He was joined by Josh Saunders (pictured below with Greg Vanney) who was taking part in his first training session with the Galaxy since 2006. Most of the squad was on the field today, including Adzemian and Bolkan, who will remain with the club for the rest of the year now that Portland has been eliminated from postseason contention in the USL First Division.


After the session we caught up with Bruce, Bryan Jordan and Eddie Lewis, who is making his home debut with the LA Galaxy on Saturday.

Bruce...


BJ...


Eddie...

Bowling with the Boys

The Galaxy Corporate Partnerships department hosted their annual Partner Party this afternoon at Lucky Strike in Torrance. All of the players (including the newly signed Jeremy Barlow) and coaches attended the event, which saw the players and coaches join forces with many of the club's top sponsors for a day of bowling.

Spares and strikes were prevalent, as were gutter balls unfortunately, with a few of the guys even turning in a turkey or two. What can we say, we love bowling lingo.

All that we can really say though is that a good times was had by all, as the pictures below will show.

The blog staff got to bowl alongside the coaching staff today and all we know is that both of the guys above passed up careers on the PBA Tour to enter the world of coaching.

Ante and Edson looked as cool as ever, while Wicks was hamming it up on the lanes. You know what they say about all goalkeepers being a bit crazy.

Rookies Ely Allen and Sean Franklin had different forms but equally good results.

But at the end of the day, is there anybody better than the top goalscorer in MLS...we didn't think so.

Jeremy Barlow Added Before Roster Freeze Deadline

The Galaxy added one new face to the roster in the hours before today's roster freeze deadline, signing midfielder Jeremy Barlow to the Developmental roster. Barlow, who was drafted by Houston in the fourth round of the SuperDraft and then traded to D.C. United, played in eight Reserve Division games for the club, scoring once, before being waived last month.

A graduate of the University of Virginia, Barlow will join the club in training on Tuesday and will be available for selection starting on Saturday night against his former club.

Originally born in San Francisco, Barlow will wear the #20 shirt. He takes the roster spot that was made available when Michael Gavin was placed on the club's Disabled List.

Galaxy Fall 2-0 in Kansas City

LA Galaxy 0, Kansas City Wizards 2
September 13, 2008
Arrowhead Stadium – Kansas City, Mo.

Scoring Summary:
KC – Josh Wolff 2 (Davy Arnaud 3, Herculez Gomez 2) 67’
KC – Davy Arnaud 5 (Roger Espinoza 1) 69’

Misconduct Summary:
LA – Landon Donovan (Yellow Card) 28’
KC – Josh Wolff (Yellow Card) 67’
KC – Roger Espinoza (Yellow Card) 86’

Lineups:
LA Galaxy: Josh Wicks, Chris Klein, Sean Franklin, Troy Roberts, Ante Jazic, Greg Vanney, Bryan Jordan (Alan Gordon 70’), Eddie Lewis, David Beckham©, Edson Buddle, Landon Donovan.

Subs Not Used: Josh Saunders, Julian Valentin, Mike Randolph, Alvaro Pires, Peter Vagenas, Josh Tudela.

Kansas City Wizards: Kevin Hartman, Michael Harrington, Tyson Wahl, Jimmy Conrad©, Jonathan Leathers, Jack Jewsbury, Roger Espinoza, Herculez Gomez (Kevin Souter 79’), Davy Arnaud, Abe Thompson, Josh Wolff (Claudio Lopez 71’).

Subs Not Used: Eric Kronberg, Aaron Hohlbein, Kerry Zavagnin, Kurt Morsink, Carlos Marinelli.

Notes:
· With the loss, the Galaxy are now 6-10-8 on the season, leaving them on 26 points and in a tie for sixth place in the Western Conference with FC Dallas who play away to D.C. United later tonight. Both teams remain four points out of the third and final guaranteed playoff spot in the West.
· With the loss, the Galaxy’s winless streak is now at a club record 12 games. During this current streak, the Galaxy are 0-6-6 and have been outscored 28-16.
· Bruce Arena made four changes to the team that drew 2-2 with Real Salt Lake last weekend. David Beckham, Landon Donovan, Ante Jazic and Eddie Lewis are all back from National Team duty and in the starting XI, replacing Mike Randolph, Eduardo Dominguez, Josh Tudela and Alan Gordon.
· The Galaxy were missing five players through injury, with Charles Alamo, Ely Allen, Steve Cronin, Joe Franchino and Michael Gavin all missing the match.
· Defender Eduardo Dominguez also did not make the trip to Kansas City after flying to Argentina to be with his wife who his due to give birth to the couple’s first child.
· Josh Saunders was on the Galaxy bench after signing with the club on loan for the remainder of the season on Friday.
· This was just the fourth time this season that the Galaxy have been shutout in MLS play, with three of the four shutouts coming away from The Home Depot Center.
· With his 28th minute yellow card, Landon Donovan has now been booked four times this season. If he receives a yellow card in any of his next three games, Donovan will receive an automatic one match suspension.
· The attendance for tonight’s game was 26,113. The match was played at Arrowhead Stadium, the Wizards’ home for the first 12 years of MLS, as opposed to their current home stadium, CommunityAmerica Ballpark, to accommodate the crowd, which is Kansas City’s biggest home attendance of the season.
· For more about tonight’s game, please visit http://www.lagalaxy.com/.
· The Galaxy are back in action at home on Saturday, September 20, 2008, when they host D.C. United at The Home Depot Center. The match will kick off at 8 p.m. (PT) and can be seen live on Fox Soccer Channel, starting with the ‘MLS Saturday’ pregame show at 7:30 p.m. The match will also be available live on the radio starting on KTLK 1150 AM (English) and KWKW 1330 ESPN Deportes (Spanish).

Ready to Go at Arrowhead

The teams are out on the field for pregame warmups at Arrowhead Stadium, with kickoff just about 30 minutes away. The Chiefs host the Raiders here tomorrow so the yard lines and endzones are all painted, but the weather seems to have held so far and the field looks good.

Tune in to FSN Prime Ticket to catch the 'Galaxy Live' pregame show and let Jim Watson and Mark Rogondino get you ready for kickoff.

Here's the lineup that Bruce and Co. are going with this afternoon.

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

Lewis-------------Beckham------------Jordan

-------------------Vanney---------------------

Jazic-------Franklin------Roberts--------Klein

--------------------Wicks---------------------

Subs: Saunders, Valentin, Randolph, Pires, Vagenas, Tudela, Gordon.

Eduardo Dominguez is not with the club, having returned to Argentina to be with his wife, who is scheduled to give birth to the couple's first child on Monday.

Lastly, Josh Saunders will wear the #22 shirt, which was last worn by Mike Graczyk, who was the Galaxy's backup goalkeeper last weekend against Real Salt Lake.

Galaxy Add Josh Saunders

A familiar face was back with the Galaxy today as the club signed goalkeeper Josh Saunders on loan from the Miami FC Blues of the USL First Division. Saunders, who played for the Galaxy in 2005 and 2006, appeared in 27 games for Miami this season, keeping 13 clean sheets. However, with his team all but eliminated from postseason contention, Miami agreed to loan him to the Galaxy, who are still without injured goalkeepers Steve Cronin and Charles Alamo.

In order to make room on the senior roster for Saunders, Ely Allen was moved to the Developmental Roster, taking the spot that was vacated when Charles Alamo was moved to the Season Ending Injury list.

With Saunders in the mix, Mike Graczyk did not travel to Kansas City for tomorrow's game.

Kansas City Here We Come

We're off to Kansas City tomorrow morning, so to get ready for Saturday's game, check out our latest video recapping the 2-2 draw with RSL and looking ahead to Saturday's match.

Full Squad Ready for Kansas City Cookin'

David Beckham and Ante Jazic will fly with the team out of Los Angeles. Landon Donovan and Eddie Lewis will join them in K.C. Landon and Eddie were in Chicago this week helping the U.S. improve to 3-0 in this round of World Cup qualifiers.

If you think you're excited to see them back, have a listen to what the guys had to say following Thursday's training session.

Chris...


Alan...


Troy...

Rollin With Rogo

Everybody who visits this site knows that Mark Rogondino is the Galaxy's color commentator on FSN West and FSN Prime Ticket, in addition to his work with Fox Soccer Channel. But what many of you might not know is that he was also a goalkeeper at San Diego State in his younger days. A starter during his senior season with the Aztecs in 1996, Rogondino, who was a teammate of U.S. National Team defender Jimmy Conrad earlier in his college career, led his team to a 7-10-3 record.

With that experience now behind him, Rogo dusted off the cobwebs this afternoon when he jumped back in goal to see what a typical session with Ian Feuer is like. The pair, with the help of Josh Wicks, Steve Cronin, Mike Graczyk and Jordan King, went through a series of drills that gave Rogo a taste for the hard work that these guys go through everyday.

To see footage of Rogondino in goal, as well as his interviews with Ian, Cronin and Wicks, be sure to tune in to Galaxy Live on FSN West at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday.

You can also catch some behind the scenes footage of the training session this weekend on Galaxy Deportivo with Alejandro Navarro and Elmer Polanco. The show airs on Saturday at 6 p.m. on KWHY Channel 22 and Sunday at 11 a.m. on Telemundo 52.

Based on the photos above, how do you think he looks? Might we have a future backup to Cronin, Wicks, Alamo, King, Graczyk and anyone else on our hands?

Back in Business

Bruce and the boys were back on the field today as the preparations are officially underway for Saturday's game in Kansas City.

-- Joe Franchino and Alvaro Pires were both back in training today after working with John Ireland over the last couple of days.

-- Tristan Bowen is still training, as is Vardan Adzemian, Scott Bolkan and Mike Graczyk, all of whom are expected to be with the club all week long.

-- Ante, David, Eddie and Landon will all be in action on Wednesday with their national teams. Ante and Canada play Mexico in Chiapas (6 p.m. Telemundo), David and England are in Croatia while Eddie and Landon are with the U.S. for their first home qualifier of the round against Trinidad and Tobago at Toyota Park in Chicago (5 p.m. ESPN2 and Galavision).

-- Three players who played a pivotal role in past Galaxy glory will face the club in Kansas City colors this weekend, with Kevin Hartman, Sasha Victorine and the newly-acquired Herculez Gomez all now calling K.C. home. However, of the 28 players currently on the Galaxy roster, only Alan Gordon and Peter Vagenas played with all three.

Here are a few shots from today's session...

Franchino and Alvaro were back in training today.

Mike Graczyk is still with the club as a MLS Pool Goalkeeper. He is expected to be available for selection in Kansas City on Saturday.

Bruce gives instructions to some of the squad.

While Dave does the same at the other end of the field.

We also caught up with Edson and Troy to get a feel for what they were thinking ahead of Saturday's game.

Edson...


Troy...

Postgame Quote Sheet

A number of guys from both sides spoke to the media postgame, here is some of what they had to say.

LA GALAXY HEAD COACH BRUCE ARENA…
Overall thoughts on the match…
Overall I am obviously pleased. We went into the game with some issues in terms of the roster and trying to fit some of the pieces together. It was a challenge, but I think we have to give a lot of credit to our team. Salt Lake threw everything they had at us in the first half. They are a good team and it showed. I think it took our guys 30 minutes to figure some things out, but as for the second half we played pretty well for the most part. Given some of our limitations tonight, I'm really pleased with the effort and the result.

On Bryan Jordan…
He had a great night tonight. I don't want to single out and one, two or three players. It stands out in my mind the performance of Bryan Jordan. Brandon McDonald coming in gave us a great 35 minutes, and Edson Buddle. In terms of Bryan getting more minutes, we will have to wait and see. His performance tonight certainly doesn't hurt his cause at all. I think if you could look at our roster you would understand. Bringing three players up from Portland gave us 18. We were thin in several positions tonight. Bryan was obviously having a good year with Portland and I am aware of him through our preseason coaching staff, and he had a good training this week.

LA GALAXY GOALKEEPER JOSH WICKS
On his first Galaxy start…
I felt solid. I could do a little better on the first goal. My voice is gone, so my communication must have been good. I felt comfortable. I guess we’ll take the point because we have too. I think I can improve and be better than I was tonight.

LA GALAXY FORWARD BRYAN JORDAN
On being back with the Galaxy…
I came out here to just work hard, and I got a great opportunity to do so. I stepped out on the field and played as hard as I can and try to create opportunities.

LA GALAXY MIDFIELDER BRANDON MCDONALD
On being back with the team…
Good, man. It’s good to be back out there and work for my teammates. It’s really good to be back on the pitch, and show what I can do, and try to help my team get a victory.

REAL SALT LAKE HEAD COACH JASON KREIS…
Overall thoughts on the match…
I think in our locker room we are a bit disappointed. I think we came into this game knowing they were missing a lot of key players. We were confident enough to think we could come here and take away the full three points. We haven't been doing to well on the road this season. On a positive not a played some good soccer and at the end of the day we came away with one point, which is better than most of our road games this year.

On the team’s improvement…
Well, I just think overall we are a more talented team, with a higher number of talented players. Our top players are better than they have been in the past. Also, I think we are really buying into the team mentality. Our guys really fight for each other, work hard for each other and have an understanding of what we are trying to do.

REAL SALT LAKE MIDFIELDER KYLE BECKERMAN
On how Real Salt Lake has improved…
It used to be when I was playing for another team and we would be playing Salt Lake—it was a team that you would expect to get a win. You knew that there was going to be a point in the game that you would get a chance to win, and Real Salt Lake would find ways to lose. We’ve tried to clean that up right away. We’ve seem to have done that at home so far. It’s just a different mentality in the guys.

On going down a goal…
When we went down a goal, we knew the Galaxy is known for giving up goals, so we knew we would have our chances. It didn’t affect us at all; we just kept playing and tied it up, which we expected and then took the lead, which we expected. Edson Buddle is playing with some great confidence. He’s a great player. If you give him an inch, he’s going to bury it. He was excellent tonight. We felt like we lost two points tonight.

REAL SALT LAKE FORWARD KENNY DEUCHAR
On his team’s opening goal…
“When Wingert had the ball I saw he had a bit of time and I was trying to point to Yura because I knew that his guy had been drawn in on me, so I put my hand up and he hit a great ball in to my head and as soon as he hit it I knew that Yura was on his own so I knew that if I just got a touch on it Yura would be in and it was a great finish.

On the RSL attack…I think that we had a good number of chances, maybe not a lot of clean cut chances, but we did well. Will finished clinically, it was a really good goal and he worked well with Yura. We were keeping possession, communicating and the chances were coming, it’s unfortunate really that we didn’t get any other clean cut chances besides the ones we finished. But to come on the road and dominate like that is a positive.

Galaxy Draw 2-2 with Real Salt Lake

LA Galaxy 2, Real Salt Lake 2
September 6, 2008
The Home Depot Center – Carson, Calif.

Scoring Summary:
LA – Bryan Jordan 1 (Unassisted) 9’
RSL – Yura Movsisyan 2 (Kenny Deuchar 2, Chris Wingert 2) 20’
RSL – Will Johnson 1 (Yura Movsisyan 1) 52’
LA – Edson Buddle 13 (Alan Gordon 7, Bryan Jordan 1) 69’

Misconduct Summary:
LA – Sean Franklin (Yellow Card) 61’

Lineups:
LA Galaxy: Josh Wicks, Chris Klein©, Sean Franklin, Troy Roberts, Mike Randolph, Eduardo Dominguez (Brandon McDonald 56’), Josh Tudela (Mike Munoz 81’), Greg Vanney, Bryan Jordan, Edson Buddle, Alan Gordon (Israel Sesay 92+).

Subs Not Used: Mike Graczyk, Scott Bolkan, Julian Valentin, Vardan Adzemian.

Real Salt Lake: Nick Rimando, Chris Wingert, Nat Borchers, Jamison Olave, Ian Joy, Will Johnson, Kyle Beckerman©, Javier Morales, Clint Mathis (Dema Kovalenko 67’), Kenny Deuchar (Robbie Findley 75’), Fabian Espindola (Yura Movsisyan 9’)

Subs Not Used: Chris Seitz, Robbie Russell, David Horst, Kenny Cutler.

Notes:
· With the draw, the Galaxy are now to 6-9-8 on the season, giving them 26 points. The Galaxy remain tied for sixth place in the Western Conference, level with FC Dallas who also has 26 points. Both teams are one point behind fifth place Colorado and four points behind Chivas USA for the third and final guaranteed playoff spot in the West.
· The Galaxy’s winless streak is now at a club record 11 game. During this current streak, the Galaxy are 0-5-6 and have been outscored 26-16.
· Bruce Arena made six changes to the team that drew 2-2 with New England last weekend. Steve Cronin and Peter Vagenas missed the game through injury, while David Beckham, Landon Donovan, Ante Jazic and Eddie Lewis are away on National Team duty. They were replaced in the starting XI by Josh Wicks, Mike Randolph, Eduardo Dominguez, Josh Tudela, Bryan Jordan and Alan Gordon.
· Both Wicks and Jordan were making their first-ever start in a Galaxy uniform. Each had made one appearance earlier in the year as a substitute. Jordan played eight minutes against New York on May 10 while Wicks played the final 45 minutes against New England last weekend.
· Landon Donovan, Ante Jazic, David Beckham and Eddie Lewis were not available for the Galaxy as all four players were with their respective National Teams. Donovan played 90 minutes for the U.S. in their 1-0 win over Cuba, while Beckham played the final 11 minutes of England’s 2-0 road win over Andorra. Jazic and Lewis were unused substitutes for Canada and the U.S. respectively.
· With both Beckham and Donovan out of the lineup, Chris Klein wore the captain’s armband for the third time this season. He was also the Galaxy captain in the 2-0 loss at Toronto FC on May 31 as well as the 1-0 loss to Chicago on August 21.
· Bryan Jordan’s ninth minute goal was the first of his MLS career. He is the first Galaxy player to score in his first-ever start for the club since Edson Buddle did so on June 17, 2007 in a 3-2 win over Real Salt Lake. Jordan is also the first Galaxy player to score in the first start of his MLS career since Kevin Harmse scored in a 3-1 win over Chivas USA on April 28, 2007.
· Brandon McDonald entered the game in the 56th minute, replacing Eduardo Dominguez. It was his first appearance for the Galaxy since May 31 in the 2-0 loss at Toronto.
· Edson Buddle’s goal in the 69th minute was his career-best 13th of the season. He is now tied with Kenny Cooper of FC Dallas for second in the league in scoring, three goals behind Landon Donovan’s MLS-best 16.
· Bryan Jordan and Alan Gordon each assisted on Buddle’s goal. It was the first assist of Jordan’s MLS career and it was the seventh of the season for Gordon, a career-high.
· Mike Munoz made his Galaxy debut when he entered the game in the 81st minute, replacing Josh Tudela.
· The attendance for tonight’s game was a sellout of 27,000. It was the fifth consecutive home sellout for the Galaxy and their eighth in 12 home games this season.
· For more about tonight’s game, please visit www.lagalaxy.com.
· The Galaxy are back in action on Saturday, September 13, 2008, when they travel east to take on the Kansas City Wizards at Arrowhead Stadium. The match will kick off at 2 p.m. (PT) and can be seen live locally on FSN Prime Ticket and nationally on HDNet. The match will also be available live on the radio starting on AM 570 (English) and KWKW 1330 ESPN Deportes (Spanish).

The Lineups Are In

We're less than an hour from kickoff here at The HDC and the lineups are in as Bruce Arena looks for his first win as the Galaxy's head coach.

Here is the lineup that he will send out onto the field tonight.

----------------Buddle------------------

-------Gordon----------Jordan---------

---------Vanney-------Tudela---------

----------------Dominguez--------------

Randolph----Franklin----Roberts---Klein

----------------Wicks--------------------

Subs: Graczyk, Valentin, Bolkan, Adzemian, McDonald, Munoz, Sesay

Peter Vagenas was a late scratch from the lineup after leaving training yesterday with a left leg injury.

Five Minutes with Bryan Jordan

As you all know already, Bryan Jordan was back with the Galaxy this week, training here for the first time since his month long loan assignment to the Portland Timbers. Jordan helped spark the Timbers from near the bottom of the USL standings up to eighth place, one point off the final playoff spot.

Now that he is back in LA, he will hope to have a similar impact here.

We caught up with him to talk about his first week with Bruce Arena, his time with the Timbers and his goals for the rest of the year.

Wrapping Up the Week

The guys had their final training session this afternoon before Saturday night's all important game against Western Conference foe Real Salt Lake.

Much of the session was spent breaking down what was expected (and seen on video sessions throughout the week) from RSL, as well as working on set pieces. With David, Landon and Eddie all away on international duty, not to mention Ante, there were a slew of new faces left to deliver the ball on set plays. The guys looked good as they practiced both attacking and defending set pieces, so hopefully that work will pay off tomorrow night.

A few quick notes...

• As we said earlier in the week, Vardan Adzemian will wear the #34 shirt and Scott Bolkan will be #30. But we learned earlier today that Mick Graczyk, the League Pool Goalkeeper who is expected to back up Josh Wicks on Saturday will wear the #22 shirt, which was last worn in preseason by Kelly Gray.


• The game will see a battle between Southern Californian goalkeepers as Josh Wicks and Nick Rimando are in line to get starts in goal for LA and RSL respectively. Wicks grew up in San Bernardino before playing college soccer at Cal State Bakersfield, while Rimando grew up in Montclair before going on to UCLA.


• The Galaxy Rios U-16 and U-18 teams will be unveiled and presented to the crowd on the field prior to the game. They begin play in the U.S. Soccer Development Academy later this month.


• Three former Galaxy players, Robbie Findley, Clint Mathis and Nathan Sturgis, are on the Salt Lake roster, while Robbie Russell, a draft pick by the Galaxy in the 2001 MLS SuperDraft who chose to play overseas rather than sign with LA, also plays for RSL. However, only three of those players are expected to make the trip West with the club as Sturgis is listed as out on the club's injury report with a left hamstring strain.
• A win could see the Galaxy jump all the way up to third place in the Western Conference, two points behind RSL for second place and back into a guaranteed playoff position.

Josh Wicks is ready to make his first start in MLS this weekend, while Bryan Jordan could be in the 18-man squad for the first time under Bruce Arena.

Vanney, McDonald and Randolph listen to instructions near the end of training.

Chris Klein talks about his former head coach at RSL, Jason Kreis...


Bruce talks about the play of Josh Wicks...


Troy Roberts looks ahead to Saturday's game...


Mike Randolph is ready for RSL...

Ready for RSL

We caught up with Chris Klein and Josh Wicks earlier this week as they prepared for Saturday night's game with Real Salt Lake. A win could see the Galaxy jump from a tie for sixth place in the Conference all the way up to third and put them in line for a postseason berth.

Here's what the guys had to say.

Wicks Prepares for Starting Role

With four players away on national team duty this week, training was still competitive as players look to impress Bruce and Dave leading up to Saturday’s home game against Real Salt Lake.

The coaching staff was taking a look at a lot of players, but the media zeroed in their attention to one person: Josh Wicks, who trained for the first time this week as the No. 1 keeper. After the session, Wicks said it was business as usual, but did notice a difference. “I was more calm; didn’t press as much.” We’ll have more from Wicks below.

Due to all of the missing players, Eduardo Dominguez could take advantage of this opportunity to return to the starting lineup. If Dominguez sees some action, he could face off against fellow Argentinean Javier Morales, who is one guy to keep an eye out for on Real Salt Lake with his four goals and 10 assists so far in the season.

Be sure to tune in tomorrow at 9am as Dominguez will be a guest on “La Maquima Deportiva” on ESPN Deportes Radio 1330 AM, the official Spanish language home of the Galaxy.

Below are a few sound bites from today’s training session.

Arena on goalkeeping situation and RSL…


Klein break’s down his former team…


Wicks talks about his first taste of MLS action…


Game is this Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at The Home Depot Center.

Cronin Suffers Fracture In Hand

Steve Cronin suffered a right hand fracture in Saturday night’s match against New England and is expected to miss 4-6 weeks. With Cronin and Charles Alamo both listed on the Galaxy injury report, Wicks is the only healthy goalkeeper on the roster. As a result, the Galaxy will call up League pool goalkeeper Mike Graczyk for Saturday’s game against Real Salt Lake.

Three Back From Portland

Bolkan (left) will wear #30, while Adzemian will sport #34.

Bruce Arena has recalled three players from their loan assignments with the Portland Timbers of the USL First Division for a week’s worth of training. Vardan Adzemian, Scott Bolkan and Bryan Jordan were on season-long loan agreements with the Timbers after signing with the Galaxy earlier this season. Jordan is the only one of the three to have played, for either the Galaxy or Timbers, appearing in one game for the Galaxy and nine games with Portland.

Their status for both Portland’s game on Thursday night against Miami and LA’s home game with Real Salt Lake on Saturday will be decided later in the week.

Four Called Up For WCQs

Four LA Galaxy players have been called up to international duty for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers. The Galaxy will be without David Beckham, Landon Donovan, Ante Jazic and Eddie Lewis for Saturday night’s game against Real Salt Lake. All four players joined up with their national teams following the Galaxy’s 2-2 draw in New England on Saturday and are expected to be back with Los Angeles ahead of the Sept. 13 match in Kansas City. Click here for more info.

Galaxy to Return to New Zealand in December

The Galaxy announced today that they will return to New Zealand for the second consecutive postseason for an international friendly. On Saturday, December 6, the Galaxy will take on an Oceania All Stars Invitational Team made up of players from throughout the Oceania region, at the Auckland Regional Council’s (ARC) Mt Smart Stadium in Auckland, New Zealand.

In December 2007, the Galaxy traveled to Wellington, New Zealand as part of a two-match tour of Australia and New Zealand that saw the club play in front of more than 110,000 fans. After losing 5-3 to Sydney FC at Telstra Stadium in the tour opener, the LA traveled to New Zealand where they held a training session in front of more than 15,000 school children at Westpac Stadium on November 30. One day later, a crowd of 31,853 was on hand to see the Galaxy defeat the Wellington Phoenix 4-1 behind goals from Mathis, Donovan, Pavon and Beckham.

The Oceania All Stars Invitational Team to play against the LA Galaxy is being assembled from member associations across the Oceania football region along with three international players from outside the Oceania region.

Click here for the complete release.