Monday, June 1, 2009

A Day Off

The players came in on Sunday for some light regeneration work and as a result were off today so we thought that we'd look back at a complete weekend of Galaxy soccer across the board with the U-16's, U-18's, U-20's and the first team all in action.

We'll start at the top as we look back at the 1-1 draw with Kansas City.

Here are some highlights from the game and plenty of postgame audio from the guys...

Landon

Buddle

Berhalter

Dema

Klein

Lewis

Ricketts

Earlier in the day on Saturday the Galaxy U-20's played Chivas USA for the first time ever and pulled out a 2-1 win at The Home Depot Center. Sam Myerson and Christian Ramirez scored on either side of halftime to give the U-20's the win in the first of two U-20 SuperClasico's this season.


Paul Broome's side made it two wins in as many days and improved to a league-best 3-0-0 on Sunday, defeating the Lancaster Rattlers 3-1 on the road.

Also on Sunday, the Galaxy Academy U-16 and U-18 teams were in action in U.S. Development Academy play, taking on LAFC Chelsea.

The U-18's lost a heartbreaker 4-3, eliminating them from postseason contention and dropping their record to 6-9-0 in the league and 11-14-3 in all competitions.

However, the Galaxy U-16's moved one step closer to a postseason berth with a 0-0 draw at home against an LAFC team that beat the Galaxy 3-1 three weeks earlier. With the draw, are now 8-5-2 in league play, leaving them in fourth place in the Western Conference SoCal Division with 26 points. The Galaxy are now two points behind third place LAFC and one point ahead of fifth place San Diego Surf.

If the Galaxy win their final game of the season on Sunday against Pateadores, who they defeated 6-0 earlier this season, they will finish no worse than fourth in the Division and would likely qualify for the postseason as one of five Wild Card teams at the U-16 level. A draw, combined with a San Diego Surf draw or loss would also keep the Galaxy in fourth place, as would a Surf loss.

For the playoffs, the top three teams from all nine Divisions automatically advance to the playoffs. Additionally, the top five fourth placed teams; based on points per game in all competitions, advance to the playoffs. The Galaxy currently have the best points per game of all fourth place teams at the U-16 level, collecting a 16-9-3 record in all competitions for an average of 1.82 points per game.

The playoffs begin in Greensboro, N.C. on June 26 and culminate with the final at The Home Depot Center on July 18.

1 comment:

charlesj27 said...

Thanks for the audio from the guys in the team. Again, that first-half the team played against KC Wizards... it was really good. One of the best, I've seen this team play. Then, bringing in Edson, Chris, and Tony gave our team a different playing grade. I'm really, really glad we have such a good, solid keeper. Thanks so much, Don Ricketts. I hope Bruce again puts the team through intense tactics, positioning, runs, and passing. Except this next game will be played on turf... it could also be windy, cold, cloudy, etc... So, the team has to get there ahead of time, spend the time getting used to the field, and getting used to how fast the ball will travel and how much less the guys will be able to control or slow down the ball. Good luck, LA Galaxy - it's not going to be easy. Be ready and prepared!
Congrats to the U-16 Galaxy academy team for their good, strong season. Well done, U-16s. I wish you guys all the luck and fun - hope you guys make it to the finals. To the U-18s... I know this season did not go as planned and many of you are calling it the "suck". Don't give up - Don't give up! Whatever that's left - play together; play for strength, fun, and betterment. These are the times you guys need to stop, think, change attitudes & mind-sets, and learn from flaws and mistakes! Use the disadvantages to get better! Congrats to the U-20s squad and staff. Great, great job so far. Keep at it; keep learning and trying to get better.
Thanks for the pics - do you guys have the latest team photos of the U-16s, U-18s, and U-20s. That would be cool to see!