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...
2 comments:
Well, I was hoping to see extensive video of the youngsters scrimmaging and getting instructions from Bruce and Dave... but, may be that will come only after the actual game has been played. For me, my worry is not Josh Wicks at net, rather who all are going to provide steady "beating-down-at-the-door" offense when both Eddie & Landon are not here. I truly admire, respect, and appreciate what Edson continues to do for our team - but, he cannot do this alone... other players have got to step up immensely. If played correctly, this is going to be a intense, chippy, action-packed game... This is a home game... LA Galaxy has to own & rock the HDC. I really hope our team is very, very hungry & burning inside to win! That's what we all want to see... We want to see all our LA Galaxy players FIGHT!!! FIGHT extremely hard and with precision and accuracy! Don't forget to constantly mark and protect. Schellas Hyndman stated from the aftermatch of the last home game against Colorado, "It takes the team the full 90 minutes to conjure up goals to win; sadly - it can only take seconds to concede goals and to lose".
Just finished watching Toronto v. Chivas USA game played at BMO field. Despite the artificial turf, and the loud, cheering Toronto fans... Chivas USA pulled off a 3 - 1 AWAY game victory. Thus fueling adn propelling them once again into play-offs contention. And, leaving us in LAST PLACE. DISGUSTING. If we can't muster up the will, the correctness, the aim, the fury, the drive to get into the play-offs... we'll never be able to. This has got to mean soemthing to the players, the coaches, and the organization. The reason why Chivas USA won... Ante Razov!!! He has such patience, vision, positioning when it comes to scoring. If he doesn't have hte ball... he'll always make sure somebody else will near net. To not underscore Toronto's woes... John Carver had NINE (9) of his starting 11 players gone away to World Cup qualifying. He had to somehow put a mish-mosh of USL (on-loan) players together to keep up against Flores, Mendoza, Razov, Bornstein, and Palladini. Come on, LA Galaxy - step up! Please, reach in and get it done!!!
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