Saturday, October 18, 2008

Postseason Hopes Dashed; Galaxy Fall 3-0

LA Galaxy 0, Houston Dynamo 3
October 18, 2008
Robertson Stadium – Houston, Texas

Scoring Summary:
HOU – Own Goal (Bryan Jordan) 14’
HOU – Dwayne DeRosario 6 (Unassisted) 20’
HOU – Brian Ching 13 (Nate Jaqua 4, Bobby Boswell 1) 23’

Misconduct Summary:
LA – Alvaro Pires (Yellow Card) 86’
LA – Troy Roberts (Yellow Card) 89’

Lineups:
LA Galaxy: Josh Saunders, Greg Vanney (Mike Randolph 46’), Sean Franklin, Troy Roberts, Chris Klein, Brandon McDonald (Alvaro Pires 79’), Joe Franchino, Eddie Lewis, Bryan Jordan (Alan Gordon 40’), Edson Buddle, Landon Donovan©.

Subs Not Used: Josh Wicks, Julian Valentin, Ante Jazic, Ely Allen.

Houston Dynamo: Pat Onstad, Craig Waibel, Bobby boswell, Geoff Cameron, Wade Barrett©, Ricardo Clark (Richard Mulrooney 46’), Brian Mullan, Brad Davis (Corey Ashe 85’), Dwayne DeRosario (Stuart Holden 79’), Brian Ching, Nate Jaqua.

Subs Not Used: Tony Caig, Patrick Ianni, Mike Chabala, Chris Wondolowski.

Notes:
· With the loss, the Galaxy are now 8-13-8 on the season, leaving them with 32 points. The Galaxy remain in sixth place in the Western Conference but have now been eliminated from postseason contention.
· Bruce Arena made two changes to the starting XI from last weekend’s 3-2 win over the Colorado Rapids. Landon Donovan and Brandon McDonald were back in the starting lineup, replacing Alan Gordon, who starts the game on the bench, and Peter Vagenas who misses the game with a right quad injury.
· For the first time this season, Landon Donovan wore the captain’s armband for the Galaxy. He joins David Beckham, Chris Klein and Peter Vagenas as Galaxy captains this season.
· David Beckham misses the game through suspension. It is the first game that he has missed this season for a reason other than National Team duty.
· For Brandon McDonald, it was his first start since May 31 in a 2-0 loss at Toronto FC. That was the 10th game of the season and he was making his eighth start of the year in that game.
· The own goal by Bryan Jordan in the 14th minute was the first own goal by the Galaxy this season and their first since August 26, 2006, when Chris Albright scored an own goal against D.C. United. That goal came in the 9th minute of a game that the Galaxy won 5-2.
· The three goals allowed in the first half was the most allowed by the Galaxy in the opening 45 minutes of a game since July 27 in a 4-0 loss at FC Dallas.
· The Galaxy are now 2-13-4 when allowing the first goal of the game, compared to 6-0-4 when scoring the game’s first goal.
· This is the second time in Galaxy history that the club has been eliminated from postseason contention before the season’s final game. In 2006, LA lost 2-1 at FC Dallas on October 7, eliminating them from postseason contention with one game left in the year. The Galaxy went on to win that game at home 5-2 over FC Dallas on October 14, 2006.
· The Galaxy were the third team in MLS to be eliminated from postseason contention this season. Toronto FC and San Jose were each eliminated from postseason contention with the Earthquakes 3-2 loss at Kansas City earlier in the day.
· The Dynamo clinched first place in the Western Conference with the win.
· The attendance for tonight’s game was a 30,361, the biggest crowd to see a Dynamo home game this season and the second biggest in the stadium’s history for an MLS game. The biggest came last season when the Galaxy won 2-1 in Houston on October 7, 2007.
· For more about tonight’s game, please visit www.lagalaxy.com.
· The Galaxy are back in action on Sunday, October 26, when they host FC Dallas in the regular season finale at The Home Depot Center. The match, which will be Fan Appreciation Day at The Home Depot Center, will kick off at 12 p.m. (PT) and can be seen live locally on FSN West, starting with the ‘Galaxy Live’ Pregame show at 11:30 a.m., and nationally on Telefutura. The match will also be available live on the radio on AM 570 (English) and KWKW 1330 ESPN Deportes Radio (Spanish).

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I hate to say it. But, since July, the LA Galaxy has been heading in this direction. Third straight year in a row - no entrance into play-offs. Absolute Tragedy! Absolute Nightmare! It's NOT the fault of Bruce nor Dave. LA Galaxy does not have quality players. Again, LA Galaxy does not have quality, speedy, accurate, competitive, tenacious players! Please, just go ahead and dump the questionable players! Bruce & Dave have to take matters a lot more angrily, with absolute authority adn no remorse. Cut the slow-pokes and the wanna-bes'!!! Build this team up with more sppedy, strong, accurate, tenacious players!

Anonymous said...

I was looking at the Man of the match poll on the Galaxy site. Donovan 54%. Does his mother have her Pc on auto vote? He was the captain last night, no leadership, no fight, no heart. He is the symbol of why American soccer is the joke of the rest of the world. Can somebody tell me what it is that this guy is supposed to have?

Anonymous said...

The reason Houston is able to move the ball so well is because of consistency. Houston hasn't shaken up the roster every season. Instead they build the team they have over time.

The Galaxy approach of rebuilding the team every year (as recommended above) isn't working.

We need to build consistency, sure a few players need to go (Dominguez etc.) but we need to build a core group that knows each other.

Anonymous said...

Galaxy= 3 years of absolute C.R.A.P.

Anonymous said...

FYI: After the MLS match, our LA Galaxy youngsters could not come up with a win in the Reserve Match either. The final score was 1 - 2. And, wait: the one goal wasn't because any one on our team had the talent or the accuracy to score, rather it was an own goal that came off the back of Patrick Ianni from a corner kick. Yep, our LA Galaxy is just brewing in their "suckness" juices. Absolutely hideous how very few players there on this team that can fight for their honor, fight for their professionalism, fight for their career. If sharp, accurate, hard, challenging soccer is not in their soul and in their blood, then please leave the team already. Pack your bags and go be a mentor at AYSO. This is MLS. That means everyone has to perform at that level with no exceptions. If they don't have the skills, step aside and clear out the lockers. LA Galaxy has to go after more fighting, quality, speedy, challenge-driven players. Get rid of the saps!

Anonymous said...

once again, get rid of bravo, he's the reason for lack of quality on the field..not Bruce!!!

Anonymous said...

Sure, easy for you to talk crap about the reserve match, let see, at 10:00pm, when the reserve side took the pitch, you were pissing out the last of your beer and headed for bed, the “reserve” match has a long way to go before you can start looking at as a way to measure where your youth/rookies are in comparison to other folks in the league. So, perhaps you should learn a little more about the league/game before you go off spouting crap.

Anonymous said...

ok none of the complainers on here are true galaxy fans! you wouldnt say one of the best players on the team sucks and yea they may have made some bad choices over players but that was their decision not ours we cant tell them who to get rid of and who to get! if you really want to make a difference you try and get the job that can do it but complaining right here wont do anything...as for myself i think they played pretty well! if you guys keep bashing on the galaxy why dont you just go and support the chivas because no matter how well the galaxy plays its always a negative thing on here! its sad the team needs all the support they can get when the times are tough like now and they need the fans to support them no matter how long it takes to make it to the playoffs! a lot of other teams have a great fan base but i guess you put the galaxy on a high standard just because they have beckham and donovan...FYI beckham isnt even worth the money we are paying him if someone should leave it should be him cuz that would leave a whole lot of money open for a good defense! I WILL ALWAYS SUPPORT THE GALAXY WHENEVER AND WHERE EVER THEY PLAY! GALAXY FAN THROUGH AND THROUGH!

Anonymous said...

Donovan had plenty of fight. He was raring to go from the very beginning, you could tell. But no one except Brandon McDonald responded. He was sharp on the ball, trying to do things, making the right runs, trying to one-touch pass but was unable to because his teammates kept giving up possession immediately. And once they got the ball, they made horrific decisions with it. Yeah, Edson, I'm looking at you.

Anonymous said...

Hi Galaxy fans.People back in england see la galaxy as a big laughing stock.How can you pay beckham so much money.All beckham is intrested in is himself.As you guys have seen beckham is a average footballer.Now milan want him to sell shirts to weak minded public in italy and you guys allow this crazy loan deal to happen.beckham is laughing all the way to the bank and you mugs are paying for it.