Saturday, May 2, 2009

Galaxy Earn First Win of the Season, Defeat New York 1-0

LA Galaxy 1, New York Red Bulls 0
May 2, 2009
The Home Depot Center – Carson, Calif.

Scoring Summary:
LA – Landon Donovan (Penalty Kick) 38’

Misconduct Summary:
NY – Carlos Johnson (Yellow Card) 75’

Lineups:
LA Galaxy: Donovan Ricketts, Todd Dunivant, Omar Gonzalez, Gregg Berhalter, Sean Franklin, Dema Kovalenko, Josh Tudela (Stefani Miglioranzi 68’), Eddie Lewis, Chris Klein (Bryan Jordan 75’), Landon Donovan©, Edson Buddle (Jovan Kirovski 85’).

Subs Not Used: Josh Saunders, Tony Sanneh, Mike Magee, Alan Gordon.
New York Red Bulls: Jon Conway, Alfredo Pacheco (Danleigh Borman 66’), Carlos Mendes, Kevin Goldthwaite, Carlos Johnson, Seth Stammler, Sinisa Ubiparapovic (Albert Celades 59’), Jorge Rojas, Juan Pablo Angel©, Dane Richards (John Wolyniec 79’).

Subs Not Used: Danny Cepero, Mike Petke, Luke Sassano, Khano Smith.

Notes:
· With the win, the Galaxy are now 1-1-4 on the season, leaving them alone in fifth place in the Western Conference with seven points. LA is now two points behind fourth place Colorado, who won earlier in the day, and two points ahead of sixth place Houston and San Jose.
· Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena made two changes to his lineup from the 1-1 draw at Colorado last weekend. Edson Buddle and Josh Tudela were brought into the lineup, replacing Aland Gordon and Stefani Miglioranzi, who were each on the bench.
· Buddle made his first start of the season after making his 2009 debut as a second half substitute last weekend. The Galaxy’s second-leading scorer in 2008 with a career-high 15 goals, Buddle missed the first month of the season with a quad strain that he suffered late in preseason.
· The Galaxy were without Leonard Griffin and Yohance Marshall, who are both on the club’s Disabled List and not eligible for selection. Griffin is eligible to return to duty next weekend in Seattle while Marshall is out until at least the home game against Kansas City in May 30.
· Prior to the game, the Galaxy honored midfielder Chris Klein who became the seventh player in MLS history to appear in 300 career regular season games this evening.
· Landon Donovan’s penalty kick goal in the 39th minute was his team-leading fourth of the season. He has now been involved (scoring or assisting on) in all seven of the Galaxy’s goals this season, scoring four and adding three assists.
· The goal was the 88th of Donovan’s MLS career, tying him with Roy Lassiter for sixth place in MLS history. He is now 11 goals behind Taylor Twellman of the New England Revolution for fifth place all-time.
· Donovan is now 2-for-2 from the penalty spot this season and has made each of his last eight penalty attempts in MLS play.
· Donovan Ricketts made one save to earn the first win of his MLS career and his second clean sheet in four games.
· Ricketts has now allowed just two goals in his first four games with the Galaxy, giving him a 0.50 goals against average, which is the third-best in MLS this season. Ricketts is also the first goalkeeper in Galaxy history to record a clean sheet in each of his first two home starts.
· With the clean sheet, their second of the season, the Galaxy have now matched their season total for shutouts of last season.
· After collecting seven yellow cards and three red cards in the first four games of the season, the Galaxy have now played two straight games without being issued a card.
· With the Galaxy win, the defending MLS Cup champion Columbus Crew are the only team in the league without a win.
· Additionally, LA avoids nearing their club record of eight straight games without a win to open the season, set in 2003.
· The attendance for today’s game was 21,006.
· The Galaxy are back in action with a pair of road games against Western Conference foes next week. On Wednesday, the club will make their first-ever trip to Rio Tinto Stadium to take on Real Salt Lake at 6 p.m. (PT) in a game that can be seen live on KWHY – Channel 22. Then, on Sunday, the Galaxy head north for their fist-ever league match against the Seattle Sounders FC at Qwest Field. That game kicks off at 12 p.m. and can be seen live on both FS West and Telefutura.
· For more about this afternoon’s game, please visit www.lagalaxy.com.

3 comments:

charlesj27 said...

It feels good that the team, the coaches, the staff, and especially all of us fans can finally hold onto a win. The LA Galaxy team played very cohesively, urgently, and with purpose. The way the LA Galaxy team played is what's commendable - they fought to keep posession and turn-overs as much as possible. The quality of soccer wasn't all there - but, certainly the purpose and heart was. Donovan Ricketts again made some very important saves and interceptions. Thank so much, General Ricketts. The back-line is playing with more understanding and coordination - so, that was very good to see. Gregg is still getting caught out on some runs by forwards - he needs to be very attentive and careful. I know he was trying to help push forward as much as he could in the midfield. But, the whoel back-line needs to communicate and wait for each other to cover and shield. The backline & midfielders did a steallr job at containing and thwarting. It was good to see Josh Tudela get the start and get some actual minutes playing in games. It was really good to have Edson back in the starting position for us. The timing, the directionality, the holding, and fast-breaks still need practice and work. To make that happen - the forwards and midfielders need to work in practices as much as possible... But, also they have to play in competitive MLS matches together - as much as possible. My feeling is that the offense will get there - but, they have to continue to practice and work with each other a LOT more!
Next two games are AWAY games. More than that - they are against teams with younger players and more confidence, right now. This is why the group exercises and instructions that the coaches did on the practice field is now more important and critical; our team needs to keep playing correctly - communicating with each other - understandign the timing and coordination, plus direction of passes and follow-throughs.
I hope that Leonard and Yohance are still recovering on track, and that they are trying their best to work on fitness, as well!
Next two games are going to be challenging, for sure - be prepared, LA Galaxy team... do the right amount of preparations; know the fields; the environment; and, rest/energize appropriately - but, still, practice sessions that are high-impact with instructions are more necessary and meaningful.

Anonymous said...

We're destined to win ugly just like in Sigi's era until some quality is brought on board.

Klein and Lewis were garbage. Tudela/Dema worked hard but created nothing. Landon looks slow to me this year. Buddle tried hard but needs someone closer to him to be more effective.

back line was steady, which is good thing but would like to see more composure to maintain posession and build up the attack.

Counter attack speed: non-existant. Nobody committed to attack to kill off the game.

To me that was an obvious penalty. Arm comes up, ball hits and stops it. Intentional or not, ball to hand vs hand to ball are all non-issues here. Ball's flight was interfered with illegaly. Penalty.

Good cowd, good work by supporter groups, dull game.

NEED QUALITY IN THE MIDDLE BRUCE.

ds said...

I thought the defense played fairly well for once but still has improving to do. Franklin lost the ball more times than he kept it. Ricketts awesome as always. Buddle still seemed a little rusty. Congrats to Klein on 300!! Kovalenko set up numerous plays the forwards and halfbacks should have scored on. Landon seemed a little lazy today but as always he produced. I still dont see why Landon doesnt get in the goal on free kicks and corners because he is the only one that can score with his head or maybe I should just say score. Its not that hard to take a corner or free kick stick someone else out there who sucks with their head. Gonzalez needs some work still he is the weakest link. But it was great to finally get a win!!! YAY