Sunday, May 10, 2009

Lineups and a Cup of Coffee

The lineups are in at Qwest Field and the Galaxy are just finishing warm-ups on X-Box Pitch. There are a number of changes to the starting lineup, including four new players coming into the eleven with Kirovski, Magee, Gordon and Sanneh. With today’s game being the last of three games with in a week’s time, Arena has made a few changes in order to put the freshest team possible on the field. Don’t be surprised to see Buddle, Klein and Lewis come into the match at some point if needed.

Here is the full team...

------------Gordon----------Kirovski---------------

Magee--------------------------------------Donovan

----------Miglioranzi---------Kovalenko------------

Dunivant----Berhalter----Gonzalez-----Sanneh

--------------------Ricketts---------------------

Subs: Saunders, DeLaGarza, Klein, Lewis, Tudela, Buddle, Jordan.

And here is how the opposition, Seattle Sounders FC, will line up...

-------------Jaqua----------Ljungberg------------

-----------------------Evans------------------------

Zakuani-----------------------------------Le Toux

------------------------Alonso------------------------

Sturgis------Hurtado-----Marshall---------Riley

----------------------Keller---------------------------


Subs: Eylander, Graham, Ianni, King, Nyassi, Scott, Wahl.

3 comments:

Nathan Henderson-James said...

What's up with Franklin not even being on the bench?

Chad said...

How can the Galaxy defend this performance? I mean, the defense is obviously much improved but the midfield and offense was useless. Not creating any solid chances after Seattle goes down a man? Playing it backwards more than forwards? No vision on this team. No creativity. Aside from Donovan, who can't do it all. Draw after draw is not good enough.

charlesj27 said...

Now, that's an interesting line-up. I mean there are reasons for having that line-up... But, what happened to Sean Franklin? I know that another commentor asked the same thing. May be it's explained in a more recent post.
Honestly, I was thinking this was a game that we would not be able to win... In my mind, I was getting myself prepared for a loss. But, the fact that the final score came out to 1 - 1. A draw/tie... well, it's not upsetting me that much. But, I believe we, somehow, were the benefit of some fortunate NON-CALLS by the referee. No surprise, considering who the referee was that was officiating on-field. I know that Mike & Landon were put on the wings to aid the offensive movement forward... But, Seattle being a very disciplined, pro-active high-effort team... our options / time with the ball on the wing/flanks were truly minimal in this match. That meant that Mike & Landon had no choice but be drawn more inward. Then, our weakness became, making accurate passes to completion. Jovan truly needed to improve; he has the smartness, the experience, and the good vision of the field... so, again, Jovan must, must improve!
We have to keep focusing on passing into & out of triangles and trapezoids in practice. Believe me, this is a MUST!!! The coaches must spend time on this with the team - that means ALL players - young & old. Triangle & Trapeziodal ball movement & passing will really be a BIG, BIG help against teams like Chivas USA & RSL. Oh by the way, guess which cross-town rival is running away with the 22 points in the Western Conference? Yep - as I said, never underestimate & count out fluid, dynamic, attacking football! But, in all fairness - Chivas USA have YOUNG PLAYERS on their team that truly put out great attacking with speed and step-overs/cross-overs... that's why they are where they are... I'll be curious how they match up against New England Revs... I would not count out the Revs... Steve Nicol has been doing this much too long to not get his team together properly. Plus, they have an attacking weapon recovering and itching to make it out on the field. Toronto FC has been surprising me with their tenacity, effort, and insertion of some fairly good talent.
In short, we need to practice passing with completion - ACCURACY, DECISIVENESS, TIGHT ANGLES!!!